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Florida Tackling PIP Reform to Deal with Auto Insurance Fraud

The state of Florida is known for its beaches, older residents, election chad debacles, and PIP auto insurance fraud. The state is one that has had a hard time detracting people from committing auto insurance fraud.
The state is finally working with insurance industry insiders to try and create a bill that would reform the personal injury protection laws in the state so that no further abuses would be able to take place. In Florida, many residents are angry that it has taken decades to even begin to talk about tackling the issue of auto insurance fraud.
The issue of fraud has been brought more into the media in the state of Florida due to the state’s current poor economic conditions. The unemployment rate in the state is almost the same as the country’s unemployment rate of 9.2 percent. The residents of Florida and auto insurance companies have lost literally millions of dollars due to personal injury protection fraud.
Most of these people who commit fraud do so in crime rings and move from city to city trying to scam drivers and auto insurance companies. It is often hard to track these individuals down because they are very dishonest and use aliases and fake forms of identification in order to commit these criminal acts.
A few months ago medical professionals at clinics were exposed for their part in helping people commit car insurance fraud. The medical personnel would falsify bills for services that they never performed in order to get reimbursed for services that they never did. The people who filed the fraudulent claims would split the proceeds with the people and do this as many times as possible while avoiding detection by the police of insurance claims adjusters.
The state is ranked number four in the country when it comes to no fault claims costs. Residents have to have at least $10,000 worth of PIP insurance coverage so that they are covered in the event of an automobile accident. However staged automobile accidents are on the rise and the people who stage them use PIP insurance to get money from the people that they are involved in the accidents with. The state has seen its PIP related losses increase by approximately 24 percent in the last five years which is why the entire PIP system needs serious reforms in place.
The state still is a no fault state which can be a good thing for drivers but it is hurting the wallets of auto insurers and their policy holders.  When insurance companies have to keep paying out for these staged accident insurance claims; it takes away from the monies that it can put towards legitimate insurance claim which means that policy holders will need to come up with additional premiums to cover the losses that is incurred which is unfair. The auto insurance system in Florida is one in which fraud is thriving and will unless this bill can lay down the law while also putting in place harsh penalties for criminals that commit fraud.
Hopefully, state officials will not make this problem a political one because action needs to be taken as quickly as possible. It is almost 2012 which is when the next elections will be held and during an election year many issues that have to do with insurance often get side tracked because of tough political debates from both sides. The state needs to tackle these PIP issues so that drivers can still have the auto insurance coverage that they need while also eliminating the easy loop holes that criminals currently use to commit fraud.
Source: Online PR Media
 
 

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