A major Christian group is being sued by former customers in at least three states who claim it sold them an alternative to health insurance that misled them about protections against large medical bills.
Numerous insurance regulators, including in New York, are trying to stop the group from offering the plans in their states.
The most recent lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Missouri, accuses Trinity Healthshare, the Christian group, and Aliera, the for-profit company that markets the plans, for having “sold inherently unfair and deceptive health care plans to Missouri residents, and failed to provide them with the coverage the purchasers believed they would receive.”
The plans were developed “to look and feel like health insurance that would provide meaningful coverage for the purchasers’ health care needs,” according to the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, New York State wrote a cease-and-desist letter to the companies. Nearly 8,000 New Yorkers are currently enrolled in the group’s plans, and regulators are concerned that the coronavirus crisis could lead people who recently lost insurance when they lost their job to pick one of these plans rather than find one through the state insurance marketplace or enroll in Medicaid.
“Trinity, Aliera and its subsidiaries continue to operate in New York without a license, depriving New Yorkers of important benefits when they are most needed,” said Linda A. Lacewell, the state’s superintendent of financial services, in a statement. “The department will use all the tools at its disposal to crack down on those who mislead or deceive New Yorkers, especially during a pandemic.”
Both Trinity and Aliera say there is no confusion about what they are offering. Trinity says its Christian health-sharing ministry programs “are not insurance, and prospective and current members are advised expressly and repeatedly that Trinity neither provides insurance nor guarantees payments.”
