mainThe
Crime That Makes You Pay
Due to the economic downturn, our government is spending billions of taxpayers'
dollars to solve the financial crisis. But did you know insurance fraud, the second
largest white-collar crime, also costs the American public approximately 96.2 billion
dollars per year in increased premiums alone? A study in 2001 by Conning and Company
estimated that insurance fraud increases the average American household costs by
over $5000.00 per year when the rise in premium, and goods and services are taken
into consideration. Insurance Fraud is a crime that makes you pay.
Frauds have been detected in almost every type of insurance: healthcare insurance,
automobile insurance, life insurance, or even workers' compensation insurance. In
the Medicare industry, some physicians achieve their financial gain by scheduling
extra visit for patients or providing and subsequently billing for treatments that
are not medically necessary. These fraud activities cost seniors and other taxpayers
to pay up to $1 billion a year in inflated drug prices due to potential fraud and
loopholes in Medicare. For the workers' compensation insurance, a case from Pennsylvania
Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority (IFPA) indicates that an owner of a insurance
agency fraudulently placed five of his employees on unemployment status to decrease
his agency's wage expense. He only paid his employees partial wages in addition
to the unemployment fund from the State government. There are many more insurance
fraud cases that you can find in the news.
Cases reported by the news media in 2008
Go Figure: Fraud Data. (2009). Retrieved January 10, 2009, from
Coalition Against Insurance Fraud: http://www.insurancefraud.org/stats.htm
This article is part of the Insurance Fraud Educational Campaign launched by Students
In Free Enterprise (SIFE) at University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL). The campaign
aims to educated college students and the general public regarding the consequences
of insurance fraud. SIFE team members have produced an anti-insurance fraud commercial,
created an educational website, and posted information across campus to increase
awareness of the problem.
If you have any questions, please contact UNL SIFE at
Resource: Coalition Against Insurance Fraud:
www.insurancefraud.org.
