{"id":74565,"date":"2025-12-07T16:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/74565\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T16:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:43:07","slug":"residents-in-florida-can-expect-new-laws-to-take-effect-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/74565\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents in Florida can expect new laws to take effect next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Residents in Florida should anticipate new laws coming into effect on January 1, 2026<\/a>, primarily centered on healthcare, insurance and animal welfare. <\/p>\n

These laws provide for fully covered diagnostic breast exams under state health insurance, patient refunds for overcharges, and shorter timelines for insurance claim reimbursements. They also ensure fertility preservation services are covered for state employees diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n

Healthcare and Insurance<\/p>\n

Diagnostic Breast Exams Coverage: State health insurance plans for employees will be banned from requiring additional costs (co-pays or deductibles) for diagnostic and supplemental breast exams, such as MRIs and ultrasounds. These exams will be fully covered.<\/p>\n

Patient Refunds: Healthcare providers and facilities that overcharge a patient must refund the extra money within 30 days or face potential disciplinary action and fines of up to $500.<\/p>\n

Insurance Claim Timelines: The timeframe for health insurance companies and HMOs to require licensed psychologists to repay overpaid claims will be shortened from 30 months to 12 months, aligning with other medical providers.<\/p>\n

Fertility Preservation: The state group health insurance program will be required to cover standard fertility preservation services for state employees diagnosed with cancer when treatment might cause infertility. <\/p>\n

Most license plate frames are now illegal in Florida under new law<\/a><\/p>\n

Animal Welfare<\/p>\n

Animal Cruelty Database: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will launch a publicly accessible, searchable website with the names of individuals convicted of animal cruelty (\u201cDexter\u2019s Law\u201d). This aims to help adoption services screen applicants.<\/p>\n

Pet Insurance Regulation: Pet insurance is now officially classified as a form of property insurance. Companies must clearly explain how they determine claim payments and disclose rules concerning required medical exams. Consumers have a specific period to review and cancel policies if they wish to do so. <\/p>\n

Other Updates<\/p>\n

Condominium Association Records: Deadlines will take effect regarding the posting of minutes and video recordings of condominium and cooperative association meetings.<\/p>\n

Local Government Impact Fees: Restrictions will be in place that require unanimous approval for ordinances increasing impact fees under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

For further information and to review the new laws coming into effect in the upcoming year for Florida residents, please visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over a hundred new laws set to take effect in Florida on Tuesday, July 1<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Residents in Florida should anticipate new laws coming into effect on January 1, 2026, primarily…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42386,42388,147,145,42389,28,30,29,42387,42391,42392,42385,139,42390,42384,144,146],"class_list":["post-74565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-42386","tag-animal-welfare-laws","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-diagnostic-breast-exams-coverage","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-healthcare-and-insurance-laws","tag-new-florida-laws","tag-new-florida-laws-wftv","tag-new-laws-coming-into-effect-on-january-1","tag-orlando","tag-patient-refunds","tag-residents-in-florida-can-expect-new-laws-to-take-effect-next-year","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}