Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Tuesday, December 11

Dec 11, 2012

 

To go directly to the section of your choice, click on a hyperlink below.  Other hyperlinks to meeting information, bills and news are noted in bold type.




Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events

 

9:00 a.m.–Florida Cabinet meeting. To view the complete agenda, click here.   

  • Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”)
    • For final adoption
      • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-143.045, which was originally promulgated in the 1970s and defines a list of domestic insurer-related terms, many of which are now inconsistent with portions of the Florida Insurance Code.
      • Rule 69O-164.030, “Application of Rule 69O-164.020 to Various Product Designs,” has been deemed unnecessary by the OIR and is proposed for repeal.
      • Proposed amendments to Rule 69O-149.003, “Rate Filing Procedures,” delete the Maximum Annual Medical Trend tables from the text of the Rule and provides the URL of the OIR’s Website on which the tables will be published and updated as needed.
      • Proposed amendments to Rule 69O-137.001 would adopt the 2011 National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) Quarterly Statement Instructions and the 2011 NAIC Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual.
      • Proposed amendments to Rule 69O-138.001 would adopt the 2012 NAIC Financial Condition Examiners Handbook.  The current Rule adopted the 2011 version.  To view the hearing notice, click here.
      • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-198.003, which prohibits any person, entity or administrator from providing or offering to provide service warranties, unless licensed by the OIR, because it is a restatement of Section 634.403, F.S. and, therefore, unnecessary.
      • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-170.012, which prohibits insurers from non-renewing or canceling property insurance policies “on the basis of filing of claims for partial loss caused by sinkhole damage or clay shrinkage.”  Legislative changes have caused this Rule to become antiquated and unnecessary.
      • Proposed amendments to Rule 69O-149.022 would update and edit the contents of the forms and instructions used by life and health insurers to make electronic form filings via the OIR’s I-File system.
      • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-157.105, “Refund of Premium,” which requires long-term care insurers that cancel an insurance policy to refund to the policyholder any unearned premium paid to the insurer.  This Rule substantially restates the language of Section 627.6645(4), F.S. and is considered unnecessary.
      • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-157.018, “Right to Return Policy-Free Look,” which requires individual long-term care insurers to give policyholders 30 days to examine a policy after delivery, and to return the policy for a full refund of premium if not satisfied for any reason.  This Rule substantially restates the language of Section 627.9407(8), F.S. and is considered unnecessary.
      • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-185.005, “Advertisement of Mortgage Insurance,” which prohibits insurers from insuring mortgages offered for sale to the public by advertisements that expressly or impliedly represent that the worth, value or safety of the mortgage investment arises by virtue of the proposed mortgage guaranty insurance, rather than by virtue of the value of the underlying security, or which stress the fact that the mortgage guaranty insurance is regulated by an agency of the state or federal government.  This Rule substantially restates the language of Section 635.071(3), F.S. and is considered unnecessary. 
        • Proposed repeal of Rule 69O-196.008, “Failure to Comply,” pertaining to premium finance companies.  This Rule substantially restates the language of Sections 627.832 and 627.833, F.S. and is considered unnecessary.
      • For publication
        • Proposed amendments to Rule 69O-176.013, “Notification of Insured’s Rights and Standard Disclosure Form,” would update and revise Form OIR-B1-1149 [Notification of Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) Benefits] in accordance with statutory revisions due to HB 119.
            • Proposed amendments to Rule 69O-170.0155, “Forms,” would update and revise Form OIR-B1-1809 (Health Care Provider Certification of Eligibility) for PIP benefits under statutory revisions by HB 119.

        (CANCELED) 1:00 p.m.–Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation Three-Member Panel meeting.  Tallahassee, Florida.  Consideration of adoption of a methodology for reimbursing hospitals 60 and 75 percent of usual and customary charges for outpatient services; re-adoption of the per-diem rates schedule for hospital inpatient care or a revision to the current schedule; re-adoption of the ambulatory surgical center schedule of rates; and re-adoption of the 2012 Health Care Provider Reimbursement Manual, which is still pending ratification by the Legislature.  To view the cancelation notice, click here.

         

         

        Daily Insurance-Related News

         

        Florida Governor Scott wants Citizens Property Insurance to have inspector general

        Saying the citizens of Florida need assurances that their money is being spent correctly, Gov. Rick Scott wants Citizens Property Insurance to have its own inspector general.

         

        Condo pleads for relief as property insurance rates triple

        The penny-pinching board members of Village Green Condominium Section 11 work hard to keep costs down for residents, from repainting shuffleboard courts themselves to organizing community landscaping days.

         

        Condo destroys sand dune

        A sand dune on Fort Lauderdale’s beach has been destroyed by a condominium complex, despite objections from environmentalists that it played an important role in the ecology of the beach.

         

        United Insurance expands to North Carolina

        The North Carolina Department of Insurance approved United Insurance Property & Casualty Insurance Co. to write property and casualty insurance in the state.

         

        Data driving new program tracking accidents and more for Florida Highway Patrol

        When 14-year-old Jordan Sommise was ejected and killed in a Baker County traffic accident December 1, it stung loved ones, friends and a man who has seen plenty of highway death.

         

        Florida’s New PIP Insurance Law Takes Effect on January 1, 2013

        Recent changes in Florida’s Personal Injury Protection insurance may make it more difficult to recover compensation from negligent parties in an auto accident, Boca Raton personal injury attorneys predict.

         

        Blog:  Feds say no to partial Medicaid expansion

        Florida and other states will have to fully expand Medicaid eligibility if they want to tap into billions of dollars in extra money under the federal Affordable Care Act, Obama administration officials said Monday, reports Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida.

         

        Florida Senate: No State-Based Federal Health Care Exchange by 2014

        Want to tell state legislators and Congress what you really think of the Affordable Care Act?

         

        Unemployment system changes looming for claimants, employers

        Nearly 119,000 Floridians receiving federal emergency unemployment compensation will stop receiving benefits December 29 if Congress doesn’t reach a deal to extend them.

         

        Bill repealing ethanol requirement is back despite law change that passed in 2012 session

        A bill that would repeal a state requirement that gasoline contain ethanol has been filed again.

         

        THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA:  Five questions for State Representative Matt Hudson

        Representative Matt Hudson, R-Naples, represents District 101 in the Florida House of Representatives.

         

        Judge reduces $34 million award in long-term care insurance case

        A federal judge has cut punitive damages from $32 million to $10 million in a case where a jury found that an insurance company violated a long-term-care contract when it cut off benefits for an elderly Billings woman.

         

        Insured U.S. building values now exceed $80 trillion

        Insured building values in the US now exceed $80 trillion – and $15 trillion of the exposures are in counties along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts exposed to hurricane and other coastal hazards, according to an analysis put out yesterday by Boston-based Karen Clark & Company.

         

        Motley Fool:  Sandy Isn’t Going to Destroy These Insurers

        Hurricane Sandy was a nasty beast; in fact, it’s quickly on track to become one of the nation’s most destructive storms ever, in terms of property destruction.

         

         

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