Scam alert issued on new health care law

WASHINGTON — Beware of scam artists taking advantage of the new health insurance law to peddle phony policies, President Barack Obama’s top health official warned consumers Tuesday.

After Obama signed the law March 23, there’s been a proliferation of scams involving bogus health insurance policies.

Some of the hustlers are going door to door claiming there’s a limited open-enrollment period to buy health insurance now. Not so. Moreover, even after new health insurance marketplaces open for business in 2014, door-to-door salespeople are unlikely to be part of the outreach.

Scam artists have also set up toll-free lines.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius — a former Kansas governor and insurance commissioner — wrote state officials Tuesday to urge they investigate and prosecute such scams to the fullest. Federal health care fraud investigators are also on the lookout.

The new health care law will ultimately provide coverage to more than 30 million uninsured, but those changes will come slowly, beginning with smaller steps.

As early as the summer, people who have been turned down for coverage because of a medical problem will be able to buy a plan through a new high-risk health insurance pool.

Then in the fall, two other consumer benefits take effect. Insurance plans will no longer be able to deny coverage to children with medical problems. And parents will be able to keep their adult children on their policies until they turn 26.

The big push to cover the uninsured comes in 2014, when new health insurance marketplaces will open for business and federal tax credits will start flowing to millions of working families and individuals.

At the same time, Medicaid will be expanded to more people living near the poverty line. And health insurers will have to accept all applicants, even those with medical problems.

Once those tax credits and new consumer protections are in place, most Americans will be required to carry health insurance.