Evidence, insurance bill, looting, estimates, avoid, multimillion-dollar, undetected, exaggerate, encourages, insurance companies

1. Insurance fraud is difficult to measure because so much goes ___________, and complete research has yet to be done.

2. Still, we have enough ____________ to know that fraud is widespread and expensive.

3. Healthcare fraud alone costs Americans $54 billion a year, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud____________.

4. More than one third of people hurt in auto accidents ___________ their injuries.

5. This adds $13-$18 billion to America's annual ____________, notes a study by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice.

6. Nearly one third of doctors exaggerate the severity of a patient's illness to help the patient ___________ early discharge from a hospital

7. Most ______________ take a tough stand against fraud, but some companies unwittingly encourage fraud by paying suspicious claims too easily.

8. These companies believe it's cheaper to pay some smaller suspect claims than fight in court, and a quick payoff also may avoid ___________ lawsuits for bad faith.

9. The sheer number of patients and treatments plus complexity of billing attract cons that are skilled at ____________ our overworked health care system.

10.The pressure to control costs also _____________ many doctors or health firms to cheat so they can recoup lost profits or meet rigorous treatment quotas

Put the verbs in brackets into the proper tense forms.

1. The nation's improved fraud-fighting efforts (to work).

2. More insurance crooks (to convict) every year, and billions of dollars stolen from honest citizens and businesses (to recover).

3. Precise figures (to be) not available, but growing evidence ( to show) real progress on many fronts.

4. Consider: State fraud prosecutions ( to triple) over the last three years, according to a new study of state fraud bureaus by the coalition.

5. Healthcare insurers ( to save) policy holders more than $11 for every dollar spent fighting fraud, a 50-percent increase over 1995, the Health Insurance Association of America ( to note).

6. Fewer people believe it's OK (to inflate) insurance claims by small amounts (to recoup) their deductible or premiums.

7. Everyone ( to pay) for insurance fraud, and so everyone must ( to join) in stamping out these swindles.

8. Consumers, lawmakers, insurance companies, doctors, lawyers and many more must ( to be) part of the answer.

9. Insurance fraud ( to disappear) only when criminals ( to realize) fraud ( to be) a fast highway to jail, not an easy road to riches

10. Courts ( to get) tougher on convicted schemers, but too often jail sentences still
( to be) light, with courts often reserving space in overcrowded prisons for people
convicted of more-violent crimes.

WRITING

Translate into Ukrainian.

Insurance Fraud is classified as a felony. A fraudulent act is committed if information in insurance applications is falsified in an attempt to obtain lower premium rates, or to inflate the amount of loss in a claim. Defining the crime specifically helps educate law enforcers about insurance fraud and provides prosecutors with clear-cut cases. Raising the level of the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony not only increases the penalties but also acts as a deterrent to future crimes. Immunity Statutes: These laws provide protection for good faith exchange of information between insurers or others and state insurance departments or law enforcement officials. Individuals or organizations are exempt from libel or unfair trade practices lawsuits, which could be brought against them for releasing information on prior claims. Some states have general statutes that apply to all kinds of insurance; in some states the statutes apply only to specific lines of insurance. Insurance fraud occurs when people deceive an insurance company or agent to collect money to which they aren't entitled. Similarly, insurers and agents also can defraud consumers, or even each other. Insurance fraud can be "hard" or "soft." Hard Fraud.Someone deliberately fakes an accident, injury, theft, arson or other loss to collect money illegally from insurance companies. Crooks often act alone, but increasingly, organized crime rings stage large schemes that steal millions of dollars. Soft Fraud.Normally honest people often tell "little white lies" to their insurance company. Many people think it’s just harmless fudging. But soft fraud is a crime, and raises everyone’s insurance costs. Consider…

A car owner understates how many miles she drives annually to lower her auto premium… A home owner inflates the value of his stereo equipment stolen during a robbery… Or a printing business lists fewer employees than it really has in order to pay lower workers compensation premiums.