Florida Governor Rick Scott Reaffirms Stance on Ending PIP Fraud

PIP insurance fraud is a big problem in the state of Florida. It is no secret that the governor of the state, Rick Scott wants more done to address the issue. One county in Florida called Hillsborough County has made great strides on this issue.
The problem with auto insurance fraud is that you cannot combat it unless you create and enforce reforms. The reasons that Florida is targeted by these criminals are that the laws are relaxed and that accidents are very easy to fake.
The governor hopes to change the state’s Personal Injury Protection Law in 2012 but it may be a hard sell in 2012 because it is an election year. The governor has been holding events and did so on Wednesday November 09, 2011 so that he can stress the importance of eliminating auto insurance fraud from the state.
Hillsborough County has been very effective at dealing with insurance fraud. In the past 24 months, they have seen the number of fraud cases decrease. The county took a tough approach because they were one of the counties with the most numbers of staged accidents and PIP fraud cases.
The county took a few actions to make PIP fraud cases drop. The first was that they created an ordinance and passed it which states that a doctor must have a bank account that is linked to their medical clinic. The doctor who owns the clinic must also work there. This helps to eliminate the problem caused by criminals running clinics under another doctor’s name and fraudulently billing auto insurance companies for medical services that were never administered.
The laws regarding no fault insurance coverage must change because Florida drivers can get a maximum of $10,000 in medical care. People who commit fraud often find ways to bill their auto insurers for this entire amount. In the last three years, the state has had more than $850 million dollars in fraud related losses. This is a huge epidemic and every criminal knows the loopholes so they find ways to continue to commit fraud. If Florida can crack down on medical clinics and make it harder for them to become licensed then insurance fraud cases may decline.
Many insurance insiders think that the state needs to consider suspending the licenses of doctors and medical clinics that engage in fraud. They also think that hefty jail time and fines should be mandatory. Auto insurance companies are getting ripped off so consumers will get those costs passed onto them. As Governor Rick Scott stated on Wednesday, more needs to be done or fraud will spread everywhere.
Source: St.Petersburg Times