Feds: Mich. doctor ran $8M cream scam by ripping off UAW members
Source: Detroit Free Press
A Michigan doctor and two associates are facing years in prison after admitting to running an $8 million scam that involved stealing from UAW members' insurance plans to bill for unnecessary scar creams, pain patches and vitamins.
The scheme worked, prosecutors said, by conning UAW members into thinking the prescriptions were free meaning no co-pay at the pharmacy when in reality the "free" medications were costing their health care fund millions of dollars.
The doctor and her co-horts admitted to all of this in separate plea hearings, the U.S. Attorneys office announced on Wednesday, noting the scheme bilked nearly $8 million from Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
According to prosecutors, the defendants targeted these insurance plans due to the high reimbursement rate paid by Medicare and BCBS for prescription pain cream, scar cream, pain patches and/or vitamins.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/11/27/uaw-scam/4320864002/