WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- Insurance regulators across the United States say they're worried about bogus claims promising comprehensive healthcare coverage for dirt-cheap prices.
Regulators in several states have cracked down on insurance companies that didn't deliver the goods they advertised to an audience of people searching for affordable health insurance as costs rise, USA Today reported Tuesday.
"There's high unemployment, health premiums are expensive and tens of millions of people have no health coverage," James Quiggle, spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a group representing consumers and insurance companies, told USA Today. "This is an ideal breeding ground for scams."
Missouri regulators have cracked down on 13 companies while California officials ordered firms to cease selling misleading, unlicensed health discount cards, a review of data indicated. Tennessee regulators seized a company they claim collected upward of $14 million from people across the country then saddled them with unpaid bills.
Among 37 insurance bureaus responding to a coalition survey last fall, 57 percent reported increases in health plan scams.
Insurance regulators told USA Today consumers should check with their state offices before buying health plans.
"Check with us to see whether they're actually licensed to do business in the state, whether the product they're offering is actually registered with us," Montana's insurance commissioner, Monica Lindeen, said. "If not, those are huge red flags."
