It is no secret that there is a crisis in the U.S. healthcare system. The cost of care is rising quickly, and people have a tough time affording medical services. While there are many reasons why healthcare costs go up, there is one reason that is criminal. Healthcare fraud may play a role in why you must pay so much to get medical care in South Carolina.
The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association explains that healthcare fraud is not incredibly prevalent, but when it occurs, it does increase expenses in the industry. Since many of these situations involve a lot of money loss, even one incident could result in a large loss.
Fraud in healthcare may take many forms. Most often it involves falsifying bills or billing in a way to scam the system. It may also mean performing unnecessary procedures. It may be something the doctor does or that is a group effort where everyone is in on the scam.
When fraud happens, it increases the costs of insurance benefits, loss of money and patients who suffer due to unscrupulous actions. It could also result in identity theft and even physical harm to patients. When providers perform tests and other procedures that a patient does not need, the patient still must go through the discomfort or pain and recovery process.
Healthcare fraud is a white collar crime, but one that has many victims. You have the victims who suffer a direct issue due to the actions of the person committing the fraud, and then you have everyone who uses the healthcare system who ends up paying in the end. This information is for education and is not legal advice.
