Humana Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and five other U.S. health insurance companies agreed to stop selling a type of government-funded plan for the elderly in response to complaints that sales agents forged signatures and enrolled dead people.

The seven companies are working on new marketing guidelines with the U.S. Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. The voluntary sales suspension will end as each company adopts the guidelines, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said yesterday.

A Senate panel last month heard testimony that health- insurance agents tricked elderly customers into buying Medicare Advantage policies that they couldn't afford, cutting off access to their doctors. Agents also forged signatures, signed up the dead and enrolled mentally disabled people without consulting their guardians, state insurance official said.