Posted On: January 24, 2005, 3:22 pm CST

Posted By: Florida Product Analyst

Nan -- That's part of the problem, sometimes it IS deemed cheaper/more expedient by some companies to simply pay the claims than to spend the Special Investigative Unit time and money, let alone the costs to prosecute. Not only does this let specific fraud rings continue to rack up the charges, it almost encourages more fraud to pop up. Some states have started severe crackdown initiatives to both stop that trend and perception among would-be fraudsters that this trend will continue.

I'm hoping these initiatives continue, and that they significantly deter future fraud. You can't stop everyone, of course, but the more someone thinks they're likely to get caught, the less likely they usually are to commit the crime.