While perusing the news looking for anything but Coronavirus to read about this morning, I ran across an article from WDSU news that made me want to jump up and high five my coworkers. Unfortunately, we are all social distancing, but I believe "virtual high fives" are being exchanged all across the insurance industry in Louisiana today. Travers Mackel reported on what seems to be an insurance fraud ring running in the New Orleans area. It seems that not only attorneys, but possibly physicians and judges as well, are in on the action. Here's a link for those that want to dig into the story more deeply: https://www.wdsu.com/article/wdsu-investigates-gentilly-truck-wrecks-called-suspicious-what-it-means-for-your-insurance-rate/24441653
Louisiana has the second-highest insurance rates in the nation, and insurance abuse is a huge contributing factor. Fraud, coupled with the large amount of uninsured drivers who can still sue you if you have insurance, causes all of us "rule followers" to pay far more than we should for our policies.
Please understand, we carry insurance for a reason, and people who suffer legitimate injury or vehicular damage should be justly compensated. I'm not sure if the timing of this report is coincidental or not, but I am hoping that our legislators are paying attention to things other than Coronavirus. It's time that these fraudsters pay for their crimes, and not just pay politicians to look the other way. Those who abuse the system are a virus to us all, and it's time we pay attention to the damage they are doing to our state.