ATLANTA — The Federal Trade Commission is sending warning letters to 21 companies that market or generate sales leads for Affordable Care Act healthcare plans.
The focus is on false and deceiving advertising we highlighted in a Channel 2 Action News investigation last month.
“It has come to our attention that companies that provide marketing or advertising, including lead generation, related to Affordable Care Act Marketplace health insurance and healthcare-related products, such as limited benefit plans or medical discount programs, may be violating the FTC Act and rules enforced by the Commission,” The FTC said.
Among those potential violations, are “falsely claiming that consumers who enroll in a healthcare-related product will receive free offers, cash rewards, rebates, or other incentives.”
“That is one of the centerpieces of our class action lawsuit that’s pending. So, I’m happy that the Federal Trade Commission is looking into this and taking it seriously,” said Atlanta Attorney Jason Doss.
He is the attorney for plaintiffs in a proposed class action lawsuit alleging fraud in the ACA marketplace.
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The lawsuit claims hundreds of thousands of people had their ACA healthcare plans switched or canceled without their knowledge or approval.
In our November investigation, a whistleblower and a former insurance agent at a company called True Coverage told us how it was done.
“The top performers were people that were lying bluntly, and they were telling people that they were going to get that cash,” the whistleblower said.
The class action lawsuit alleges popup ads advertising free money are how insurance agents up to no good get people’s personal information and switch their coverage on the ACA marketplace without permission.
It happened to Douglasville resident Tiesha Foreman multiple times this year.
“So, one minute and I have insurance. We go to a doctor and then a few weeks later, I’m getting my premium back and we don’t have insurance,” Foreman said.
FTC attorney Christopher E. Brown said companies that violate FTC law on deceptive claims can face legal action in federal court and major civil financial penalties.
“There will be serious legal consequences for those marketers and advertisers who continue to engage in this kind of deceptive and unlawful activity and try to take advantage of consumers,” Brown said.
The federal government’s own numbers show the massive scale of this. Nearly 275,000 people in just the first 9 months of the year have filed complaints that they were either enrolled in or changed from ACA health plans without their consent.
“While the letters do not allege any wrongdoing by any of the recipients, they encourage the companies to conduct a thorough review of their advertisements to ensure they are complying with applicable laws and rules, and the letters note that the FTC is closely monitoring this marketplace for unlawful conduct that is harming consumers,” The FTC said in a release.