Jan 1, 2020
The Post and Courier
An insurance company owned by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has been ordered to pay a $1.8 million settlement in Vermont after regulators found it was selling inadequate health coverage policies to college students.
The Department of Financial Regulation announced it had reached its largest settlement ever with Columbia-based Companion Life on Dec. 3.
The BlueCross BlueShield subsidiary offered health insurance to about 2,500 students at 10 colleges and universities in the Green Mountain State without approval from Vermont regulators.
The Department of Financial Regulation said in a statement that the plans would not have been approved because they don’t comply with rules laid out in the Affordable Care Act that require all medical plans on the market to cover certain health benefits, such as health screenings and mental health and substance abuse treatments.