If health care is a business, perhaps it’s no surprise that health insurance has become a business of opportunity, say state regulators.

63-year-old Gladys Kaplan never saw it coming.

“Like the old saying, if it’s too good to be true, it’s not. That’s what happened,” she said.

About one year ago, Kaplan needed health insurance, but her options were few.

“I had been turned down by a couple of insurance companies because of pre-existing conditions,” she said.

A health insurance agent recommended AIM, the Association of Independent Managers. The company markets health insurance plans and pitched Kaplan a plan that would cost her $350/month.

She received a logo-covered insurance card, shortly after.

But just a few weeks later, Kaplan started questioning her decision. She says claims weren’t getting paid and calls to the company went nowhere.

“Each time I called, it was like starting from scratch, nobody knew my name, nobody knew my claim.”

State regulators from the FL Dept. of Financial Services and the Office of Insurance Regulation says Kaplan is one of an estimated 1,800 consumers duped by AIM.

The company is accused of marketing unauthorized plans under a dozen different names. The state recently order the company to cease and desist.

Vicki Williams is a consumer outreach coordinator for the Department of Financial Services. She says consumers in Florida are targets for these schemes because, she says, many consumers are looking for low premiums and have already been denied coverage by more popular insurers.

“The consumer wants to believe so badly this is the rescue they need,” she said.

Williams urges consumers to verify before they buy health insurance coverage.

It’s a lesson that Gladys Kaplan paid nearly $4,000 to learn.

“This is something you hear about, but doesn’t happen to you but there it was, it happened to me.”

To verify the authorization of an insurance company visit, http://www.floir.com or for the licensure of an agent visit http://www.MyFloridaCFO.com or call the CFO’s Consumer Helpline at 1-877-MY-FL-CFO begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-877-MY-FL-CFO end_of_the_skype_highlighting (1-877-693-5236 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-877-693-5236 end_of_the_skype_highlighting).