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Medicare News
Medicare Advantage Fee-For-Service Plans Pledge to
Correct Marketing Ahead of Schedule
President of America's Health Insurance Plans
issues statement
June 16, 2006 – The seven insurance companies that
voluntarily suspended the marketing of their Medicare Advantage
fee-for-service plans in an agreement with the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services have pledged to correct their questionable marketing
tactics "ahead of schedule," according to a statement from the president
of the leading association of insurance companies.
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Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health
Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association representing nearly
1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than
200 million Americans, issued the following statement after CMS
announced the action late Friday.
“Taking a major step to give Medicare
beneficiaries peace of mind, today seven of our member companies are
making a pledge to voluntarily stop marketing non-group Medicare
Advantage Private Fee For Service plans and to strengthen consumer
protections by implementing now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) 2008 marketing enhancements ahead of schedule. This
action will complement efforts already underway to ensure that brokers,
agents and in-house marketing staff are appropriately trained and give
beneficiaries additional assurances that they will have accurate, clear
and useful information they need to understand their choices.
“On May 16th, our Board of Directors announced the
industry’s commitment to specific principles in this area that go beyond
current regulatory requirements. We already have committed to
increasing training and oversight across the industry. Recognizing that
the vast majority of brokers and agents adhere to the highest ethical
standards, we are committed to ensuring that all brokers and agents are
accountable for meeting strict standards.
“Our industry is moving immediately to put
additional protections in place in cooperation with CMS, the NAIC and
other stakeholder groups. We have requested that CMS and the NAIC
immediately develop a uniform reporting mechanism that will allow plans
to provide information to States that clearly identifies licensed
broker/agents who are marketing for each Medicare Advantage
organization. Secondly, we have urged the development of clear
guidelines for health plans to report serious broker-agent misconduct to
CMS and the states.
“Today’s pledge to temporarily suspend non-group
marketing will allow health plans to mobilize quickly to improve
broker-agent education and training. This action will allow our members
to expeditiously demonstrate that they have comprehensive and effective
procedures in place. They will do so as soon as possible, and, in any
event, well prior to the launch of 2008 marketing efforts.”
The following companies have made this pledge:
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Coventry Health Care, Inc.
Humana Inc.
Sterling Life Insurance Company
UnitedHealth Group
Universal American Financial Corp.
Wellcare Health Plans, Inc.
About AHIP
AHIP is the national association representing
nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to
more than 200 million Americans. Our member companies offer medical
expense insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income
insurance, dental insurance, supplemental insurance, stop-loss insurance
and reinsurance to consumers, employers, and public purchasers.
"Our goal is to provide a unified voice for the
health care financing industry, to expand access to high quality, cost
effective health care to all Americans, and to ensure Americans’
financial security through robust insurance markets, product flexibility
and innovation, and an abundance of consumer choice," the association
states on its Website. http://www.ahip.org/
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