Class action lawsuit claims Arizona ignored warning about health care fraud [Video]

PHOENIX — A class action lawsuit, filed last week, accuses state officials of ignoring a whistleblower who tried to warn them about what became $2.8 billion scandal involving fraudulent sober living homes.

The scheme, which state officials believe went on for years, involved people setting up businesses that supposedly provided sober living services and facilities to Native American clients. They would then “recruit” clients, often by hiring people to drive to reservations and convince them to come with them. 

Once signed up, the business would then bill the state for services it never provided. The lawsuit alleges clients would end up more addicted than when they came in. Others would die in the sober living homes, others would go missing and some are still missing today. 

But the lawsuit claims that a whistleblower contacted Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System in 2019, …