As we've reported here previously, Florida hospitals were distressed when it looked like the state's personal-injury protection law was going to expire. Luckily for them, the state did go ahead and reinstate the law, which requires motorists to carry insurance covering parties injured in accidents regardless of fault. The reinstatement is a big financial break for hospitals, which could have faced costs of $140 million a year to care for uninsured accident victims.
That being said, for the next two and a half months, motorists won't be required to carry PIP. Instead, the driver responsible for the accident will be required to pay for care of the injured. Hospitals say that to recoup their costs, they're probably going to end up embroiled in legal disputes between drivers over fault in the accident. Sure, this is a brief stretch, but it still sounds ugly--and costly.
To learn more about the PIP law fallout:
- read this Modern Healthcare article