Around the PIA Western Alliance States

California — FAIR Plan Increase Commercial Limits: The California FAIR Plan is now offering increased coverage limits for commercial and business properties. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said the higher limits came out of requests from customers for better coverage for higher value commercial properties.

The maximum coverage limit for commercial policies will go from $3 million to $5.6 million. For all other coverages, the limit rises to $2.8 million from $1.5 million.

The new combined limit is $8.4 million.

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/3wkPWbe

California — Malpractice Lawsuit Awards: The California Legislature is going to increase the amount people can win in medical malpractice lawsuits. The raise is the first in 47 years.

In 1975 the cap was $250,000. Starting January 1 of next year, it will increase to $350,000 for people who have been injured and it will rise to $500,000 for the relatives of people who’ve died.

Over the next decade the amounts will go up until they reach $750,000 for injured people, and to $1 million for the family of the deceased. When those limits are reached, they will rise 2% a year to account for inflation.

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/3wnIpZs

Washington — Surprise billing slide decks posted: We posted the slide decks of several surprise billing webinars recently hosted by the OIC. The slides can be found on the OIC website using the following links:

Carriers — https://bit.ly/3PrT64n

Arbitrators — https://bit.ly/3PrT64n

Behavioral health crisis services — https://bit.ly/3sBkKSX

Consumers — https://bit.ly/3wl3uDy

Providers — https://bit.ly/3wl3uDy

In addition to these slide decks, we expect to post the webinar recordings in the near future.

For more information on surprise billing, please visit the surprise billing and Balance Billing Protection Act webpage.