Companies Clash Over Discount Card Program

One of the first companies to sell preferred provider organization-style discounts separately from health insurance is fighting with a former distributor.[@@]

Equal Access Health Inc., Arlington, Texas, a distributor of non-insurance health discount programs, says it has filed a suit accusing Precis Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, the developer of the Care Entr?e medical care discount program, of providing bad service.

Precis has issued a statement of its own suggesting that Equal Access may have contributed to problems it is facing with Texas regulators by leading consumers to believe that the Care Entr?e card provides insurance rather than discounts on medical care.

The Texas attorney general has filed a suit asking Precis to improve customer service and make more of an effort to ensure that consumers understand that its Care Entr?e card is simply a discount card and not a source of health insurance.

Equal Access says it has stopped selling Precis care discount programs but continues to sell other non-insurance programs for health care consumers.

Equal Access says it is publicizing its suit, which was filed in February, in part because out-of-court negotiations with Precis have stalled.

“We have been asking them to improve for nearly 2 years and our patience has expired,” Equal Access Chief Executive Brady Speers says in a statement.