A Manhattan producer offers a senior applicant a cash-back payment equal to part of the first year's Medicare supplement premium if she buys today. Under New York law, this offer is:

Why D is correct

Under the New York Insurance Law, offering an applicant cash or anything else of value as an inducement to buy insurance - on terms not available to all similar insureds - is rebating, and a producer who does it faces discipline from the Superintendent of Financial Services. The standardization of Medigap plans is beside the point: the rule governs how customers are won, not how the policies are designed, and disclosure does not cure the violation.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) Plan standardization does not create a rebating exception; the inducement is unlawful whatever the policy design.
• B) Disclosure to the insurer does not legalize an unlawful inducement; the prohibition applies to the offer itself.
• C) Sympathy for a senior's budget is not an exception; every applicant must be treated alike.

Memory hook

Standard plans, standardized conduct - no cash-back sweeteners.