TMCnews Featured Article

The annual health expenditure of the United States is higher the national GDP of every country in the world except China and Japan. At almost $4 trillion, it even exceeds Germany's GDP, and anytime there is so much money in any given industry, the potential for fraud increases dramatically. According to the Wall Street Journal’s investigation into Medicare, fraud accounts for as much as 10 percent of Medicare’s yearly spending, totaling a staggering $58 billion in bogus payments in the 2013 fiscal year.

As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare continues to grow, the program is being targeted by questionable organizations promising more than they can deliver. The Wyoming Insurance Commissioner, Tom Glause, just issued a warning for residents in the state to be aware of telemarketers making such claims when trying to enroll consumers in the health insurance coverage.

As reported on KGWN.TV, high-pressure telemarketers are selling short-term or limited benefit health insurance service which are not compliant with the ACA. As with any scam or illegitimate services people are trying to sell, they rely greatly on your lack of knowledge in the subject matter. The less you know about it, the higher their chances of sounding like they know what they are talking about.

So if you arm yourself with information, they will not be able to talk you into buying something that is not real, or costs more than it should. 

The insurance commissioner made available some very important points about the ACA for immediate release to warn Wyomingites in the event they receive one of these calls from telemarketers. These are the unedited tips from the Wyoming Department of Insurance:

• The open enrollment period for the 2016 health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act ended January 31. The next open enrollment period will run November 1, 2016—January 31, 2017.
• There is no special “state enrollment period” for individual health insurance. Anyone offering insurance plans through an “enrollment period” outside of open enrollment is not selling an ACA-compliant policy.
• The only official website for the federal Marketplace is: www.healthcare.gov. Go to: www.healthcare.gov for information regarding the Affordable Care Act, qualified health plans, and comparisons of Marketplace plans. Be wary of other similar-sounding names or websites.
• No one offering ACA-compliant health care coverage will ask you if you have a preexisting condition.
• Be wary of telemarketers from the “national enrollment center,” “national healthcare center,” or other “official-sounding” name. The federal government will not call to sell you health insurance.
• Do not provide anyone your Social Security number, bank account, or health information. Never agree to any request to send money over the phone. If you are being pressured to provide this information, hang up.
• Only purchase insurance from a licensed agent. Do not be afraid to ask an agent for their license number. If they refuse, hang up.
• If you receive a sales call from someone selling health insurance, ask the caller to email or send you information about the policy, including premiums. If they refuse, hang up.

If you need more information, you can go to the Wyoming Insurance Department site at:  http://doi.wyo.gov.

We live in an age where information is readily available at our fingertips. This means you can check on the legitimacy of any company, whether it be insurance or something else, with the appropriate authorities online or with a phone call. If someone is on the phone with a hard sell and you feel pressured, simply hang up. You can then call the authorities to report the incident, and if you need the product they were offering, get in touch with a company you trust and are familiar with.