Florida Needs Transparency in Damages Now!
Why Is Reform Needed?
Preventing injury damages awards from being inflated by windfall recoveries will reduce inappropriate payouts and prevent an unnecessary burden on small businesses and others confronted by lawsuits in the state of Florida.
Several states have addressed the issue of transparency in damages through legislation to ensure that lawsuit recoveries for health care expenses make sense—it is time for Florida to do the same.
To learn more about why “transparency in damages” legislation is needed in Florida, click here for an overview of the issue, why it’s a problem, and how you can be a part of the solution!
Which Bill is the Real Bill?
Here is a real-life example of a patient bill and why transparency in damages is needed. The original hospital bill on the right shows the actual cost of the hospital admittance and treatment while the bill provided to the patient’s attorney (4 months later) shows a total cost for the services at 5x the original cost. Meanwhile, the final revised hospital bill (almost 2 years later) with inflated costs shows a total at 4.5x the original cost. This truly leads one to wonder where these phantom fees are coming from and demonstrates why transparency is needed in Florida! How are juries supposed to fairly award damages to compensate the injured if they don’t know the actual amount of the treatment or the adjusted costs of the procedures if covered by insurance, workers compensation, or Medicaid/Medicare?
(Source: Florida Justice Reform Institute)
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