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Man admits health insurance fraud

10/20/08 - Poughkeepsie, NY– A former Town of Poughkeepsie insurance agent has agreed to pay more than $130,000 to customers he admitted bilking in a phony health insurance scheme, a spokesman for the New York Insurance Department said today.

Jeffrey C. Seifts, of Manchester Road, entered a guilty plea Thursday in federal district court in Albany to theft of a health benefit plan, a misdemeanor, according to the spokesman, Ronald Klug.

Klug said Seifts was accused by federal authorities of victimizing 240 people in Dutchess, Ulster and Columbia counties.

Investigators found Seifts had sold insurance to retirees, small business owners and others through the small group health plan he purportedly operated under the name of a fictitious company, Professional Employees Management Corp. (PEMC). Seifts collected but failed to send premiums to MVP Health Care, Inc., a health Schenectady-based insurance firm, Klug said. He was also accused of overcharging customers and falsifying information on insurance applications.

Under a plea agreement, Seifts will make payments of approximately $96,000 to individuals and $37,000 to MVP.

The Insurance Department revoked Seifts's insurance agent's license in June 2005. He now has no authority to sell insurance, represent an insurance company or provide insurance advice to consumers, Klug said.

Seifts was arrested last year following an investigation begun in 2003 by the Insurance Department. The investigation stemmed from the complaint of a Dutchess County woman, who was unable to have her medical bills paid through insurance she purchased from Seifts.

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