Montana's top insurance regulator just shut down an unlicensed operator selling misleading health plans – and warned more could be out there.
On April 1, 2026, State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner James Brown issued a Cease-and-Desist Order against Strategic Limited Partners (SLP), a company not licensed to issue insurance policies in Montana. The order required SLP to immediately stop all operations in the state, according to the announcement from Brown's office.
Brown's office said it received numerous complaints from Montanans who thought they had purchased quality health insurance through SLP, only to find their claims were not covered when they submitted them. Those Montana complaints sit on top of 136 complaints filed against the company with the Better Business Bureau over the last three years. The BBB complaints range from failure to pay claims, to the company being unreachable by phone or email, to representing that it offers ACA-approved plans when it does not.
The latest Montana complaint involved a resident who received a $90,000 hospital bill that SLP refused to cover. Another involved a Montana church whose congregation came together to offer their new pastor health insurance through SLP. The policy was presented as ACA-compliant and as covering everything a family could need. Only after the pastor incurred significant unpaid medical bills did the church learn the policy actually offered discounts on a limited number of medical services.
Brown's office described the workaround these operators use. Some companies wrongly assert they can sell health insurance in Montana without a state license or being subject to state regulation. To avoid Montana consumer-protection rules, they offer plans that refer to consumers as limited partners or employees of a sponsoring company. In SLP's case, that sponsoring company was RFA Group, Inc., described in the announcement as a dissolved Texas corporation. None of the consumers who contacted Brown's office had been aware they were designated as employees or partners.
After the order, SLP told the Commissioner's office it had stopped issuing policies in Montana and indicated it would cooperate to address outstanding consumer concerns.
Brown is not calling the issue resolved. He warned that other unregistered companies may be attempting to sell similar policies in Montana, and urged consumers to be skeptical of plans that pair unusually low premiums and deductibles with promises of full or unlimited coverage, or that designate participants as employees or partners in the fine print. He directed Montanans to the Insurance Consumer Service Bureau at the Office of Securities and Insurance for help checking whether a plan is approved for the ACA marketplace and whether a company is licensed in the state.
For licensed carriers, the case is a familiar problem in new packaging. Operators that hide behind partnership or employment labels can compete on price against compliant insurers, leave policyholders with unpaid bills, and chip away at trust in the wider market.
