Preying on vulnerable people needing drug rehab
Fraud has become a multimillion-dollar problem in America’s booming rehab industry, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing state officials, lawsuits filed by insurers and former clients, and federal indictments and convictions.
It’s especially prevalent in California, where operators have discovered a steady stream of revenue by luring people with addiction from across the country and billing their private insurance, the WSJ says.
Patients often come through recruiters — known as body brokers in the industry — who are paid to target people addicted to drugs with promises of recovery, the WSJ says.
The patients themselves rarely pay premiums, the WSJ says. The brokers help them purchase plans under the Affordable Care Act, where federal subsidies can mean no out-of-pocket costs for people below a certain income. And they broker patients who are on their parents’ insurance.
Lawsuits and federal cases allege that rehabs can charge insurance hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few months’ stay while offering little treatment.
Then, when the money runs out, the rehabs make the patients leave, without support or referrals, regardless of whether or not they’ve recovered, the WSJ says. The practice is known as “patient dumping” or “curbing.”
The state of New Jersey published a report last year titled “The Dirty Business Behind Getting Clean: Fraud, Ethical Misconduct and Corruption in the Addiction Rehabilitation Industry.”
Here is more on drug-treatment scams, from the Recovery Research Institute.
And here is some guidance from the Federal Trade Commission.
Also in the news
Joy in Israel, Gaza after ceasefire is announced
UN to cut 25 percent of its global peacekeeping force in response to U.S. funding cuts
Appeals court ruling keeps Oregon National Guard federalized ahead of oral arguments; troops still aren’t allowed on streets
Comey pleads not guilty as his lawyers signal intent to argue Trump foe’s case is politically motivated
Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy laments that ‘partisanship is creeping its way into the court’
ProPublica: These activists want to dismantle public schools; now they run the Department of Education
Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to 3 scientists for discovery that could trap greenhouse gases, bring water to deserts
For first time in Nobel Peace Prize 125-year history, media allowed a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process
MacArthur genius grants go to 22 artists, scientists, authors who each will get $800,000
What to do if your flight is delayed or canceled during the government shutdown
Who gets the health care subsidies that are at the center of the government shutdown