Health care fraud generally refers to dishonest claims that result in the acquisition of health care benefits.
Health care fraud ranges from highly organized white-collar operations generating millions of dollars in illegal profits to individual cases in which a single person lies on a health care application to gain benefits.
The demand for affordable health care makes this kind of fraud especially serious.
Health care fraud is prosecuted aggressively. The type of dishonesty that constitutes health care fraud is considered especially egregious because the person who illegally gains health care benefits may prevent someone who truly needs those benefits from accessing them.
Private health care fraud harms insurance companies and can contribute to the rising price of health care. Public health care fraud directly harms taxpayers.
Penalties for health care fraud range from the repayment of benefits to imprisonment.