(The Center Square) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California is suing a health insurance plan for allegedly violating the public’s trust at taxpayers’ expense.
The federal government filed the complaint Wednesday under the False Claims Act against Inland Empire Health Plan, which received nearly $3.5 billion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend coverage to newly eligible Californians receiving Medi-Cal. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District.
The health plan serves 1.5 million residents in inland Southern California’s San Bernardino and Riverside counties, according to IEHP.
“The government’s complaint alleges that IEHP violated the False Claims Act by making false statements to Medi-Cal and knowingly retaining overpayments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The U.S. Department of Justice suit accuses IEHP of failing to keep its promise to return surplus funding to the federal government for a newly insured Medi-Cal Expansion population between Jan. 1, 2014 and June 30, 2016. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program.
“Instead of keeping that promise, IEHP illegally spent hundreds of millions of dollars of surplus funding in a fraudulent scheme designed to pad its own coffers,” according to the 58-page lawsuit.
Tyler Perry is pushing back hard against sexual assault allegations made by actor Derek Dixon. Full story below… According to new court filings obtained by PEOPLE, Perry’s legal team alleges that D...