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The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just t

The insurance fraud in Changwon uncovered by the Financial Supervisory Service is both shocking and disturbing. It involved as many as 1,361 people, mostly residents of the South Gyeongsang Province city, who either posed as fake patients or exaggerated their illnesses. Collectively, they claimed 9.5 billion won from 33 insurance companies between 2007 and 2011. At the center of the scam ― the largest ever in terms of the number of people involved ― were three unconscionable hospitals in the city, which recruited fake patients systematically in cahoots with insurance brokers and solicitors. They did this to increase revenue and ease their financial distress. The main ploy used by the hospitals was to share a patient, meaning they would arrange for a patient to check in the three hospitals alternately for a different disease. For this, they faked his illnesses and prepared false documents. For close cooperation, they shared patient information among themselves. This scheme helped patients pocket more insurance money. They all purchased multiple private health insurance policies before hospitalization. On average they received some 7 million won per person. In one example, a man in his 50s was hospitalized for a total of 564 days over three years, collecting 95 million won in insurance. The Changwon case followed a similar one that took place in Taebaek last November, involving more than 400 people in the declining mining town in Gangwon Province. They got a total of 14 billion won in insurance payments. As with the Changwon scam, three financially distressed hospitals in the city played a central role. The two cases suggest that insurance fraud is a fairly common occurrence in Korea. According to the FSS, the number of insurance-related crimes has surged in recent years. Last year alone, more than 70,000 people were caught for insurance scams, with the amount of false claims they filed reaching 423 billion won. Yet the figure represented just t

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ - Researchers find high incidence rates and deaths in first-ever analysis of the disease impacts in Latin America Today, Latin American researchers and global health leaders revealed preliminary results from the first-ever study to estimate the burden and costs of meningococcal disease in the region. The study found a need for improved surveillance and better understanding of meningococcal epidemiology and information on costs to help devise meningitis vaccination programs. This new research was coordinated by the Sabin Vaccine Institute in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University (JHU's IVAC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., said, "Clearly, meningitis is a real health and economic burden in Latin America. Too many children are debilitated or die from this serious disease, yet it is preventable by vaccines. Our new research proves that we need to improve our strategies to fight meningococcal disease." Dr. de Quadros spoke at the conclusion of the first Regional Meningococcal Symposium, convened by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). The symposium, which took place March 19 and 20 in Buenos Aires, brought together more than 150 researchers, vaccine experts, economists and others to evaluate the extent and cost of meningococcal disease and what obstacles impede its prevention through vaccination. "Few diseases have as much power to cause panic among the population as meningococcal disease, said Dr. Marco Aurelio Safadi, Head of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Division at Sao Luiz Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "This is primarily because of its potentially epidemic nature. The rapid on

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ - Researchers find high incidence rates and deaths in first-ever analysis of the disease impacts in Latin America Today, Latin American researchers and global health leaders revealed preliminary results from the first-ever study to estimate the burden and costs of meningococcal disease in the region. The study found a need for improved surveillance and better understanding of meningococcal epidemiology and information on costs to help devise meningitis vaccination programs. This new research was coordinated by the Sabin Vaccine Institute in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University (JHU's IVAC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., said, "Clearly, meningitis is a real health and economic burden in Latin America. Too many children are debilitated or die from this serious disease, yet it is preventable by vaccines. Our new research proves that we need to improve our strategies to fight meningococcal disease." Dr. de Quadros spoke at the conclusion of the first Regional Meningococcal Symposium, convened by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). The symposium, which took place March 19 and 20 in Buenos Aires, brought together more than 150 researchers, vaccine experts, economists and others to evaluate the extent and cost of meningococcal disease and what obstacles impede its prevention through vaccination. "Few diseases have as much power to cause panic among the population as meningococcal disease, said Dr. Marco Aurelio Safadi, Head of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Division at Sao Luiz Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "This is primarily because of its potentially epidemic nature. The rapid on

SOUTH KOREA Despite success and promise, the wide-scale deployment of integrated gasification combined-cycle IGCC in South Korea is a few years away. The country has negligible domestic coal production, only possessing 149 million tons of recoverable coal reserves, and must import coal to satisfy demand. Over the years, South Korea has become the world's second-largest coal importer, after Japan. The electric power sector accounts for more than half of coal consumption, though IGCC promises a much cleaner future for coal-fired power plants. While IGCC is in line with South Korea's new and renewable energy program, the country cannot afford to wait for new technology to be employed, nor drastically decrease imports in favor of emissions reduction. Currently, most of the world, including South Korea, employs pulverized-bed boilers PBB in coal-fired power plants and these, along with past types of boilers, have given coal-powered plants very poor reputations. PBB plants require that coal be ground into a fine dust before being fired at high temperatures escaping emissions, such as sulfuric oxides and nitric oxides, are ineffectively collected by scrubbers. Coal plants have the reputation of being among the most pollution-inducing types of power plant. A new boiler technology is rapidly taking hold in the world of coal-derived energy, and this new technology may serve as a more-than-suitable bridge between PBB and IGCC. Circular fluidized-bed combustion, known better as FBC, utilizes fluidized-bed boilers FBB that do not require coal dust or extremely high temperatures. Granulated coal is loaded onto a suspended boiling before held aloft by upward-blowing air currents, tumbling the coal. This tumbling motion allows for more effective combustion and requires lower combustion temperatures. Combustion in FBBs occurs below the threshold temperature at which nitric oxides are produced, thus eliminating the need for that type of emissions capture. Internal limesto

Dozens of North Korean defectors have been booked for committing insurance fraud here, in which they gained more than 1 billion won ($874,737), police said Tuesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said they applied for arrest warrants for two North Korean defectors, including a 28-year-old woman whose identity is being withheld, on suspicion of getting falsely hospitalized to win insurance money. Twenty-five more North defectors were also booked for insurance fraud, the police said. The suspects held a large amount of insurance policies and got hospitalized for a variety of false diseases before winning a total of 1.04 billion won in compensation from 2007-10, according to the police. Police investigations found that while hospitalized they frequented saunas, restaurants and even night clubs. The insurance money was mostly spent on living expenses or sent through Chinese brokers to their families in the North, the police also noted. The police added that they have also booked a 71-year-old doctor and five other hospital employees for falsely admitting them, and two brokers who helped them transmit the money to the North. The doctor and his staff earned more than 100 million won from the national health insurance agency through the fraud. "The suspects found the doctor's hospital through word of mouth that he easily let people in for hospitalization," a police official said. "We will expand our investigation as there is intelligence on similar cases at more hospitals." More than a thousand defectors come into the South every year in search of political freedom and economic prosperity, but many fail to adjust to the new system. (Yonhap)

SOUTH KOREA Despite success and promise, the wide-scale deployment of integrated gasification combined-cycle IGCC in South Korea is a few years away. The country has negligible domestic coal production, only possessing 149 million tons of recoverable coal reserves, and must import coal to satisfy demand. Over the years, South Korea has become the world's second-largest coal importer, after Japan. The electric power sector accounts for more than half of coal consumption, though IGCC promises a much cleaner future for coal-fired power plants. While IGCC is in line with South Korea's new and renewable energy program, the country cannot afford to wait for new technology to be employed, nor drastically decrease imports in favor of emissions reduction. Currently, most of the world, including South Korea, employs pulverized-bed boilers PBB in coal-fired power plants and these, along with past types of boilers, have given coal-powered plants very poor reputations. PBB plants require that coal be ground into a fine dust before being fired at high temperatures escaping emissions, such as sulfuric oxides and nitric oxides, are ineffectively collected by scrubbers. Coal plants have the reputation of being among the most pollution-inducing types of power plant. A new boiler technology is rapidly taking hold in the world of coal-derived energy, and this new technology may serve as a more-than-suitable bridge between PBB and IGCC. Circular fluidized-bed combustion, known better as FBC, utilizes fluidized-bed boilers FBB that do not require coal dust or extremely high temperatures. Granulated coal is loaded onto a suspended boiling before held aloft by upward-blowing air currents, tumbling the coal. This tumbling motion allows for more effective combustion and requires lower combustion temperatures. Combustion in FBBs occurs below the threshold temperature at which nitric oxides are produced, thus eliminating the need for that type of emissions capture. Internal limes

Dozens of North Korean defectors have been booked for committing insurance fraud here, in which they gained more than 1 billion won ($874,737), police said Tuesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said they applied for arrest warrants for two North Korean defectors, including a 28-year-old woman whose identity is being withheld, on suspicion of getting falsely hospitalized to win insurance money. Twenty-five more North defectors were also booked for insurance fraud, the police said. The suspects held a large amount of insurance policies and got hospitalized for a variety of false diseases before winning a total of 1.04 billion won in compensation from 2007-10, according to the police. Police investigations found that while hospitalized they frequented saunas, restaurants and even night clubs. The insurance money was mostly spent on living expenses or sent through Chinese brokers to their families in the North, the police also noted. The police added that they have also booked a 71-year-old doctor and five other hospital employees for falsely admitting them, and two brokers who helped them transmit the money to the North. The doctor and his staff earned more than 100 million won from the national health insurance agency through the fraud. "The suspects found the doctor's hospital through word of mouth that he easily let people in for hospitalization," a police official said. "We will expand our investigation as there is intelligence on similar cases at more hospitals." More than a thousand defectors come into the South every year in search of political freedom and economic prosperity, but many fail to adjust to the new system. (Yonhap)