NY fines health insurer for 'misleading' TV ads

[brooklynite]

Source: Crain's New York Business

(AP) - A health insurer whose TV commercials promised "peace of mind" for just $5 a day must stop running the national ads and pay a fine of $700,000 after New York officials accused it of leaving patients only with huge hospital bills.

The American Medical and Life Insurance Co., advertising through an intermediary called Cinergy, marketed health insurance as a lower cost option for the uninsured and underinsured. It was pitched as costing just $5 a day, or the cost of a hamburger or pack of cigarettes.

In one ad, the narrator said the insurance is available "regardless of any pre-existing conditions," while the print on the screen stated "most pre-existing conditions accepted" and the fine print stated there is a six-month waiting period.

Acting Insurance Superintendent Kermitt Brooks said Wednesday that the cases uncovered in New York's two-year investigation included a Rochester woman who had $419 a month charged to her credit card for the insurance, only to have the company cover just $1,164 of her $28,000 hospitalization. A 36-year-old New Yorker who had a stroke found his policy covered just $250, leaving him with a bill for $29,917.

Read more: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090812/FREE/908129972

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Well, at least it's not socialized...

[alstephenson]

1. I've seen their commercials.

Pretty ballsy. The insurance companies will never ever change unless they HAVE to.

[jimspeer]

8. Insurance is about collecting premiums,

not paying claims, as old man Moody, founder of American National Insurance Company, told me years ago.

[gratuitous]

20. Wow, I've said that for years

I thought I'd come up with it all on my own. But apparently I couldn't beat the insurance industry itself for cynicism; I should have known better.

[Zorra]

2. I wonder if this is the same company that advertises on America Left XM 167.

Their advertisement is an obnoxious propaganda piece that airs constantly, and I'm always wondering about the legitimacy of the company and it's claims.

[brooklynite]

3. The notion of relating insurance costs to "cigarettes" and "hamburgers"...

...suggests who their target market was.

[WriteDown]

18. Wimpy and The Marlboro Man?

:shrug:

[ejpoeta]

4. I knew when i saw that commercial that it was a scam. i'm glad that they can't peddle that

horseshit anymore. this is the byproduct, though, of our broken healthcare system. there are people who don't have access to insurance and AFFORDABLE insurance at that even if they can get it.... so you end up with these scam artists out there selling shit and calling it gold. What do we think is going to happen when our healthcare attached to employment.... That might have worked back when people worked at the same place their whole lives, but that is not the reality today.

[jmowreader]

14. They're still peddling it

I'm sitting here and just now heard one of their commercials. This ad said that for the price of a pack of cigs OR an ice cream sundae a day I could have health insurance...let's see, that comes out to $150 per month probably per person.

Okay, let's look at that a little closer: I can have really shitty health insurance from this Cinergy Health outfit for $150 per month per person, which actually means $300 per month for me and my wife, or some actually-decent health insurance from my employer for $240 per month for both of us.

[PatSeg]

5. I've seen those ads

and often wondered who would be so gullible to buy it.

[imdjh]

6. And while we're at it, piss on Harry Morgan, Robert Wagner, and Ed McMahon.

[Puppyjive]

7. Let's go a little farther and blame the networks

I've seen the commercial in Oregon. It did sound too good to be true. I think we need to hold the networks responsible for airing commercials for bogus companies. It seems like anything that you can buy on tv is just a complete sham. The networks provide the vehicle necessary for these thieves to rip millions of people off every year.

[KT2000]

11. Excellent point!

All those high risk loan companies got their customers off of cable tv advertisements - now they are showing the ads for loan modifiers that appear questionable to me.
Saw the ad for this comapny and knew it was a scam.
Wonder if that dental insurance company is a scam too.

[defendandprotect]

22. Aha . . truth is, networks are complicit in election steals, swiftboating, general rw propaganda. .

Obviously, this has been going on a long, long time --

and it's not something Americans seem ready to face yet --

including their role in 9/11 --

[fasttense]

9. There is something wrong with a society that allows an industry to make a profit

from NOT providing the service its customers pay for.

[PSPS]

10. "Too good to be true" + a bunch of unreadable disclaimers = rip off

Any time I see a TV ad with a boatload of tiny type that flashes by too fast to read or hear a radio ad with a bunch of disclaimers muttered too quickly to comprehend (now frequently at the beginning to trick you,) I mentally tune out knowing it's a scam. This "Cynergy" falls into this category.

Even those "CashCall" TV ads with Gary Coleman leave the readable type on the screen long enough to see that they charge over 99% interest. And what could be worse than that? Well, apparently "Cynergy" for one.

[fascisthunter]

12. GOOD!

[Jkid]

13. I've seen these ads before while watching the Steve Wilkos show

They're obvious frauds. They have affordable insurance but the actual insurance is a joke. It's amazing that these tv affiliates accept these obvious frauds and scams.

[Doctor_J]

15. oooh...$700,000

that must be 45 min profit. I am surprised the NYDoJ would publicize this. Sounds like an invitation for the companies to see how much they can away with.

[Vidar]

16. Good for New York.

[nc4bo]

17. I see similar here in NC. Saving this link

might be a good idea to forward to our newly elected D gov, Bev Purdue.

[area51]

19. Cinergy

The Houston Press weekly newspaper did a past cover story on Cinergy.

[defendandprotect]

21. k i c k