Why is PIP Primary Over All Other Forms of Insurance?

Under Florida Statute 627.636(4) no fault benefits are generally primary over all other sources of insurance and are due and payable as the laws accrues.  This means that the bills will be paid within a short period of time of being incurred.  This also means that PIP is primary over health insurance, public health care benefits and work comp benefits.  This does not mean that health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Workman’s Comp or some other type of public or private insurer will not pay medical bills under PIP, but they generally will require that those benefits are exhausted before they will make a payment.  This requirement forces individuals who do not want to pay out of pocket to go to a provider that accepts PIP benefits.  However, one of the problems is that many primary care physicians and doctors simply don’t take enough cases where they can bill PIP for them to pay for the expensive training, software and documentation that is required under the PIP Statute.  Additionally, many doctors simply don’t want to be involved in litigation or out of their offices and required to be deposed regarding the care they gave and even possibly be subpoenaed to appear in court.  Thus, they simply do not bill PIP and will tell one of their patients who is injured in a car accident to seek treatment from a medical provider who does.