Drivers Are Paying the Price for Staged Accidents in Tampa

Tampa, FL now leads the state in PIP insurance fraud and is also developing a bad rap for becoming the staged-crash capitol of the nation.

Hillsborough County has more PIP clinics than Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Pinellas Counties put together.  For this reason, county officials are saying that they need to take action now.

Fraudulent claims cost every Hillsborough County auto policy holder about $350 in increased premiums, according to ABC News and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

“This is how it works.  Florida’s PIP insurance allows a $10,000 per person per accident pay out. Criminals load up two cars with people, stage a crash then go to a PIP medical provider for treatment. That clinic then bills the insurance companies for phony injuries then pays the people in the accident a percentage and pockets the rest.”

Lynne McChristian, of the Insurance Information Institute, says “that money goes to unscrupulous medical clinics who bill for services that are not delivered.”

When those two cars full of people that we mentioned earlier crash into each other, they could easily net $100,000 in damages. Florida alone pays an estimated $850 million a year in PIP fraud costs. Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner has drafted a PIP medical provider ordinance for this exact reason.

“We want to make sure people who are operating these clinics are appropriately licensed and if they are involved in illicit activities or have a criminal background we are able to detect that.”

If this ordinance were to pass, it would require PIP medical providers who receive 50 percent of their patients through paid referrals, or 90 percent of their income from billing PIP insurance to have a license.

Beckner states, “It really provides a certification process, if you will. Right now, we can’t identify all the people that are engaging in this activity.”

State lawmakers are also discussing this issue, but so far, no bill to be voted on.