Auto insurance fraud costs state $3 billion annually
Admin
Published: Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 8:00 AM
Auto insurance fraud is a growing problem in Michigan. What is auto insurance fraud? It includes staged auto accidents and false claims of injury; false reports of stolen vehicles and billing for medical treatment never rendered.
To deter this activity, there is legislation (House Bill 5701) that I support to create an Insurance Fraud Authority to provide financial resources to local law enforcement and prosecutors to pursue auto insurance fraud criminals. Here are some facts for our state:
• Michigan has good insurance fraud laws but lacks a specific entity to investigate and prosecute insurance fraud.
• Insurance fraud in Michigan totals an estimated $3 billion (National Insurance Crime Bureau, IIM).
• The Insurance Fraud Awareness Coalition supports a unified fraud fighting effort which would bring together the insurance industry, law enforcement and prosecutors to combat this crime in Michigan.
• The number of Personal Injury Protection medical questionable claims increased 135 percent between 2009 and 2010, and 63 percent between 2010 and 2011. Michigan ranked third in the country for number of questionable medical claims. (National Insurance Crime Bureau).
Everyone pays the price for insurance fraud. Tackling the problem of insurance fraud will benefit our entire state. If anyone knows someone who is committing insurance fraud, call the National Insurance Crime Bureau at 800-835-6422 or visit www.michiganinsurancefraud.org.
FAITH BROVONT/Galesburg
