A Georgia woman must repay the state of Tennessee for TennCare insurance benefits she should not have received, after she was convicted of committing fraud to enroll in the program from across state lines.
"People who commit TennCare fraud are stealing from taxpayers, it's that simple," Inspector General Manny Tyndall said. "People involved in any kind of TennCare fraud are exposed to the high probability of getting caught which may result in felony convictions and paying restitution to the state for any unwarranted services received."
Virginia Carter, 46, of Mineral Bluff, Georgia, must repay more than $12,500 to TennCare after pleading guilty to TennCare fraud and felony theft of services. Carter also received three years of supervised probation as part of her plea agreement.
According to the Office of Inspector General, which brought the charges against Carter in July 2014, the woman misrepresented her true income in order to obtain TennCare benefits.
To date, the Office of Inspector General has charged 2,334 people with TennCare fraud in cases that led to more than $3 million being repaid to TennCare, leading to an estimated $163.6 million in avoided costs, according to a news release.