Driving Force

One of the key issues of importance to insurers in 2012 has been curbing the billions of dollars in costs that go to pay for auto accident fraud, abuse and inefficiencies in no-fault states. For several years the insurance industry has worked with law enforcement, elected officials, the business community and concerned citizens to transform no-fault laws in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Minnesota.

In recent years, Florida has been hit by a “fraud tax” of nearly a billion dollars, which helped Florida earn the dubious distinction of being the nation’s most fraud-riddled state. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), staged accidents and the activities of unscrupulous medical providers and unethical personal injury attorneys placed Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Hialeah among the U.S.’s top 10 for personal injury fraud.