Obamacare is coming, and so are the scammers

[Playinghardball]

As the debate rages over who benefits from the Affordable Care Act, one thing is becoming clear: The controversial program is a dream come true for con artists.

Consumer experts warn that the program has created a huge opportunity to swindle people – steal their money and snag their sensitive personal information.

“Any time you roll out a big government program like this, confusion is inevitable,” said Lois Greisman, an associate director in the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. “This confusion creates a tremendous opportunity for the fraudster.”

Scammers have been at it for more than a year now, but consumer advocates and security experts warn that the problem will worsen as we get closer to Oct. 1. That’s when the millions of uninsured Americans can use a health insurance exchange – set-up by their state or the federal government – to shop for coverage.

“I believe the incidents are going to skyrocket as that date approaches,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center. “And even people who are smart and savvy could get taken, so we are very concerned about the potential for some serious financial harm.”

The Affordable Care Act created a Health Insurance Marketplace – also referred to as the Health Insurance Exchange. Policies in the exchange have been preapproved by each state’s insurance commissioner.

“There are fake exchanges already up and running on the Internet,” said Monica Lindeen, Montana’s Commissioner of Securities and Insurance. “If you do a search and type in ‘exchange,’ you’ll find all sorts of websites that claim to be in the exchange when they are not.”

More at: http://www.today.com/money/obamacare-coming-so-are-scammers-6C10913891

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Perhaps this is why RomneyObamaCare was designed by the Heritage Foundation

It gives the 1% further opportunity to bilk the rest of us.