Two retired women suspected of buying cheap medicine by taking advantage of health care insurance and selling it on for a higher price were detained for fraud, Fengxian District People's Procuratorate said yesterday.
The suspects, surnamed Zhuang and He, allegedly borrowed or rented Medicare cards, using them to buy medicine from hospitals at a subsidized price. They then allegedly sold on the medicine to dealers for 40 to 60 percent of the market price.
The women were suspected of targeting private hospitals where management supervision was likely to be less strict, prosecutors said. Dealers would tell the women what medicines they wanted and transactions were said to usually have taken place in lanes or vegetable markets.
According to the authorities, Zhuang had fraudulently obtained 78,000 yuan ($11,680) and He 186,000 yuan. Zhuang allegedly said she had started the business last April after being told how the scam worked by a friend she played poker with.
She is alleged to have rented four Medicare cards for 2,500 yuan per card a year from the friend, and then borrowed a further three cards from other contacts.
Later Zhuang met He who was said to be in the same line of fraudulent business and together the two are alleged to have carried out the scams in hospitals around the city. On April 18, the two, along with Zhuang's husband and two illegal dealers, went to buy medicine using more than 30 Medicare cards from a hospital in Nanxiang area.
They registered the cards in numerous departments of the hospital, which raised the hospital's suspicion. Zhuang was caught that day when waiting to collect the medicine. He was arrested on May 9 at her home.
