George Gonzalez, a certified navigator for Enroll El Paso waits to assist people with applications for the Affordable Health Care Act on Friday at the Memorial Park Library. (Vanessa Monsisvais / El Paso Times)
El Pasoans who want to sign up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act do not have to pay for help with the application process, experts said.
The Better Business Bureau, among others, is warning people to be on the lookout for any scams associated with the law.
"We've heard from Enroll El Paso that there are scammers out there who are trying to charge fees to help people with the enrollment process, and who may be collecting credit card numbers, health information and Social Security numbers for dubious purposes," said Margo Lepe, spokeswoman for the El Paso Better Business Bureau.
"We encourage anyone who has encountered this to contact the Better Business Bureau, so we can document such consumer complaints and issue public warnings," Lepe said.
"According to the Federal Trade Commission, the ink was barely dry on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act before scammers were picking up the phone and pretending to be from the government," the national Better Business Bureau reported.
The FTC, which also looks into complaints related to the health care act, said con artists may have the routing number to a bank and use that information to get people to reveal their account numbers.
Jennifer Buschick, spokeswoman for Enroll El Paso, said her office has received anecdotal accounts about people going to houses to offer to enroll people in a health care plan for a fee or misrepresenting themselves as "navigators" for the program.
Others received unsolicited telephone calls offering services to help people explore and select plans while collecting personal health and financial information that could be misused by third parties.
Enroll El Paso, led by United Way of El Paso County, is a coalition of organizations in the community, including hospitals, with people who are trained and certified to help the public understand health coverage options and enroll in a plan.
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