AHCO Maternity Card Provider Being Sued

Posted on April 16, 2008 by Theresa Erickson

By Patrick George
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Texas attorney general's office has filed a lawsuit accusing an Austin company of selling fraudulent discount health card plans to pregnant women, the office announced Monday.

The lawsuit claims that Austin-based AHCO Direct, also known as Affordable HealthCare Options, and its owners, Brian McDonald and Aaron Bouren, sold fake discount cards to uninsured pregnant women that promised to cover up to 60 percent of maternity-related costs.

The two are accused of multiple violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Abbott said in a statement.

The cards were marketed to uninsured pregnant women via Google ads, the lawsuit said.

See remainder of article here: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/15/0415aghealth.html

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Surrogacy via Newsweek and the Military

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Theresa Erickson

Well, I have to say that I am quite surprised by the statistics that were set forth in Newsweek's article, "Womb for Rent." 

See link at http://www.newsweek.com/id/129594

To be quite honest, I did speak with the reporter, Lorraine Ali, and I assured her that the statistics she had that claimed military surrogates were 50% of all surrogates was way off base.  In fact, I had confirmed that with my colleagues, and they agreed.  I am certain that their reason for pushing those numbers was to incite a frenzy about military insurance. 

Well, as a former military dependent, I know for a fact that military insurance is not a privilege that is being abused in any way.  In fact, military members "pay" for this insurance by receiving lower compensation and benefits than their civilian counterparts.  I even pulled out a Department of Defense yearly update that my husband had received back in 2001, and it clearly stated the value of the insurance that we received.  Specifically, it provided that his salary was actually $1850.00 more per year due to the value of our insurance, which he essentially paid for.  

So, I wonder where this will all go?  What do you think?  I was quite dissatisfied with this article.   

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