Florida’s insurance regulator is readying another push for assignment of benefits reform in next year’s legislative session. Similar measures have failed since 2013.
Florida’s office of insurance regulation has just one item on its list of legislative priorities: assignment of benefits reform. The procedure is common throughout the insurance industry, and it allows providers to bill an insurer directly. But Commissioner David Altmaier says it’s leading to a spike in property claims.
“We are trying to keep the conversation very data driven,” Altmaier says, “it’s easy to get into anecdotal evidence on both sides of this issue and so our primary focus is making sure that when we have these conversations it’s very data focused.”
But in recent years those anecdotal examples have been effective in sinking legislation—forcing lawmakers to choose between exasperated homeowners or small repair companies and well-heeled insurance firms.
Port Orange Republican Senator Dorothy Hukill has filed a measure for the 2018 session restricting assignments.
