MANILA, Philippines--Authorities here pledged Friday to help in the investigation of doctors and hospitals linked to a $100-million health insurance swindle in the United States, and said there had been US requests to extradite "five or six people" involved in the scam.

The case involves doctors and hospitals in the Philippines allegedly conspiring with American military veterans to submit fraudulent insurance claims.

The National Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe into the case and Head Agent Claro de Castro Jr., chief of the NBI's Interpol division, said the agency had pending warrants of arrest against a doctor and a beneficiary in the Philippines. He declined to identify them.

A source privy to the investigation said the information that had reached investigators alleged that doctors actually got more than half of the health insurance claims.

The source asked not to be identified, saying he was not authorized to reveal details about the investigation.

"More than half ang napupunta sa doctor at 30 to 35 percent lang ang napupunta sa beneficiary [More than half goes to the doctor and only 30 to 35 percent goes to the beneficiary]," the source said.

He said the doctors were accredited by the US government. He declined to identify the medical group authorized to examine the health care beneficiaries.

1 extradited, 1 deported
De Castro said the NBI Interpol had been cooperating with the US government "for years now even before the news about the fraud came out."

He said the US government had submitted extradition requests to the Philippine government through the Office of the State Counsel of the Department of Justice.

"So far we have extradited a Filipino beneficiary and deported a US citizen involved in the scam," De Castro said.

The Filipino, who was flown to the US in 2001, entered into a plea bargain arrangement and has since returned to the Philippines.

"He just promised to pay the overcharges in his claim through a deduction scheme from his pension," De Castro said, adding the man refused to identify the doctor who had connived with him.

DOH will help
De Castro expressed doubts that the beneficiaries in the Philippines could be capable of defrauding the US government of $100 million.

"That's too much," he said, citing one case which he said involved only $40,000.

De Castro also clarified that not all the beneficiaries were American citizens or military veterans.

"Actually, I haven't encountered any beneficiary from the military. Most were civilian employees who used to be connected with the US bases," he said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque, for his part, said: "We will help in the investigation but we will have to wait for a formal request from the US."

Blacklisted in US
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez also said the Philippines would cooperate with the United States government in prosecuting those responsible.

Gonzalez said he was not ruling out the extradition of the individuals but added that the process could be lengthy.

"The downside here would be whatever legal maneuvers their lawyers will do. If the court will issue writs, for example, we have to comply until we can have them resolved," Gonzalez said, recalling the extradition cases involving former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez and former Quezon Gov. Eduardo Rodriguez which took the judiciary years to resolve.

Gonzalez said the medical care group allegedly responsible for the fraud had already been blacklisted by US authorities.

He said the group operated in Subic, Angeles City and as far as Bacolod City, where Philippine and American veterans live.

DOH probe
Gonzalez said the scheme was similar to the one perpetrated by local swindlers on the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

"They overcharge or they manipulate the records to show that this person has been hospitalized when he was not," Gonzalez said.

Duque said he had asked the NBI Interpol to furnish his department with reports on the personalities allegedly involved in the scam, after which the DOH would initiate its own investigation and determine if indeed local doctors, hospitals, and clinics were involved. Any such involvement would give the country and the medical profession a bad image, he said.

Duque said the DOH would also be looking into whether the local doctors linked to the US scam were also defrauding Philippine health insurance firms.

Former Philippine Medical Association (PMA) president and current organization spokesperson, Dr. Bu Castro, said the PMA had heard about three or four cases of Filipino doctors caught conspiring with claimants to defraud international health insurance firms, but it had not verified them.

"We cannot trace them, even their families, so we could confirm that the cases really happened so we can act on them," Castro said.

Not a PMA member
He said the doctors involved may have been directly accredited by the international health insurance providers and generally treated foreign patients.

Castro also said that Dr. Diogenes Dionisio, who was arrested earlier this year by US marshals in Guam in connection with the case, was not a PMA member.

But Dionisio is listed as a member of the Manila Medical Society, a secretary at the society said.

NurseDirectory.net, an online business directory dedicated to the nursing industry, lists one Dr. Diogenes A. Dionisio as being the owner of the CDMF Medical Clinic in Haig Street, Mandaluyong City.

The clinic was closed Friday. Neighbors said they had not seen the clinic's owner in the area recently.

Clinic closed
Cesar Goseo, who lives next door to the clinic, said he was surprised that the facility was locked, noting that it was almost always open, even on weekends.
He said the clinic's clientele was varied, a mix of locals and foreigners that included Caucasians and Chinese.

He also noted that a helper at the facility took down the clinic signs around lunchtime Friday.

The last time he noticed somebody inside the clinic was on Thursday night, Goseo said. He added that the clinic had been in the neighborhood for "2 or 3 years."