Cal Planned Parenthood overcharged by $180 million, suit claims
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 03/08/2008 03:09:28 PM PST

LOS ANGELES -- Planned Parenthood affiliates in California overbilled the government by $180 million for birth control pills, a fired executive claimed in a lawsuit.
Details of the 2005 whistle-blower lawsuit by P. Victor Gonzalez were unsealed and made public last week.

Gonzalez was vice president of finance and administration of Planned Parenthood's Los Angeles affiliate. His suit, filed under the federal False Claims Act, contends he was fired in 2004 after raising concerns about "illegal accounting, billing and donations practices."

The case involves reimbursement to Planned Parenthood for contraceptives under state and federal public health programs.

The alleged overbillings began in the late 1990s. They continued until state law was changed in 2004 to allow Planned Parenthood to bill at a higher rate, said Gonzalez's lawyer, Jack Schuler.

"I can't comment because we have yet to actually see the suit," Ana Sandoval, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said Saturday.

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