A company based in Virginia will be issuing the payments on top of a $1 million fine after being caught overcharging.
An insurer based in Virginia will be sending out an insurance refund that totals $2.5 million on top of a fine that will cost almost $1 million in order to settle the claims that have been made that indicate that it had been overcharging students in New York.
Estimates are that there were approximately 22,000 students from 37 New York colleges that were overcharged.
The insurance refund and fine in question will be paid by Markel Insurance Company. This, according to the state’s Financial Services Commissioner, Benjamin Lawsky, and the state Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman. The amount that will be returned to each individual will vary based on a number of factors, such as the plan that the student chose and the year in which the individual had enrolled with that company. That said, the average return per student is expected to be $107, according to a statement by Schneiderman’s office.
Schneiderman’s statement also said that he feels that the insurance refund sends out a “clear message”.
He feels that insurers, as is the case with everyone else in the country, have rules that they must follow. They need do their own part in working with the government to ensure that the cost associated with healthcare is reduced and that premiums remain affordable. Merkel had been offering various coverage plans to students in college throughout the Hudson Valley as well as upstate New York, such as Monroe County Community College. It also includes Nazareth College in the Rochester area, as well as Dutchess County’s Bard College.
The situation for the majority of schools is that there was a requirement for students to enroll into the plan unless they were able to provide proof of other health coverage. That said, the plans were considered to be optional at other schools.
The state’s records showed that some of the plans from Markel did not meet the “loss ratio” required of insurers. This was the case from 2007 through 2012. This law in New York requires insurers to have to use a minimum of 65 cents for every premium dollar on payments. This was not the case from Markel, which is now making the insurance refund in order to compensate for it, and which has now voluntarily withdrawn its offering of those products within the state.
