Time To Get Rid Of No-Fault System For Car Accidents

The Florida Motor Vehicle No Fault Act(PIP) is an outdated and broken system that is manipulated by fraudulent clinics, lawyers, and bad characters.

The no-fault system WAS intended to lower the cost of auto insurance by taking small car accident claims out of the courts. Each insurance company compensates its own policyholders (the first party) for the cost of MEDICAL BILLS, regardless of who was at fault in the accident. (The second party is the insurance company and the third is the other party or parties hurt as a result of the accident.)

In exchange for this swift and certain payment of medical bills, Florida drivers gave up the right to sue for their injuries unless they meet a threshold-prove that they sustained permanent injuries. All started out well enough, until Insurance companies started denying payment of medical bills(United Automobile Insurance company, State Farm Insurance Company, etc). Thereafter a number of CLINICS started to solicit car accident victims, and offered them money for treating at their clinic. The state has tried to investigate these clinics and their runners, but has really done next to nothing to shut these clinics down. I have had multiple clients receive phone calls from clinics and their runners who offered money and referrals to an attorney. So there is no misunderstanding, this is insurance fraud!!!!!!

The legislature has tried to fix the problem, but it is so outdated and so broken that it is beyond repair.

State lawmakers who were back in Tallahassee last week for another round of committee meetings preparing for next spring’s legislative session, took time to once again discuss the future of Florida’s No-fault automobile insurance system.

On Tuesday, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee met to hear some of the major stakeholders’ position on dumping Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) as a mandatory coverage in the State of Florida, replacing it with Mandatory Bodily Injury (“BI”) coverage, to join the 48 other States in the U.S. that have mandatory BI in place.
Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, who chairs the committee, unveiled a 75-page draft bill for mandatory bodily injury and a draft Amendment for mandatory medical payments coverage for emergency services and care. This was not the Senator’s first time advocating the replacement of no-fault as he filed similar mandatory BI bills in each of the last two sessions.

Simmons’ latest idea proposes to repeal PIP as of January 1, 2015 and puts in its place a requirement that motorists carry mandatory bodily injury coverage with limits of $25,000 per person injured and $50,000 per accident (total coverage for all injured persons). In addition, the proposal puts in place a mandatory medical emergency payment coverage of $10,000 to cover emergency transport and emergency services.

As noted above 48 other states have moved to a mandatory Bodily Injury Liability state. For reasons unknown Florida is one of 2 states that have not. What a surprise