Corona Medical Team Charged with Insurance Fraud

CORONA – A Corona medical team is being charged for felony insurance fraud for submitting over 165 fraudulent bills for health insurance payment. The team, Dr. Edward Albert G. Balbas, M.D., Chiropractor Jon Brunelle, D.C., and Alejandra Brunelle were arrested for the billing totalling approximately $380,000 over the past three years, officials said.

These three, the owners of Corona Physical Medicine located at 1150 El Camino Avenue in the City of Corona allegedly marked up the costs of laboratory tests. Through investigation, the California Department of insurance learned that  the suspects, who paid an out-of-state laboratory $312 to $625 for the lab tests, billed the insurance companies $4256. The CDI officials said that the alleged scam was hidden by the suspects by them saying they used an in-house lab, so the companies were unable to verify the actual costs.

“Patients should be able to trust that medical professionals are making medical decisions based on patient needs and conducting their practice ethically,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “These defendants took extraordinary steps to hide their alleged crime and violate the trust of their patients and the medical profession.”

The three suspects all self-surrendered to the Riverside County Court and were released on $382,000 bail each. These funds were all proven to have  come from sources other than the alleged illegal activity due to a CDI filed 1275 PC bail hold. The three defendants are expected to return to court on October 24, 2016.

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