The Good Storm: Deceptive Advertising and marketing of Restricted Profit Merchandise Continues as Tens of millions Shedding Medicaid Seek for New Protection

By Rachel Schwab and JoAnn Volk

An enormous protection transition is underway for hundreds of thousands of people that have relied on Medicaid all through the COVID-19 pandemic. After a three-year pause, states have begun disenrolling residents from Medicaid, a important security web program for individuals with low incomes that gives medical insurance to among the most underserved Individuals. This course of will depart many of those people in want of recent protection that meets their well being care wants.

A secret shopper research carried out by researchers at Georgetown College in June 2023 suggests that folks dropping Medicaid who’re eligible for high-quality, inexpensive protection by way of the Inexpensive Care Act (ACA) market are dealing with aggressive advertising of restricted profit merchandise. Regardless of the provision of backed market plans, deceptive gross sales ways put hundreds of thousands of former Medicaid enrollees prone to buying insurance policies that expose them to catastrophic well being care prices, or forgoing protection altogether.

The research discovered:

• On-line searches for medical insurance led to web sites and solicitations from gross sales representatives selling restricted profit merchandise, somewhat than the ACA market.
• A researcher spoke to twenty gross sales representatives utilizing two profiles of customers dropping Medicaid who’re eligible for a $0 premium plan with no deductible on the ACA market.
  • Not one of the 20 representatives talked about the provision of a $0 market plan with no deductible.
  • Over half of representatives tried to promote the customers restricted profit merchandise.
  • Representatives incessantly made false or deceptive statements that hid the restrictions of restricted profit merchandise or misrepresented the provision or affordability of market plans. Most representatives promoting restricted profit merchandise additionally refused to supply written plan info.
  • Many representatives, notably these promoting restricted profit merchandise, used aggressive gross sales ways, similar to pressuring customers to decide to a plan over the cellphone or suggesting that plans would turn out to be unavailable or dearer in the event that they took further time to take a look at their choices or finances.

You may learn the total report right here.

CHIR thanks The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for his or her beneficiant assist of this research.

Monetary Curiosity Disclosure: Rachel Schwab serves as a Senior Analysis Affiliate within the Middle on Well being Insurance coverage Reforms at Georgetown College. She has additionally served as a guide for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Inc.