The new Personal Injury Protection (PIP) legislation being trumpeted by Rick Scott and Kevin McCarty (insurance commissioner) is simply a series of methods to attack a problem by saddling honest consumers with more regulation and less benefit. The claim is that the PIP system is so filled with fraud that more laws must be passed to combat it.

Let me say that I am opposed to fraud of any kind.

I believe that someone who actually commits a fraud should be prosecuted and punished.

I believe that people actually do stage accidents with the intent of profiting from it. Those people should be found and punished.

I suspect that, much like other professions, there are unscrupulous lawyers and doctors who may be involved in these types of fraudulent activities. Those professionals should be found and punished.

I do not believe that passing legislation that may have a chance to limit fraud, but also acts to limit innocent consumer rights while further increasing bottom line profits of insurance companies is the best way to fight fraud.

We do not need new laws on the books to police fraud in the insurance industry. What we need is aggressive enforcement of the already existing laws and an active investment in that enforcement by the industry that profits most – the insurance industry.

Florida’s politicians have done little to alter a fundamental problem with Florida’s regulation of insurance companies, which we have been writing about for years. Insurance companies in Florida have developed a strategy for tricking the system and limiting insurance coverage while maintaining high premium rates. The industry was successful in last year’s legislature by removing certain coverage from homeowner’s policies; while consumers received no corresponding consideration on the premium side.

This new proposed legislation requires that in order to be eligible for PIP to pay for medical treatment, the injured person must seek emergency medical care at an emergency care facility within 72 hours. First, not all injuries develop in a 72 hour window and, second, many honestly injured people try to “tough it out” for days and weeks before seeking medical treatment. For those honest people who have real injuries, but who have not run to the hospital within 72 hours, the insurance company is going to be permitted to deny PIP claims. So, who will pay for those bills?

Based upon a Florida Senate Bill Analysis, the following factors are set forth as the motivation for new legislation and a reduction in consumer rights:

• PIP payouts have increased from approximately $1.5 billion in 2008 to approximately $2.5 billion in 2010.
• From 2006 to 2010, the number of lawsuits pending at year-end increased by 387%, while the number of settlements increased 315%.
• Florida PIP claims involve approximately 100 medical treatments at an average total cost of $12,000, well above the national average excluding Florida of approximately 50 treatments at an average total cost of $8,000
• The PIP pure premium in Florida, which is the amount of premium needed to cover losses, has increased 50 percent, from just under $100 per car in the 4th quarter of 2008 to over $150 per car in the 3rd quarter of 2010 (the most recent period for which data was collected).
• The rise in PIP payouts and the corresponding increase in premium costs are occurring despite the fact that the number of crashes and crashes with injuries decreased from 2005 to 2009, according to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

These bases for the new legislation ignore the following influential facts:

• PIP payouts increased by 40% in three years, but rising health care costs overall have increased those costs by as much as 10% to 28% without fraud.
• Lawsuits may have increased under PIP laws, but no lawsuit can be filed without a denial of full benefits by the insurance carrier. So, who is driving the increase? If these lawsuits have no merit, why are courts not sanctioning lawyers and parties under current frivolous lawsuit laws?
• Insurance companies and legislators can work to control the rising medical charges from physicians and hospitals by going to the source of those charges and without attacking consumers’ rights.
• Premiums for personal injury protection (PIP) coverage may very well have increased 50%, but what has the state done to examine the very suspect accounting practices used by insurance companies writing coverage in Florida?
• If health care clinic ownership is too easy to obtain and maintain, there already exists plenty of laws not being aggressively applied by state agencies. Those agencies are well equipped legally to police any charlatans who may operate sham facilities.
• If law enforcement officers are failing to identify all occupants of motor vehicles in crashes, provide them with methods to accomplish it. Allow videos of accident scenes and witnesses. Provide a technology solution for law enforcement officers to capture license and ID information at the scene.
• Create alliances between insurance companies and law enforcement to pursue and prosecute fraud. Require insurance companies to reactivate the “special investigation units” that most of them had in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Without aggressively enforcing laws already on the books, I suggest it is most likely that those trying to defraud the system will simply adapt. They will take up the time and expense of emergency medical units to be shuttled directly to the hospital so they can make the 72 hour window and will find ways to work the new system. This will do nothing but increase overhead and time for emergency medical personnel and local governments.

Although this new legislation, if passed, might have some impact on fraud; it will do so at the cost of honest consumers. If government’s approach is to continue not enforcing laws already in existence, why should anyone believe that this new legislation will have any impact on fraud?

I think it is more likely, as with similar laws, defrauders and insurance companies will maintain or improve their bottom line profits; while honest consumers will be the ultimate losers.

Major risk factors for Type 2 diabetes include a lack of exercise, being overweight and making poor diet choices. Eating a hamburger served between doughnuts; a recipe for which Paula Deen is famous certainly fits into the “poor diet choice category.

Typically, when a celebrity reveals that he or she is battling a disease, the motivation for going public is to create awareness and maybe raise funds for research. Michael J. Fox and Parkinson’s, Magic Johnson and HIV and Lance Armstrong and testicular cancer all come to mind. These people created foundations, took control of their health and inspired others to have hope.

And then there’s celebrity chef Paula Deen. On Jan. 17, the 65-year-old announced that she has been living with Type 2 diabetes for three years. This disorder that usually strikes in adulthood is associated with insulin resistance that causes high glucose levels in the blood. Complications from diabetes include heart disease, stroke, blindness, circulatory problems and early death. According to the American Diabetes Association, 26.9 percent of Americans age 65 and older have diabetes. This is not a disease to be taken lightly and it is sad for anyone to develop this very serious disease.

So did Deen kick off an awareness campaign that might alert other people to their risk for developing the disease? Did she promise to overhaul her sauce filled recipes and the buttered-up message she puts out into the world?

No. On the Today show she dodged questions about her own diet, threw out some vague and worthless advice about practicing moderation, and then bragged about her new gig as spokeswoman for Danish firm Novo Nordisk’s injectable diabetes drug Victoza (Liraglutide).

A day later, under a mound of criticism after the Today interview, Deen announced that she would donate an undisclosed “certain percentage” of her income from Novo Nordisk to the American Diabetes Association.

Celebrity product endorsements are nothing new, but they’re more powerful than ever.

What would Nike Air tennis shoes be without Michael Jordan?

Do you believe that Weight Watchers works after watching Jennifer Hudson drop 80 pounds?

What would we call a George Foreman Grill without, well, George Foreman?

As a celebrity chef on the Food Network, Deen is positioned to make a significant impact, if she cared to do so. She has the ideal platform for inspiring Americans to change their diets, with two hit television shows and a huge audience. Were she to impart education about lifestyle choices and diabetes, she could tell thousands of viewers that in 2010, studies in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that diabetes drugs don’t help patients avoid heart disease and that lifestyle changes, like diet and exercise, are far more effective in managing—and reversing—Type 2 diabetes.

Yet, where’s the payoff for Deen in that message? Victoza made $784 million for Novo Nordisk in the third quarter of 2011, and now she’ll get a piece of that despite the fact that she’s pushing a drug with a Food and Drug Administration warning about its likelihood to cause thyroid tumors and cancer.

Celebrities, modern-day demigods who wield much influence over the American masses, should be responsible for the products they endorse. Do you recall the 1950s ads with actor/six-pack-a-day smoker/lung cancer patient John Wayne touting the benefits of non-irritating “mild” Camel cigarettes that didn’t harm his voice? Didn’t we learn from that?

One person did. According to the New York Post, Nancy Assuncao quit her post as Deen’s publicist last month, citing her distaste for Deen’s deal with Novo Nordisk.

Before her announcement, Deen brushed aside rumors that she had diabetes for a few years, and said she didn’t go public so she could “figure things out in my own head” and that she wanted to “bring something to the table” when she revealed her condition. But what she brought to the table wasn’t a diabetes-fighting, low-cal, low-sugar, healthier version of her famous doughnut burger. Instead she has decided to hawk a diabetes drug that made its manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, $784 million just in the third quarter last year. Ms. Deen has decided to avoid how diabetes can be prevented and accept a pay check for promoting an answer that is akin to “closing the barn door after the horses have escaped”.

You have to wonder: Did Deen keep her diabetes under wraps to protect her reputation as the queen of fattening comfort food, or did she stay quiet until she inked her deal with Novo Nordisk? Either way, this is an irresponsible, uninspiring, disappointing move that hopefully won’t influence other stars to encourage their fans to hand over their lives to irresponsibility to be solved by drugs and the companies that make them.

Newt Gingrich has, over the years, allowed his mouth to engage before he placed his brain in gear.

“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” Edmund Burke.

His recent comments about hauling judges into congress, arresting judges who refused to respond to the “invite” to appear before congress and refusing to follow Supreme Court rulings with which he disagreed, are all simply a thoughtless extension of his and his supporters’ ideology.

There are rulings by courts and judges everyday that allow for plenty of room for disagreement. In not one of those rulings with which sound people may disagree would it be appropriate to jail the judge or haul her into a tribunal like congress for tongue lashings. That, however, is an ideology born from a group who believes they know best and, as a result, should be above the law and the constitution of this country.

Mr. Gingrich is an historical expert. He is fully schooled about the “separation of powers” included in the constitution. He should be sensitive to the need for the branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial) to maintain a balance of power through checks and balances. He should know that any judge may be removed for misfeasance or malfeasance through the impeachment process. He also knows that he President of the United States does not have the power to jail judges or to haul judges in before congress.

So, how can a man, a leader of his party, an historical expert, a former member of congress, make statements about simply ignoring the constitution?

Mr. Gingrich can make statements like he has because we live in a free country in which that freedom is guarded by the Constitution. The very document allowing Mr. Gingrich to set forth statements he knows to be simply untrue or inaccurate is the document he says he will simply ignore if elected to the office of President.

In a Democracy you can not have it both ways. We can not on one hand hold high a constitution that protects freedoms like free speech and on the other hand ignore those portions of the constitution that may be, well, inconvenient to a particular group.

What does this say about Mr. Gingrich? What does this say about the ideals of those behind Mr. Gingrich?

I have written recently about the “Santa Claus of Bikes”: Jack Hairston.

Our firm and many of our employees were a part of the Jack the Bikeman experience on Sunday. Jack was successful in putting bikes in the hands of nearly 800 kids. By the time we had finished, few bikes were left from the warehouse packed full when we arrived Sunday morning.

To watch the kids file into the warehouse housing the bikes and see their faces light up to be given a bike of their very own was like reliving Christmas morning when I was a kid each time. The joy each child clearly experienced made it all worth the hard work that went into moving bikes from warehouse to child.

The Searcy Denney staff collected bikes, both new and used, for three months before this event. We sent employees out to pick up bikes from people who wanted to donate, but could not get the bikes to Jack. Our employees also contributed new bikes and funds to assist Jack the Bikeman in his quest to make as many kids happy at Christmas time as he could by giving them the responsibility and the freedom a bike provides to a child.

Although we were not able to begin distributing bikes until around 9:00 am, some families were lined up as early as 4:00 am to stake their place in line for a bike.

At the end of a very long day, around 800 kids were just a little happier that they had a bike for Christmas and few bikes went without owners.

Many Searcy Denney employees were involved in the preparations to make sure that Sunday’s bike give away went forward and we are proud to have been involved.

Thank you, Jack the Bikeman!

There are so many things for which I am thankful.

I am thankful to have a wonderful wife who is the very best part of me. I am thankful for my “children” – a combination of 2 lovable mutts and 4 cats (who I have grown to like). I am able to live in the Florida country and I employed by some of the most wonderful men and women with whom I have ever been permitted to work. I am truly fortunate.

Each morning during the work week, I try to create my own or find a wise person’s words of wisdom to share with my co-workers. Given that it is Thanksgiving, I thought I would do the same with all of you. Let me thank you for your kind indulgence in allowing me:

• Be thankful for your family; for they will always be there for you.
• Be thankful for each and every moment.
• Be thankful for your friends; for they like you even when you do not like yourself.
• Be thankful for those who have lighted the flame of inspiration within you.
• Be thankful for injuries done to you; for they cause you to cherish the kindness of people that much more.
• Be thankful for the 86,400 seconds given to you each day; do not waste them, but spend them wisely in nurturing others.
• Be thankful you can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.
• Be thankful you live in a country in which freedom still exists and individuality is still valued.
• Be thankful if you have a roof above your family’s head and food upon the table. Sadly, so many do not.
• Be thankful for the opportunities given to you to help others.
• Be thankful that you can be thankful.

Our best wishes go to each and everyone for a safe and joyous holiday.

Over the past four years, El Sol, Jupiter’s Neighborhood Resource Center has been a part of the community through Artfest. The money raised from this event benefits the Hispanic Community of The Sun and with those proceeds, the Sun can continue their community work they have been successfully doing for five years.

The Artfest is a free public event that brings together people from all over the county through its music, food, and crafts. You can find everything from ponchos, to purses, to paintings and handmade jewelry. The jewels are brought from different parts of Central and South America.

The event also includes a variety of original paintings, made ​​by employees of The Sun and by artists in the community.

This year I had the opportunity to participate and volunteer at the event. I enjoy the cultures of different countries, artists, and folk. The Artfest reminded me that we must never forget where we came from and continue appreciating and valuing our cultural wealth. And although different, all are equal.

We were allowed to go to a local elementary school, Hope Centennial Elementary here in West Palm Beach, and read a book to the children.

I think the kids enjoyed themselves. I, and my colleagues, had a wonderful time!

Our law firm sees injured people daily and we try to do what we can to help them. It is our business, but we hear tough and heartbreaking stories daily and it is always difficult to experience the suffering that people must go through when they have been injured.

It is not often we can just be with children who are bright, adorable and full of the joy that goes with, well, just being kids. It is not often we are provided the opportunity to sit with a group of these children and enjoy the experience of reading.

The American Academy for Pediatrics strongly recommends reading to children from birth in order to stimulate development of the brain, language and to develop a stronger emotional relationship with your child.

I can tell you that if you can instill a love for reading in a child, you have just provided him or her with a skill that will allow them to learn anything and do anything they want to do.

It was simply a joy for me to watch each of their beautiful faces light up as we read “Book, Book, Book” together and followed all sorts of farm animals to the local library (you will have to read the book to understand the context).

But, Mariano Garcia, Laurie Briggs and Cathy Coia, and I had the time of our lives.

In fact, because the school is a “dual language” institution, Mariano Garcia read in both English and Spanish. The dual language program allows children to learn their studies in both English and Spanish.

I really hope that Hope Centennial invites us back for another chance for us to have fun reading to these wonderful children.

Do you know that we have Benjamin Franklin to thank for “Daylight Saving Time”?

Do you know the correct spelling for the time change is: “Daylight Saving Time” and not “Daylight Savings Time”?

Do you know that the main purpose of “Daylight Saving Time is “to make better use of daylight”?

Do you know that studies have been done that conclude “Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country’s electricity usage by a small but significant amount, about one percent each day, because less electricity is used for lighting and appliances?

Do you know that studies demonstrate a reduction in the number of traffic accidents and car crashes by as much as 1% as a result of “Daylight Saving Time”?

Do you know that injuries to pedestrians significantly increase after clocks are changed in the fall; to fall back an hour? Walkers are (3) times more likely to be struck at or after 6 PM once clocks are set back.

Do you know that in 1965 the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul used different criteria for beginning “Daylight Saving Time”? So, a person could be in one part of the city, cross to the other part and found they lost or gained an hour.

Do you know that all Amtrak trains come to a dead stop at 2:00 AM and wait one hour before they resume traveling in order to maintain their schedule?

Do you know that violent crime drops by as much as 10 to 13% during “Daylight Saving Time”?

Do you know that twins born during “Daylight Saving Time” changes may have different birthdays?

Do you know that “Daylight Saving Time” is NOT observed in: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Arizona?

Do you know that “Daylight Saving Time” is a perfect time to change the batteries in your smoke detector so they are always in working order?

Do you know that until next spring, I will get up and go to work in the dark and I will drive home in the dark? I will turn my lights on when I rise in the morning and I will turn them on when I return home after work. I am not sure how “Daylight Saving Time” will, well, save me anything!

CardioGen-82 (Bracco Diagnostic, Inc) is literally the combination of a machine that manufactures a low half-life radioactive tracer, Rubidium-82 (half-life of 76 seconds) from its parent Strontium-82 (half-life of about four weeks) and the Rubidium-82 itself. The FDA terms the machine and the Rubidium-82 combination a “drug” labeled as CardioGen-82.

Each time a patient undergoes a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, Rubidium-82 is made “fresh” and on site. Rubidium-82 is made in the machine, by using saline to collect the Rubidium, which then works its way to a receptacle.  The operator measures the pharmaceutical’s radioactivity with a dosimeter-like device, and the saline carrying the Rubidium-82 then works its way into a patient syringe. The operator then instructs the computer to have the Cardiogen-82 inject a patient with the radiopharmaceutical. The radioactive Rubidium-82 then works its way through the patient’s circulatory system and through the vessels in the heart. Ultimately a PET camera captures glowing Rubidium-82 enhanced images of the heart, and physicians then interpret where cardiac circulation might be compromised.

In a perfect world, PET scanning using CardioGen-82 is preferred because it is easier to make and use, and more accurate than other methods such as SPECT (Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography) or N-13 (radioactive ammonia, which has a half-life of 10 days and requires an expensive cyclotron based process to manufacture). However, the complex nature of CardioGen-82, including the way that Rubidium-82 is collected and then injected into the patient necessitates dedicated quality control, technologically advanced operator experience, and great care on the part of the manufacturers, distributors, and end-users of the CardioGen-82.

Recently in June 2011, three patients who had undergone CardioGen PET four months earlier were crossing the Canadian border into the United States and failed a routine Homeland Security radioactivity screening. The screening had become mandatory after the Japanese earthquake, which occurred in March 2011, initiating a tsunami that devastated several Japanese nuclear facilities. After the Japanese tragedy, Homeland Security considered radioactivity screening of international travelers a routine and necessary safety precaution.

After learning that more than one patient had lit up Homeland Security’s Geiger detectors, The FDA issued CardioGen-82 radioactivity danger warnings in July, 2011. Shortly thereafter, Bracco voluntarily withdrew CardioGen from the market, and sent the units for testing to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. At first blush, the FDA attributed the abundance of radioactivity still remaining in the scanned patients, four months after their procedures, as being due to a phenomenon called “breakthrough.”

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The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (often called “Obamacare,” by those who oppose the Act) is leading to a fundamental restructuring of how we Americans pay for our health care. The law itself is long and complex. Here’s a 907 page legal summary, if you’re ready for a challenge. I’ll just wait here while you study up…

Didn’t get far? You’re not alone.  There is a lot of “legalese” to wade through, and the courts will be busy untangling much of the meaning for many years to come. But many of the essential aspects of the program are reasonably straightforward, including several provisions that have already been enacted as the law of the land. This includes parts of the Act that address preexisting conditions and the availability of health insurance.

Since September 2010, parents who purchase or renew insurance plans can obtain coverage for their children up to age 26.

Pre-existing health conditions cannot be excluded from coverage for children less than 19 years old.

Insurers are now prohibited from dropping policyholders if they get sick and make claims.

Other key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) include:

• Insurers will be prohibited from establishing yearly and lifetime spending caps, and will be required to spend a certain percentage of collected premiums on actual health care rather than marketing, advertising and executive compensation Imagine!
• Insurers will no longer be allowed to deny coverage for adult consumers because of pre-existing conditions or raise their premiums if they develop problems.
• Coverage options will expand. An expansion of Medicaid will bring coverage to an estimated 16 million new enrollees and 40 percent of them will be under 30 years old.
• Individuals can also seek coverage from state-run exchanges — a new competitive marketplace for private health insurance that’s designed to give individuals and small businesses access to affordable coverage.
• Essential mental health and substance use disorder services must be covered as part of the benefits package by all insurance policies offered through the exchanges and Medicaid.
• ACA eliminates lifetime caps on benefits and restricts insurers’ use of annual caps for all new plans issued after December 2010. So if you have chronic conditions that are expensive, you can seek your services and not lose your insurance.
• ACA also puts a stop to rescission — the practice of dropping patients from coverage, usually when their medical expenses are high — except in cases of misrepresentation or fraud.
• ACA also focuses on preventive health, which means that consumers purchasing new plans will no longer have to face copayments or other forms of cost-sharing for preventive services, such as depression screening, drug and alcohol misuse screening and smoking cessation efforts.
• A report by the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. states that, with the reform bill, Medicare savings will be about $130 billion over 10 years, by reducing overpayments to private Medicare Advantage plans.

The most controversial part of the Act is the universal mandate. This is the requirement that all Americans have some kind of approved health coverage (either as part of a commercial insurance plan or government program) or be subjected to a yearly penalty.

Currently, legal challenges to the mandate are winding through the courts, with some jurisdictions upholding and some striking down this provision. In all likelihood, the issue will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court. However the issue of a universal mandate is decided, other parts of the legislation will likely remain unaffected. The Constitutional challenge is not about whether the mandate is a reasonable economic decision, but whether the government is legally empowered to enforce the issue.

Once the entirety of the legislation goes into effect, health insurers will be required to offer plans with premiums based only on age and geographic location.  This is extremely important to consumers because it levels the playing field for those with more-complex health conditions.

Over the past year, there has been conflicting and misleading information about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), led mostly by insurance industry lobbyists and special interest groups. This has led to some astonishing levels of confusion amongst consumers.

National Public Radio reported that among those lacking insurance, 41 percent incorrectly think the law lacks provisions to help those with modest means pay for health insurance (7 percent said they didn’t know) and 37 percent incorrectly said the law doesn’t include an expansion of the Medicaid program to low-income, able-bodied adults (16 percent weren’t sure).

According to a new Kaiser Family Foundation monthly tracking poll, a full 50 percent of uninsured people have no clue what health insurance benefits are to come with full implementation. Fewer than 31 percent say they think the law will help them obtain health insurance, although the ACA is projected to insure 32 million people who currently do not have coverage.

On the political side, as reported by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, consumers identifying themselves as Republicans and reported having a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act has reached its highest level in August, 2011; with 24% having that opinion since the law was passed last year,  At the same time, support among consumers identifying themselves as Democrats was at its lowest level, 60%, according to the most recent data from the monthly Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. Among independents, 33% expressed a favorable opinion toward the ACA in August, down from 38% the month before.

Overall support among all Americans dropped from 42% in July to 39% in August, the lowest level since the ACA was passed. Overall, 44% of Americans expressed an unfavorable view of health reform and 17% said that they didn’t know or declined to express an opinion.

Despite the ongoing controversy and pending legislation, it is important to note that the ACA doesn’t just impact the uninsured; it strengthens the coverage for people who are already insured.