{"id":7063,"date":"2024-02-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/?p=7063"},"modified":"2024-02-09T14:57:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T19:57:56","slug":"ftc-obtains-195-million-judgment-permanent-ban-on-telemarketing-and-selling-healthcare-products-against-simple-health-over-charges-it-sold-sham-health-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/ftc-obtains-195-million-judgment-permanent-ban-on-telemarketing-and-selling-healthcare-products-against-simple-health-over-charges-it-sold-sham-health-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Obtains $195 Million Judgment, Permanent Ban on Telemarketing and Selling Healthcare Products Against Simple Health Over Charges It Sold Sham Health Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Trade Commission has obtained a $195 million judgment against Simple Health Plans LLC and its CEO Steven J. Dorfman over charges they duped consumers into signing up for sham health care plans that did not deliver the coverage or benefits they promised and effectively left consumers uninsured and exposed to limitless medical expenses.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/system\/files\/ftc_gov\/pdf\/SimpleHealthSJOpinion_0.pdf\">granting the FTC\u2019s motion for summary judgment<\/a>, the Federal District Court in the Southern District of Florida also banned Simple Health, five related entities and Dorfman from telemarketing and from marketing, promoting, selling or offering any healthcare products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimple Health preyed on consumers by selling them bogus health care insurance that cost them thousands of dollars for \u2018benefits\u2019 that in fact left consumers unprotected,\u201d said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC\u2019s Bureau of Consumer Protection. \u201cWe are pleased the court recognized this blatant bait and switch and ordered the company and its CEO to turn over the money they bilked from consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2018\/11\/ftc-halts-purveyors-sham-health-insurance-plans\">complaint filed in 2018<\/a>, the FTC said that Florida-based Simple Health\u00a0misled people into thinking they were buying comprehensive health insurance that would cover preexisting medical conditions, prescription drugs, primary and specialty care treatment, inpatient and emergency hospital care, surgical procedures, and medical and laboratory testing. In reality, most consumers who enrolled reported paying as much as $500 per month for what was actually a medical discount program or extremely limited benefit program that did not deliver the promised benefits and often left consumers with thousands of dollars in uncovered medical bills, or worse yet, unable to get necessary healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>The court found that Dorfman and Simple Health, along with Health Benefits One LLC, Health Center Management LLC, Innovative Customer Care LLC, Simple Insurance Leads LLC, and Senior Benefits One LLC violated the FTC Act and the agency\u2019s Telemarketing Sales Rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The court ordered that all of their assets, which have been frozen since November 2018, be liquidated and all the proceeds be turned over to the FTC, which is expected to use the money to provide refunds to consumers. In addition to the banned conduct, the order also prohibits any misrepresentations in the sale of any good or service. The defendants also are prohibited from collecting any money for any healthcare product they previously sold and are required to destroy any personal information they collected about their customers.<\/p>\n<p>Simple Health\u2019s Chief Compliance Officer Candida Girouard\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2021\/02\/one-defendants-behind-alleged-sham-health-insurance-scheme-agrees-settle-ftc-charges\">agreed in February 2021<\/a> to settle the FTC\u2019s charges. As part of that settlement, Girouard is banned from marketing, promoting or selling any healthcare-related products, from making misrepresentations in connection with the sale of any good or service, and from violating the FTC\u2019s Telemarketing Sales Rule.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The litigation was handled by Elizabeth Scott, Joannie Wei, Purba Mukerjee, and Jim Davis from the FTC\u2019s Midwest Regional office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Trade Commission has obtained a $195 million judgment against Simple Health Plans LLC and its CEO Steven J. Dorfman over charges they duped consumers into signing up for sham health care plans that did not deliver the coverage or benefits they promised and effectively left consumers uninsured and exposed to limitless medical expenses. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-1PV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7587,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/ftc-sends-nearly-100-million-in-refunds-to-consumers-harmed-by-benefytt-technologies-sham-health-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":0},"title":"FTC Sends Nearly $100 Million in Refunds to Consumers Harmed by Benefytt Technologies\u2019 Sham Health Plans","author":"jmayfield","date":"March 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Federal Trade Commission is sending nearly $100 million in refunds to consumers who were charged for sham health plans marketed by Benefytt Technologies.According to the\u00a0FTC\u2019s August 2022 complaint, Benefytt and its third-party partners operated a series of deceptive websites that targeted consumers who were searching for comprehensive health insurance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6945,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/court-finalizes-injunction-and-monetary-judgment-against-illegal-telemarketing-operation-and-its-owners\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":1},"title":"Court Finalizes Injunction and Monetary Judgment against Illegal Telemarketing Operation and its Owners","author":"ndrayton","date":"January 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A federal district court has entered final orders against a telemarketing company and its owners, who made millions of illegal, unsolicited calls to people that were registered on the Do Not Call Registry. The court ordered the defendants to pay $28.7 million\u00a0in civil penalties and permanently banned\u00a0the defendants from participating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6529,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/california-based-lead-generator-agrees-to-settlement-banning-it-from-making-or-assisting-others-in-making-telemarketing-calls-including-robocalls\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":2},"title":"California-based Lead Generator Agrees to Settlement Banning It from Making or Assisting Others in Making Telemarketing Calls, Including Robocalls","author":"vgraham","date":"January 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"California-based lead generator Response Tree LLC and its president, Derek Thomas Doherty, will be banned from making or assisting anyone else in making robocalls or calls to phone numbers on the FTC\u2019s Do Not Call (DNC) Registry under a proposed order settling Federal Trade Commission charges that they operated more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6193,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/ftc-acts-against-operators-of-income-scheme-the-sales-mentor-that-charged-consumers-millions-for-bogus-telemarketing-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":3},"title":"FTC Acts Against Operators of Income Scheme \u201cThe Sales Mentor\u201d That Charged Consumers Millions for Bogus Telemarketing Advice","author":"jmayfield","date":"December 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Federal Trade Commission has obtained proposed orders against the operators of a wide-ranging scheme known as \u201cThe Sales Mentor\u201d that made millions by falsely promising consumers that they could make big money from telemarketing sales. The defendants have agreed to proposed court orders that would require them to pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10232,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/ftc-orders-shut-down-unauthorized-billing-and-credit-card-laundering-schemes-require-turn-over-of-assets-valued-at-approximately-40-million\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":4},"title":"FTC Orders Shut Down Unauthorized Billing and Credit Card Laundering  Schemes, Require Turn Over of Assets Valued at Approximately $40 Million","author":"mkatz","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court today approved settlements that will require the forfeiture of assets valued at about $40 million from a group of defendants who allegedly defrauded consumers nationwide by enrolling them, without their knowledge, into continuity plans for CBD and keto-related products\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/badge-explore-data-fraud1.jpg?fit=600%2C375&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/badge-explore-data-fraud1.jpg?fit=600%2C375&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/badge-explore-data-fraud1.jpg?fit=600%2C375&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9603,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/carshield-nationwide-seller-of-vehicle-service-contracts-to-pay-10-million-to-resolve-federal-trade-commission-charges-of-deceptive-advertising\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":5},"title":"CarShield, Nationwide Seller of Vehicle Service Contracts, to Pay $10 Million  to Resolve Federal Trade Commission Charges of Deceptive Advertising","author":"mkatz","date":"July 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Image NRRM, LLC, which does business as CarShield,\u00a0along with American Auto Shield, LLC (AAS), the administrator of its\u00a0vehicle service contracts (VSCs),\u00a0will pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its advertisements and telemarketing for VSC are deceptive and misleading, and that many purchasers found that many repairs were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/badge-explore-data-fraud1.jpg?fit=350%2C219&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7064,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7063\/revisions\/7064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}