Washington
Enactment of the new health care reform law has already spawned fraud schemes by which individuals are seeking to sell bogus policies through 1-800 numbers and by going door-to-door, federal regulators are warning.
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services–as well as a former insurance commissioner from Kansas–sent letters to state insurance regulators and prosecutors about the new schemes.
She said consumers should beware of policies that are time-limited, offer limited benefits, or advertise being necessitated by health insurance reform.
In addition to their existing responsibilities, Ms. Sebelius said her agency's Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Teams "will vigorously monitor and crack down on new forms of abuse."
Medical Mutual Insurance Company of Ohio sent out its own alert urging its customers and the public to beware of scammers who may try to sell phony health insurance policies.
"They may try to tell you that, under the reform law, you will need to buy new health insurance," said Brien Shanahan, Medical Mutual's director of legal affairs. "These pitches may come to you in the form of phony e-mails, fraudulent online ads, door-to-door, or by way of pushy telemarketers."
The scams may promise a variety of bogus benefits, he added.
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