Feds take down over 400 killer doctors caught selling drugs to addicts

Over 59,000 Americans died last year from overdoses.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced the feds are prosecuting more than 400 doctors, pharmacists and nurses for medical fraud. It is being described as the largest medical fraud takedown in history. Nearly 300 healthcare providers are also being banned from participating in federal programs. The move comes as the federal government seeks to reduce prescription drug overdose deaths, which are epidemic.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Since the 1990s, when powerful painkillers were put in the hands of doctors, unscrupulous physicians and pharmacists have cashed in. It's a well-known scam. A patient presents with a complaint. They tell the doctor their pain level is ten out of ten. According to Obamacare regulations the doctor can't argue. The doctor prescribes Vicodin or some other powerful painkiller, then bills the insurance company.

The doctor gets paid, and the addict gets their fix. As taxpayers, we pay through our taxes and insurance premiums. The practice has resulted in false billing that is now up to $1.3 billion. Taxes and premium costs have to go up to pay for this. That means you are paying for someone's addiction, thanks to Obamacare.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says his prosecutors are going after 412 people. They include doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. He added these people, "have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of patients."

Those people also represent nearly 300 firms which will now be suspended or banned from federal healthcare programs.

While the cases involve a variety of drugs, the leading drugs are opioid painkillers. A staggering 52,000 Americans died from overdoses on these painkillers in 2015. In 2016, that number rose to 59,000.

Several companies engaged in scams to make money off the crisis. Some managed to convince doctors and pharmacists that their painkillers were not addictive, thus getting doctors to prescribe the drugs and patients to take it. Several of these companies even conducted sham research to persuade doctors their drugs were safe.

Sometimes, doctors will write the prescriptions and bill Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies to generate profits for themselves.

In other cases, rehab centers would send in addicts to ask for more drugs, which could then be sold to other addicts, thus keeping people in the treatment cycle. Many insurers pay for people to undergo rehab, so the longer a patient remains in rehab, the more money is made.

The practice has become so rampant and the addiction so powerful that drug cartels have also moved in to offer these drugs to patients who cannot get them from doctors for whatever reason.            

Most of those rounded up in the Attorney General's probe will lose their licenses with many going to jail or prison. It is unknown what impact the crackdown will have of the millions of Americans who are addicted to these painkillers.