Nationwide hit with class-action suit

SEATTLE, April 16 (UPI) -- Attorneys on behalf of 400 clients filed a suit against Nationwide Insurance in Seattle, claiming it sold health policies that paid less than legal amounts.

The class action suit says the company sold policies "unfairly and deceptively," and without permission from the state's insurance commissioner's office, the Seattle Times reported Thursday.

The suit involves fixed indemnity plans that capped health coverage at a certain amount rather than using a percentage that allows payments to increase if health bills rise.

"Even though you think you're covered, you're not," Joshua Welter of the Washington Community Action Network told the newspaper.

Often offered through employers, "I would suspect some, if not most, employers are similarly duped," said attorney Eleanor Hamburger of Sirianni Youtz Meier, the firm that filed the suit.

Joe Case, associate vice president of corporate marketing at Nationwide, said he would not comment until he had reviewed the case, the Times reported.