Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Nelson, State Representative Geraldine Thompson and Senator Gary Siplin joined the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”), the National Insurance Crime Bureau and Central Florida law enforcement officials in hosting a summit on auto insurance fraud at the Rotary Club of West Orlando this morning, June 29, 2011. 

Over one hundred attendees sat in relative shock during the presentation as they learned about the volume and severity of auto insurance fraud in Central Florida, notwithstanding the hundreds of millions of dollars in “fraud tax” they pay each year.  With many retirees in the audience, the idea of paying a tax to fund the crime of others was not well received.

Monte Stevens from the OIR shared the results of an April 2011 OIR data call on Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) insurance.  Many recoiled when they heard from Mr. Stevens that over $8 billion in PIP claims have been paid, and that the rate of PIP-related lawsuits has increased by over 300 percent during the past five years. 

Of particular interest was a question from Senator Siplin to CFO Atwater about whether CFO Atwater intends to pursue those who are profiting from committing insurance fraud, such as doctors.  CFO Atwater responded affirmatively that his goal was to punish fraudsters.  Senator Siplin offered his full support of this endeavor in Florida Senate.

CFO Atwater then asked event attendees to contact Florida’s insurance fraud hotline or the State’s prosecutor if they suspect insurance fraud.  Senator Siplin added that services like “411-PAIN” and “800-ASK-GARY” are taking money from honest citizens and they need to be stopped.

State Representative Mike Horner, who was among those in the audience, responded to another attendee who asked why PIP reform failed during Florida’s 2011 Legislative Session.  Representative Horner explained that it was because the legal and medical community are making too much money from the PIP system.  The crowd expressed great support for Representative Horner upon learning that he intends to refile PIP legislation in 2012.

Others expressed frustration with rising auto insurance rates.  Speakers all blamed the increasing rates on the volume of auto insurance fraud and demanded that the Florida Legislature do something to stop it.