Florida Cabinet Members Seek PIP Reform
Posted By
on Aug 26, 2011 1:58pm PDT
Sunshinestatenews.com reported recently that the Florida Cabinet has been discussing
personal injury protection insurance (PIP) and the rising costs associated with the system. According to their article, Florida's Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Atwater, has said if a solution cannot be found during the current session, lawmakers will need to consider alternatives.
The number of PIP claims is rising, largely due to fraud like I discussed in this
blog
. Staged car accidents
,
fake injuries, and increased healthcare costs have caused PIP claim payouts to rise 70% in 2 years despite the number of drivers and crashes staying relatively stable.
Kevin McCarty, the Office of Insurance Regulation Commissioner, addressed the Cabinet and explained previous attempts at system reform. Everything that has been done so far to address the problems has lead to people exploiting other weak points in the system. After hearing Mr. McCarty's information, CFO Atwater brought up the idea of turning away from the PIP system.
Governor Scott asked McCarty and his Cabinet to devise a plan to fix the Florida insurance system, but did not indicate whether PIP should remain mandatory or not. If PIP is repealed, drivers may be required to carry bodily injury coverage in case they cause a car accident
.