Helaine I. Fingold, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Baltimore office, was quoted in Modern Healthcare in “Medicare Advantage Marketing Targeted by State Regulators,” by Noah Tong. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
The following is an excerpt:
Struggles in Medicare Advantage have caused carriers such as UnitedHealth Group subsidiary UnitedHealthcare and Humana to shift strategy in recent years to emphasize profit margins over growth as spending rises and federal dollars are harder to come by. Insurers have trimmed or eliminated commissions to agents and brokers and restricted access to online applications to avoid signing up new customers who could prove costly.
But insurance commissioners in Delaware, Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and North Dakota have warned insurers they must stop employing marketing tactics designed to limit Medicare Advantage enrollment and curtail commissions. The 2026 Medicare annual enrollment period began Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7. …
Insurers have axed commissions to cap enrollment, even when agents and brokers have already steered customers to plans with commissions during open enrollment. Marketers say this harms agents and brokers, as well as beneficiaries. …
Still, there are factors that would cause insurers to second-guess leaving a market, said Helaine Fingold, partner at the law firm Epstein Becker & Green. For example, leaving a region completely bars an insurer from returning for several years, she said. …
