Middletown woman sentenced for health insurance fraud

A Middletown woman who admitted filing more than a half-million dollars in false healthcare claims over a two-year span is sentenced to three years in prison.

Donna Dzienisewski, 41, pleaded guilty in October, according to information from the office of acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

By her own admission, Dzienisewski submitted 107 claims to Horizon Blue Cross - Blue Shield of New Jersey between March 18, 2011 and March 12, 2013, seeking reimbursement for alleged expenses totalling about $502,740.

However, no doctor visits or expenses were involved in 101 of the claims. Her expenses actually totalled $2,640 for six claims, and she altered them to appear as though the total was $8,640. The scheme fattened her bank account by  $141,126.

"Defrauding an insurance company is not the path to easy money, it is the road to prison," Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi said in a prepared statement. "We will continue to vigorously prosecute these cases and seek punishment for those who commit these crimes."