Insurance Fraud Everyone is a Victim
Insurance Fraud: Everyone is a Victim The growing issue of insurance fraud in the United States has become a very costly and widespread problem, and the end result makes a victim of everyone. Second in cost to tax evasion, this white-collar crime is roughly a $100 billion a year problem (Texas Department of Insurance, 11/01/2002). Insurance fraud is committed by every type of individual connected with insurance from policy holders to organized criminals. Types of this fraud range from inflating auto insurance claims to organized crime rings aimed at stealing thousands of dollars through deceitful health care claims. This ever increasing national problem is now being more closely scrutinized by lawmakers and insurance companies (Insurance Information Institute (III), 10/26/02). The ways Americans pay for insurance fraud are numerous and in some cases are tragic. It seems that in one way or another, virtually everyone is a victim of this crime whether directly or indirectly. The ever rising cost of all insurance premiums is certainly the most generalized cost to all. Businesses forced to pay elevated health and commercial insurance must pass that price onto goods and services (Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF), 10/12/02). ... Dishonest health care providers who perform medically unnecessary invasive procedures for profit, endanger their patients’ lives and there have been cases of death (National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA), 10/20/02).