Senator Chipman introduces bill to improve transparency in health insurance ads

AUGUSTA — On Thursday, Senator Ben Chipman, D-Portland, introduced a bill to ensure more protections against misleading health insurance advertisements. LD 1271, “An Act to Require a Disclaimer on Promotional Materials for Medicare, Medicaid and MaineCare Products by Private Entities,” was the subject of a public hearing before the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services.

“Understanding health insurance is a constant uphill battle for many,” Senator Chipman said. “Advertisements only make the process more confusing. Including disclaimers on all advertisements and solicitations would mitigate the confusion involved in managing health insurance.”

LD 1271 would ensure that private companies include disclaimers on all their advertisements and solicitations to inform consumers that they are looking at an ad. Many private health insurance companies mail promotions to those eligible for Medicare Advantage that look similar to documents from public health insurance. This legislation would help mitigate spreading misleading advertisements by ensuring all promotional materials have disclaimers.

When consumers receive mailers from private health insurance companies, the font and format of the mailers sometimes match official documents from public insurance companies, such as MaineCare. Disclaimers are not often included to make the reader aware that they are looking at a solicitation. In cases that there is a disclaimer, the font is typically small and hard to read. LD 1271 would ensure that private insurance companies are more transparent by requiring disclaimers to be in larger print and legible font when advertising through direct mail.

LD 1271 faces further action in committee.

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