New charges have been filed against several Minnesota chiropractors accused of participating in scams that cheated insurance companies out of more than $20 million.
More than two dozen people, including several chiropractors, have been charged in the case. Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman has now announced that four of the defendants, all chiropractors, are facing charges of mail fraud and wire fraud.
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The chiropractors and other defendants were allegedly gaming Minnesota’s no-fault insurance law, according to a report by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The law guarantees at least $20,000 of medical coverage for policyholders who are in an accident, regardless of who was at fault.
Prosecutors say the fraud ring was paying recruiters to identify people who were in car accidents – or at least who were willing to claim they had been.
The scammers then submitted insurance claims and received reimbursements for services that were either never rendered or were medically unnecessary, according to the Star-Tribune.
“For the defendants charged in this scheme, what mattered was the ability to get that $20,000, not the patient’s need for medical services,” then-US Attorney Andrew Luger said when
the case was first publicized in December.
The scams, although nearly identical, were executed by different chiropractors, according to the Star-Tribune.
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