There is a battle that the United States has become entrenched in, and it is one for the survival of some of it’s most vulnerable citizens.

The key players in the drama are:

  • patients
  • treatment centers
  • legislators
  • insurance companies

and it’s only too often that the patients themselves get the short end of the stick.

This ongoing struggle has taken an interesting turn in Florida where an “insurance fraud” related crackdown has netted 2 men who are involved in operating addiction treatment program. The sting was designed to nab corrupt treatment industry professionals who are using unscrupulous methods to obtain patients.

West Palm Beach Florida

West Palm Beach Florida, considered the ‘epicenter of addiction treatment’ by many within the treatment industry, would seem to be a logical place for such a sting to take place. State Attorney Dave Aronberg is tasked with the challenge of trying to create some order in a “wild west” environment of insurance fraud that has sprung up due to:

  • the rapid growth of addiction and persons needing treatment (which is fueled by the proliferation of narcotic prescription medications)
  • rapidly changing legislation (that is still in flux due to the implementation of Obamacare)

When “Marketing” is actually “Insurance Fraud”

According to the Palm Beach Sun Sentinel, the guilty parties are James Kigar and Christopher Hutson of the Whole Life Recovery, a drug rehab in Boynton Beach.

The charges center around a “cash for patients” scheme in which the allegedly guilty men hired a police informant to provide drug treatment referrals that they agreed to exchange money for. This practice is explicitly prohibited but there are lots of room for manipulation according to the State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

Over 10 different law enforcement agencies participated in the net and there are certainly more arrests of this type coming as the nation looks to this locale which is inevitably a harbinger of things which are to come elsewhere.

Christopher Hutson had only recently been released from prison for his role in the development of a Florida “pill mill” associated with Twin brothers Jeff and Chris George that made national news.

Click to read an update on this sting, including more Palm Beach arrests