I am going to share a bit of common sense that most people can easily surmise. You cannot file an insurance claim on a cat that does not actually exist. It seems that a man in Tacoma, Washington, failed to grasp this concept. He is now facing charges of insurance fraud. It is perfectly acceptable to file a pet insurance claim when your dog or cat requires health care. Auto insurance policies will cover the cost of the medical bills of the passengers who were injured during an accident. Some car insurance policies are starting to provide coverage for the … Continue reading →

A life insurance policy is designed to provide financial protection to your family after you have passed away. Like other insurance policies, you have to purchase it while you are still alive. A woman in Georgia pretended to be her deceased son, and signed up for a life insurance policy in his name. This woman was doing it wrong! A quick scan through your favorite news website will very likely bring up at least a couple of articles that talk about insurance fraud. It is illegal to commit insurance fraud, no matter what type of insurance is involved. The federal … Continue reading →

Allstate Insurance has filed another insurance fraud lawsuit. It is the second one the insurer has filed this year. The insurer is seeking to recover a total of $6 million dollars from four defendants, (all of whom are from New York). Recently, the federal government did a nationwide takedown that resulted in 107 medical professionals being charged with Medicare fraud. The purpose was to prevent criminals from attempting to make money by filing fraudulent claims with Medicare for services or equipment that patients did not need or did not actually receive. This is the type of fraud that leads to … Continue reading →

Federal officials in Washington just finished what they are calling a “nationwide takedown” of medical professionals who have been charged with Medicare fraud. This time, 107 people have been accused of fraudulently billing Medicare for a total of almost half a billion dollars. This is the latest effort to reduce Medicare fraud in order to keep the cost of Medicare manageable. In September of 2011, the federal government strengthened the insurance fraud laws. The changes increased the length of prison terms for people who commit insurance fraud. It added additional people to the strike force teams. New technology started being … Continue reading →

A federal investigation has resulted in the dismantling of an auto insurance fraud ring that was working in New York. This group managed to scam insurance companies out of $279 million dollars, by filing bogus claims. They were able to do this by taking advantage of New York’s no-fault auto insurance. Some states have what is called no-fault auto insurance. Florida and New York are two of the states that do. The majority of states do not use this particular type of car insurance. No-fault auto insurance is a personal, (or individual), policy that functions somewhat differently than a typical … Continue reading →

Federal investigators recently did the biggest takedown in Medicare task force history. They charged nearly 100 people in eight different cities with attempting to fraud the Medicare program. Part of the health care reform laws include stronger anti-fraud laws. The Obama administration has enacted many changes on health care reform. Some of those changes include an increase in efforts to catch people who have attempted to commit insurance fraud. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the fraud law that was created as part of the health reform laws is “one of the strongest anti-fraud laws in history”. … Continue reading →

Insurance fraud has been described as a crime that other people commit, but that you end up paying for. When a consumer commits insurance fraud, it costs the insurance company money, which can cause the insurance company to increase the cost of insurance for all customers, not just for the one that committed fraud. Do you understand what insurance fraud is? Would you like to learn more about it? The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud is an excellent resource to help consumers to know more about what insurance fraud is, what to do if your insurance company isn’t treating you right, … Continue reading →

The introduction Blog of this series Workers Compensation Fraud outlined the fact that work comp fraud is often an organized crime committed by workers, health care providers and employers. This Blog outlines some of the red flags an employee or claimant is committing fraud. An injured worker collecting benefits would be called the workers compensation Claimant. This is where the fraud starts and this is what most people understand as fraud. Claimant fraud takes place when an employee knowingly lies or exaggerates a situation in order to collect benefits. Other ways an employee might commit fraud is to claim an … Continue reading →