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Industry group urges Wyoming to require insurance fraud reporting and civil immunity for reporters
Summary
The National Insurance Crime Bureau told lawmakers Wyoming is one of two states without mandatory fraud reporting and urged an interim review, noting insurers and agents lack civil immunity when reporting suspected fraud.
Marion Smith, representing the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), told the joint committee that Wyoming and Wisconsin are the only states without mandatory fraud reporting statutes.
"Wyoming is only 1 of 2 states that does not have fraud reporting mandatory within its state statutes," Smith said, adding that lack of statutory immunity deters agents and insurers from sharing concerns about repeated or staged claims. Smith said the NICB works with law enforcement and insurance companies and that mandatory reporting legislation in other states had required careful drafting to avoid unintended consequences.
Smith and other witnesses said medical fraud, staged motor-vehicle collisions and workers' compensation fraud impose costs on insurers and consumers. She estimated fraud adds hundreds to a thousand dollars per policyholder annually nationwide, and asked the committee to take the topic up in interim work to craft language that aligns health and property casualty interests.
Committee members discussed committee jurisdiction and whether the matter should be handled by insurance committees; speakers said the topic spans insurance, health and workers' compensation and asked for cross-committee coordination. Sponsors asked for an interim study; no bill was advanced at the meeting.
