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Fraud is a "Crisis" in New York
According to Robert Hartwig, the
president of the Insurance Information
Institute, the no fault auto insurance
system has done nothing but bring fraud
to the state. Hartwig argues that people
are taking advantage of the system and
that it has become a haven for auto
insurance fraud. He says that this fraud
has reached “epidemic” levels in the
state and wants to see something done
about it.
Hartwig
argues that the idea behind the auto
insurance law was supposed to make the
claims process easier, which in turn
would have allowed the auto insurance
companies to save money – savings which
should have been passed onto consumers.
However, rather than having that desired
effect, the law is costing their drivers
millions of dollars in excess auto
insurance payments because there are so
many people exploiting the system. He
said that they are at a “crisis” level
with the number of people that have been
filing auto insurance claims for these
no fault accidents.
According to him, those states that have
these no fault auto insurance laws on
their books have a higher percentage of
claims that are fraudulent. He said that
12 states have the auto insurance law,
also known as Personal Injury
Protection, as well as Puerto Rico, and
that those states are showing higher
incidents of auto insurance fraud and
“more than one in three appeared to be
inflated” when it comes to claims.
Downstate New York seems to be a haven
for these no fault auto insurance claims
that are fraudulent as they have a
higher incidence rate there than
anywhere else.
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May 2011 Archives
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