Ft. Lauderdale Chiropractor Troy Lomasky Notes Orlando Sentinel Editorial on PIP: Fix PIP, but don't kill the no-fault program

Orlando Sentinel Editorial: Fix PIP, but don't kill the no-fault program

August 7, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott suggested late last month that it's time Florida scrapped its requirement that motorists carry personal-injury protection, which pays medical benefits for injuries suffered in automobile crashes no matter who's at fault.

The state would be better off if Scott instead worked with the Legislature to reform PIP, while keeping it mandatory. Making it optional or getting rid of PIP would likely cause more problems than it would solve.

That's not to say PIP hasn't been a headache, even after the Legislature passed a bill in 2007 intended to scale back abuses in the system. Lawmakers required that participating health care providers charge customary fees, which lawmakers said should prevent hospitals and clinics from charging exorbitant rates, which had caused auto insurers to increase premiums.

Lawmakers also gave prosecutors more resources to pursue questionable medical claims associated with staged accidents.

But PIP's problems have persisted or worsened. A report from Florida's chief financial officer, Jeff Atwater, indicated that the number of PIP claims jumped 40 percent since 2006, even though the number of traffic accidents in Florida fell by 33,000 between 2005 and 2009.

Atwater also reported that questionable auto insurance claims rose in Florida by 34 percent from 2008 to 2010. The heightened claims, Atwater suggested, are causing insurers in many cases to double PIP premiums in hopes of covering their costs.

So, scrap PIP or make it optional? That, we've said, would only make things worse. For decades, PIP has limited auto accident lawsuits, which were choking courts and delaying payments to legitimate health-care providers. Rip up PIP and the courts will gridlock.

Remove the PIP requirement and motorists will pay substantially more for their health insurance, which increasingly would cover auto injuries. More deadbeats also will drive without insurance, forcing others to pay for their care after accidents.

Some auto insurers also would love to replace a diminished PIP system with one mandating more expensive — and more profitable — bodily-injury protection.

Better, then, to retain PIP but curb its excesses. Scott and legislators could make health providers that handle PIP claims part of a registry that subjects them to review and reprimand. They could limit the times some health providers and schemers try billing insurers to game the 2007 restrictions on fees they can charge.

Scott and legislators say they're all about fighting fraud. They should work to free PIP of it, not bury the state's flawed but worthy personal-injury-protection program.

Copyright © 2011, Orlando Sentinel




Ft. Lauderdale Chiropractor Dr. Troy Lomasky heads Coast Chiropractic of Wilton Manors, Florida. A graduate of the famed New York Chiropractic College, he specializes in quickly treating pain from a variety of conditions. Services include: Consultation, X-ray, spinal adjustments & massage therapy, physiotherapy, spinal decompression for disc problems; spinal and muscular rehabilitation. New patients, weekend & same-day appointments available. (954) 463-3036 or www.chiropractorwiltonmanors.com. On-call for emergencies 24 hours. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties.