View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2014/03/28/324747.htm
Apparently some insurance providers, producers and others are attempting to place business through portals unlicensed to sell Affordable Care Act qualified plans by leading consumers to believe the plans are qualified, and Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford wants them to stop.
The Arkansas Insurance Department issued a bulletin responding to “certain electronic media and other marketing material” using business names, electronic addresses and other identifiers such as the words “exchange” or “marketplace” that suggest the producer or entity is authorized to sell ACA qualified health plans when they are not.
In actuality, the department said, “the producer or entity may, instead, use that marketing to obtain information to sell health and accident policies.”
Insurers, producers and others who falsely lead consumers into believing they are offering plans qualified under the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, the Arkansas Marketplace or the Arkansas Private may be in violation of the state’s trade practices statutes, according to the AID.
The bulletin said that in the event a complaint is received “regarding this Trade Practice issue, insurers may be held responsible for the actions of their appointed agents.”
Source: Arkansas Insurance Department