Shhhh! THE CHANGES TO YOUR FLORIDA PIP NO-FAULT BENEFITS ARE A SECRET! YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW!

Shhhh!  THE CHANGES TO YOUR FLORIDA PIP NO-FAULT BENEFITS ARE A SECRET!  

YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW!

Here's one for you. Last week I had a patient come in to my office for a back problem, not car accident pain related.   He is an AllState Insurance salesman and supervisor at a local Allstate office.  We made the usual small talk.  I like to get to know a little about my patients; its easy to do when you are in a small room for 45 minutes to an hour.  But anyway...

So, I asked him what he thought of the changes to the No-Fault law. You know what he said? He said, "what changes?"

You see, even the people that sell insurance, who are supposed to be knowledgeable and up to date with what product they are selling, are being kept in the dark. This is exactly how the insurance companies want it. And, if I'm not mistaken, it was written into the new law that consumers are NOT REQUIRED to be advised of these changes. Can you believe this? So, the insurance companies push to eliminate 75% of your coverage--a coverage that is mandated by the state in order for you to drive, and they don't even send a memo or a letter to the SALES PEOPLE advising them of any upcoming changes.  As of today, we are only a 130 something days away from the new year.  How is it that this AllState Agent and supervisor had no idea about this?

So, here we go again.  The consumer does not know about these changes because even the insurance company agents are kept in the dark and furthermore, the companies are not required to let their policy holders know in advance of the changes.   Why let the cat out of the bag?  Why let people know about this now?  After all, there will always be accidents where people are injured.  By not talking about it, the insurance companies stand to save a BOAT LOAD of money, if people simply wait one day too long to get treated.  The information "probably" will be written into the new policies that renew, but even still, most people are not going to bother to read it.   And its not going to be on the front page of the policy.  The Dec page will still look the same;  it will say PIP NO FAULT--------$10,000.  Any reference to the changes or 75% decrease or the 14 days, will be written in the smaller print.   

Yet another unfair process.  I mean, credit card companies are required to send you letters advising you of interest changes or new rules, etc.  Investment funds are constantly updating their clients about any changes they may affect the investments.  But, auto insurance companies here in FL are not required to let you know about these very important changes.   I mean, how is one supposed to be prudent after an accident if they are not made aware of their responsibilities?   If you make one mistake like waiting 15 days to see a doctor, you have just given up all your PIP insurance benefits.  Yes, these are the benefits you paid for out of hard work.  These are the benefits that are REQUIRED for you to buy in order to register your car for the road.  This is a state law now.

My patient did have an interesting take on it. He said that the reason why he doesn't know about this, is because the AllState insurance company wants to make it look like it wasn't AllState who had anything to do with the changes. They will simply blame it on Florida.  Its like, "Hey, don't look at us, we had nothing to do with it. This is state law. Go take it up with your representative." 

He's probably at least partially right about this .  Sometimes I wonder if we live in the United States.

Alan Himmel, DC.
954-659-8600