Replacing PIP would mean lawsuits filed for every car accident

The Saturday article in The Palm Beach Post Business section written by Charles Elmore was another one-sided piece that will hurt Florida consumers by ignoring the benefits of the PIP (Personal Injury Protection) automobile insurance system.

With the election of Donald Trump as president, the United States is facing the end of the Obamacare era. The transition from Obamacare into the new Trump plan could mean hundreds of thousands of Floridians will be left without health insurance. This is a quantum change in the analysis on getting rid of PIP.

There are two significant points The Post consistently ignores about keeping Florida’s PIP “no-fault” laws. First, PIP prohibits people with non-permanent injuries from suing for big-money pain and suffering, and future economic damages. Second, PIP keeps our hospitals and emergency medical providers from going bankrupt treating accident victims who don’t carry health insurance.

Without PIP, the injury lawyers (I am one and I guarantee this will happen) will start to sue in every single accident case, regardless of how small the injuries. The public may think injury lawyers file too many lawsuits now — but they are wrong. There are very few auto accident lawsuits being filed compared with what will happen without the PIP no-fault laws.

This is especially true if Florida follows the suggested plan to replace PIP insurance with mandatory bodily injury insurance. Bodily injury insurance is every bit as expensive as PIP, so in the end consumers will save nothing. In that system, every car will carry liability insurance, and every injury lawyer will have a target pot of money to sue for, in every single auto accident case — regardless of how small or how frivolous at the accident; and without the PIP statute, there will be no regulation stopping lawsuits over non-permanent injuries or small amounts of money.

Whether the PIP system stays or goes is a decision the Florida Legislature could make this year. The public deserves to know the full effects of what they are getting rid of, and what will happen when it is replaced.