OAI: Florida Auto Insurance Bill Gets Final Committee's Approval

The bill would scrap the PIP system and introduce emergency care coverage.

2012-02-27

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, February 27, 2012 (Press-News.org) A controversial bill that would make big changes to Florida's car insurance coverage system should soon be on its way to a vote by the full House after getting the OK from the third and final committee to review it, according to OnlineAutoInsurance.com.

If the bill is signed into law, drivers who go to run their next Florida insurance quote comparison could be in for a bit of a surprise.

That's because the bill would, among other things, nix the current system in which motorists rely on personal injury protection (PIP) policies to pay for their medical bills following an accident. Left in its place would be "emergency care coverage" that would only go to pay for care related to emergency medical conditions suffered by the policyholder as the result of an accident.

That means massage therapists, acupuncturists and chiropractors who aren't licensed by a hospital would no longer be eligible for reimbursement under auto policies.

Rep. Jim Boyd, the bill's author, originally wanted to go a step further and require that all policyholders seeking benefits go to an emergency room within 72 hours of a crash to have their care covered.

But in a bid to make the legislation more palatable to the full House, the Economic Affairs Committee removed the emergency-room provision, though policies would still cover only injuries diagnosed within 72 hours of a crash.

The Committee also deleted part of the bill that would have allowed insurance companies to make medical service providers submit testimony under oath about the care provided for a claim.

Source: http://www.flsenate.gov/

But with the end of the legislative session rapidly approaching, party-line committee votes and a separate reform bill circulating through the Senate, it's debatable whether Rep. Boyd's HB 119 has much of a chance of making it into law.

For more on this and other car insurance issues, readers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/florida/quote-comparison/ for access to informative resource pages and an easy-to-use quote-comparison generator.

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OAI: Florida Auto Insurance Bill Gets Final Committee's Approval

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