5 Red Flags for Fake Obamacare Sites
And how to protect yourself
A local radio station in Houston was accepting calls from listeners, asking them to share their Affordable Care Act enrollment stories. An angry man phoned in, and the station put him on live to share his anger about his experience. He wasn’t angry that it hadn’t worked. In fact, the web site he used worked just fine. He was angry because there was no record of his transaction and he had no coverage. “I logged right in to Texas Obamacare, gave my social security number and credit card, and they let me down,” he said, furiously.
The problem, of course, is that Texas doesn’t offer a state exchange, and even if it did it would not be called Obamacare. The man wasn’t let down by the federal exchange or the US; he was let down by scammers. Starting October 1, when the ACA went into effect, scam websites began popping up. Before the end of October, over 700 fake sites were detected and shut down. Very likely, that many or more have popped up again. Scam stories continue to pour in. The fake sites are setup to mimic the real site, but are used to steal money and even identities.
How can Americans, especially as the December 23 deadline for January 1 enrollment comes quickly, ensure they are enrolling safely at the right site? Here are 5 red flags for fake sites:
1. There is only one official website portal for the Affordable Care Act enrollment: www.healthcare.gov
Whether or not your state offers a state exchange, this is still the best portal to use to access enrollment for the exchange. It’s very easy to go to healthcare.gov and click over to your state if it offers an exchange, or simply use the federal enrollment if it does not.
2. Nobody will call you to enroll you in the state or federal exchange.
If you receive a call offering to enroll you, no matter how legitimate it may sound, do not provide any information. You should only enroll via healthcare.gov or place a call to your exchange’s live operators yourself. If you are continuing your private insurance, only enroll as per usual with your trusted representative or agent…who you call. In fact, many Americans will not need to enroll in the ACA exchange. It’s not required, and many who are on Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, or military or veteran’s plans won’t need to change.
3. You will not be charged an application fee.
If you visit any web site that charges you any kind of sign up or site use fee, it’s probably a scam. Close out and go to healthcare.gov. You will only need to pay your regular premium for your insurance. Anything else is not legitimate.
4. If you see mis-spellings and bad grammar — get out of there!
Some fake sites use awkward sentence construction or have typos and misspellings, as if created in a rush. The real site may have some random error, but in general, it’s been carefully proofed and should be very professional looking and sounding. Or, the scam site may look perfect. Regardless, if it is not healthcare.gov, it’s not the real ACA website portal.
5. The real sites offer real health insurance, not medical discount plans
Some of the imitator sites are run by legitimate insurance companies. They are capitalizing on people needing coverage who are trying to enroll via the exchange. They may even offer a reasonable deal. However, consumers should know that these plans may not comply with the coverage standards required by the Affordable Care Act. They may also only be discount medical plans, versus actual health insurance. Most telling of all, the sites will not be able to use the legitimate web site portals for the state and federal exchanges. To be safe, again, only use healthcare.gov to access federal enrollment or click through to the state exchange.
What if I find a fake site?
If you run across a fake site, there are steps you can take beyond protecting yourself. You can protect others by reporting the site.
There are a few ways to do this:
- Contact your state attorney’s office and report it. Most states have a channel for receiving reports of suspected criminal activity.
- Call the HeathCare.gov hotline, 1-800-318-2596 (TTY users can call 1-855- 889-4325) to report scams related to Obamacare.
Story by Julie Pippert. Julie is deeply interested in health care, including its advances and reforms. She worked as a managing editor at a leading health care publisher and continues to keep her hand in health care issues. Currently, she is working to pass along crucial and truthful information as the nation adjusts to the Health Care 2.0.
