The Better Business Bureau continues to issue warnings about health insurance scams across the country and here in Arizona.
If you are contacted by an insurance agent who tries to pressure you into buying a policy, don’t make a move until you research both the company and agent.
Here is the Arizona Department of Insurance‘s list of all insurance companies licensed to offer health insurance policies to individuals in the state, as of May 2010:
Aetna Life Insurance Company
American Family Mutual Insurance Company
American Medical Security Life Insurance Company
American Republic Insurance Company
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona
Celtic Insurance Company
Cigna HealthCare of Arizona
Golden Rule Insurance Company (United HealthCare)
Health Net of Arizona, Inc.
Humana Insurance Company
MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company
Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TN
Physicians Mutual Insurance Company
Time Insurance Company (Assurant Health)
United Security Life Insurance Company of Illinois
World Insurance Company
If an agent is trying to sell you a plan from a company that is not listed above, it might be a “discount plan,” and not true health insurance. Many of the current scams involve companies selling these discount plans that offer inadequate or even worthless coverage, disguised as an actual insurance plan.
To find out if your agent is licensed in Arizona, go here and enter their name:
http://app.az.gov/id/lookup/producersearch. For example, here is the license information for us here at LehrmanGroup: http://app.az.gov/id/lookup/professionaldetail?producerNumber=126082.
You also might want to download the Arizona Department of Insurance’s flyer, “Ways to Avoid Being a Victim of Phony Insurance”: http://www.id.state.az.us/publications/Phony_ins_flyer.pdf.
We hope this information helps you avoid being a victim of health insurance fraud. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about Arizona health insurance.
