Health insurance fraud rises in the United States

In the current economic downturn, the number of companies offering fraudulent or spurious health insurance policies is rapidly increasing in the United States. Typically, these unlicensed companies prey on small businesses and self employed people, who are desperate for affordable coverage. Patients and doctors are therefore stuck with unpaid bills and, in the case of patients, possibly damaged credit ratings.

The fraudulent health insurance companies, which should be licensed in the state they operate in, falsely claim that they do not need licensing because they are regulated by the US Department of Labor.

Because these fraudulent companies are not authorised to sell …