Health Care Reform Scams

Senior citizens are vulnerable to financial predators and scams, but now families with elderly relatives need to be aware of scams associated with the new health care reform. As The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, rolls out around the country later this year, all individuals young and old should be weary of the scams below:

• Fake insurance. Some Obamacare scams involve fake health insurance policies that collect sensitive personal information. Some of these policies are labeled ‘death panel’ insurance or ‘young adult’ insurance—two fake policies that scammers hope to use to attract seniors concerned about end-of-life care and younger Americans who want to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies for a longer time. Scammers then use the details to open lines of credit and amass debt in innocent people’s names.
• Calls for insurance cards. Con artists have made calls, both via phone and door-to-door, claiming to offer a new Obamacare insurance card so that an individual can start taking advantage of new health care coverage. The reality is there are no national insurance cards and you should not give your personal information or pay for cards or documents offered to you. There are also scammers who target seniors and change scripts so that they push a new Medicare card. If they are unaware of these scams, seniors pass over their Social Security number and the scammers have enough information to use for identity theft.
• Fraudulent health exchanges. Every state will offer health insurance exchanges under Obamacare, but scammers have taken a few steps ahead and started developing websites with fake state health exchange information. Unsuspecting consumers pay for the fake coverage and lose not only their money, but their credit card details and any personal information that was requested for the transaction.