[Please scroll down for update]
Just got this from one of the "mini-med" (limited benefit) companies. Seems that the Empire State has decided to review "all companies that sell Limited Medical Plans in their state for various reasons." As a result, this particular carrier is pre-emptively suspending sales of its products in New York. I'm sure that, as the day goes on, I'll be receiving similar notices from other carriers in that market.
A quick look around the New York DOI site yielded no additional information on this; I've emailed this particular carrier for more details.
We'll keep you posted.
UPDATE: No thanks to the carrier who sent out the original "alert," we've been able to confirm that the New York Department of Insurance is, in fact, "reviewing the sales practices of insurance companies that provide limited benefit health insurance plans." It's also worth noting that, despite the growing number of carriers offering these plans, the email in the original post was the only one I've received on this. Strange.
In the event, Gov David Paterson is concerned that these "plans provide less coverage than what consumers are led to believe."
That's probably correct: unfortunately, sometimes people believe what they want to believe, and agents sometimes feed into that assumption.
In addition to requesting information from the carriers who market these plans, the DOI is planning a series of public hearings on the matter. For more details, here's the press release.
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