With Fraudsters Around, Everyone Loses
Brian O Sutter
Personal Injury
Florida is one of a handful of states which require personal injury protection (PIP) insurance above and beyond the usual liability coverage which a car owner must purchase in order to legally drive his or her car. However, every kind of insurance must deal with fraudulent claims and con artists who want to get rich off the backs of insurance providers, and the attempts of providers and governments to stop these people often count ordinary people in need as collateral damage.No-Fault Fault Lines
PIP insurance operates under no-fault rules, which means that it pays out the same regardless of who is responsible for the accident. The minimum amount of coverage is $10,000, and it applies whenever you get into an accident involving a motor vehicle, whether you’re a driver, a passenger, or even a pedestrian.
Unfortunately, no-fault rules which apply under broad circumstances are particularly attractive to scammers since they demand less investigation than the usual system where the party at fault has to pay for repairs to the other vehicle. Unscrupulous doctors may pay off their patients to go along with fake injury claims in order to demand payment for tests and procedures that never happen. Chiropractors are particularly common offenders since it’s relatively easy for one to get a license to practice and to set up a fake clinic.
One particularly sophisticated fraud ring involved scammers from every part of the insurance ecosystem: insurance brokers issued policies to fake individuals, doctors filed fake claims for accidents that never happened, and even a few lawyers stood by to defend their fake clients from insurance investigators.
The Price Of Fraud
The foremost problem with fraud is the fact that it raises the price of insurance premiums for everybody else. Insurance companies use the money they get from premiums to pay off claims both true and false, and the more claims they get, the more they’ll raise the premiums to maintain their profitability. No-fault policies are meant to keep claims cases from going to court, thus lowering the cost of doing business, but if fraud is left unaddressed it can more than make up the difference.
Fraud also makes things worse by causing insurance adjusters to become suspicious of perfectly truthful claims and by causing the government to add tough restrictions which make it harder for ordinary people to access their own benefits. For instance, Florida recently changed the PIP law to say that claimants can only access $2,500 of their $10,000 policy unless a medical professional certifies that the patient has a crippling or life-threatening condition. Patients must also seek help within 14 days of the accident, which leaves them out in the cold if symptoms only appear after that point.
If you find yourself dealing with the mistrust of insurance companies, it can help to have an expert in your corner. At All Injuries Law Firm, we make sure our clients in the Port Charlotte and Sarasota areas in southwest Florida get their money’s worth out of insurers who are often reluctant to pay out even valid claims in a timely manner. Often the presence of a good personal injury lawyer is enough to convince them to settle quickly, as their alternative turns into a costly court battle which they might not win. If you live in our area, contact us today for a free case review.