HEALTH CARE

Feds, Insurers Work to Stop Fraud

Costs Medicare $60 million a year.

Several private insurance companies and state officials signed an agreement with the Obama administration this week to work together to prevent healthcare fraud. "Bringing additional health care industry leaders and experts into this work will allow us to act more quickly and effectively in identifying and stopping fraud schemes, seeking justice for victims, and safeguarding our healthcare system," said Attorney General Eric Holder from the White House on Thursday, where he sat surrounded by heads of many of the U.S.'s biggest health insurance providers as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "In the past we've followed a ‘pay-and-chase’ model, paying claims first—then only later tracking down the ones we discovered to be fraudulent. Now we're taking away the crooks' head start," explained Sebelius.