Justice Dept charges 138 people with health care fraud incurring $1.4 billion in losses
CBSN
The Justice Department announced Friday that it's charging 138 people for their involvement in telemedicine schemes and other health care fraud across the country that may have incurred over $1.4 billion in losses.
Telemedicine, opioid prescriptions, patient information, federally-allocated provider reliefs funds and sober home initiatives were abused and used to illegally profit from health care charges and reimbursements, the Justice Department alleges. Many of the crimes targeted in the takedowns focused on components of the health care system that have been put under even greater stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Justice Department, 43 criminal defendants across 11 jurisdictions are charged with telemedicine schemes amounting to a whopping $1.1 billion in alleged losses.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.