TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott is ratcheting up pressure on lawmakers to find agreement on ways to reform the state's fraud-plagued no-fault auto-insurance law, despite stiff opposition from plaintiffs' lawyers, medical specialists and consumer groups.
Scott held a press conference Wednesday to urge the House and Senate to find common ground between their two vastly different approaches, with students and public-relations professionals clad in white T-Shirts chanting "Stop PIP fraud!"
"This has to be fixed," the governor said, after declaring that the crowd was "tired of attorneys taking advantage of you."
Florida's personal-injury protection (PIP) auto-insurance law has been targeted by Scott, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and lawmakers who argue the state's unique no-fault insurance environment is plagued by staged accidents and overbilling, sticking drivers with a $910 million "fraud tax" built into their premiums.
Critics are arguing that the movement is really being driven by insurance companies. Doctors, chiropractors, attorney-referral services and a host of other medical-related professions all joined forces with trial lawyers to kill PIP changes last session.
Insurers are huge contributors to the GOP political establishment that runs Tallahassee. Doctors and other medical providers are big givers, too. And trial lawyers, who oppose any attempts to cap fees and limit the ability to file class-action suits, are also prime political players.
Atwater's office has produced a report that suggested that as the number of drivers in Florida has held steady and the accident rate has decreased from 1.76 per 100 licensed drivers in 2005 to 1.52 last year, insurance costs have skyrocketed.
The Senate has filed proposals that would prohibit certain services, like chiropractic treatment, from being paid by the mandatory coverage, and add programs designed to cut fraud.
The House is advancing a more sweeping bill (HB 119) that would require auto-injury victims to seek treatment at hospital emergency rooms within 72 hours of a wreck, a change designed to root out over-utilization and fraudulent claims that might be filed by phantom health clinics weeks or months after accidents.
But critics from both political parties in the House Civil Justice Committee complained Wednesday that the bill would crowd hospital emergency rooms and hurt crash victims, who would find it harder to sue to get the costs of treating their injuries paid.
"This will increase waiting times in emergency rooms and lead to more people who cannot be treated," said Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, offered – then withdrew -- amendments removing the bill's requirements that doctors and their staffs be subjected to interviews under oath if the insurance company disputes a claim, along with attorney-fee caps. He said he bill would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate.
"The worst accident of all would be to not do something about PIP," Gaetz said, calling the limitations on the right to sue "indefensible."
Scott said he wasn't taking sides, but the solution he envisioned would be "stopping the fraud and stopping the lawsuits."
adeslatte@tribune.com or 850-222-5564.
