Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Wednesday, January 9
Jan 9, 2013
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
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 Florida Legislature. To view the meeting notice, click here.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Florida House bill filed to solidify Citizens Property Insurance rate cap
Representativbe Jose Felix Diaz and Senator Anitere Flores, both Miami Republicans, have filed bills to cement the 10 percent cap on annual rate increases for Citizens Property Insurance Corp., whose board members floated the idea of breaking the cap for new policies.
Blog: New state workers’ compensation report shows insurance carriers unfairly target physicians
An alarming concern related to the continued interference by insurance carriers into the doctor-patient relationship is one of the troubling findings of a new report from Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation.
Blog: Florida Governor Scott administration defends politically-charged Obamacare estimates
Governor Rick Scott’s administration is defending its estimates of the costs of carrying out the federal Affordable Care Act, after Health News Florida obtained copies of emails that raised questions about the validity of the numbers.
Diagnosis-Related Group Medicaid plan moving forward
The Agency for Health Care Administration is moving forward with a plan to change the way hospitals are paid for treating patients covered by Medicaid.
Governor Rick Scott travelled to Sunrise on Tuesday to tout a new economic incentive deal with Bolton Medical Solutions, a medical device manufacturer, that is designed to add 30 new jobs to the area.
In a national report issued today, January 8, 2013 that grades all 50 states on four benchmarks related to dental sealants, Florida received a “D” from the Pew Center on the States for not doing enough to provide more low-income children with dental sealants.
New legal fight is brewing over police-fire pensions
Lawmakers are again working to overhaul how local police and firefighter pensions are bankrolled, allowing cities to use more money from a tax on insurance premiums to back up retirement systems that are in some cases badly underfunded.
Blog: School districts to press Legislature for safety money
Florida school districts plan to press state lawmakers for an increase in school security money in the upcoming legislative session, following last year’s school shooting in Connecticut.
Blog: Levine, Huizenga Jr., others seek coveted University Board of Governors slots
Governor Rick Scott has an important decision to make. Six of them, to be exact.
Rick Scott Promotes the “Gem” of Grapefruit League Baseball
The Boston Red Sox will open the 2013 Grapefruit League season with a pair of games against college teams — Northwestern and Boston College — on Feb. 21 in Fort Myers.
For U.S. Senate Committee Active in Insurance Issues, a New Ranking Minority Member
Senator Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, will replace Senator Richard Shelby, R-Ala., as ranking minority member of the Senate Banking Committee-a key Senate oversight panel for the insurance industry.
U.S. Supreme Court Considers Travelers Insurance Case on Limiting Class Actions
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday weighed whether to impose new limits on class-action lawsuits, as it reviewed whether a homeowner’s lawsuit against his insurer belonged in a state court considered friendly to plaintiffs.
Panel Offers Plan for New York to Prepare for Catastrophes
New York State’s NYS 2100 Commission, created by Governor Andrew Cuomo in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to offer recommendations on ways to better prepare for natural disasters, is out with its initial report, including a section on potential changes to the insurance environment.
AIG May Join Greenberg Bailout Suit Against Government; Policyholder Advocates React
The board of American International Group will consider on Wednesday joining a lawsuit filed by former chairman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg that argues that the government was unfair to AIG shareholders when it bailed out the insurance giant in 2008.
AIG’s Benmosche Responds to New York Times
American International Group President and CEO Robert Benmosche fired back at The New York Times in response to a December 24 editorial the paper ran on whether the circumstances surrounding the 2008 bailout of the insurance giant could ever happen again.
Marsh Launches Risk Transfer Product for Wage, Hour Claims
With the number of wage and hour claims against employers on the rise, Marsh has launched a new insurance product that reimburses companies for defense costs, settlements, and judgments for actual or alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act or similar state and local laws.
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