The Justice Department on Tuesday announced a historic healthcare fraud “takedown,” saying the operation uncovered $6.5 billion in false government healthcare claims and charges against 455 defendants.
The cases are part of the DOJ’s annual National Health Care Fraud Takedown and targeted a wide range of alleged schemes involving Medicare, Medicaid and other government-funded health care programs, according to ABC7.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference at DOJ headquarters, in Washington, D.C., announcing the operation that the $6.5 billion was the second-largest amount ever charged in a single healthcare fraud operation.
He was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said: “If you exploit patients for profit, if you steal Medicaid or Medicare dollars, if you treat taxpayer dollars as your personal bank account, we will investigate you. We will build the case, and we will bring you to justice.”
He also said others participating in the operation that led to the charges included other federal agencies, U.S. territories and 45 states – 18 of which were blue states with Democratic governors.
Defendants allegedly took part in false billing, kickback arrangements, unnecessary medical services, and more to wrongfully obtain taxpayer-funded healthcare dollars, according to ABC7.
One specific case involving alleged fraudulent EKG testing that was allegedly read incorrectly, leading to the death of a University of Mobile basketball player, Kaiden Francis. His EKG was reportedly reviewed in 11 seconds. His mother said his heart was 2.5 times the normal size.
Francis’ mother said she hopes the doctor “rots” behind bars.
“The doctor is as bad as any greedy criminal who is killing people in the streets. I hope he rots in jail so no one else is hurt, but my son will never come back to me. That’s the real human cost that we were speaking of on the stage.”
A University of Mobile spokesperson said Francis had before collapsing at a 2024 team workout passed “a battery of health screenings, including heart and lung evaluations” prior to his death and that “none of these tests indicated health concerns.”
The healthcare fraud takedown has become one of the largest coordinated fraud enforcements in the country.
Lane Smith is a reporter for Just the News.
Reprinted with Permission from Just the News – By Lane Smith
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
I read this article, informative, but what about the lost funds. I see handcuffs, and well deserved, but I want foreclosures on ALL holdings, of each individual who committed this awful fraud and theft. Someone needs to find out what has been done to recover funds.
Many of our people are retiring and in large part, depending on these funds for their retirement budgets. These are great losses.
We need to get laws on the books that pertaining to these types of fraud. Watchdogs must be provided and actually do their job of making sure these monies are not ending up in the pockets of fraudulent people. Other wise, we will have the same theft by the many evil people out there!!
What happens to the money when they get it back. also all the drug money the Goverment seizes?
GREAT job, DOJ! Keep after the thievin’ scumbagz….
How much more fraud is out there when ONLY 455 people were responsible for 6.5 billion dollars ????
I am not interested in bread and games, true justice will do just fine. Consequences for the true criminals, not patsies.
I think this is one reason healthcare costs are high.
More of the same please. Now how about recovering the money and returning it to all of us who have had to bend over for the fraudsters.
Had the democrats won in 2024, let me note the dollar amount of fraud that would have been exposed. That amount would be, you guessed it, $0. The number of fraud suspects rounded up and exposed, would exactly zero. Fraud and government waste and the theft and misdirection of billions in taxpayer funds are the democrat party’s stock in trade, their specialty, their standard operating procedure. Another unsettling reality is their highly skilled abilities to rob America of it’s constitutional freedoms and creating chaos and criminality that victimizes innocent unsuspecting law abiding citizens. This new communist democrat party in America must be stopped. They are an insidious terroristic and useless gaggle of treasonous troglodytes, nothing more.