A chiropractor entered into a scheme with two Manulife insurance agents, under which he would refer patients with pre-existing conditions to them. After buying personal accident insurance policies from Priscilla Tien Ling and Mike Chew Jun Yong, these patients would then return to Charles Loo Boon Ann’s practice and claim the treatment costs, even though their policies did not cover pre-existing conditions.Loo got around this by claiming in his medical reports that his patients had sought treatment for injuries sustained after the inception date of their policies.Tien and Chew submitted S$17,241 worth of fraudulent claims to their employer. Manulife ended up paying out about a quarter of that (S$4,450) in total.
On Tuesday (Aug 6), Loo, who was the director of Chiropractic Focus Group at the time, was sentenced to eight months’ jail for his offences. The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to six charges of abetment by conspiracy to cheat, with another 11 of such charges taken into consideration for sentencing. Tien’s and Chew’s cases are still pending.
‘SLIPPED AND FELL IN BATHROOM’ - The court heard that when Loo got to know the pair in early 2017, they discussed how to collaborate in their respective chiropractic and insurance businesses. They agreed to their plan over several meet-ups.
The trio cheated 13 of Loo’s patients from April 2017 to April last year. Loo would advise them to sign up for treatment packages, then get Tien and Chew to sell them insurance policies to claim the costs.
In one instance, Ms Tan Sook Soon visited the Chiropractic Focus Group’s outlet at Tampines Central on April 15, 2017. She wanted to get treatment for stiffness in her shoulder and lower back, which she had suffered for five years.
When she said she could not afford a S$3,200 treatment package, Loo coaxed her to take it up anyway, saying that insurance coverage could help with the costs. Ms Tan replied that she would consider signing up for the chiropractor package after speaking to Loo’s insurance agent, so Loo forwarded Ms Tan’s contact to Tien and Chew.
After Tien contacted Ms Tan, the latter bought a Manulife insurance policy, then signed up for a treatment package with Loo. The policy’s inception date was May 11, 2017. On July 6, 2017, Tien submitted a personal accident claim form to her employer for Ms Tan, together with an invoice from Loo’s practice for S$1,000 dated May 26, 2017.
The form stated that Ms Tan had slipped and fallen in her bathroom on May 23, 2017, and that she had sought chiropractic treatment for the neck pain and stiffness she suffered because of the fall.
Loo also prepared a medical report, dated June 16, 2017, containing details of the purported accident, injuries and treatment. Manulife eventually paid Ms Tan S$1,000 for this claim.
In mitigation, Loo’s lawyer Ravinderpal Singh said that his client was “relatively new” to running a chiropractic practice when he got to know Tien and Chew, and “never actively referred his patients” to them.
Mr Singh added that Loo treated 300 to 400 patients in 2017, but only referred about 10 of them to the insurance agents. While Loo was uncomfortable with their requests to amend his medical reports, he gave in as he thought the patients would alert him to any discrepancies, the lawyer said.
“However, it appeared that the accused’s patients themselves were more motivated by receiving a successful insurance payout than the veracity of the contents of their insurance claims,” Mr Singh noted.
For each cheating charge, Loo could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/chiropractor-who-worked-insurance-agents-cheat-manulife-fake-claims-jailed-8-months
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