A Vietnam vet in New Jersey has been awarded $15 million in a lawsuit against a national healthcare provider that had included him in phony Medicaid billings totaling $61 million, according to the
New York Post.
Muscular dystrophy patient Richard West, 63, was surprised to learn during a dental visit that his Medicaid benefits had been exceeded. He went through his records with a calculator, and saw that things didn’t add up, with Maxim Healthcare billing the government for care he never received.
“The more I uncovered, the more p---ed off I got that someone was making money on my disability . . . It’s people like me that will keep these big companies honest,’’ he told the newspaper.
West hounded various government offices for months about the case but got nowhere until he hired a lawyer who filed a federal suit on his behalf.
The Maryland-based company, which is partly owned by Baltimore Ravens owner Stephen Bisciotti, was ordered to pay nearly $150 million in fines, reimbursements, and penalties — the largest such settlement of all time. West’s $15 million payout represents a cut of the settlement awarded to whistleblowers under federal law.
Maxim CEO Brad Bennett issued this statement: “We take full responsibility for these events.”
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