(The Center Square) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to crack down on auto insurance fraud and staged accidents are facing resistance from religious leaders, who claim it would prevent those who are injured from seeking justice.
Hochul’s plan to tackle fraud, some of which requires legislative approval, calls for strengthening state regulations, ramping up investigations of alleged insurance fraud, and targeting physicians who provide bogus diagnoses for victims of staged crashes. The plan won Hochul praise from business groups and fiscal watchdogs who say fraud is rampant in New York’s insurance sector.
But a coalition of religious leaders, calling itself Concerned Clergy of New York State and New York City, is asking Hochul to strip the bill of provisions they claim would “deny victims the justice they deserve.”…