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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI and its Medicare Fraud Strike Force partners have charged more than 400 people in the largest-ever health care fraud law enforcement operation.

Defrauding taxpayers, those charged allegedly made false filings worth about $1.3 billion to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and other private insurance programs.

FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe…

Andrew McCabe: We arrested once-trusted doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals who were corrupted by greed. These people inflicted a special kind of damage.

Halpern: This damage comes in the midst of a nationwide opioid epidemic in which about 91 Americans die every day of an opioid-related overdose.

About 120 individuals charged in the takedown were involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other dangerous narcotics.

McCabe says in some cases…

McCabe: We have doctors who wrote unnecessary narcotics prescriptions to addicts and drug dealers in return for $250, $300 cash payments for each visit.

Halpern: Fighting health care fraud is a priority for the FBI, and the hope is that these arrests will deter others from committing the crime.

The FBI and its law enforcement partners cannot combat the crime alone.

McCabe: We’ve got to work with our public health, treatment professionals, and educators to increase public awareness about the perils of opioid addiction.

Halpern: With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.