Image: Thousands of California workers have been swept into medical-billing mills, prescribed unregulated medications and advised to undergo sometimes unneeded or high-risk surgery by doctors who were raking in bribes on the side. Image: Allison McCartney for Reveal
California’s workers’ compensation program covers 15 million workers across the state. If you get hurt on the job – fall off a ladder, for instance – it’s the system you turn to. Most employers are required to carry workers’ comp insurance, which helps cover medical bills and lost wages for injured employees.
But Reveal reporter Christina Jewett has discovered serious fraud in the system after reviewing thousands of documents. They show that in the last decade, more than 80 people have been accused of cheating California’s workers’ comp medical system out of $1 billion.
Reveal is a weekly radio program produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. For more, check out our website and subscribe to our podcast.
