In what federal officials Thursday called the “largest ever health care fraud enforcement action” by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, 412 individuals, including 115 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, were arrested in a nationwide operation that involved more than 1,000 law enforcement agents in at least 30 states.
“One American dies of a drug overdose every 11 minutes and more than 2 million Americans are ensnared in addiction to prescription painkillers,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference. “We will continue to find, arrest, prosecute, convict and incarcerate fraudsters and drug dealers wherever they are.”
Sessions said the operation began with tips from people in the affected communities and from “very sophisticated computer programs that identify outliers.”
The investigation particularly focused on medical professionals who were involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, officials said. The abuse of pharmaceutical opioids is widely blamed for a medical crisis involving tens of thousands of overdoses on heroin and fentanyl....
Among the 412 defendants, 120 were charged with opioid-related crimes. Six of the doctors were charged with operating a scheme in Michigan to prescribe patients with unnecessary opioids, some of which were then sold on the street. The doctors allegedly billed Medicare for $164 million in false and fraudulent claims, according to federal officials.
A clinic in Houston allegedly gave out prescriptions for cash. Officials said one doctor at the clinic provided 12,000 opioid prescriptions for over two million illegal painkiller doses. And a rehab facility for drug addicts in Palm Beach that is alleged to have recruited addicts with gift cards, visits to strip clubs and drugs billed the government for over $58 million in false treatments and tests.
“Narcotics officers have arrested schoolteachers, doctors, nurses and fellow law enforcement personnel,” said acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. “Many who succumb to the lure of the opioid high are kids…In some cases, we had addicts packed into standing-room only waiting rooms, waiting for those prescriptions.”...
“Health care fraud is a reprehensible crime,” said Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson. “It not only represents a theft from taxpayers who fund these vital programs, but impacts the millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid.”
“Health care fraud is a reprehensible crime,” said Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson. “It not only represents a theft from taxpayers who fund these vital programs, but impacts the millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid.”
Obviously, if those arrested gave out illegal prescriptions, then they should be prosecuted, especially the Palm Beach clinic where they bribed patients to go there. Bribes will not help those addicted.
However, I have no sympathy for those who overdosed on the pills. They chose to overdose, probably to get a high or try to relieve the pain they in. I feel for the families or friends but not the dead. They chose their path in life, gambled and lost. And I say this as a person who does need pain meds to be able to work or even sleep.
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