Abortion facility owner convicted of insurance fraud
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - An owner of an abortion facility from State College, Pa., was convicted Tuesday of defrauding insurance companies and evading corporate income taxes at one of his abortion clinics.
Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, 42, was found guilty of overcharging insurance companies for abortions performed at his Colonie, N.Y., clinic.
Brigham, who also owns State College Medical Services, said he would appeal.
In a non-jury trial last week, New York prosecutors used documents from the Colonie clinic to support their charges.
In one case, state Supreme Court Judge Dan Lamont said, a mother was billed $265 for an abortion and paid a $200 deductible plus 20 percent of the cost for a total of $253, leaving a $12 balance to be covered by insurance.
However, the insurer was charged and paid $780 for the abortion, Lamont said.
In another case, Brigham was accused of billing another mother $435 for an abortion for which she paid $271, leaving $164 to be paid by her insurance company. Instead, Brigham collected $1,504 from the insurance company, Lamont said.
Kathryn Kase, one of Brigham's attorneys, said the Colonie clinic normally charged $1,800 to $4,500 for an abortion depending on various stages of pregnancy.
If a mother had no insurance or could not pay what insurance did not cover, the clinic would charge a reduced fee of $265 to $435, she said.
Brigham is free on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25.
Former Abortion Practitioner Avoids Jail in Fraud Case
Source: Associated press, 10/13/99
ALBANY, N.Y. - A former abortion practitioner who spent three years dodging authorities overseas hunched over and said nothing as a judge spared him further jail time during his sentencing for Medicaid fraud.
Albany County Judge Larry Rosen sentenced Mark Binder Tuesday to six months in jail time already served and ordered him to pay approximately $48,000 in restitution. Rosen also sentenced Binder to five years probation.
Binder pleaded guilty Aug. 9 to two counts of grand larceny and one count of false filing following a nine-month investigation by the state attorney general's office. He admitted to double-billing the state for Medicaid services and demanding cash for procedures already covered under Medicaid. For example, some women paid $160 for sonograms and $95 for follow-up exams, both of which were already paid for.
Binder worked at the American Women's Services Clinic in the Albany suburb of Colonie, along with Stephen Chase Brigham. The two opened the abortion facility in April 1994. Colonie police shut it down in May 1996 when Binder refused to turn over financial records. Binder served several weeks in jail then. The state Department of Health revoked Binder's license in March of 1997.
Four months later, Police seized 17 frozen unborn children from the facility, outraging pro-life advocates in the region.
Binder fled the country and spent the next three years eluding authorities in 10 countries. He was apprehended by Interpol in Hong Kong in April 1999. He was in Albany County Jail a second time between June 22 and Aug. 9.
Following the sentencing, Right to Life Committee representatives accused Special Assistant Attorney General John Miller of a lackluster prosecution.
''You know what this punishment looks like_'' Right to Life Representative Edmund Riely told Miller Tuesday, ''it looks like a farce.''
Right-to-Life leaders say Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office chose not to pursue more serious charges against Binder because abortion is so politically charged.
Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee defended the attorney general, saying his staff was pursuing multiple similar cases. ''It's not a matter of pro-life or pro-choice. It's a matter of pro-law,'' Larrabee said.
The restitution amount covers extradition costs and Medicaid losses owed to taxpayers, Larrabee said. A victims' impact statement prepared by the United Pro-Life Committee was included in court filings. Brigham was convicted in 1997 of bilking insurance companies, and was sentenced to 120 days in jail.