The extended open-enrollment period for Obamacare health insurance provides an extended chance for scammers to rip people off.
New Mexicans now have until May 15 to sign up for marketplace coverage. The added enrollment window aims to help those who have lost their jobs, and therefore their insurance, due to the pandemic.
“Any time the government rolls out a change or new initiative, people understandably have questions and concerns,” the Better Business Bureau warns. “Scammers take advantage of this opportunity to confuse and mislead victims.”
For example, during the fall enrollment period for Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, bogus “health care benefits” advocates claimed they could help people enroll in a cheaper plan than what the consumers already had.
To get started, they would say, the person would have to provide some personal information. In other cases, the caller relied on scare tactics by telling people their Medicare would be discontinued if they didn’t re-enroll. The caller, of course, offered to fix the situation, the BBB says.
March 24, 2021
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