Insurance Companies Looking For Fraud

Weatherford lawyers and those in Graford, Garner, Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, and other places in Texas would need to understand how insurance companies work when a claim is made.
The New York Daily News published an article in January that gives some insight into what the companies are looking for. The article is titled, “Fraud is driving car insurance rates through the roof in New York City: Brooklyn prosecutor.” It tells us drivers in New York City pay among the highest automobile insurance rates in the nation because of fraudulent or inflated claims.
City drivers are faced with some of the highest car insurance premiums in the nation because of massive insurance fraud, district attorneys say.
A whopping 36% of insurance claims are either fraudulent or inflated, Brooklyn Executive Assistant District Attorney Jeff Ferguson told a recent City Council hearing.
“That’s where your money is going,” he said. “It sometimes costs more to insure a car than it does to purchase a car in the city of New York. That’s a ridiculous situation.”
Drivers in Brooklyn paid an average of $2,143 a year in insurance premiums in 2009, the last full year data is available.
That’s 79.2% higher than the statewide average, which is itself among the highest in the country.
“The average motorist out there obeying the law . . . is being ripped off because of the exorbitant rates that they have to pay,” said Council Transportation Committee chair James Vacca (D-Bronx).
The prosecutors are pushing a state bill that would make it a crime to use “runners” — middlemen who are paid to bring injured patients to medical clinics.
It’s a common tactic in insurance fraud, allowing clinics to cash in on unnecessary treatments reimbursed by insurance companies.
Officials say they need the law cracking down on runners because fraudulent intent is hard to prove.
“At the end of the day, this is a form of organized crime,” said Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alonso.

The aims of the insurance companies are admirable to the extent they are trying to lower premiums for the average insured person. The problem comes when the insurance company gets too zealous in their efforts to weed out fraud. When this happens the end up denying legitimate claims. In Texas, when they deny legitimate claims, they open themselves up to being sued under rules found in the Texas Insurance Code and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
When an insurance company starts treating you like you are a fraud or like you are trying to cheat them, it is important to fight back with an experienced Insurance Law Attorney. Once they start, they become single minded and focused on doing everything they can to prove they are right.