Florida Governor Rick Scott pushed and persuaded for legislation that he contended “would make a big difference in cutting down on PIP fraud”. The Senate passed the PIP measure (HB 119) due to heavy lobbying by Governor Scott. Effective July 1, 2012, all Florida motorists will have extremely restrictive burdens placed upon them if they are involved in a motor vehicle accident.
Once the law takes effect, an individual involved in a motor vehicle must obtain treatment within fourteen (14) days in an ambulance or hospital, or from a physician, osteopathic physician, chiropractic physician or dentist. The full amount of $10,000.00 PIP medical benefit is available to the injured motorist only if a physician, osteopathic physician, dentist or a supervised physician’s assistant or advanced registered nurse practitioner determines that the insured has had an “emergency medical condition”. Failure to abide by newly enacted standards reduces the available PIP benefits from $10,000.00 to $2,500.00.
If an injured party wants to receive any follow up care and treatment that is almost always necessary in motor vehicle accidents, the injured party must first obtain a referral from a physician, osteopath, chiropractor or dentist. Injured parties will no longer be authorized to receive treatment and/or services from massage therapists or acupuncturists as they were completely eliminated from PIP reimbursement benefits.
While Governor Scott informed Florida citizens that this measure would reduce driver’s insurance premiums, there was no guaranteed reduction required from any of the insurance carriers. As such, Florida drivers will receive no such reductions or other benefits from this newly passed legislation. Unfortunately, it appears this new PIP law will do nothing but place undue burdens and hardships upon Florida drivers, while making the insurance companies even more profits from hardworking Floridians.
If you have any questions regarding the impact of the newly passed Florida Personal Injury Protection law, please contact us, your
Tampa Personal Injury Attorneys.