Maryland Insurance Administration issues order revoking license of Aliera Healthcare Inc.

BALTIMORE – The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) issued an order revoking the insurance producer license of Aliera Healthcare Inc. The February 27, 2020 order states that the company was actively trying to sell an unauthorized health insurance plan in Maryland, in violation of state law and an earlier consent order between MIA and the company.

The current license revocation order was the culmination of an MIA investigation that began in 2016. In October 2017, MIA issued an initial order finding that Aliera Healthcare was in violation of several sections of the Maryland Insurance Code. The MIA and Aleira Healthcare entered into a voluntary April 2018 consent order, which found that the health care sharing ministry operated by the company did not meet the requirements for a religious exemption.

In the 2018 consent order, the company agreed to “permanently cease the sale, solicitation or operation in Maryland of the Unity Healthshare Ministry plan and any other plan” that did not meet the qualification for a religious exemption.

In a June 2019 written affirmation, Aliera Healthcare told the MIA that it had not sold products that would violate Maryland law or the consent order. But in March, an MIA investigator was contacted by an Aliera Healthcare representative, who attempted to sell her a membership in another health ministry product.

Aliera Healthcare’s “failure to comply with the terms of a consent order and its continued solicitation of memberships in an unauthorized insurance plan demonstrates that it does not meet the standard of trustworthiness and competence required of an insurance producer,” the order states.

In addition to the license revocation, the MIA has also ordered Aliera Healthcare to pay an administrative penalty of $11,000.

Aliera Healthcare has 30 days from the date of the revocation order to request a hearing. Under Maryland law, the order will be stayed pending a hearing if a hearing request is received within 10 days of the order date.

###
~ Maryland Insurance Administration

The Maryland Insurance Administration is an independent State agency charged with regulating Maryland’s $28.5 billion insurance industry. For more information about the Insurance Administration, please visit www.insurance.maryland.gov or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MDInsuranceAdmin, Twitter at @MD_Insurance, LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/maryland-insurance-administration or Instagram at @marylandinsuranceadmin.