Aetna facing $1 million fine for faulty policies
Insurance giant Aetna has run afoul of regulators in Washington. Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has announced that Aetna has been fined $1 million for issuing more than 7,000 policies in the state to residents that faced premiums that were never approved by state regulators. Regulators suggest that many of these policies did not live up to the state’s legal requirements, thus were never official and introduced significant risk to consumers that held these policies as well as major financial stress.
Policies do not comply with state regulations
Aetna has been issuing health, disability, and life insurance policies in the state that do not comply with Washington law. In some cases, these policies were sold to employers based outside of Washington. The insurer has also been selling policies through out-of-state trusts. Regulators note that this may have been a move to avoid some of the regulations that the state imposes on insurance policies due to the fact that most of the plans sold were tethered to rates that have never been approved by state officials.
Aetna agrees to pay fine
Aetna has agreed to pay the fine. The company has also agreed to adopt new measures in order to avoid similar problems in the future. The company has identified several issues that it wishes to improve internally. While Aetna notes that it is disappointed in the ruling of the Insurance Commissioner, the company has expressed its commitment to rectifying the problems that have lead to this issue and Aetna has issued an apology to those affected by the faulty policies.
Aetna will be working to resolve internal issues that lead to faulty policies
Aetna will be paying the $1 million fine and will be working over the next several months to solve several of the problems it has identified. It is unclear what will happen to the 7,000 policies that Aetna has issued. These policies may be forced to meet with Washington’s standards while Aetna continues to provide services to policyholders, or the policies may be done away with entirely.