New York Desperately Needs Anti-Runner Legislation

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Mar 06, 2012, 06:45 ET

DES PLAINES, Ill., March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Just last week Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced indictments against 36 individuals "involved in a systematic scheme to defraud private insurance companies of more than $279 million under New York's no-fault automobile insurance law." Among those indicted were 10 licensed doctors and three attorneys.

Today, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arrest of 16 individuals "for their roles in staging automobile accidents to fraudulently receive insurance payouts." This group allegedly ran up over $400,000 in bogus claims.

At the National Insurance Crime Bureau, we see this kind of criminal activity—and more—on a daily basis for we are singularly focused on fighting insurance fraud. Over the course of our 100-year existence, we have seen crime and criminals evolve from simple offenses of opportunity to complex, multi-level, multi-perpetrator operations that reach well beyond city limits or even national boundaries.

These two cases highlight a particularly insidious crime—one whose participants view New York's no-fault insurance program as their own giant state-sponsored, insurance industry-funded ATM machine. It's also why NICB established its first Major Medical Fraud Task Force in New York—an unprecedented industry effort to specifically address the fraud made possible by the no-fault program.

The legislature created New York's no-fault program with all the right intentions. But as we have seen most vividly in just these two cases, the legislature needs desperately to revisit the program with the goal of enacting reforms. Central to these scams are people who act as "runners." They are the ones who aggressively recruit "clients" to undergo phony or unnecessary treatment at medical mills.

The remedy is to make all runner acts class D felonies.

As these two prosecutions demonstrate, it is time for the legislature to act by passing a strong anti-runner bill that will close off a prolific source of phony victims and bogus claims.

Anyone with information concerning insurance fraud can report it anonymously by calling toll-free 1-800-TEL-NICB (1-800-835-6422), texting keyword "fraud" to TIP411 (847411) or by visiting our Web site at www.nicb.org. Or, iPhone or iPad users can download the NICB Fraud Tips app to make it easy to quickly send a tip and get a response

About the National Insurance Crime Bureau: headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., the NICB is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to preventing, detecting and defeating insurance fraud and vehicle theft through data analytics, investigations, training, legislative advocacy and public awareness. The NICB is supported by more than 1,100 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations. NICB member companies wrote over $319 billion in insurance premiums in 2010, or approximately 80 percent of the nation's property/casualty insurance. That includes more than 94 percent ($152 billion) of the nation's personal auto insurance. To learn more visit www.nicb.org.

SOURCE National Insurance Crime Bureau