An insurance company has reached a settlement with the Maine Bureau of Insurance in connection with allegations of improper sales practices.
Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Chicago, has agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty, bureau officials say.
The Maine bureau and the Maine Office of the Attorney General investigated the company after hearing that an 80-year-old woman responded to mail about Medicare, then bought a $37,000 annuity after meeting with two Bankers Life agents.
In 2007, the Maine Legislature passed a law that bans agents from making appointments to discuss Medicare and then pitching other products. Bankers Life admitted that it failed to train its agents about the law, and it agreed to offer refunds plus interest to anyone who set up a meeting concerning Medicare and then bought another Bankers Life product, officials say.