According to the Insurance Journal, Vermont's legislature has passed a bill making insurance fraud a specific crime, leaving only Alabama, Oregon and Virginia without insurance fraud laws.

If Vermont governor signs the measure, it would take effect on July 1 and criminalize:

• bogus claims by policyholders


• fraud by insurers (like the sale of fake insurance)


• scams by agents (such as stealing client premiums)


• scams by public adjusters (such as claim inflation)

Lying on insurance applications won't be covered by the measure, notes IJ, and prosecutors would have to cite other criminal law in order to convict a policyholder of falsifying application information.

So...I hate to sound like an incompetent jerk about this, but I was quite surprised to learn that insurance fraud isn't a "specific crime" in all U.S. states. What did Vermont do before this? "You sold fake insurance? Well, that's not cool, Bob. We're going to politely ask you to please stop selling fake insurance. We hope you consider our request."

Seems to me if there's such a thing as a National Insurance Crime Bureau to deal with insurance fraud, and if insurance fraud is robbing the country of $80 billion per year, insurance fraud ought to be considered a "specific crime" in every state. I'm not totally sure what a "specific" crime is either. A crime is a crime, right?

$80 billion could buy a lot of shoes be used for great things, is all I'm saying. Seems strange that Alabama, Oregon and Virginia are just hanging out without fraud laws. Sort of like driving cars without built-in seatbelts. Just doesn't seem right.