House advances bill making humans review insurance claims, OKs amendment that worries industry stakeholders

As Gov. Ron DeSantis readies the state for a so-called artificial intelligence “bill of rights,” legislation that could help Floridians in fights with insurers is moving closer to the House floor.

Rep. Hillary Cassel’s measure (HB 527) would mandate that “qualified human professionals” must review insurance claims rather than allowing companies to shunt the task onto AI tools like “algorithms, artificial intelligence systems and machine learning systems” without manual oversight.

In the case of denied claims, a human being would be accountable for the decision if the bill becomes law, signing off on it and denoting how AI tools were used to arrive at the decision, if at all.

Cassel, the current Vice Chair of the House Insurance and Banking Committee, told her colleagues that the bill “addresses a growing challenge in our insurance markets” with a “clear and reasonable safeguard” against algorithm-driven decisions.

An amendment adopted in committee expands the bill by including workers’ comp and HMOs, and inserted controversy for stakeholders.

Thomas Koval of the Florida Insurance Council noted that in workers’ comp cases, employers are the actual policy holders and so injured workers should not have a right of action.

Robert Passmore, Vice President of the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association, warned that subjugating AI could slow down claims and that AI can reduce errors and ultimately increase costs for consumers.

The sponsor says discussions with stakeholders have been productive and are ongoing.

During the meeting, Cassel tied the bill to the shooting of a prominent health care CEO in 2024.

“The genesis of this bill came to me with the murder of the United Healthcare CEO. One of the alleged motives was the denial basis by that company, and there’s currently a class action that shows allegedly that 90% of their claims were denied with errors when they utilized AI,” said the Dania Beach Republican.

She’s also not worried about President Donald Trump’s potential executive order regulating AI affecting this bill, saying states, and not the federal government, legally can regulate insurance.

Cassel’s bill has one more committee stop ahead.

Sen. Jennifer Bradley is carrying the Senate version of this bill (SB 202).