BREAKING: 455 people charged by Todd Blanche, DOJ in $6.5 BILLION in health care fraud schemes

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that 455 defendants across 45 states and American territories have been charged for healthcare fraud schemes since June 8. These schemes saw $6.5 billion in false claims being submitted to federally funded healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Blanche detailed a few of the schemes. The DOJ is bringing charges against an Arizona provider that billed false claims for wound grafts for over $1 billion. There are 11 defendants being charged for these alleged wound care schemes. Those defendants are alleged to have spent the funds to pay for a luxury lifestyle both domestically and internationally.

"This announcement marks the greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history," Blanche said. "These individuals participated in health care fraud schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs." 

At least 90 of those who were charged by the DOJ in these schemes were medical professionals. Another defendant signed off on test results for a patient, clearing a student to play basketball despite an enlarged heart. The doctor barely reviewed the results before signing off.

The federal government spends over $1.1 trillion on Medicare per year and over $930 billion on Medicaid. Blanche has now revealed that billions of those dollars are misdirected into fraudulent schemes. Blanche said the DOJ intends to recover as much of the funds as possible through asset seizure.