Insurance Blog of Florida

On Tuesday, the NTSB made recommendations that states lower the legal blood alcohol limit (BAC) for drinking and driving. It currently holds at .08 percent nationwide, as it has since the years of the Clinton administration.  Now, the 5 member board would like to see it lowered  to .05 percent.

The impetus for the change: the rate of DUI related deaths and accidents just isn’t budging. While the numbers aren’t as high as they were, say, in the 1980′s, when approx. 20,000 persons died annually due to drinking and driving incidents, the current number, 10,000 per year, remains unacceptably high. This number doesn’t appear to be faltering via any legal deterrent or public information campaign currently in place.

The United States is one of a very few countries in the industrialized world that allows a legal BAC this high – Canada and Iraq are others. Europe, Australia, and South America enforce the lower .05 percentage. Some, i.e. Australia, saw a decline in DWI related accidents upon doing so.

There is some opposition to the potential new regulation, however, namely from certain members of the beverage industry.  This recommendation is ludicrous,” said Sarah Longwell, managing director of The American Beverage Institute. ”Moving from 0.08 to 0.05 would criminalize perfectly responsible behavior. Further restricting the moderate consumption of alcohol by responsible adults prior to driving does nothing to stop hardcore drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel.”

An NTSB study shows that if the U.S dropped its BAC, as many as 1,000 lives a year could be saved. The last move from .10 percent, to .08 percent,  took 21 years for each state to implement.

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=15371&picture=in-west-palm-beach

The downtown area of Lakeland has undergone quite the revival. Popping up have been a number of businesses such as shops, restaurants and bars.

So what’s missing? Apparently, it’s the Lakeland homeowners that would enjoy the benefits of city living.

Lakeland city officials want to change that by offering financial incentives up to $3,500 to building owners, according to an article on The Ledger.com.

The funds would be offered as part of an architect’s study that would first need to be performed to determine what space could be used in these buildings for Lakeland homeowners.

To sweeten the deal the study would come with all the assistance such as what would be needed to get the buildings to code.

source: stockvault.net

Florida’s workers’ compensation insurers  have finally reached an important compromise in pending new legislation with doctors and pharmaceutical companies, and it’s one that is expected to finally put a cap on the cost of physician – dispensed drugs.

Florida lawmakers passed  a modified version of SB 662, which imposes a limit on the dollar amount a doctor can charge for drugs prescribed to an injured employee. Under the guidelines of the bill, the reimbursement rate is maxed out at 111.2 percent of the wholesale cost of the drug, plus an $8  dispensing fee.

Pharmacies will see changes as well. Their reimbursements will be maintained at the drug’s average wholesale price, plus a $4.18 dispensing fee.

An anticipated result of SB 662 is an estimated $20 million reduction in overall insurance rates. This is almost $7 million less than the original proposed bill which had equaled out physician and pharmaceutical company reimbursement caps.

Of late, the State of Florida has seen a dramatic rise in the cost for prescription drugs. This increase takes part of the blame for for a rise in workers compensation premiums. In fact, according to the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute, the average prescription cost per claim in the state was approximately  $500, making it the second highest among states they surveyed.

The “new” SB 662 could be a way to provide worker’s with the health benefits that they need, while protecting their employers and insurers from unnecessary, unwarranted, and indefinite costs on prescription drugs.