Louisiana Insurance Department Targets Health Insurance Scammers

Stories about insurance fraud abound in the auto insurance industry, but investigators in the Louisiana Department of Insurance Fraud Section have now served the American Trade Association, along with its thirteen companion companies and fourteen employees with “cease and desist” orders for selling fraudulently marketed “medical discount plans” as health insurance plans in the state of Louisiana.

The named companies, entities and individuals were ordered to cease and desist from all unauthorized insurance business, including delivering, issuing, mailing, offering, or soliciting any resident of Louisiana any kind of certificate, coverage, plan, policy, or “any other contract” which claims to provide insurance benefits or medical discounts for health benefits.

In addition to receiving C&D orders, the named people and companies were directed to provide a complete list of all Louisiana businesses or residents that had purchased any products from them, and report all premiums that were received in connection with those customers. In addition, they were required to notify any of the affected Louisiana consumers of the C&D order, and issue immediate refunds of any monies or premiums held in behalf of those consumers.

Along with the Louisiana Department of Insurance, the same scammers have had lawsuits and/or regulatory actions filed against them by the Federal Trade Commission and law enforcement agencies in 23 other states.

The FTC alone has filed three different lawsuits targeting fraudulent medical discount plans, and Attorneys General and Insurance Commissioners around the country have brought numerous actions to stop the scammers. Included among these lawsuits and actions are those addressing sham insurance, as well as illegal automated phone calls, fax blasting, and licensing violations.