WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 - The nation's insurance commissioners say the federal Medicare agency has made misleading statements about the new drug benefit in an effort to persuade people to sign up.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which represents insurance regulators in all 50 states, registered its concern in a letter to the agency. State officials elaborated on their concerns in recent interviews.
If private insurers made such statements about their products, the association said, state officials would investigate their marketing practices for possible violation of consumer protection laws.
Since President Bush signed the Medicare law on Dec. 8, 2003, he has portrayed it as a boon to the elderly, "the greatest improvement in senior health care since Medicare was enacted in 1965.''
The insurance commissioners objected to a proposed federal rule requiring insurers to tell policyholders that the Medicare drug benefit provided "greater value'' than did the drug coverage available to people with private Medigap insurance. Similar statements appear on the Web site of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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