A subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina has been fined $478,000 by the Delaware Department of Insurance for selling what the state says are bogus online health insurance policies not in line with the Affordable Care Act.

Specifically, the Delaware Department of Insurance fined Companion Life Insurance Co. for what insurance commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart says are numerous violations of Delawares insurance code, including misrepresenting its limited-benefit and short-term health insurance plans as compliant with the Affordable Care Act.

Companion Life, one of several subsidiaries of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of South Carolina, specializes in employee benefits, including life, disability, dental, vision, and accidental-death coverage. Companion Life, founded in 1971, operates in most states and the District of Columbia.

The Delaware insurance agency says an examination of Companion Life revealed that 242 Delaware consumers had purchased non-compliant plans from Companion Life, including 145 policyholders who chose to terminate their plans. Companion Life refunded those consumers premiums totaling $18,008, says the Delaware Department of Insurance.

The state contends that Companion Life violated multiple aspects of the Delaware insurance code, including misrepresenting its limited-benefit and short-term health insurance plans as compliant with the Affordable Care Act., failing to provide consumers with pertinent information relating to plan coverage and failing to conduct periodic audits of the operations of two third-party administrators employed by Companion Life.

Companion Life on Nov. 2 signed what the Delaware Department of Insurance calls a stipulation and consent order admitting to the code violations. We reached a mutually agreeable resolution with the Delaware DOI to address the DOIs concerns,” a company spokesman says.