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During open enrollment for the Health Insurance Marketplace (Nov. 1 – Jan. 15), you might feel like you’re seeing ads for health insurance plans everywhere you look and getting similar pitches over the phone. These ads and pitches can sometimes be misleading: they might promise things like comprehensive health insurance but actually offer limited benefits. Or be for medical discount cards and not health insurance at all. Other ads might look like they’re from the government or well-known insurance companies — but they’re really from impersonators trying to gain your trust. 

In this flood of advertising, your life raft is the official source: start at HealthCare.gov or call the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596.

You’re not alone in navigating this tricky landscape. The FTC just sent letters to marketers and businesses that promote health insurance plans and products to remind them about the laws they need to follow. For the rest of us, these letters are a good reminder to watch for potential scam ads, phone pitches, and text messages — including those that come up in paid search results and on social media — and so-called health insurance plans that don’t really offer the coverage they advertise.

What else? The FTC’s letters also remind companies that it’s illegal to robocall you with prerecorded messages marketing health insurance. So if someone does call you this way, you know they’re likely either a scammer or — at the very least — someone you might not want to do business with. 

Spot a misleading ad or get an illegal robocall? Tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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