DMHC licenses first

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The Family Care plan will offer discountexd access to a rangeof physician, outpatient (such as physical therapy and mental health), laboratory, radiologt and imaging, dental, chiropractic, vision and hearing-care The program will offer membership to a househol d for a $99 enrollmenty fee and a monthly charge of $99.95, according to with discounts ranging from 5 to 40 percent for most However, the Houston-based health plan’s initial license is only vali for two years, reflecting caution on the part of the Sacramento-base agency, which previously has cracked down on various discount health-care card companies in the state.
Familyg Care is licensed to operateethroughout Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santq Clara, Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano, Orange and San Diego as well as the most populated areas of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and 41 othet counties, according to the department, and a numbefr of local providers are already listed on its www.familycarecalifornia.co m web site. The DMHC said the economicf environment played a role in its decision to approveFamily Care’ds application for a license.
Thanks to the continuing economic downturn, which has resultedx in many individuals and families losinghealthb coverage, “it is in the best interest of consumersa to regulate and license legitimatwe discount health plans,” Cindy Ehnes, the DMHC’s said in a June 9 statement. She addedr that licensure will ensure that consumers will get promised discountsand “fullty understand that these products are not health insurance.” In the last six the agency’s Help Center has received more than 925 complaintsx from consumers who were victims of fraudulenty discount health card companies, the DMHC said.
Those consumers were misler into thinking they were purchasingh regular health insurance or were unablr to find doctors who supposedly had contracted with thediscounr company. The DMHC said it has issued several Cease and Desist orders in an ongoint investigation into thisgrowing industry, which in turn led to setting up a licensing structure to protecy consumers and provide state oversight. As a result, some companies decides to seek licenses proving they metregulatoryt standards.
The current licensing requirements include verification ofdiscounta offered, legitimate contracts with doctors and other healtyh care providers, truthful advertising, and a processd for consumers to resolve disputes with the according to DMHC. Planzs also must prominently disclose that they are notofferinhg insurance, but rather a discount producty through which members pay provider a discounted fee, usually at the time of Family Care’s web site displaysz such a statement at the bottom of each web