Whistleblower Wants McCollum's Ouster from Health Care Fraud Settlement -- AP

The Associated Press reports that a whistleblower in a potential multimillion-dollar health-care fraud settlement has filed a petition with the Florida Supreme Court to remove Attorney General Bill McCollum from the settlement talks.

Scott Hellein is a former WellCare Health Plans Inc. employee who aided federal investigations of the company, sometimes by wearing a wire. He now complains that WellCare's contributions to the Republican Party were funneled to McCollum during his 2006 campaign for attorney general.

WellCare's fraud case centers around allegations that it created documents for bogus expenditures to get around a state requirement that it spend at least 80 percent of its fees for mental health patients on health care. Such a requirement is included for all health plans as part of the federal health-care legislation, to take effect in 2011, but McCollum has filed a lawsuit -- and is joined by 19 other attorneys general -- claiming the law is unconstitutional.