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Fraud costs us all money
There’s a whole complicated argument about whether there’s such a thing as a victimless crime. With drug-taking, for example, people claim the right to damage their own bodies. But when they cannot go to work, the nation’s productivity is less so we have to pay more for our goods and services. When they fall ill and have no health insurance, we end up paying their treatment. It’s the same with the mandatory insurance to drive. The more people who drive uninsured, the more we have to pay for our insurance. We are punished because they can’t or won’t pay to insure their vehicles. Then there’s a whole new problem coming into focus. Organized crime is turning to fraud. There are some very sophisticated operations with front clinics being set up to write fake medical reports. People are recruited to stage accidents in locations where there are plenty of independent witnesses. They are picked up and taken to these clinics where their injuries are assessed. Claims are made to insurance companies and, when the money comes in, everyone takes their share.
To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, the Insurance Commissioner for New York estimates that, in 2010, there were almost 13,000 fraudulent claims for traffic accidents involving medical expenses. The situation in Florida is worse. The current estimate is that the cost of the fraud represents about $100 a year on the premiums paid by every driver. The National Insurance Crime Bureau agrees that the problem is so severe that it has created a number of special task forces to investigate fraud based on fake medical reports. Why is the problem so bad in Florida? It all comes down to their no-fault insurance system which requires every driver to carry personal injury protection insurance, not only for themselves, but also for their passengers. So, if you stage an accident with two or three passengers in each vehicle, that gives you a small crowd claiming for treatment. The Insurance Commission estimates that, if nothing is done, the cost per driver could rise from the current surcharge of $100 to $170 a year. Indeed, the Florida legislature is likely to reform the law on no-fault as a first step to restoring some control over the problem.
While we all wait for the lawmakers and enforcers to get their act together, you might wonder why little has been done to date. The answer is the insurers’ demand for profit. They would have to recruit and train new fraud investigators. It would take some time for these people to pay for themselves by detecting fraud as it happens or recovering money paid out. The state police are also short of money and so devote their resources to violent, high-priority crimes. Fraud is low priority. If you want to see lower car insurance quotes, you must get political. Write your local politicians and indicate your vote will not go their way if they do not protect your interests. This is your hard-earned money being ripped away by career criminals. Act now to pressure lawmakers into reforming the law on car insurance and allocating money for police investigations.