State regulators have ordered San Diego's First Choice Health Care to shut down. State officials say the company has been selling bogus health insurance. KPBS Reporter Kenny Goldberg has the story.
State regulators say First Choice Health Care has been selling a discount insurance card, that provides neither a discount nor insurance. Customers are asked to pay an enrollment fee and a monthly charge that supposedly entitles them to discounts at doctors and hospitals.
Cindy Ehnes heads up the California Department of Managed Health Care.
There's been an alarming increase in the number of these discount health plans, many if not most of which operate in this deceptive and misleading fashion.
First Choice Health Care has also been fined more than three-quarters of a million dollars by the federal government, for sending unsolicited faxes.
Company officials were not available by phone. Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
