Tonik is the rad, x-treme! lifestyle health insurance for young people who can’t afford regular insurance—sort of the Poochie of health insurance, except it’s not going to go away. Aasma wrote to us to let us know that when she signed up for it over the weekend, she got a nasty surprise after she submitted her credit card information.

Today, I tried to sign up for the Tonik insurance plan through Blue Cross in California. I answered all their questions and based on my answers was quoted a certain price for health insurance. I then gave them my CC information. Upon completion of this transaction I received the following email:

Congratulations! Your application has been approved for DN15 with a 20% increase in premium. This decision was based on the information you submitted.

I could send you the full text of the email, but you get my issue. Nowhere did I have the ability to deny this coverage. I then had to argue with them for an hour to get them to cancel. I had to send a screenshot of the total page which did not say anywhere that they could just randomly raise the price. After an hour of throwing a hissy fit and getting them to let me email the cancellation instead of faxing it they finally sent me a cancellation email. I still don’t feel safe though.

I think people should know about this. It can’t be legal. I’m also sending you the screenshot I took of the total page. I should have known better than to sign up for insurance called the “thrill seeker” but I was desperate and they tried to take advantage of me.

Is there any place to report these deceptive and evil insurance selling practices? You can’t just quote someone a price, take their money and then raise the price, can you? I would also like to add that I am an attorney and I did read the fine print.

Aasma, you may want to try contacting the California Department of Insurance to ask them where to complain about what happened. You should also check out the Health Insurers page on the California Attorney General’s website for more information.

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