Despite facing heavy criticism, the Senate in Florida gave its approval to two bills that have been specifically designed to combat the increasing auto insurance fraud in the country. One of the regulations of the bill stipulates that auto insurance companies will get a time from of three months to investigate any auto insurance claim in detail before disbursing payments to cover medical costs.
Senator Joe Negron who voted against the bill termed this provision of the bill “ridiculous” and also said that there needs to be certain changes done to the bill for him to vote in favor of it. Negron voiced his disapproval by saying this bill was unfair to people who do not make fraudulent claims. He said that it was unfair on the part of the government to brand every person filing a claim as “fraudulent” and making them wait for a period of 90 days to make their medical payments. He said that there are innumerable occasions where people are genuinely involved in an accident and need financial assistance to cover their medical costs.
The insurance law in Florida states that it is mandatory for every driver in this region to sign up for personal injury protection coverage to cover up $10,000 in medical costs in case of an accident. However, the insurance companies in this state and CFO Jeff Atwater said that the current policies serve as an invitation to criminal to come up with staged accidents and files frivolous claims and avail medical assistance. On the other hand, people who are in favor of the reforms for the current PIP plan said that these reforms are necessary in order to curtail the ever growing cost of insurance fueled by these staged accidents.
The Office of Insurance Regulation in Florida, on Monday, unveiled a report that showed a 28 percent increase in claims filed between 2006 and 2010. As per the report, there was a 387 percent increase during the same period for cases in which the defendant was the insurance provider.
Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff who voted in favor of the bill said that there was no other way to fix this problem than to bring about new reforms to curb this growing menace. She also said that the panel members need to take up this issue seriously and take measures to prohibit further fraudulent claims from being filed.
