Filing claims is not like withdrawing cash from an automated teller machine, it takes a rigorous process of verification and authentication before the claim is granted. This way the insurers can be certain that the claims filed are legitimate hence will avoid fraud attempts. This year the National insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) reported a 10 percent increase in questionable medical claims from the 2009 data.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau fraud related to medical claims is about a third of all claims that are considered questionable. The questionable medical claims are said to be coming from the states of California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. With the first half of 2010, National Insurance Crime Bureau spotted a possible increase of 13 percent in questionable medical claims if the current pace carries on.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau is a non-profit organization that is primarily created to help identify, thwart and defeat insurance fraud as well as vehicle theft. With this increasing case of questionable claims the National Insurance Crime Bureau opened their sixth major medical fraud task force. In addition to this a seventh task force will soon be opened in areas prone to such fraudulent crimes. These areas where increased of fraudulent activities were observed includes Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Public awareness is one of the ways on how the National Insurance Crime Bureau try to combat fraud and car theft problems together with data analysis, training, investigations and legislative advocacy thus one of their basic actions is to make everyone aware of such medical fraud schemes.
Now that offenders are taking more efforts to steal money from insurers and customers, more rigid policies to guide settling of claims can be expected. Auto insurance claims in general, not just the medical claims, will be scrutinized thoroughly before being granted. Moreover efforts to capture offenders can be expected to be doubled leaving fewer opportunities for criminals to practice their wrong doings.
Filling a claim should be done under legitimate circumstances. It should not be taken as an opportunity to deceive people and to get fast money which is obviously being done by offenders. Now that more and more questionable claims are surfacing it is time for both insurers and consumers to be in full alert to avoid being victimized by such fraudulent crime. Public awareness will help to make consumers understand why filing a claim is not among the fast-transactions that can be done in haste.
