PIP Reform And How It Affects You

On Friday, March 9th, Florida’s legislature passed HB 119 which will drastically change the availability of Florida’s No Fault medical benefits after an automobile accident. Originally, Florida’s personal injury protection insurance system, also known as PIP, was designed to provide $10,000 worth of coverage for automobile accident related medical treatment, regardless of who was responsible for causing the crash.

While most PIP claimants are honest Florida auto injury victims, unfortunately, some individuals have decided to file fraudulent claims to benefit from the PIP’s old ways. The new law is an attempt to prevent these false claims as well as aggressive billing practices by “PIP Clinics.” The new law also requires treatment within fourteen days of the accident. In the instance that the initial treatment does occur within fourteen days of the accident, follow up care is now limited to $2,500 if the treatment was not for an “emergency medical condition.” The ability for a chiropractor to decide if you have an “emergency medical condition” has been taken away and now delegated only to physicians, osteopaths, physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners. Massage and Acupuncture treatment will now be excluded from the list of approved medical services.

While the Bill may alleviate some of the aggressive billing practices of the PIP Clinics, it may also unjustly limit the coverage for Floridians who wait more than two weeks to seek treatment. In most cases, the small amount of $2,500 will not cover all of the patient’s medical bills for sprains, strains and whiplash injuries, which are common after an accident. And if an injured person is taken to the hospital by ambulance, most of the allotted $2,500 will already be eaten up. Legitimate physicians and chiropractors will also be affected in all of this because they will no longer be able to seek reimbursement for their services.

The idea behind shaking up the PIP was based on placing barriers on claims so Floridian’s auto insurance premiums would see some relief. However, experts predict that consumers will see few benefits from the new reform.