Medical Insurance Theft in Arizona

There’s big money in medical insurance these days. With the rate at which technological advances have hit the medical field, combined with changing regulations as to how medical insurance can work, it’s no wonder that folks find themselves paying higher premiums than they did just a few years ago. Along with those higher premiums comes a significant risk of fraud. From Medicare to private insurance plans, there are scam artists out there who are trying to take advantage of unsuspecting victims as well as the insurance companies.

Most recently, the issue has come to the forefront in a case in Phoenix. There, the Arizona Department of Insurance Fraud identified and has charged a group of individuals for identity theft charges, in which they falsified medical insurance records.

Two people have had charges brought up based on their alleged role in this scam. Prosecutors say that the pair, identified as Gevorg Melkonyan and Elina Arutyunova, stole the identities of as many as 128 patients in the state of Arizona. They then took those identities and billed their insurance companies for a total of over $600,000 in medical services, none of which were provided.

The pair also used the identities of 12 physicians, also who were unaware of what was going on. The insurance fraud unit in Arizona was originally notified by Dr. Scott Bernstein, one of those 12 physicians, who had been contacted by patients. The patients contacted this doctor when they received statements from their insurance companies stating that he’d billed for treatment that the patients never received.

The pair have been indicted on several charges, including conspiracy, illegally conducting an enterprise, assisting a criminal syndicate, fraudulent schemes and artifices, money laundering, three counts of theft, and aggravated taking the identity of another person or entity.

The investigation involved a number of different agencies, including police in both Phoenix and Chandler, Arizona, as well as the Arizona Attorney General’s office, the U.S. Department of HHS, and even the post office.

This situation illustrates the growing concern many folks should have over medical insurance fraud, as well as how identity theft is beginning to infiltrate many different aspects of our lives.