Health Reform Confusion Sparks Health Insurance Scams

Beware of Health Reform Scammers

Health insurance scams are not new, and in fact, there has been a reported increase even before the new health reform bill passed. A troubled economy has created a larger population of Americans who were struggling with premiums because premiums still rose while incomes fell. That is one reason why President Obama’s promise of health care reform was so attractive to many of us in the USA. This environment, high costs and low incomes, always seems to breed scammers and people who are vulnerable to falling for them.

But some confusion over the new laws, and especially, when and how they will be put in force, has generated a new way of health insurance scams. I post this here because older people may be a very vulnerable group. Middle aged people tend to struggle with higher major medical premiums, and seniors are, sadly, a favorite victim of Medicare scams.  You can find some examples of scams that exploit health reform here.

How Can You Protect Yourself?

• Follow the old adage that if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.Some scammers are very slick, and I even had a lawyer friend of mine ask me to check one out because she thought it was real. She had a sales call that claimed she could replace her $1,000 a month family health insurance bill with a $99 alternative. When I called, it was really hard to pin this company down too. I asked the guy, “Is this health insurance?” His responses went from evasive to downright hostile. Any health health plan with a really low premium could really be a discount plan, or it could just not even exist. Some glossy brochures and a smooth salesperson do not make a health insurance company legitimate!  But there have been cases of actual licensed agents getting duped by a slick presentation because they had not done their homework.  Consumers, who are not eduated in insurance would be a much easier target!
• You know you can check out any company or agent with your state insurance department. Please do that before you risk your family’s health and finances.
• Check out offers or company names at online scam boards or forums. There are a lot of websites that do list scam reports. Keep in mind that some of these could just be posts from disgruntled customers of legitimate insurers, but you can still check for any red flags.
• The federal government is not sending out workers to sell “Obamacare” policies. Some sales peope, and even agents, have used this tactic to get in the door at customer’s homes to sell private medical insurance or Medicare health plans.
• Do not respond to pressure. If you are interested in an offer, a legitimate insurer or agent will give you time to check it out. Again, your state insurance department is a great resource!

If you have heard of any particular health reform related scams, please help us get the word out. You can register for free, and then comment here.

Related articles:

1. Health Care Reform 2009 Proposals and Debacles
2. Obama Health Reform and Medicare: Fact vs Fiction
3. Health Care Reform – A Short History: FDR to Obama
4. Who Will Health Reform Help Now?
5. Will Health Reform Hurt Medicare?

Tags: health insurance, Health Reform, scams

This entry was posted on April 21, 2010 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.