The use of an asterisk is as a well-known symbol indicating there is something else you should know about the item labeled with an asterisk. It is suggested here that in the spirit of transparency that health exchanges include an asterisk in the circumstance where a company’s actions result in a legal proceeding, a background check for health insurance companies.
While you may not choose to omit a particular health insurer based on its asterisk, at least you’ll be able to make your healthcare decision based on a more complete picture.
For instance, NY’s health exchange includes Affinity Health Plan as one of the 17 choices it lists on its exchange (search 7/17/2013, “Governor Cuomo Announces Approval of 2014 Health Insurance Plan Rates for New York Health Benefit Exchange.”)
On 8/14/13, on the HHS.gov website you can read about, “HHS settles with health plan in photocopier breach case,” stating that “Affinity Health Plan, Inc. will settle potential violations of…HIPAA for $1,215,780. You can read about how in 2010 the breach was reported to HHS as a result of leased photocopier that Affinity returned and contained confidential medical information of up to 344,579 individuals.
