Florida residents are accused of attempting to swindle more than more than half of the $6.5 billion worth of fraud found in what federal officials are calling the biggest health care fraud crackdown in U.S. history.
The 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which was announced Tuesday, June 23, snared 455 defendants in 45 U.S. states and territories. And, of the $6.5 billion in health care fraud that were mostly false claims for Medicare and Medicaid payments, one Floridian is accused of trying to get paid $3.7 billion for durable medical equipment and wound care the Delray Beach and Miami companies he helped set up never provided.
“CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) is done playing catch-up,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in the news release announcing the arrests. “We’re deploying advanced data analytics to expose fraud networks, to freeze suspicious payments, and shut down bad actors before they can do damage to the programs that millions of Americans depend on.”
What kinds of crime targets government health care?
The offenses Florida arrestees are tagged with involve distributing opioids, COVID-19 tests, selling Medicare beneficiary identification numbers, ordering unnecessary genetic testing, providing false therapy attendance records, and even one alleging that the accused impersonated his dead neurologist relative so he could sell paperwork that falsely documented a disability that would mean the...
Florida residents are accused of attempting to swindle more than more than half of the $6.5 billion worth of fraud found in what federal officials are calling the biggest health care fraud crackdo...