NU Online News Service, Aug. 17, 1:21 p.m. EST

PIP Rate Increases in Florida Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty gives a bleak outlook of the state's out-of-control personal injury protection (PIP) insurance system.

Benefits paid on no-fault PIP claims has skyrocketed 70 percent since 2008 though the amount of licensed Florida drivers has remained steady and the amount of accidents has decreased.

McCarty blames the massive rise in PIP payments—about $1.43 billion in 2008 to $2.37 billion in 2010—on fraud and abuse.

Rising medical costs can be blamed for some of the increase, “but not 70 percent,” McCarty tells the Florida Cabinet.

The statistic—derived from a data call of 31 companies representing 80 percent of the market—struck Gov. Rick Scott, who likened the increase to an $800-$900 million tax increase for Floridians.

“Yes, it comes out of the pockets of Joe and Mary Lunchbox,” McCarty says. “And it could be through no fault of your own. You could be a very good driver.”

Since the last round PIP reforms were implemented in 2007, fraudsters have “perfected a system of finding weak-points” in the system, he adds.

To illustrate the point, McCarty charted PIP premiums for a married 40-year-old woman and an unmarried 25-year-old man, both with clean driving records. Since 2005, premiums for each have increased at least 84 percent.

Insurers have increased PIP premiums dramatically just to break even, but they are failing. Despite increases, every dollar a PIP insurer collects goes directly to paying PIP medical benefits. Add in other costs, and the PIP combined ratio nears 140.

“Obviously, that is not sustainable,” McCarty tells the Cabinet. He called the situation a “crisis.”

“Companies are not going to lose money,” McCarty explains. Insurers are going to ask for even more rate or “find ways to deploy capital elsewhere,” he adds.

Efforts by the state Legislature to curb PIP fraud have been “largely unsuccessful,” says the commissioner. Reforms are met with opposition from medical providers and attorneys, each of which has a big stake in the system.

This year during the Legislative Session, bills designed to beat back fraud and abuse in the PIP system were killed by a legislative committee. McCarty says he is meeting with sponsors of these bills to once again discuss a plan to reform the system.

State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater says the system should be abolished if lawmakers cannot fix it. Alternatives need to be considered if legislators won't work to come to a conclusion, he adds.

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