Health-care insurance fraud is a criminal offense with serious implications for everyone. According to a 2009 Thomson Reuters report, 19 percent of the $600 billion to $850 billion wasted annually in the U.S. health care system can be attributed to fraud.

Definition

Health care fraud is the deliberate misrepresentation of facts to get health care benefits monetary compensation to which one is not entitled.

Identity Theft

This form of insurance fraud involves using someone else's health insurance information to obtain his benefits.

Medical Equipment Fraud

Medical equipment fraud occurs when manufacturers offer free products to individuals that are either unnecessary or never delivered, and then charge the insurance company for them. The elderly are most often the targeted victims of these schemes.

Rolling Labs

In this scheme, mobile "labs" visit health clubs, nursing homes or shopping malls, offering people unnecessary or outright fake tests, for which they then bill their insurance companies

Prescription Drug Fraud

This type of fraud can involve either patients or providers, and occurs when partially or fully covered prescription drugs are sold on the black market for a profit.

Prevention

To prevent becoming a victim, don't give out your health insurance information to anyone but your own physician. Keep accurate records, be clear with your doctor about what you will be charged, and don't ever sign blank insurance forms,

Source:

California Department of Insurance: What Is Insurance Fraud?

Federal Bureau of Investigation: Common Fraud Schemes

Thomson Reuter Press Releases: U.S. Health Care System Waste