Federal prosecutors charged 48 people in a massive fraud
that allegedly bought HIV medications and other prescription drugs from
Medicaid recipients and sold them to unsuspecting buyers.
The scheme cost tax payers $500 million, prosecutors said
Tuesday.
According to prosecutors, the fraud was perpetuated as
follows: Medicaid beneficiaries in New York, including AIDS patients and others
suffering from illnesses requiring expensive drugs, sold their prescriptions to
some of the defendants for cash instead of using them for treatment. Once
Medicaid beneficiaries sold the drugs to other buyers, the buyers marketed the
pills to pharmacies and other wholesale prescription drug companies in New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Utah, Nevada,
Louisiana and Alabama, according to authorities.
The scheme targeted expensive medications — some at a cost
of more than $1,000 a bottle — for illnesses such as asthma and HIV,
authorities said. According to prosecutors, the defendants ran a black market
in prescription pills involving a
gigantic double-dip fraud. In other words, the defendants defrauded
Medicaid, in some cases, two times over- a fraud on pharmaceutical companies, a
fraud on legitimate pharmacies, and a fraud on patients who unwittingly bought
second-hand drugs.
If you have any questions relating to health care fraud law
contact Tariq Hafeez at (248) 380-0000.
No comments:
Post a Comment