Former Insurance Commissioner Pleads Guilty To Health-Care Fraud Scheme

A Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner and Gubernatorial Candidate – John Oxendine – pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to Conspiracy to Commit Health-Care Fraud – in a scheme, which involved, the ordering of unnecessary medical tests.  Oxendine, 61 – admitted that his insurance consulting business ordered the tests from a lab company in the state of Texas, in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.  A co-conspirator, Dr. Jeffrey Gallups, was also named.

Oxendine, a Republican from the Johns Creek area was elected insurance commissioner in 1994, and served four terms – then, he ran for governor in 2010 but finished fourth in the GOP primary.  According to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan – both Oxendine and Gallups – submitted fraudulent insurance claims for those medically unnecessary tests from Next Health, a lab in Texas.

Physicians associated with Gallups’ ear, nose, and throat practice – were all pressured to order the tests.  The lab company agreed to pay Oxendine and Gallups a kickback of 50% of the profit from eligible specimens that Gallups’ practice submitted to the company.

(WEIS RADIO NEWS/GNN/Rome News Tribune/Compiled Sources)