Amerigroup near settling Medicaid fraud damages

Illinois and federal authorities are close to settling a lawsuit with a former Illinois health-insurance provider that was found liable for fraud for intentionally not enrolling pregnant women and other high-risk patients in its Medicaid plan. In 2006, a federal jury ordered Virginia-based Amerigroup Corp. to pay $144 million in damages to Illinois and the federal government. A federal judge later levied $190 million in civil fines against Amerigroup for filing more than 18,000 false Medicaid claims. Amerigroup appealed the verdict but earlier this year the parties entered settlement talks, court documents show.