Ftederal Trade Commission Warns of Dicount Health Cards

[Guest guest]

>

> FTC warning: Many discount health card sales are bogus

>

>

> By CINDY BEVINGTON

> cindyb@...

>

>

> It sounds too good to be true: health care for the entire family, all

> pre-existing conditions accepted, no limitations on usage, no age restrictions

and

> hundreds of thousands of doctors, dentists, hospitals and other health care

> providers at your fingertips, ready to deliver their services at discounts of

> up to 80 percent off what they normally charge — all for only $99.95 a

month.

> Or $149.95 a month. Or $54 a month, sometimes after you’ve paid a sign-up

> fee ranging from $50 to $150, and always after you’ve outed with your credit

> card or bank checking account number.

>

> Unfortunately, the unsolicited faxes, e-mails and telephone sales calls that

> have been coming to northeast Indiana residences and businesses in the past

> few weeks promoting “risk-free membership†in “health care programsâ€

are

> too good to be true. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission and several state

> Better Business Bureaus have been issuing bulletins for at least a year about

> dozens of companies selling medical discount plans.

>

> The FTC also has filed suit against some of these companies, which bill the

> consumers’ accounts whether or not the consumer wants the plan or the card.

>

> The truth is, these plans are not “risk-free.†BBBs and attorneys general

> in several states report complaints from consumers who tried to cancel their

> enrollment, but were ignored, even when the cancellation was within the “

> risk-free trial period.†Not only that, many of the so-called physician and

> hospital “providers†that the discount companies claim are members of

their plan

> don’t even know who these companies are, or how they were included as

> providers, and therefore don’t honor the promised discounts.

>

> While these plans have been in the news in Florida, Texas, North Dakota and

> New York and other states for about two years, they’ve just started to come

> to Indiana. A reader called this newspaper about one program, “Family

Health,

> the Healthcare Association.†A friend of Angola resident Larry Myers brought

> him a fax she’d received at work from another plan, Continental Health.

> Myers, who is retired and has no insurance, almost called for the deal before

he

> found out it might be bogus.

>

> An Angola business received another fax from “Equal Access/Health Benefits

> of America.†These are just three of dozens of companies selling discount

> health plans in the country today.

>

> Complaints abound

>

> Most of the discount card companies have attractive Web sites that inform

> consumers somewhere on their pages that they are not insurance, but instead

are

> offering an “alternative approach†to health care. However, the sites

> proliferate with terms generally recognized as insurance-related, such as

“health

> care,†“plan providers†and “group medical accident benefits†that

offer

> real death, accident and injury/dismemberment insurance as part of the

card’s

> benefits.

>

> Continental Health boasts up to 70 percent savings on generic and brand-name

> drugs at 50,000 pharmacies nationwide, including Wal-Mart. However,

> Berryhill of Wal-Mart Corp., says the company has never heard of Continental,

> and wouldn’t offer discounts like that, anyway. “That is so bad, because a

> lot of people are trying to get better prices,†she said.

>

> Continental also lists a litany of first-name-only testimonials from happy

> customers. But it doesn’t include complaints, such as the one posted on a

Web

> blog that says the consumer is filing a fraud complaint against the company.

“

> If you try to cancel, the certified letter is returned ‘attempted/not known

> ’†delivery, the complainer says.

>

> It also doesn’t list the BBB complaints against it, such as the one from San

> Diego, Calif., that says consumers have been unable to cancel their

> memberships or recover the fees the company collects from them.

>

> Adding to the confusion is the fact that Continental Health has the same

> name as a successful Cleveland pharmacy and drug store business — which has

a

> good BBB record.

>

> On its Web site, another card plan, Protective Smart Health Plus, lists

> dozens of local doctors who supposedly are “providers†who have contracted

with

> the company to offer discounts to Protective patients. Family Health does the

> same thing, including listing most of the area’s major hospitals and

> treatment centers.

>

> Doctors unaware

>

> Family Health’s Web site promises “group medical†accidental injury and

> death and dismemberment insurance, up to 60 percent off of over 500,000

> physicians’ fees nationwide and up to 80 percent savings on hospital visits.

>

> Calls to local doctors and hospitals listed on the site, however, proved

> that the list misrepresents its membership. Podiatrist Coda’s name

shows

> up several times on the Web lists and, recently, a patient tried to use a

> discount card at his office. However, Dr. Coda’s office says he’s not a

> participant in any discount card program.

>

> People answering calls to Family Health said at first that Coda “just

didn’

> t realize†he was a provider because the company contracted him through the

> Indiana Podiatry Association. However, the association has no affiliation with

> Family Health, either, Coda’s office says.

>

> Urologist Dr. Kernel is listed, too, as are his office colleagues —

> but, again, his office says none of them accept discount cards. Angola doctor

> Dean Mattox is on the list, too — and, again, his office says he had no idea

> he was on a discount card list, either.

>

> Calling the discount offers “so fraudulent,†these doctors’ office staff

> say that offering discounts like this would put them in trouble with Medicare,

> which mandates that the doctors charge everyone the same price, including

> their own wives.

>

> Parkview Healthcare Systems are listed against this health organization’s

> knowledge, too, including the hospitals — and Parkview’s not sitting still

for

> it, according to Parkview spokesperson Belcher.

>

> Parkview isn’t on any discount card plan, and the corporation plans to take

> action against anyone who says they are, Belcher said.

>

> ‘They just don’t realize it’

>

> Several different people answering telephones at Family Health, however,

> insisted that Parkview was a member of a PPO provider list that contracted

with

> Family Health to give discounts, only Parkview didn’t know it.

>

> “It’s just that they don’t recognize us because it’s through their

> affiliate,†said “,†who identified herself as a supervisor for

Family

> Health. The “PPO†was Provider Select, she said. When informed that

Provider

> Select provides equipment and supplies to doctors at discount prices, not

health

> services, replied, “If a doctor wants out of the plan, then tell

> them to call and request that we take their name off.â€

>

> When asked if it isn’t misleading to potential card buyers to list doctors

> and hospitals as providers when they are not providers, said,

“That’

> s why we have provider verification.†She was referring to Family Health’s

> requirement that cardholders make their appointments through Family Health,

> rather than directly with their doctors, so the company can “verify†the

> doctors’ participation.

>

> Local doctors’ office staff (all of whom didn’t want to be identified

> individually) said they didn’t know any doctors or hospitals in northeast

Indiana

> that would accept these cards. “We simply don’t deal with third-party

> people, except insurance companies,†Coda’s office said.

>

> When contacted, the discount card companies brushed off repeated inquiries

> about their provider lists, insisting that the providers were providers; they

> just didn’t realize it.

>

> It’s not insurance

>

> For Parkview, this isn’t a good enough excuse.

>

> “We are very concerned that consumers will be confused that these discount

> card programs are insurance, because that’s usually what they think, and

it’s

> not,†Belcher said. “So we really want to warn people not to subscribe to

> these discount card programs because they’ll be disappointed. The types of

> discounts these cards are touting are just not offered, so consumers really

need

> to beware.

>

> “We can only guess how Parkview’s name may have shown up on the list you

> found. We do not have a contract with any of these medical discount card

> programs directly, and, to our knowledge none of the preferred provider

> organizations we contract with do.

>

> “If we were to find out that there is a contract somehow through any of

> those organizations, then we’ll take action, because it’s not our intent

to

> participate in these types of programs because they advertise discounts that

are

> so misleading.

>

> “They are just too good to be true.â€

>

>

>

>