Scam Alert: Fake Federal Employees Sell ‘ObamaCare’ Policy, Supplemental Medicare, Other Insurance Plans - AARP Bulletin Today

Scam Alert: Fake Federal Employees Sell ‘ObamaCare’ Policy, Supplemental Medicare, Other Insurance Plans - AARP Bulletin Today: "President Obama isn’t the only one hitting the road to sell health care reform and what it means to you. In the latest twist on an old scam, unscrupulous salesmen are visiting senior housing facilities, pretending to be federal employees and peddling supplemental Medicare and other insurance plans.

Hucksters claiming to be with “ObamaCare” and representing the federal government have already targeted several apartment complexes populated by older residents in Missouri, says Rona McNally of that state’s Senior Medicare Patrol, an advocacy group funded by the federal Administration on Aging that educates Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries about health care fraud.

“They go door to door, saying they need to talk about your Medicare benefits, and that you may need to take a certain plan in order to get coverage,” she tells Scam Alert. “They use fear, they use change as an opportunity to get to seniors.”

Although it may be legal to sell supplemental insurance plans door to door, it’s certainly illegal for salesmen to say they are government officials when they are not, says McNally.

“The government does not go door to door selling insurance,” she adds. “If someone comes to your home to sell you a plan, shut the door.”"