The Justice Department says it's cracking down on a medicare fraud ring. The alleged scheme reportedly involved offering unnecessary orthopedic braces to patients, telling them all costs were covered by medicare.

Authorities say the medical equipment companies were then reimbursed by medicare for the braces and paid out kickbacks to those patients.

Two dozen people including some doctors and call center operators are facing federal charges in the 1.2 billion dollar scheme. 130 medical equipment companies are also accused of over-billing medicare nearly two billion dollars.