Acute Personalities

I have an old saying.

Perhaps someone else said it. I don't recall if I acquired it elsewhere - so if this quote belongs to someone else I apologize for the copyright violation:

"People don't change; their personalities just become more acute."

This applies aptly to workers' compensation.

Here's the headline: "Companies Charged in Federal Fraud Sweep Also Dabbled in Comp."

Here's the summary:

The U.S. Justice Department said its "coordinated takedown" of 301 people alleged to have generated about $900 million in fraudulent billings was the largest in history in terms of the number of defendants and losses. Court documents allege the defendants participated in a number of schemes that included paying kickbacks to patient recruiters, beneficiaries and others so providers could submit bills to Medicare and Tricare — a federal program providing health care for members of the military — for services that were medically unnecessary or never performed.

A WorkCompCentral review found some of the companies also operate in California’s comp system.

They're all the same players we've come to know and who somehow avoid discipline.

Oh, they're all in Southern California, as mentioned Friday...

Our headline is misleading - they didn't just dabble; these people terrorized work comp by rendering unnecessary medical "treatment" (how can it be treatment if they weren't treating anything but their wallets?), paying kickbacks, falsifying billings, harming people...

Will things change when the crimes get punished?

Or will the personality of comp just become more acute?