A Florida city council member has vowed to return to office after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended her over allegations that her clinic overbilled and defrauded health insurers.
The Miami Herald and multiple news outlets reported that Hialeah Councilwoman Angelico Pacheco was suspended due to an indictment and an FBI investigation into whether her addiction treatment clinic and labs billed insurers for $19 million in unnecessary medical treatments and testing.
She’s accused of paying alleged kickbacks to patients to entice them to seek services that were billed to multiple insurance companies between 2017 and 2020, according to the recent indictment, the Herald reported. Pacheco or her family own or manage Florida Life Recovery and Rehabilitation LLC, and affiliated labs.
“Angelico Pacheco is prohibited from performing any official act, duty, or function of public office; from receiving any pay or allowance; and from being entitled to any of the emoluments or privileges of public office during the period of this suspension, which period shall be from today until a further Executive Order is issued or as otherwise provided by law,” reads the governor’s order, posted on his website.
Pacheco has pleaded not guilty. She said on YouTube that the action was politically motivated because she was exposing some issues at the city of Hialeah, news outlets reported.
Federal prosecutors have said that Aetna, Cigna and other insurers paid the clinic millions of dollars, which the owners pocketed, and that the services were substandard or not provided as billed. The rehab clinic closed its doors in 2022.
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