This past Friday Florida Legislature came to an agreement on the no-fault or PIP (Personal Injury Protection) car insurance reform. The House approved HB 119 with an 8-34 vote and the Senate with a 22-17 vote.

Governor Rick Scott believes the reform is needed because “increases in staged accidents, fraudulent claims and litigation have caused premiums to skyrocket,” (Tampa Bay Times, Tia Mitchell, After tense debate, PIP reform passes Florida Legislature,

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/autos/after-tense-debate-pip-reform-passes-florida-legislature/1219334).

The next step is for the legislation to be passed to the desk of the Governor's desk.
The main changes that Governor Scott will be looking over are:

• Allotting 14 days for an injury party in an auto accident to seek medical attention.
• PIP (Personal Injury Protection) will cover a chiropractor, but not message therapists or acupuncturists.
• Attorney fee caps will be removed.
• Ban multipliers by judges that are used to increase fees awarded in complex cases.
• Permit insurance companies to examine consumers under oath when investigating potential fraud.

Florida will commission a study of the new PIP law to calculate how much policyholders will actually save in the long run. Once the study is completed and conclusions drawn, insurance companies will need to adjust their rates in order to meet specific thresholds in the following months, (Tampa Bay Times, Tia Mitchell, After tense debate, PIP reform passes Florida Legislature).

One concern insurers have is that PIP already exceeds premiums which could make it difficult to add up to any savings.

Overall though, insurance companies have embraced the change, waiting to see what comes of it. “There is enough in the bill to improve the no-fault law that we think we should try it,” said Michael Carlson, executive director of an organization that represents State Farm, Allstate and Progressive, (Tampa Bay Times, Tia Mitchell, After tense debate, PIP reform passes Florida Legislature).