The first meeting of a working group established by Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Robin Westcott to tackle the increasing cost of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage will be held on Thursday, September 15. Subsequent meetings will be held on September 26 and October 10. All meetings will take place in Tallahassee at the Capitol Complex, House Office Building Committee Room 404 starting at 9:00 a.m. and ending at approximately 4:00 p.m. The meetings are open to the public and there will be time set aside for public comments.

The working group includes law enforcement, consumer advocates, members of the insurance industry, medical providers, attorneys, and other professionals who have knowledge of the benefits and challenges of the no-fault system. Participants include:

Westcott
Marc Slager, deputy chief of staff, director of Cabinet affairs, executive office of Gov. Rick Scott
James Knudson, Esq., senior attorney, Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Committee
Florida House of Representatives (monitoring)
Detective Ron Cooper, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Howard Goldblatt, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
Brad Ashwell, Director, Florida Public Interest Research Group
Ralph Glatfelter, Florida Hospital Association
Dr. Richard Thacker, DO, Florida Osteopathic Medical Association
Paul Watson Lambert, Esq., Florida Chiropractic Association, Inc.
Jeffery M. Scott, Florida Medical Association
Steven D. Smith, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida
S. Grier Wells, Esq., board of governors, Florida Bar
Todd Copeland, Esq., Florida Justice Association
René Hernández, Esq., Florida Insurance Council, Inc.
Lynne McChristian, Insurance Information Institute
Alex M. Hageli, Esq., Property Casualty Insurers Association of America
Allen McGlynn, Esq., State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Company
Robert Simmons, Esq., Allstate
Michael J. Neimand, Esq., United Automobile Insurance Company
Major Simon Blank, Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud
R. Terry Butler, Esq., senior attorney, Office of the Insurance Consumer Advocate
Monte Stevens, director, governmental affairs, Office of Insurance Regulation (Information/Technical Assistance)

Westcott will gather ideas from the working group to address fraud and potential alternatives to Florida's current no-fault system and deliver a report to CFO Jeff Atwater by October 25.

The meetings will be broadcast on the Florida Channel. The agenda and all pertinent meeting documents will be posted at a website set up for the working group.

Special Reports /

Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Sets PIP Meetings

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