Currently, there are Bills being pushed through the Florida Legislature that, if passed as currently proposed, will strip accident and injury victims of their rights. This will be incredibly unfair to you and injured citizens in Florida, present and future.

We must oppose the present language of House Bill 837. As a legal community, we have been fighting hard against this. Donations have been made to PACs and we have been speaking directly to lobbyists and legislators to help them understand how this bill will:

1) Limit the ability for injury victims to access physicians and surgeons

2) Eliminate the ability to perform many surgeries in outpatient settings

3) Set into motion financial pressures that will force many physicians to discontinue care for those who are underinsured.

We, as citizens, must do more, or soon this proposed legislation will be our new reality. We need to do all we can to create a visible, strong opposition to this Bill.

This email provides a resource we are giving you to share with everyone you know.

This simple process that you can follow with nothing more than your cell phone will allow you to efficiently contact your representatives in the State and tell them to VOTE NO.

We all need to do this and should encourage our friends and family to do the same. The more messages we can flood inboxes with, the more likely they will be to “kill this Bill.” Please forward this message to as many people as you know!

Take 2 Minutes to Help

It’s not hard for you to make a huge difference in protecting yourself and your fellow citizens with less than 5 minutes of your time.

Please send a message to your lawmakers in Tallahassee urging them to vote NO on HB 837 and SB 236. We have found a way to mail a message and post a Tweet linked to your representatives very easily. Here are the simple instructions on how you can do this via text:

1) Text the word RESIST to 50409.

2) You will first be given options of which representative you wish to contact. Text back “State.”

3) You will then be asked your first and last name. Enter first and last name.

4) You will then be asked for your address so your state representatives can be determined. Enter your address.

5) You will then be asked if you want to contact your Governor, Legislature, or Both. Answer Both.

6) You will then be asked to text the message you want sent on your behalf. We suggest at a minimum that your message says: “Vote NO on HB 837 and SB 236. These bills will strip the legal rights of Floridians.”

7) You can copy/paste in the following, or your own version of it…

Vote NO on HB 837 and SB 236. These Bills will strip the legal rights of Floridians allowing Big Insurance to further disadvantage vulnerable injured and uninsured citizens. Their passage will force uninsured patients to seek care in Emergency Rooms and cause a healthcare crisis for all Florida Healthcare consumers at a time when the State’s population is growing at unprecedented rates.

HB 837 proposes unreasonable compensation for anesthesia and outpatient surgical centers that will require these providers to work at a loss. Communities throughout the State already have shortages of specialty physicians and the unintended consequence of passing this Bill will no doubt further the shortage of anesthesia services and shift of elective surgical work from the economic and efficient outpatient venue to hospital facilities. This will overburden already over-taxed hospitals making care less available to the community and shift uninsured care to facilities that utilize public funds to subsidize trauma service, anesthesia and physician call coverage for injury related specialties including neurosurgery, orthopedics, trauma, vascular surgery and neurology.

HB 837 does not discuss how projected cost savings will benefit Floridians. There is no mention of premium reductions for all insured Florida drivers. It appears we will all suffer the consequence of these proposed changes that will only benefit already profitable auto insurers. Physicians will depart the State and remaining resources will be unnecessarily challenged to serve accident victims. Vote NO on HB 837 and SB 236.

We cannot stress how important it is for each and every one of us to do this. And given the magnitude of the situation, we would appreciate your asking significant others, parents or friends all to do the same.