Florida Insurers Discuss Top Issues with Legislators

In preparation of next month’s Florida legislative session, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America hosted its first annual Legislative Conference, which brought insurance industry executives to Tallahassee, Fla. to discuss legislative priorities for the session and to hear from Senate President Tom Lee, House Speaker Allan Bense, House Rules Chairman and Speaker-designate Marco Rubio, and several other members of the House leadership. PCI members also heard from Department of Financial Services Chief of Staff Lisa Miller and Office of Insurance Regulation Chief of Staff David Foy.

“Legislation addressing property insurance and the sunset of the no-fault automobile insurance system will be front-burner issues this session,” said William Stander, assistant vice president and regional manager for PCI. “Enduring eight hurricanes in two years has placed tremendous strain on the insurance regulatory system, insurers, the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, and the state-run insurance company, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. During this session it is critical that lawmakers pursue policies that promote open competition because this is the only solution that will make insurance more affordable and available in Florida.”

The state’s no-fault insurance system will also be vying for attention this session. The no-fault law stands repealed unless re-enacted by the Legislature this session. Last fall, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee conducted a study of the no-fault law to assess how the system was working in Florida compared to automobile insurance systems in other states. The report looked at affordability, availability, provision of benefits including litigation costs, adequacy of coverage and loss costs. It concluded that Florida’s no-fault system has serious problems, though not at a crisis level. The report noted that high medical costs and utilization of medical services continues to drive personal injury protection (PIP) costs. In addition, incidents of PIP fraud and abuse, primarily involving health care fraud are at an all time high.

“The findings and recommendations in the report are in line with our position of reforming the system,” said Stander. “There are serious problems with the state’s no-fault system. Although we believe the time has not yet come to scrap it in favor of a traditional tort-based system, simply re-enacting no-fault without making significant reforms will only perpetuate the problems. PCI will be urging legislators to make significant changes that will end the abuses and reinstitute a system that will work as it was originally intended.”

Topics Florida Carriers Legislation