So here's the thing:
"Investigators ... created 12 fake health insurance test applicants and... have gotten qualified health plan (QHP) coverage for 11 through the [404Care.gov site]."
So what's the big deal?
If someone hacks your Visa card, they can (potentially) rack up some major purchases. But who in their right mind wants to steal insurance?
Here's the problem(s):
As Bob points out, it underscores just how poorly the 404Care site was designed and implemented, and how it continues to be an embarrassment to all who've worked on it (assuming they had any shame to begin with). More importantly, though, folks who successfully game the system in this way:
"Get free (or almost free) insurance until such time as the Feds figure out that they never were entitled to it (again, assuming they're even caught at all). So after claims have been paid and the government (and the carriers) want their money back, the perp is long gone."
Nate offers another scenario:
"If I was anillegal alien undocumented guest with a serious medical condition, free insurance would be great. You don’t even have to really try to fake it; just provide a valid insurance ID and they will treat and gladly bill the carrier for you."
And Pat offers this:
"The bigger point is that HHS isn’t verifying jack squat. Income, identity, Social Security number, even residence may not be accurate. If 11 of 18 fraudulent attempts got through then how many of the “true enrollments” are not accurate?"
And that's truly scary: recall that thousands (perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands) of folks experienced enrollment "glitches," so we have no way of knowing how many folks really enrolled, and how many of those that did were, in fact, fraudsters using someone else's ID.
Warm fuzzies, anyone?
"Investigators ... created 12 fake health insurance test applicants and... have gotten qualified health plan (QHP) coverage for 11 through the [404Care.gov site]."
So what's the big deal?
If someone hacks your Visa card, they can (potentially) rack up some major purchases. But who in their right mind wants to steal insurance?
Here's the problem(s):
As Bob points out, it underscores just how poorly the 404Care site was designed and implemented, and how it continues to be an embarrassment to all who've worked on it (assuming they had any shame to begin with). More importantly, though, folks who successfully game the system in this way:
"Get free (or almost free) insurance until such time as the Feds figure out that they never were entitled to it (again, assuming they're even caught at all). So after claims have been paid and the government (and the carriers) want their money back, the perp is long gone."
Nate offers another scenario:
"If I was an
And Pat offers this:
"The bigger point is that HHS isn’t verifying jack squat. Income, identity, Social Security number, even residence may not be accurate. If 11 of 18 fraudulent attempts got through then how many of the “true enrollments” are not accurate?"
And that's truly scary: recall that thousands (perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands) of folks experienced enrollment "glitches," so we have no way of knowing how many folks really enrolled, and how many of those that did were, in fact, fraudsters using someone else's ID.
Warm fuzzies, anyone?
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