Call to Albany: Time to reward insurance fraud whistleblowers

(Published in Times Union)

Here is an idea for Albany. It would significantly strengthen the State’s efforts to combat fraud, inject the State with tens of millions of dollars a year in added revenue, and most importantly, better protect the health and welfare of all New Yorkers. All it would entail is expanding New York’s whistleblower rewards regime to include individuals exposing insurance fraud.

New York already boasts one of the strongest whistleblower rewards programs in the country… But it does not reach fraud against private insurers… It does not have to be this way… California and Illinois provide the legislative blueprint for New York to plug this regulatory gap. Each has passed Insurance Fraud Prevention Acts which, like the various False Claims Acts, empower whistleblowers to bring lawsuits on behalf of the state, alleging fraud against private insurers, and share in any recovery…. It is time for New York to vest insurance fraud whistleblowers with the authority and incentives to chart a similar course.

From any reasonable vantage point, this simple legislative fix should be a no-brainer. Especially to supplement a whistleblower regime that is in every other way a model for other states to follow. Albany, it is your move.

Click here to read the full version of the article as published in the Times Union.

READ MORE:

• False Claims Act
• Fraud against Private Insurers
• State and Local False Claims Acts
• Whistleblower Reward Laws
• I Think I Have a Whistleblower Case
• Whistleblower FAQs

Tagged in: CC Lawyers, FCA Federal, FCA State, Legislation and Regulation News, Whistleblower Eligibility, Whistleblower Rewards,