Whistleblower Gets $56 Million

By Margaret Lyons in News on Aug 15, 2008 5:25PM

Cleveland Tyson of Buffalo Grove was awarded $56.25 million this week for his role as a whistleblower. Tyson used to work for Amerigroup, a Medicaid provider, and his testimony revealed Amerigroup was not insuring pregnant women and sick people—even though the government was paying them to do so. The government sued the company for over $300 million, and this week Amerigroup settled the suit for $225 million.

From 2000-04, Amerigroup was paid $243 million by the United States and Illinois to operate a Medicaid managed care plan in the state to provide health care to low-income people. It was required by law to enroll all eligible beneficiaries, including pregnant women, but the suit alleged it violated this requirement, and avoided enrolling unhealthy patients, as well as pregnant women, who were more costly to treat and would have eroded profit margins....

Thanks to the federal False Claims Act and Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act, Tyson was eligible for between 15 and 25 percent of the total settlement, and a judge awarded him the top amount possible. [S-T, CBS 2, Forbes]