TAMPA – Con artists are staging crashes, faking injuries and bilking the system — and it’s jacking up all of our insurance rates.
“For a newer car, they’re pretty high,” said Rachelle Davenport. “It’s almost impossible to make my payments sometimes.”
http://liarcatchers.com/insurance_fraud.html
“It’s something that happens everywhere, and unfortunately the good are suffering because of the bad!” said Sharhonda Williams.
Lawmakers are trying to stop it from happening. They just can’t agree on how to do it.
“Let’s not deny the people’s right and ability to have access to medical services and the courts. Let’s go after the unscrupulous characters and put them out of business,” said State Senator Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey).
Both the House and Senate have passed reform bills, overhauling Florida’s personal injury protection, or PIP law.
But there are big differences, like the time limit to file claims. Lawmakers do agree on one thing, that under any new law, massage therapists and acupuncture should not be eligible for medical reimbursements.
“I think we’ll have some room to go. But I think we can get there,” State Representative Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton) says.
Undercover detectives in Hillsborough County say the fraud rings are rampant.
“I think anything that they do is going to curtail it. It can’t hurt,” said the undercover detective in charge of PIP fraud investigations for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Tampa was the worst in the state until six months ago, when the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office launched a massive crackdown.
“What people don’t understand is all the crime these organizations bring into Hillsborough County. You’ve got human trafficking, drugs, kidnappings,” the detective said.
But without money to enforce a new law, consumer advocates say it won’t do much good.
“Even if you reduce the PIP benefit so that the criminals start doing something else, they’re still out there doing crimes, right? That doesn’t help anything! So we need more fraud prosecutors and more law enforcement that is dedicated to fighting PIP fraud. That’s what works,” said Bill Newton, with the Consumer Action Network.
