Press Releases

September 21, 2007

Special Interest No-Fault Proposal Falls Short of Real Reforms of Florida’s Auto Insurance System

So-called “deal” would increase auto insurance rates and fails to protect consumer

Tallahassee – Proclamations of a “deal” to extend Florida’s broken no-fault insurance system are being met with intense skepticism by many of those involved in the negotiations.  The only people who appear to be on-board are those who’ve been fighting from the beginning to extend the failed system.

It appears the so-called “deal” to keep Florida’s broken no-fault system may be nothing more than a last-ditch effort to continue forcing Florida drivers to buy into this broken system.  In fact, the proposed changes would not only reinstate this driving tax but make it more costly.

The governor’s office convened two weeks of meetings with various stakeholders to reach consensus on reforming no-fault auto insurance, only to emerge today with claims of a “deal” that many of the various stakeholders were unaware of, have not signed off on and which excludes many of the reforms necessary to make this system viable for consumers.

“One thing is crystal clear -- any proposals continuing the requirement that Florida drivers purchase no-fault auto insurance must contain significant measures to control the fraud and abuse that plague this system.  This proposal doesn’t fix anything, it makes the problems worse and more expensive for drivers,” said Allison North Jones, spokeswoman for Floridians for Lower Insurance Costs.  “The various stakeholders can talk all they want about potential deals, but lawmakers need to focus on what’s best for their constituents.”

The proposal includes provisions that will drive insurance rates even higher with the removal of any deductibles for no-fault auto insurance and an increase in the death benefit.

Additionally the proposals contain no attorney fee reforms.

“We continue to support the House leaderships’ position that any continuation of the no-fault system must include significant attorney fee reforms,” said Jones.  “Speaker Rubio has repeatedly referred to the current system as the ‘Fraud Industry Protection Act’ and current proposals remain just that.”

For more than two years, Floridians for Lower Insurance Costs and its more than 10,000 consumer members has advocated for significant reforms to the no-fault system to reduce the fraud and abuse endemic of this system as well as to help drive down the state’s auto insurance rates.

These reforms include:

• Medical fee schedules to control the cost of accident-related care.
• Utilization guidelines to ensure that accident victims are not subjected to unnecessary procedures that quickly diminish their $10,000 no-fault coverage.
• Attorney fee reforms to ensure that attorneys are pursuing legitimate claims on behalf of accident victims and not merely attempting to inflate their own fees.
• Threshold reforms to ensure that the no-fault threshold is not so easily pierced resulting in lawsuits.
• Bad faith reforms.
• Anti-fraud measures.

The coalition and all of it’s members continue to support and advocate the inclusion of all of these reforms in any legislation that would continue Florida’s no-fault auto insurance system.

“Any compromise that does not seriously tackle each of these reforms fails to protect motorists and is a bad deal for Floridians,” Jones said.

Floridians for Lower Insurance Costs is a coalition of more than 10,000 individual consumers, businesses and trade associations throughout Florida.

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