A fired-up Gov. Rick Scott gave proponents of changes to the state’s no-fault insurance laws a lesson in politics, urging them to knock on lawmakers’ doors and let them have it.

Scott joined a crusade led by business industry leaders and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater pushing legislation intended to crack down on personal injury protection insurance fraud the governor said is costing Floridians $1 billion a year.

And today Scott came out in favor of the House’s PIP fix, that would require people injured in auto accidents to be treated in emergency rooms within 72 hours, cap attorneys’ fees and prohibit chiropractors or massage therapists from providing follow-up care.

“This is how laws get changed. Show up and let your legislators know what you want. You’re sick and tired of this $1 billion a year of fraud. You’re tired of it. You’re tired of scammers taking advantage of you. You’re tired of attorneys taking advantage of you. Enough is enough. We need to change this,” Scott told dozens of PIP reform advocates at a press conference on the fourth-floor rotunda in the Capitol. “Now. How do you do it? You do exactly what you’re doing here. You show up and then you go to everybody’s office.”

The press conference came on the heels of a House committee’s approval of HB 119. Proponents of the changes – including Scott – say they’re needed to cut back on fraud like staged auto accidents that are causing auto insurance premiums in some areas to skyrocket.

But critics of the House measure who favor a Senate version sponsored by Stuart Republican Joe Negron say the bill is anti-consumer because it limits consumers’ choices.

“This bill is the thing of consumers’ nightmares and of insurance bigwigs’ dreams,” Bill Newton, executive director of Florida Consumer Action Network, said in a statement.

Even with Scott’s support, the House bill, passed by the House Civil Justice Committee along partisan lines this morning, is in trouble, however. Even some GOP committee members said they can’t support the measure in its current form, setting the stage for an ongoing battle between doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, insurers and attorneys.

Times may be tough but there’s still plenty to be grateful for, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater tells Floridians in a Thanksgiving video message released today.

Atwater, a North Palm Beach banker and former Senate president, says he’s thankful for his “exciting year” as the executive in charge of the state’s checkbook and he’s appreciative of the country’s military serving overseas, who “risk their lives every day so that we can enjoy the blessings that we have been afforded: our safety, our security, the ability just to spend time with our families, our friends.”

Read about Atwater’s possible face-offs with Gov. Rick Scott over state contracting and The Florida Bar over PIP after the jump.
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Immigration is at the top of Gov. Rick Scott’s legislative priorities when lawmakers reconvene in January, the first-term governor told Northwest Florida conservative radio talk show host Burnie Thompson today.

Lawmakers failed to reach agreement on any immigration proposals during the session that ended in May.

“We should have done an immigration bill. The federal government should be securing our borders. They should have a logical, national immigration policy, a good work visa program policy. But if people are in our state illegally we should be able to ask them if they’re legal or not if they’re doing something wrong and violating our laws. That’s one thing we ought to be doing,” Scott told Thompson, a talk show host on Panama City Beach’s WYOO 101.1 FM.

Other Scott priorities include property and auto insurance reform and restricting how school districts spend money, he said.

Scott, who spends part of his days reaching out to corporate leaders and encouraging them to set up shop in the Sunshine State, challenged all Floridians to follow his lead. Scott has pledged to create 700,000 in seven years.

“I want everybody in this state to call somebody and say, ‘Look why don’t you move your company here?’ Any feelers they get give my office a call because I’ll make the phone call with them to make it happen. We have 19 million people in our state. If all of us get active on economic development, everybody in this state will have an opportunity for a job,” he said.

Read what Scott said about insurance and education after the jump.
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GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott released a new ad attacking Democratic opponent Alex Sink for licensing felons as insurance agents although a recent court ruling found Sink, the state’s chief financial officer, is too harsh on the ex-criminals.

Scott’s campaign released the ad the day of the duo’s first live televised debate set to begin at 7 p.m tonight. His campaign staff first handed out information about Sink licensing felons at their first match-up in Miami at a taped Univision debate on Oct. 8.

The ad claims that Sink “had broad discretion to withhold a license…but after 3 days of searching could not name one case in which she used that authority.”

But civil rights experts and Sink’s staff insist that she has limited authority to withhold the licenses and a judge decided that Sink’s waiting periods before felons are eligible to get licenses is too long. Her office has appealed that ruling.

Read The Palm Beach Post story about the licenses here.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink will be in Palm Beach County on Friday to promote her proposed legislation stiffening penalties for crooks who scam senior citizens.
It’s the third year in a row Sink, a Democrat who is running for governor, has backed legislation to crack down on investor fraud schemes targeting the elderly.

The Senate passed her bill last year but it never got heard in a House committee.
Sink’s office has had 800 complaints from seniors this year.

Rep. Maria Sachs, a Delray Beach Democrat, is sponsoring Sink’s bill this year.

Sink’s proposal would increase penalties for “churning” – turning an existing life insurance policy or annuity from one company to another – annuities to senior citizens and for other annuity or insurance-related schemes.

Friday’s event will be held at 10 a.m. at The Church of Bethesda in Palm Beach.

Those interested in attending should pre-register by calling 1-877-MY-FL-CFO (1-877-693-5236) or (850) 413-3089.

Backers of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms unleashed a television ad in Orlando, Louisville and Washington pillorying Humana’s scare tactics targeting seniors and the plan’s impact on Medicare.

Americans United for Change, Obama’s campaign organization-turned unofficial presidential PR machine, is running the ad and also staging a protest at Humana headquarters in West Palm Beach today at noon.

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched an investigation into Humana Inc.’s possible misuse of beneficiary information to send anti-health care mailers to its Medicare gap coverage enrollees. The Louisville-based insurer is one of the largest Medicare supplemental insurance providers.

Humana sent mailers to seniors in several states, including Florida, containing what could be misleading information about Obama’s plan, warning of cuts to benefits and increases in costs to the popular government-backed insurance plan for seniors.

According to the AARP’s web site, “None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.”

Gov. Charlie Crist said today he will likely veto an insurance deregulation bill that consumer advocates charge will lead to rate increases.

Crist said he will probably not sign HB 1171 that would give carte blanche to insurers with more than $200 million in surplus to raise rates.

“The odds are not. But I haven’t made a final decision,” he said.

Department of Insurance Regulation chief Kevin McCarty urged Crist to veto the bill in a letter sent last month and last week saying that it would unfairly benefit large insurers and destabilize the insurance market.

It would also give a leg up to State Farm, the insurer that is canceling its Florida homeowners policies because McCarty rejected its rate increase requests, McCarty said.

State Farm was overexposed in Florida and would likely have canceled the policies regardless of how much they were allowed to charge, McCarty said.

“In fact, State Farm and other companies may actually use excessive rates to effectively non-renew policyholders under the ruse of consumer choice,” McCarty wrote.

Former state Rep. Don Brown, R-Defuniak Springs, says in a letter in today’s Palm Beach Post that State Farm pulling out of Florida is a sign that that Gov. Charlie Crist’s property insurance plans are “unraveling.”

Those who know the world of finance say that State Farm has the money to pay claims, at least for now. But having been denied a much-needed rate increase, State Farm can’t guarantee that will be the case much longer.

So, going into this hurricane season, are you betting on the governor or State Farm to be able to bring cash to the disaster? If you’re betting on the governor, good luck. You may need a lot of it.

Meanwhile, the editorial board says Crist and the Cabinet made the argument for a national catastrophe fund last week in deciding to push for a federal line of credit to backstop the state’s hurricane catastrophe fund.

Senate President Jeff Atwater got an earful from a combative State Farm agent at what was supposed to be a routine Q and A with T-Coast leaders.

State Farm agent Bill Knight peppered Atwater, who has been on the warpath against property insurers for what he believes are excessive rates, with questions about the state CAT fund and other insurance questions, often interrupting the president and ultimately shutting down the session.

State Farm recently announced it was leaving the state and canceling its 1.2 million clients over the next two years after state insurance officials turned down its request for a 47 percent rate hike.

The state’s catastrophe fund has about $8 billion in cash on hand, but needs to cover about $28 billion in losses if a major storm occurs.

“We are heading out and there’s no turning around at this point. Where are the dollars going to come from if we were to have a Category 4 or 5 storm hitting Tampa or Pinellas County or anyone else in the state?” Knight wanted to know.

“We would be in a world of hurt if this occurred,” Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said.

But that didn’t stop Knight.

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There’s been a lot of talk about where the presidential candidates stand on the issue of a national catastrophe fund. U.S. Rep. Ron Klein wants all the candidates — Democrats and Republicans — to take a more definite stand:

Would they support the Homeowners’ Defense Act (H.R. 3355), passed by the House last year and pending in the Senate?

Klein and U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, both Democrats from Palm Beach County, authored the bill, but the House adopted a major amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Republican from Brooksville, that expanded the bill to include a national catastrophe fund.

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Gov. Charlie Crist continues to playing his property tax cards close to his vest, giving away little about what he hopes lawmakers will achieve in a yet-to-be scheduled special session revisiting the issue.

A Leon County judge threw a constitutional amendment placed there by the legislature off the Jan. 29 ballot because it was misleading and deceptive.

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The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page sharply criticized Gov. Crist today with a little help from former Gov. Jeb Bush.

The Journal is unhappy with Florida taking on much of the insurance risk in the event of a major hurricane.

Using the headline – Hurricane Jeb

From the Journal: Mr. Bush criticizing states that are crafting disaster insurance plans “that are as bad as the natural disasters themselves.” Which states? “My beloved state of Florida has taken steps along that path.” Ouch.

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Gov. Charlie Crist again lashed out at insurers today and encouraged directors of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to keep up the good work.

“(Citizens) used to be the dumping ground for the insurance industry of Florida,” Crist told the Citizens Board of Governors early this morning.

“Some in the private sector are afraid of competition. That is not the American way. Competition is the American way. And if they don’t want to compete, Florida will,” he went on.

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Although he is an avid angler, Gov. Charlie Crist said he and Office of Insurance Regulation Commissioner Kevin McCarty are not on a fishing expedition to snag insurers, as some industry representatives have charged.

McCarty was right to postpone a State Farm rate hike hearing, previously scheduled for today, because industry insiders were not forthcoming in their responses to McCarty’s subpoenas, Crist said.

“The commissioner’s opportunity with the subpoena power will give him a greater chance to have some straight answers about what the industry is doing with the huge profits that they’re making,” Crist said.

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Florida’s no-fault insurance law, which includes personal injury protection, or PIP, will likely expire before lawmakers come to an agreement on how to revamp it or replace it, according to Gov. Charlie Crist, who also said he prefers to keep the law on the books.

The legislature returns to Tallahassee on Sept. 18 to slash the budget, and those on both sides of the PIP fence hoped the insurance issue would be added to the special session.

Don’t bank on it, Crist said today.

“There is still the opportunity for personal injury protection to be provided for. I don’t know if I’m terribly optimistic about that notion, to be candid with you. But, you know, it still could happen,” he said, because House and Senate leaders can’t agree on what to do.

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Gov. Charlie Crist said today he is considering taking legal action against Florida property insurers who he believes have not cut insurance rates as required by state law.

His lawyers are also looking into possible violations of anti-trust laws, Crist said.

Office of Insurance Regulation chief Kevin McCarty backed up Crist, saying his office has rejected insurers’ rate filings because they do not reflect the savings required by a state law passed during a special session in January.

Insurers are able to buy reinsurance from the state at a fraction of the cost in the commercial market and then are required to pass the savings on to consumers.

“It’s the law. And there are consequences for not complying with the law,” Crist said.