The Department of Justice recently announced charges against 601 defendants in a massive health care fraud crackdown.
The DoJ claims that healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacies stole $2 billion from Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare, and private insurance companies. They did so by charging for medical supplies and procedures that weren’t necessary.
Over 25% of those charged were for frivolously prescribing dangerous opioids. Opioid use has risen to epidemic levels and thousands die from abuse every year. This abuse is doctor approved, and often leads to illegal opioid use such as heroin.
Is this the beginning of the end for the opioid crisis? We can only hope that it is, and we will save thousands of lives in the process.
