ACA plans are being switched without enrollees' OK

Jonathan Kanfer, a West Palm Beach, Florida, agent, suspects names and lists of potential clients are being circulated to agents willing to bend the rules. He said his agency has lost 700 clients to switching.

The agents doing the switching “don’t care about the people,” Kanfer said, only the money, which can amount to a monthly commission of roughly $20 to $25 per enrollee.

“Two weeks ago, someone telemarketed me, gave me a number to call to get leads for Obamacare,” said Kanfer, who turned down the offer. The person told him: “You don’t even have to speak with the people.”

Online or social media advertising is a way some outfits troll for prospects, who then end up on lists sold to brokers or are contacted directly by agents. Such lists are not illegal. The problem is the ads are often vague, and consumers responding may not realize the ads are about health insurance or might result in their policies being changed. Such ads promise free “subsidies” worth up to $6,400, often implying the money can help with groceries, rent, or gas. Some do mention “zero-dollar” health insurance.

Yet agents say the ads are misleading because the “subsidies” are actually the premium tax credits many people who enroll in ACA plans are eligible for, based on their income.

“They’re portraying it like it’s money going into your pocket,” said Lauren Jenkins, who runs an insurance brokerage in Coweta, Oklahoma, and has seen about 50 switching cases in recent months. But the money goes to insurers to offset the price of the new plan — which the consumer may not have wanted.

Ambetter Health — a division of Centene that offers ACA plans in more than two dozen states — sent email alerts to brokers in September and November. One noted a jump in complaints “stemming from misleading advertisements.” Another warned of “termination actions” against bad actors and directed agents not to collect consumer information or consent via “online forms or social media ads.”

In response to the switching, Ambetter also instituted a “lock” on policies starting at midnight on Dec. 31, meaning the agent on the policy by that deadline would remain on it for all of 2024, according to an email the insurer sent to brokers.

Results are mixed.

Adam Bercowicz, a licensed independent broker in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said he and his staff worked New Year’s Eve, monitoring their client lists and watching as some were switched before their eyes.

“If I saw one of my clients was stolen from me at, let’s say, 11:57 p.m., I put myself back on,” said Bercowicz, who estimates he’s had 300 to 400 policies overtaken by other agents not connected to his staff in recent months. “And by 11:58 — a minute later — they were already switched back.”