Jennings State Senator Dan Morrish, who is Chairman of the Louisiana Senator Insurance Committee, said today in a press release that his bill to crack down on insurance fraud has been signed by the governor.  Senate Bill 765, which is now Act 862, the press release says, " is an effort to enhance the state's efforts to fight insurance fraud, which costs insurance companies and their policyholders hundreds of millions of dollars every year."

"Insurance fraud not only impacts insurance companies, but it is also extremely detrimental to innocent policy holders," said Morrish.  "We at the Legislature are dedicated to taking a stand against insurance fraud and this measure will help us to do so."

Does insurance fraud have a major impact on your family?  According to the Louisiana Attorney General's office statistics, families spend close to one thousand dollars every year due to fraud in the system.  Their numbers also show that property and casualty insurance fraud here in our state totals a half a billion dollars a year.  When it comes to insurance fraud in the healthcare insurance arena, the A-G's office says it costs citizens around one and a half billion dollars.

So what kind of power does Act 862 give the state? It will give the Louisiana Attorney General's office the ability to file for monetary penalties, civil action, or other compensation against people who are involved in insurance fraud, misrepresentation, abuse or other illegal practices.   The new law that takes effect on the first day of August this year, will allow all the money collected from violators to go into the Insurance Fraud Investigation Fund to help agencies with fraud investigations.

 

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