If you’re looking to get insurance from the Health Insurance Marketplace, you have until Jan. 15 to sign up. But dishonest companies sometimes advertise comprehensive health insurance when it’s really a medical discount plan or a health plan with limited insurance benefits. And, sometimes, an insurance “offer” is just a scam.
As you compare your options, here are some things to consider:
- Know some warning signs. If ads for the so-called insurance focus on free items you’d get if you sign up – such as money for groceries – and downplay the coverage, take a closer look to understand what you’d be getting.
- Don’t pay for help enrolling. It’s free to sign up through the Health Insurance Marketplace. And don’t pay anyone who says you have to give them cash, cryptocurrency, or your credit or debit card numbers to get or keep your health coverage.
- Compare and sign up at the source. Go to HealthCare.gov or call the Marketplace Call Center at 800-318-2596 to get help or sign up.
You can also get help from:
- Assisters, organizations, and individuals in your community give free, independent advice, answer questions, and help you apply for and enroll in any Marketplace health plan. They can also help you apply for free or low-cost Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, coverage.
- SHIP, or State Health Insurance Assistance Program, volunteers can assisting with enrollment and comparing plans. They are trained by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, an agency in your state.
- Agents/brokers can answer questions and help you apply and enroll in the Marketplace health plans they sell. But you need to be careful. They don’t have information on all the plans available to you. Insurance companies pay them when they sell their plans so you may not be their first priority.
Time is of the essence: sign up by Dec. 15 for coverage starting Jan. 1. Open season ends on Jan. 15 for coverage starting Feb. 1.
If you see a healthcare ad that you think is a scam, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
