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California Department of Insurance is tightening its drag net on workers’ compensation insurance fraudsters with additional funding to support district attorneys.
To this end, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones recently announced that the regulator is providing $34.9 million in grants to 37 district attorney offices representing 44 counties throughout the state.
The grants will be funded through employer assessments. They will primarily support law enforcement initiatives through the investigation and prosecution of workers’ compensation insurance fraud.
“Ultimately, California consumers and businesses pay the price for insurance fraud through higher premiums and increased costs for good and services,” Commissioner Jones explained. “These grants will assist district attorneys across the state in uncovering workers’ compensation fraud schemes and prosecuting those who take advantage of the system.”
Workers’ compensation fraud covers medical provider fraud, employer premium fraud, employer defrauding employee, insider fraud, claimant fraud, and the wilfully uninsured operating in the underground economy.
Authorities say that such cases, when successfully prosecuted, could help discourage fraudulent activity in the future, as well as help level the playing field for honest businesses.
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