18 U.S.C. § 1347
Section 1347 · Health care fraud
This is § 242 of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 693 court decisions — leading case Jones v. United States (1999)
Most recently applied in United States v. Keller (June 2025)
Applied most in the Fifth Circuit Circuit (41 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 1349 · 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 18 U.S.C. § 3553
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice—
(1) to defraud any health care benefit program; or
(2) to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any health care benefit program,
in connection with the delivery of or payment for health care benefits, items, or services, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. If the violation results in serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of this title), such person shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both; and if the violation results in death, such person shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both.
(b) With respect to violations of this section, a person need not have actual knowledge of this section or specific intent to commit a violation of this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2010—Pub. L. 111–148 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).