The Florida legislature’s changes in Personal Injury
Protection (PIP) law due to take effect on January 1, 2013 were passed under
the guise of preventing insurance fraud, but in reality hurt multiple
non-insurance groups in Florida, including some medical providers and
especially injured motorists. The Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is a
program offered in only a few states of the US. The aim of this program is to
make sure that the people injured in accidents have access to immediate money
for their treatment. Even though this amount is set to be $10,000 in the start,
the insured has a 14 day window to seek care from a medical professional to
access the full $10,000 amount. If the insured does not seek treatment from a
medical professional, they would only be able to use up to the $2,500 amount.
Let us go through some of the Personal Injury Protection
laws implemented by the State of Florida.
A notification of the insured rights
A form which will
include the insured member’s right to their PIP benefits shall include
information such as the benefits that the person receives from this program,
the limitations on these benefits, and the due date of payments.
In addition to these, this form will also include any
penalties over failure of payment including the rights that the involved
parties have, in case there is any dispute regarding the benefits provided.
Application of No-Fault Law in Florida
According to the Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, an
insurer must offer Personal Injury Protection as it is required by the law. In
other words, this section is primarily concerned with the insured member’s
coverage regarding the PIP law. It states that every motor vehicle insurer must
provide the PIP benefits to each of its insured members.
The State also requires the policy holder to maintain the
PIP insurance. In case a person fails to maintain it, then the State has full
right to suspend that person’s driving license. Furthermore, the registration
of that person’s vehicle will also be suspended.
Performance of another country or state
The PIP law of Florida states that certain information that
is exempted from confidentiality can be disclosed to any other entity, be it a
state, district, or a county. This will not require any request or even any
copy of the crash report in case such information is needed by that particular
entity in order to perform the duties that it holds.
Insurer’s right to reimburse
For instance, an insurer provides the Personal Injury
Protection benefits on the private passenger vehicle of a person. Now if that
person claims the PIP benefits as a result of an accident caused while he was
inside a commercial motor vehicle, then the amount extended for the medical
treatment (required as a result of that accident) can be reimbursed to the
insurer.
The insurer also has the right to get the amount reimbursed if
the accident is caused by a commercial motor vehicle while the insured member
was not occupying a private motor vehicle.
Medical Benefits of PIP
According to the State of Florida, 80% of the expenses which
include any surgical, chiropractic, rehabilitative, dental, nursing or X-ray
services that are acquired within fourteen days of the accident will be paid by
the insurer. These services also include an ambulance, in case it is
necessarily required.
However, the insurer has the right to refuse coverage for the
extended amount in case of any medical assistance that involves a physician,
certain dentists, or a chiropractic physician in addition to several others.
