ABSTRACT
Fraud, corruption, and misrepresentation are endemic to all levels of private health insurance. Allegations of and indictments for fraudulent and misleading health insurance corporation activities are commonplace across the United States. The evidence, however, indicates that the insurance industry's image problem is firmly rooted in the public's very real experience with insurance fraud. Angry citizens, consumer rights organizations, and consumer-oriented insurance commissioners are attempting to take fraudulent insurance companies to task. Defrauded consumers, however, may lose their money even if the commissioner finds company wrongdoing and consumer compensation is warranted. Florida seems to rank among the more militant states regarding attempts to control fraudulent insurers and agents. Medigap fraud, deception, and profiteering by the health insurance industry grew simultaneously with the development of the Medicare program. A study of insurance fraud and misrepresentation was released by Families USA Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation interested in the social well-being of senior citizens.
