Gene-Test Fraud Billed $2.1 Billion to U.S. Medicare Program

In what U.S. law-enforcement officials are calling one of the biggest health-care frauds in history, the Justice Department said that Medicare was fraudulently billed $2.1 billion after seniors were enticed to take unnecessary genetic tests for cancer.

The Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services said on Sept. 27 that 35 defendants associated with dozens of telemedicine companies and cancer genetic testing laboratories had been charged with fraud. Those charged included nine doctors.

“These defendants allegedly duped Medicare beneficiaries into signing up for unnecessary genetic tests, costing Medicare billions of dollars,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski ...