Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Sets PIP Meetings

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.