Caveat Emptor Means “Let The Buyer Beware”!

In my job, a ton of studies come across my desk. The amount of research out there is pretty staggering, so I use a variety of tools and techniques to help me zero in on what’s most meaningful.

A new study from Georgetown University has seriously alarmed me! They discovered that when shoppers look for the health insurance marketplace through search engines, they often find misleading information, high-pressure tactics and outright fraud.

I’ve written before about the dangers of going off an online search to find legit health insurance. Unfortunately, this research shows the scammers are still out there. I want to show you some of what they have found.

More Shoppers, More Scammers
In the past year, millions of people who buy HealthCare.gov or state-specific exchange insurance lost their enhanced tax credits. Without this extra financial help to pay for their premium, they went shopping for lower-cost plans, often using common online search engines.

The Georgetown researchers used mystery shopping to see what their experience is like. Using terms like “health insurance,” “affordable health insurance,” “Obamacare plans” and “ACA coverage,” they investigated over 20 different links that came back for each search.

The amount of lies, fraud and outright misinformation the researchers encountered while pretending to be regular, everyday people who need healthcare coverage is frankly terrifying.

Here’s some of what they found:

Strike One: Never Google “health insurance” or “affordable health insurance.” You will get pages of results that the Georgetown researchers found were pushing substandard coverage at best and outright fraud at worst. The junk plans they were pushing involved long waiting periods for coverage, no maternity coverage, hospital coverage that wasn’t based on actual costs, very low (like $800/year) caps on drug spending, no substance abuse or mental health coverage, etc.

Keep in mind that the ACA requires real HealthCare.gov plans to provide standard coverage for preventive care and a range of medical services. By contrast, calling the products that came up in the researchers’ online searches “health insurance” is a huge stretch. These plans are certainly NOT anything you’d see Louisiana Blue putting our name upon.

Strike Two: When following up on online leads, the researchers had to share lots of personal information, often including a credit card, then wait for someone to contact them. These are bad signs. Never give anyone you just found on a search engine your credit card details, Social Security number or any other personal information!

A legitimate health insurance company will have an option to transfer you to an agent or someone who can help you enroll WITHOUT asking for this kind of information up front.

Strike Three: The online folks the researchers followed up with said HealthCare.gov plans are only good for people who are sick or have tons of health conditions.

Here are a few of my favorite comments the researchers heard:

1. 1. “You don’t want to be in a marketplace risk pool if you’re healthy!”
   2. “The marketplace is only for poor people, you want the private market, which is based on health, not wealth!”
   3. “Marketplace enrollees are running for the hills, that’s why we’re here!”
   4. “We’ll send you all the plan information in writing as soon as we get that credit card and SSN!”
   5. “If you don’t decide today, your premiums will skyrocket!”
   6. “You only have to wait one year for your pre-existing coverage to kick in!”

If You Really Need Health Insurance Coverage, Keep It Real

Reach out to a company you are familiar with. If that’s Louisiana Blue, we’d be honored to serve you. Connect with a qualified, experienced agent familiar with HealthCare.gov plans at 1-844-GET-Blue. Or, go directly to our website, lablue.com, to submit a request for an agent to contact you. When you work with an agent, you know you will get help finding real, comprehensive health coverage you can trust and count on to be there when you really need it.

And, it doesn’t cost anything to work with an agent. There’s also no obligation to enroll in a health plan just because you speak with one. So, take advantage of this option.

The Straight Talk is, search engines are FULL of scammers and fraudsters who will lie to you about health insurance coverage and treat you badly. Don’t give in, you deserve much better than that. We’ve been at this for 92 years, here in Louisiana, and we want to help.