Obamacare News Blog

ObamaCare: Will Your Identity Be Safe?

Beginning October 1, 2013 the Exchanges open to enroll in the new metal plans, known as the Bronze Plan, Silver Plan, Gold Plan, and Platinum Plan. The concern that many state commissioners have is so many new “navigators” are hired to help people get insurance, allowing them access to enrollees’ personal information such as health records, tax forms, and social security numbers. Because there will be so many new hires, 21,000 in California alone, the question is will they be vetted properly.

With the enrollment of an expected 2 million new uninsured CA residents, the navigators will have a lot of information in their hands. According to CNBC, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones stressed his concerns, “We’ve been urging our benefits exchange to make sure there are comprehensive enough consumer protections in place, to make sure that fraudsters don’t get into this market,” said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

Commissioner Jones went on to say, “We’ve convinced Covered California, our health benefits exchange, to adopt a system of fingerprinting background checks, some minimal training and certification,” said Jones, “but we believe they should go further.“Commissioner Jones wants Covered California to oversee the navigator program and have penalties set in place for the occasion of fraud.

Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center,is concerned with how the states are setting up the exchanges. One of her biggest concerns is already present, “We’ve already noticed in paid searches there are websites coming up that have nothing to do with Obamacare.”

Many people are unaware that they are able to work with trusted agents and brokers in the Exchange. There is so much information out there, and so little is clear to Americans, that most people think they can only purchase through the states’ or federally set up sites. Working with agents who have done this for years, like Medicoverage.com, will be able to help safeguard information, as well as having an online presence where consumers can check their business practices. It is important to know that insurance premiums are never higher with an agent than they are when purchased directly through a company or through the Exchange.

For further questions about the Exchange call 800-930-7956 or contact Medicoverage.