Orlando, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2012 -- The Florida Legislature passed sweeping auto insurance reform in March aimed at reducing fraudulent claims and potentially lowering insurance rates.

Florida’s no-fault insurance laws require drivers to carry $10,000 in personal injury protection. The state has been plagued by insurance fraud.

The state House and Senate drafted bills this season with different approaches to the same goal of reducing criminal insurance fraud and lowering insurance premiums for consumers.

The final agreement will do the following to prevent fraud:

- Injured motorists have 14 days to seek health care treatment. This provision of the law falls short of House’s version of the bill, which also proposed to limit care to emergency rooms in hospitals or other emergency care facilities.

- Massage therapists and acupuncturists are removed from the list of covered health care treatment for accident victims. This provision falls short of the House’s version of reform, which also would have removed chiropractors from the list.

- There will be no caps on attorneys fees.

- Insurance companies will be allowed to examine policyholders during investigations of accident fraud.

The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk. He is expected to sign it.

“This bill will go a long way toward cutting down on insurance fraud in Florida,” said Orlando auto insurance agent Lee Rogers of the Florida Insurance Group. “It could have gone further, but this is how politics works sometimes. We expect that fraud will continue to be an issue in Florida, but hopefully this new law will make it harder for criminals to abuse the system.”

To learn more about Florida auto insurance, call 1.888.525.2210 or visit http://www.floridainsurance.com.