Top 10 Fraud Recoveries All Came from Health Care Companies

[The Straight Story]

Top 10 Fraud Recoveries All Came from Health Care Companies

Every one of the top fraud settlements reached last year by the federal government involved health care, including eight cases involving pharmaceutical companies. The largest amount recovered was $600 million from Allergan for illegally marketing Botox. Other drug makers who got busted were AstraZeneca ($520 million for illegally marketing the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel); Novartis ($423 million for unapproved promotion of Trileptal); and Forest Laboratories/Pharmaceuticals ($313 million for marketing the thyroid drug Levothroid without government approval and unlawfully promoting two antidepressants, Celexa and Lexapro, for pediatric use).

Taxpayers Against Fraud has calculated that the Department of Justice recovered $3.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2010 thanks to the False Claims Act and whistleblowers which means that it is bringing in $15 for every $1 it spends on investigations.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Top_10_Fraud_Recoveries_All_Came_from_Health_Care_Companies_101215

[Poboy]

1. Kick for justice. Get rid of the Pharma monopoly. Public option now.

[area51]

2. Quelle surprise.

There is no reason for these insurance companies to be in the health care business. They bankrupt and kill people with claim denials.

Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.; that's 100,000 deaths per year.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.

We don't need the GingrichCare of mandated, unregulated, for-profit insurance that is still too expensive, only pays parts of medical bills, denies claims, bankrupts and kills people.

Republinazi '93 plan:

"Subtitle F: Universal Coverage - Requires each citizen or lawful permanent resident to be covered under a qualified health plan or equivalent health care program by January 1, 2005."

"We will never have real reform until people's health stops being treated as a financial opportunity for corporations."

"Any proposal that sticks with our current dependence on for-profit private insurers ... will not be sustainable. And the new law will not get us to universal coverage ...." -- T.R. Reid, The Healing of America