A Florida Senate plan to reform the state?s car-insurance market devolved into chaos Tuesday, as senators threw more than three dozen amendments at the package ? some written from the chamber floor ? that at times left some senators confused about what exactly they were voting on.
Still, the messy process ended with the chamber tentatively approving a package that supporters said would weed out fraud without resorting to the sharp restrictions championed by the state House of Representatives and Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
The Senate legislation (SB 1860) seeks to reform personal-injury protection insurance ? the $10,000 in health coverage known as PIP that all Florida drivers are required to purchase ? by imposing new licensing requirements on medical providers that treat PIP patients and eliminating massage therapy and acupuncture from covered care.
But where a competing bill advanced by the House of Representatives would require accident victims to seek medical treatment within seven days in order to claim PIP coverage, the Senate plan would give them up to 14 days to get treatment. And the Senate, unlike the House, would not impose strict limits on the fees attorneys can earn in PIP litigation.
What?s more, in exchange for the new coverage limits and other changes, the Senate plan would compel insurance companies to reduce PIP premiums by at least 25 percent unless they can demonstrate, by ?clear and convincing evidence,? that higher rates are warranted.
Sen. Joe Negron, the architect of the Senate package, said the changes would help reduce rampant PIP fraud ? in the form of staged accidents or phony medical procedures ? that have sent insurance rates skyrocketing in recent years even as the number and severity of car crashes has declined.
But Negron also said it would ensure that consumers, rather than only insurance companies, benefit from the changes.
?I have no interest in giving a wish list to the insurance industry and then they say, ?Well, thank you very much. We had a great session.? And then the rates stay the same,? Negron, R-Stuart, said.
During the debate, a small group of Republican lawmakers went against Senate leadership to join with minority party Democrats and block a provision that would have outlawed the use of ?multipliers? when calculating lawyer fees in PIP cases. Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, promptly halted debate and then called a second vote the issue, prompting one lawmaker, Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, to grumble about ?bare-knuckle politics.?
The outcome didn?t change on the second vote. Diaz de la Portilla later clarified that he was referring to outside lobbyists, rather than Senate leadership ? after Haridopolos pulled him aside for a private chat.
Still, for all the maneuvering, the path appears to be clear for a final Senate vote on Wednesday. That would set up a final showdown with the House, which approved its own PIP bill (HB 119) last week. The Legislature?s annual 60-day session is scheduled to end Friday, giving them only 72 hours to resolve their differences or else punt the issue into a special session.
Scott has made reforming the state?s PIP laws a top priority this session, likening premium increases to a hidden ?tax? on Florida drivers. The governor, who sent his lieutenant governor to lobby senators during the floor debate Tuesday, has said he prefers the House plan. The insurance industry also favors the House plan, while medical providers and plaintiff?s lawyers like the Senate approach.
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