Repeal and Replace Florida PIP Fails in the 2017 Legislative Session

Breaking News:   FLORIDA  PIP IS HERE TO STAY! IT REMAINS THE LAW OF THE LAND! DO NOT LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE, THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE DID NOT APPROVE A BILL TO REPEAL AND REPLACE PIP IN 2017.  PIP REMAINS “AS IS”, DESPITE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE’S ATTEMPT TO HAVE IT DEMOLISHED.

As many of you know, The 2017 Legislative Session ended Monday May 8, 2017.  On the agenda was repealing our Florida Personal Injury Protection Law and replacing it with Mandatory Bodily Injury Insurance/possible $5,000.00 Medical Payments Insurance.  The demise of PIP was discussed for the better part of 2016 into 2017. However, that TALK was just that, TALK!  LaBovick Law Group PIP Team has GREAT NEWS FOR PROVIDERS throughout the State of Florida:  FLORIDA PIP is here to stay! The Florida Senate did not vote on the House Bill to repeal and replace Florida PIP.  Florida PIP remains a viable law you can count on for 2018.

The House bill that attempted to replace PIP with Mandatory Bodily Injury cited rising insurance premiums and fraud throughout the system.  Hospitals, medical providers, and PIP attorneys throughout the State of Florida (including this office) argued vehemently against the repeal of PIP. WHY? Rising healthcare costs would likewise increase hospital and emergency room bills and patient responsibility lessening the ability to pay other providers under a mandatory Bodily injury system.  Emergency Room bills in connection with motor vehicles accidents are, in most cases, somewhere in the $5,000-$50,000 range.  Without Personal Injury Protection Insurance, the medical bills would become the responsibility solely of the patient.  The patient would no longer have the $10,000.00 threshold coverage to pay Medical Providers for medically necessary treatment.  PIP is a system that guarantees payment particularly with our strategies (including litigation) to ensure full recovery.

The LaBovick Law Group PIP Team will continue fighting against the repeal and replacement of Florida PIP.  We know how essential Florida PIP is to our valued clients and their patients. The system ensures a patient is covered for medical care up to $10,000.00 and even more in some cases.  Florida Medical Providers receive reimbursement for the integral medical treatment and care they render to a patient following a traumatic experience in connection with a motor vehicle accident.

Is the Florida system perfect?  No. Florida PIP DOES provide immediate reimbursement rather than waiting for a case to settle on a letter of protection (LOP).  As you know, bodily injury attorneys call to request bill reductions on these LOPs.  That reduction may lead to reconsidering treating these patients in the future.  That is why Florida PIP is essential.  PIP is the first payer and pays quickly in most cases.

Personal Injury (PI) attorneys are the main proponent of doing away with PIP.  They want mandatory PI to do away with PIP set-offs and threshold PIP requirements.  Most insurance companies want to keep PIP. Why wouldn’t they? They make money on payments/issuance of the policies and then more by not paying out the correct amounts.

Regardless of the type of insurance scheme in place, insurance companies will always delay payment of claims and deny based on horrible defenses. It is more important than ever to send us underpaid, failure to be paid, or any strange coding found in your PIP reimbursement/and or EOB . PIP insurers counted on the destruction of PIP this year. Their goal was to simply deny/delay and ultimately watch PIP’s demise. Now that PIP has a stay of execution, they will once again resort to their deny/delay tactics.

The LaBovick Law Group PIP Team aggressively fights for every penny of reimbursement. We fight aggressively from day one (Demand Stage). We demand your PIP regardless of whether the insurance company tells you they paid correctly.  Policies change as does to the law. The law changes from Courtroom to Courtroom daily in our PIP world! Count on us to deliver updates on everything PIP!

Although Florida PIP remains the law of the land, it is important for all of us to band together to fight future bills calling for the repeal and replacement of Florida PIP.  It is essential to coordinate as a group, to reach our Congressmen/Congresswomen, to advocate why Florida PIP must stay. Both medical providers and patients rely on PIP to deal with the rising costs of medical treatment/care.  Together we can certainly affect the outcome of Florida PIP.  Our law firm attended and will continue to attend Legislative Sessions.  We will fight any suggestion of a PIP replacement as aggressively as we fight for your PIP reimbursement.

FLORIDA PERSONAL INJURY PROTECTION ISSUES TO LOOK FOR ON YOUR EXPLANATIONS OF BENEFITS/LETTERS FROM PIP INSURERS FOR 2017-2018

(TOP ISSUES FOR 2017-2018):

1. Any underpayment, denial of payment, or reduction of payment
2. Coverage Investigations/Delay of payment
3. IME/EMC cut-offs or Peer Reviews
4. Lack of Proof of Mailing
5. Any language indicating MPPR or A bunch of numbers stacked on top of each other on a Progressive Explanation of Benefits
6. Coding including but not limited to:
   1. E07-Bundling-Unbundling
   2. Physician Assistant/Nurse Practitioner Reductions
   3. Bilateral Guidelines