California shuts down 10 sites imitating state insurance marketplace

The California attorney general said her office shuttered 10 websites that had mimicked the state's official health insurance exchange "in order to lure consumers away from plans that provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act."

The New York Times: California Shuts Down Sites Mimicking State Insurance Marketplace
The California attorney general's office has shut down 10 websites that mimicked state's official health insurance marketplace, the attorney general, Kamala Harris, announced Wednesday. "These websites fraudulently imitated Covered California in order to lure consumers away from plans that provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act," Ms. Harris said in a prepared statement. "My office will continue to investigate and shut down these kinds of sites" (Lovett, 11/14).

The Wall Street Journal: California Shuts Down Sites Imitating State Health Exchange
California officials have shut down 10 websites they say were designed to imitate the state's official health-insurance marketplace created under the nation's new health law. California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said Thursday her office ordered the sites to either shut down or redirect consumers to the state's official site, www.coveredca.com. All 10 sites have complied, she said (Lazlo, 11/14).

Los Angeles Times: California Orders Closure Of 10 Sites Imitating Its Health Exchange
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris said she has ordered 10 websites to shut down because they violated state law by imitating the official site of the state's health insurance exchange. Harris said she began investigating these misleading websites in September and multiple operators were sent cease and desist letters telling them they were in violation of state law (Terhune, 11/14).

The Sacramento Bee: Kamala Harris Shutters 10 Fake Covered California Websites
California Attorney General Kamala Harris said Thursday she has forced the removal of 10 private health insurance websites posing as the state's official online marketplace where customers obtain plans under the federal Affordable Care Act. Harris said her office two months ago launched investigations into the websites imitating coveredca.com, which began offering insurance coverage for sale on Oct. 1. The website operators were sent cease and desist letters telling them their sites violated state law and demanding their removal or transfer of their domains to the state exchange (Cadelago, 11/14).

San Francisco Chronicle: State Shuts Down Bogus Health Care Websites
One of the posers secured rights to the domain name CoveredCalifornia.com, similar to the official CoveredCa.com, Harris said. She said all were operated by private brokers or companies and contained unauthorized references to the official exchange's trademarked name and logo. ... Typically, said Nick Pacilio, a spokesman for Harris, the operators, purporting to represent the state, sold policies that fell short of the law's requirements. He said Harris has not filed criminal charges or civil fraud suits against the operators, who all agreed to shut down when the office threatened legal action (Egelko, 11/14).