Payers might want to be more wary of insurance agents' activities after one Arizona woman allegedly transferred Medicare supplemental policies from one insurer to another without members' permission.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne accused Megan Monroe Racz of transferring Medicare policies from Health Net to UnitedHealth for certain members, all of whom were at least 65 years old and four of whom were deceased. Racz received more than $25,000 in commissions for transferring the policies. She was indicted Monday for fraudulent schemes, theft, identify theft and forgery, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
The charges involve 37 people out of roughly 900 potential victims. Officials from the attorney general and insurance department offices said information from the other victims could be used if needed, News 4 Tucson reported.
UnitedHealth and Health Net officials, as well as policyholders, affected alerted the Arizona Insurance Department about the transfers, according to Green Valley News. One policyholder, Catherine Lee, learned about the fraud when a UnitedHealth representative called to ask why she signed up for an account but never activated it.
"I immediately called Health Net customer service and the rep confirmed (I had been dropped from their plan)," Lee told Green Valley News. "When I told her my predicament, she made some changes in her computer to reinstate me and told me to check with them in a week to make sure I was returned to their system. She said they were investigating a fraud situation, and I had the bad luck to be involved."
To learn more:
- read the Arizona Daily Star article
- check out the News 4 Tucson report
- see the Green Valley News article