"Vast" reimbursement fraud exposed in France

The French Health Ministry is expected to announce the formation of a national anti-fraud committee. According to local media reports, fairly basic scams have cost France's Social Security program 10.0-20.0 million euros ($12.7-$25.5 million) within the past year. Fraudsters are collecting a number of prescriptions for reimbursable drugs under the Social Security fund, before mailing the medications to foreign countries where they are sold for higher prices.

The illegal activity came to light following investigations by the sickness insurance national fund (CNAM), which formed an investigational unit in January this year. By cross-referencing the payments of local funds with a national database, the CNAM found a number of suspicious prescription patterns.

In one reported case, a patient consulted 40 physicians, obtaining in a six-month period 500 packs of cortisone-based ointments from 60 different pharmacies.