Florida Senator Jeff Brandes Files SB 1012 To Tackle Insurance Fraud
Feb 17, 2017
Bill strengthens dedicated prosecutor program statewide to address insurance fraud
Florida Senator Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), in partnership with Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and State Representative Holly Raschein (R-Key Largo), announced the filing of Senate Bill 1012 relating to investigative and forensic services today, February 17, 2017.
The bill is designed to tackle the growing issue of insurance fraud in Florida and will require cooperation between the insurance industry and the state to investigate and prosecute fraud.
“Every year insurance fraud adds to the cost paid by consumers for everything from automobile insurance to homeowners’ insurance,” a news release issued today by Senator Brandes’ office explained.
SB 1012 requires the development of anti-fraud plans by insurance companies and directs that they be submitted to Florida’s Division of Investigative and Forensic Services (“Division”). The bill further requires anti-fraud training for personnel within insurance companies designated to oversee the company’s fraud prevention efforts. It mandates reporting of anti-fraud statistics to the Division annually, so that the Division can better track the changing trends of fraud statewide. Finally, SB 1012 strengthens a program to assign dedicated prosecutors to different regions of the state to tackle insurance fraud. The Chief Financial Officer of Florida, based on the annual fraud statistics submitted to the division, may assign and re-assign the dedicated prosecutors as needed to address the changing trends of insurance fraud.
SB 1012 is linked to SB 1014 relating to Public Records/Division of Investigative and Forensic Services of the Department of Financial Services, which would exempt insurers’ anti-fraud plans from public record.
“Insurance fraud in Florida is evolving, and policyholders are forced to pay for it through higher premiums every year,” Senator Brandes said. “This is a hidden tax on every Floridian who drives a car, owns a home, rents an apartment, or pays for health insurance. If left unchecked, the cost of fraud will grow and consumers will continue to pay the price. I am committed to making insurance affordable for Floridians, and I am proud to work with Jeff Atwater to address this critically important issue.”
“We must do everything possible to help hold the line on rising insurance rates-rates that are particularly high in South Florida,” Representative Raschein added. “I’m proud to sponsor this common sense solution that will better align the resources that we already have in place, and allow law enforcement to use them strategically in the fight to curb the fraud that drives up rates in our state.”
“We’ve made significant strides in our fight against insurance fraud, and we couldn’t have done so without the steadfast partnership of the fraud-fighting units housed within many of our state’s insurance companies and the dedicated prosecutors who take our cases to trial,” said CFO Jeff Atwater. “With this bill we hope to further improve our processes and hone our techniques so that we can continue to stay a step ahead of the criminals who seek to defraud Floridians. I am thankful to Senator Brandes and Representative Raschein for their leadership on this important issue.”
Fraud can account for as high as 10 percent of the property and casualty insurance industry’s loss expenses every year, Senator Brandes explained in his news release today.
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