Mass. Health Products Dropped

An insurer is discontinuing the sale of health insurance coverage in the Bay State.

The company, HealthMarkets Inc., North Richland Hills, Texas, also has agreed to make $15 million in payments to the Massachusetts Division of Insurance and the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, and it will be reconsidering some health claims denied between 2006 and August 2009.

The HealthMarkets subsidiaries that will stop writing health insurance in Massachusetts after Sept. 30 are the MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, and the Chesapeake Life Insurance Company.

HealthMarkets subsidiaries will continue to sell ancillary benefits products, such as dental and vision products, in Massachusetts, and the 27,000 customers who now have health insurance policies from HealthMarkets subsidiaries can keep those policies, the company says.

Massachusetts regulators have expressed concerns about whether customers understood the limitations of their coverage. HealthMarkets previously has made about $2.1 million in claims remediation payments, the company says.