Chapter 10 - Uncovering the Insurance Fraud
While Eleanor was being publicly disgraced at the country club, I was meeting with a federal investigator from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) in a secure conference room on base. What had started as a review of my dependent medical billing had quickly escalated into a full-scale federal fraud investigation.
"Colonel," the investigator said, sliding a thick stack of billing charts across the table. "Your mother-in-law and her private therapist, a Dr. Julian Vance—who we confirmed is a distant cousin of your husband—have been running a systematic billing scheme against TRICARE for the past forty months."
I scanned the documents. They had been submitting claims for phantom reconstructive surgeries, specialized neurological therapies, and expensive medical equipment that never existed, splitting the payouts between them. Because I was the primary military sponsor, they had assumed any red flags would just get buried in my complex deployment records.
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"They used your deployment schedules to time the most expensive fake claims, knowing you wouldn't be stateside to receive the explanation of benefits in the mail," the agent explained.
"Press every single charge available under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and federal law," I said coldly, signing the formal authorization paperwork without a second thought. "I want full restitution and criminal prosecution. No plea deals."
