243 Arrested in $712 Million Medicare Fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday that 243 people have been arrested across the country, charged with submitting fake billing for Medicare, a government health care program that totaled $712 million. Attorney General Loretta Lynch described the arrests as the largest criminal health care fraud takedown in the history of the Justice Department. Those arrested included 46 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals. The charges are based on a variety of alleged fraud schemes, the government said, including submitting claims to Medicare and Medicaid, the health care program for low-income individuals, for treatments that were medically unnecessary and often never provided. The nationwide sweep, led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, involved about 900 law enforcement officials. It’s the largest both in terms of the number of those charged and the amount of money lost.

Source/more: Reuters
Related: Fraud Continues to Be a Problem in Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage 

David Wingate is an elder law attorney, who practices in Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland. The elder law practice consists of wills, powers of attorney, living wills, trusts, asset protection and Medicaid.