Fraud patrol; N.Y. joins push to track down insurance swindlers.(The Week in Healthcare)(New York regulators crack down on bogus health insurers)

Modern Healthcare, September, 2003 by Benko, Laura B.

Byline: Laura B. Benko

New York regulators have become the latest to crack down on bogus health insurers that have proliferated in the past two years to prey on uninsured individuals and small businesses desperate to find affordable coverage.

According to a new report by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund, the U.S. is facing an unprecedented influx of unlicensed health plans posing as legitimate insurers. These fly-by-night companies, which tend to crop up when insurance prices are high, typically entice new members with rock-bottom rates, collect premiums and then disappear when bills come due, sticking consumers and providers with heaps of unpaid medical bills.

Since 2001, just four of the largest coverage scams have left 100,000 people...

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