Once again it is open enrollment time for those choosing a new health insurance plan. In searching around for a new plan for MrConsumer’s friend in New York City, he came up with what looked like a dream plan — a new national plan that tapped into Cigna’s national network of 500,000 providers. (Most individual plans in New York have very limited networks except for Empire Blue — and even Empire is not all-inclusive.)
The plan is from MVP Health Care called “Platinum National Embedded.” It is considered a non-standard plan and therefore is “off-market” — not on the New York “Obamacare” health exchange — and is sold individually directly by the company.
A handy map shows which counties in the New York City region are covered:
A quick look makes it appear that all five boroughs of New York City are covered as well as two northern counties. When using MVP’s online plan lookup feature, entering my friend’s Manhattan zip code kept triggering an error. How could that be?
*MOUSE PRINT:
A closer look at the fine print asterisked footnote reveals that MVP is not licensed to sell these plans in any of the five boroughs of New York City, despite them being listed above as “included.”
We asked the company why it used such misleading representations and whether it would fix the distortions. They have yet to respond.
Finding the right health plan is hard enough without shenanigans like this.
Sometimes companies take a little literary license when naming their product or company to the dismay of consumer protection regulators. For example, is BJ’s Wholesale Club really selling its merchandise at wholesale prices? Similarly, is Poland Spring water really from a spring? (A recent lawsuit against the company suggests otherwise.)
