N.Y. SEES PROGRESS AGAINST FRAUD:

The fight against insurance fraud in New York is producing encouraging results as the cost of the average auto injury claim under the state’s no-fault insurance system declined by 20 percent between 2002 and 2003, according to the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud (NYAAIF). NYAAIF said the crackdown by insurance companies, law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, the state insurance fraud bureau and a statewide public information program has helped reduce the size of the average personal injury protection (PIP) claim. For example, the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) reported that: the average injury claim cost in 2003 was $6,788, down from $8,571 in 2002; and while New York’s PIP costs were 1 percent above the national average in 2003, they peaked 26 percent above the average in the first quarter of 2002. However, the I.I.I. also reported that the number of PIP claims rose 2.4 percent in 2003, compared to a decline of 0.8 percent nationally and the frequency of PIP claims in New York is 18 percent above the national average. “It’s possible that the success of fraud-fighting efforts have caused insurance criminals to try and fly under the radar of investigators by filing smaller bogus claims, but more of them” said Bernard Bourdeau of NYAAIF. Bourdeau cited several reasons for the positive trends, including greater recognition on the part of law enforcement, prosecutors and the public of the costs of fraud. He also credited Regulation 68, which requires people to notify their insurance company within 30 days of an accident, rather than 90 days.

Topics New York Fraud