US Justice Department charging more than 400 people in health care fraud, opioid scams totaling $1.3 billion

July 13, 2017 at 9:10PM
FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2010 file photo, a pharmacy tech poses for a picture with hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets, the generic version of Vicodin in Edmond, Okla. A report released Wednesday, May 31, 2017 traces how a short letter in a medical journal in 1980 helped sow the seeds of today's opioid epidemic by helping to convince doctors that these powerful painkillers carried less risk of addiction than they actually do. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2010 file photo, a pharmacy tech poses for a picture with hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets, the generic version of Vicodin in Edmond, Okla. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

WASHINGTON — US Justice Department charging more than 400 people in health care fraud, opioid scams totaling $1.3 billion.

about the writer

about the writer