Obtained illegally? Douglas Sacha/Moment/Getty

Hundreds of people have been charged with acts of healthcare fraud in the largest crackdown in US history.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price announced yesterday that 412 people from across the country had been charged. Many of these charges are related to treatments that were deemed medically unnecessary, or weren’t provided but were billed to the federally- and state-funded healthcare programmes Medicare and Medicaid, as well as TRICARE – health insurance provided to members of the military and their families.

In all, the fraudulent insurance claims – many of which related to opioid painkillers – are said to total $1.3 billion.


“We are sending a clear message to criminals across the country: we will find you,” said Sessions at a press briefing. “We will bring you to justice, and you will pay a very high price for what you have done.”

Opioid abuse

The crackdown was coordinated by multiple federal and state law enforcement agencies. Over 120 of the defendants are alleged to have played a hand in illegal opioid distribution.

“An illegal clinic in Houston allegedly gave out prescriptions for cash,” said Sessions. “Just one doctor at this clinic allegedly gave out 12,000 opioid prescriptions for over 2 million illegal painkiller doses.”

The US is currently in the midst of an epidemic of prescription and street-bought opioid abuse. According to data from the International Narcotics Board, the US leads the world in opioid prescriptions. By population, opioid use is nearly four times higher than in the UK. Canada ranks second after the US, but when it comes to hydrocodone use, for example, people in the US use more than 48 times as much of this drug than people in Canada.

Tackling the epidemic

The US Food and Drug Administration has asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for recommendations on how to address the problem. The academies’ report, published yesterday, provided a number of suggestions, including better education for both doctors and the public, expanded opioid addiction treatment, more research, and a full review of currently marketed opioids.

“This report provides an action plan directed particularly at the health professions and government agencies responsible for regulating them,” Richard Bonnie, chair of the committee that compiled the report, said in a statement, “We also wanted to convey a clear message about the magnitude of the challenge. This epidemic took nearly two decades to develop, and it will take years to unravel.”

Read more: A small class-action lawsuit could stop the US opioid epidemic