Jun. 9--HomeTown Health Plan is accusing rival AultCare Corp. of stealing customers by giving secret payments to insurance agents who persuaded clients to switch health insurers. Massillon-based HomeTown and its parent company, the Health Plan of the Upper Ohio Valley Inc., sued this week in Stark County Common Pleas Court against Canton-based AultCare and its parent company, Aultman Health Foundation. Aultman Hospital and its for-profit insurance arm, McKinley Life Insurance Co., also are defendants, as are three as-yet-to-be-identified insurance agents. The suit accuses Aultman Health Foundation of using its nonprofit, tax-exempt money to make secret payments totaling more than $6 million from 1997 to 2003 to brokers who persuaded customers to switch to AultCare. HomeTown alleges that AultCare also lavished insurance brokers with expensive vacations, golf excursions and meals to win business for AultCare and, ultimately, Aultman Hospital. Business owners who were persuaded to switch insurers never knew about the payments, known as 'conversion support payments,' HomeTown alleges in the suit. Those payments were as much as 500 percent higher than the normal commissions insurers pay to brokers, HomeTown alleges.
As a result of these and other unfair business practices, HomeTown lost business while AultCare and Aultman Hospital steadily grew, the complaint alleges. William C. Epling, chief executive of HomeTown, referred questions to HomeTown's lawyers, who declined to comment Thursday.
Aultman received a copy of the complaint Thursday and needs time to review the allegations, spokesman Tim Beauch said. This isn't the first time Aultman has faced allegations of using unfair tactics.
Last year, Aultman bought another competitor, Professional Claims Management of Canton, that filed a similar lawsuit. The suit was dismissed the day before it was to go to trial. In previous interviews discussing the PCM suit, AultCare officials said the conversion support payments are legitimate compensation to help brokers with the extra work that comes with switching a client to a new insurance plan.
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