In 2010, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which provided Americans a medical insurance option. Thereafter, in 2014, the Obama administration sought to impose a new rule intended to restrict the sales of fixed indemnity plans by requiring individuals to attest, in their fixed indemnity insurance application, that they also have health insurance coverage that qualifies as “minimum essential coverage” under the Affordable Care Act. The attestation was required as a condition of purchasing fixed indemnity insurance policies. If this attestation rule took effect, it would have effectively eliminated the sale of fixed indemnity insurance policies because consumers would have been required to purchase major medical insurance or ACA coverage as a condition of purchasing fixed indemnity medical insurance.

At ManhattanLife, fixed indemnity plans are important to our supplemental health insurance offerings as they provide consumers with medical insurance coverage options. Our tagline Standing By You. Since 1850. succinctly conveys our company’s mission of providing our policyholders with valuable and lasting medical insurance coverage options to meet their needs. That includes preserving the integrity of our offerings and supporting the needs of customers, going beyond the plans themselves.

In 2014, ManhattanLife, who at the time was named Central United Life, sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the case, Central United Life v. Burwell, challenging the government’s attempt to impose the attestation rule. We prevailed in the District of Columbia Federal District Court and, ultimately, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed the District Court’s decision on July 1, 2016, ruling that HHS could not enforce the attestation rule.

In early 2024, we met another challenge when the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor published, in the Federal Register, a rule requiring issuers of fixed indemnity insurance to provide a notice on certain policy materials. Among other things, this notice required the statement that fixed indemnity insurance is “NOT health insurance” on the first page of the policy, application and marketing materials. 

ManhattanLife again challenged the Departments to overturn the “NOT health insurance” notice rule requirement because fixed indemnity policies provide health insurance. We filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, and sought a declaration that the notice rule was unlawful and should be vacated. On December 4, 2024, the court issued Final Judgment declaring that ManhattanLife has “a right against enforcement” of the rule, finding “that [it] adds a compelled notice condition”. The court held that the notice rule exceeded the Departments’ statutory authority, declared the notice rule unlawful and vacated the notice rule in its entirety.

We are proud of our actions and achievements in these important cases. They each demonstrate ManhattanLife’s steadfast commitment and ability to live up to our tagline, as we continue supporting the health, wealth, and security of our customers.