QuoteThe state's personal-injury protection auto insurance system, known as "no-fault," would end in 2019 under proposals ready to go before lawmakers.
Rep. Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, filed a proposal (HB 997) last week, two months after Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty tossed out the idea of, "Let's just repeal PIP and do nothing," as a way to further reduce fraud in the personal-injury protection system.
The repeal idea also appears to have backing from state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.
Atwater, who along with Gov. Rick Scott championed 2012 changes intended to fight fraud in the no-fault system, had maintained as recently as October that time was needed to see the impact of the legislative changes.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for Atwater said that the "time has now passed."
"Ultimately, it's a policy decision for the Legislature to make, but two years after the passage of the PIP legislation, it's time for the insurance industry to bring forward evidence that shows whether or not rates are going to come down," Atwater spokeswoman Ashley Carr said in an email. "If consumers aren't going to get the relief the legislation intended, then the time to repeal has arrived."
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed the Senate version (SB 1112) of Hager's proposal on Dec. 11. The identical measures would require motorists to have a minimum of property-damage and bodily-injury liability coverage.
Under the decades-old no-fault system, intended to make insurance claims less adversarial than lawsuits, motorists are required to carry personal-injury protection coverage that includes $10,000 in medical benefits.
However, questions have grown over the limits of $10,000 in medical coverage, while efforts to remove fraud from the no-fault system have resulted in more coverage restrictions.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=546713 (http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=546713)
Anyone remember these cheesy commercials (first thing that came to my mind)? A blast from the past!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7DkCnzj-Cs
It will last through this session. They just made reforms a couple years ago. We will see though.