To induce a Medicare beneficiary in Rochester to drop her current Medicare supplement policy and buy coverage from the insurer the agent represents, the agent knowingly uses an incomplete comparison chart that makes the competing policy appear worse than it is. Under New York's Medicare supplement marketing standards, this practice is:
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why B is correct
Under the Medicare supplement marketing standards adopted by the Department of Financial Services, twisting is expressly prohibited: knowingly making any misleading representation or incomplete or fraudulent comparison of any insurance policies or insurers in order to induce a person to lapse, forfeit, surrender, terminate or replace coverage. An incomplete chart used to drive the beneficiary out of her current policy is twisting even if its individual entries are accurate, because the incompleteness itself is the violation and the Department of Financial Services can sanction the producer and issuer for it.
Why the other options are wrong
- A) Individual accuracy of each entry does not save the chart; an incomplete comparison made to induce replacement is prohibited.
- C) Standardization of benefit plans does not legitimize misleading comparisons; premium and suitability differences still matter and comparisons must be fair and accurate.
- D) That the applicant makes the final decision does not cure the producer's knowing use of an incomplete comparison to induce the replacement.
Memory hook
Twisting = incomplete comparison used to induce dropping coverage.