Dover – Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart joined State Senators Patricia Blevins & Harris McDowell & State Representatives Bryon Short & Gerald Brady as Governor Jack Markell signed into law a major piece of her 2010 legislative agenda.  The Commissioner said, “This important bill, originally introduced by Lt. Governor Matt Denn, puts a ‘stop sign and checkpoint’ in front of unscrupulous marketers offering health ‘discount’ cards to consumers seeking affordable healthcare, while claiming they are ‘health insurance’.   While some discount health cards may provide valuable, money-saving benefits for people without health insurance, the number of deceptive and fraudulent discount cards are growing at an alarming rate and exploiting our citizens during these challenging economic times.”

The Commissioner continued, “This bill requires discount health plans to be licensed and therefore regulated by the Department of Insurance. In doing so, it gives Delawareans a tool needed to ascertain, before they purchase a discount card, whether a plan they are considering is legitimate and provides real benefits or if fraudulent, do not get caught in the trap of having bought into a plan only to find out it is a sham when they have filed a claim.” 

The bill will provide a level of protection for the consumer while making it easier to go after fraudulent operations for not having a license rather than the more difficult, expensive and time consuming task of proving fraud.  It ensures that entities that offer medical discount plans fully and fairly disclose to the consumer what they are purchasing and applies oversight to the companies by requiring them to be licensed by the Department of Insurance.

The Commissioner concluded, “Delaware is one of a handful of states in the nation that has passed this type of legislation to prevent the sale of ‘fake insurance’ being offered by scammers who want nothing more than to collect premiums, fail to pay legitimate claims while leaving citizens with a myriad of headaches dealing with the medical providers who serviced them.”

 

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Contacts:
Elliott Jacobson (302) 674-7303; (202) 294-3266 cell
Michael Gould (302) 674-7304