Avoiding Health Insurance Scams in Health Insurance News
If you are reading this post, then you have already taken the first step to finding legitimate affordable healthcare coverage by searching here at healthinsurancefinders.com. When you log on here for a free quote for individual health insurance you can be sure that you will only be contacted only by top rated health insurance agents licensed to sell health insurance in your state. Unfortunately not everyone is as lucky.
In fact regulators say that health insurance scams are on the rise. The poor economy and unemployment over 10% in some parts of the country, makes for too many people looking for low-cost health coverage, leaving them prey to offers that they should know are too good to be true. However desperate is as desperate does, and people, especially those just struggling to make ends meet and in major fear of a devastating illness and concurrent medical bills, are more likely to be taken in by enticing offers via E-mails, blast faxes, or relentless telemarketers. Indeed, according to a recent piece in US News and World Report, bogus healthcare plans are the most significant insurance fraud perpetrated on unwary consumers since the start of the recession.
James Quiggle, spokesperson for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, who cites a November survey his nonprofit conducted of 37 state fraud bureaus, says, “It’s very dangerous out there.”
While the economic times are certainly a contributing factor to these predators coming out of the woodwork, it is not the only driving force. Another is the confusion caused by the recent signing of the Healthcare Reform Act into law. Smart scammers are capitalizing on this confusion, and are pouncing on people with threats that if they do not sign up now for health insurance they will face stiff penalties, wage garnishments, even jail –of course none of which are true!
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said, “A lot of people are eager to get some benefits and are not quite sure how to do that, this opens the door, I think, for some unscrupulous folks to—under the guise of ‘I’m here to help you’—do all sorts of things.”
Within weeks after the passage of the bill, Sebelius sent letters to all of the State’s Departments of Insurance and Offices of Attorneys General to put everyone on high alert. “This is something that we’re going to take very, very seriously,” she said.
So what can you do to protect yourself? First and foremost trust that little voice in your head, and remember if something seems fishy—it probably is. And most importantly before you purchase any Health Insurance plan from any company, check with your State’s Department of Insurance to see if they are indeed licensed to sell insurance, and also check with the Better Business Bureau for any complaints against them.
