WASHINGTON — The White House warned consumers on Wednesday to beware of possible fraud by con artists taking advantage of the new insurance marketplaces being set up under President Obama's health care law.
The warning came amid reports of fraud, high-pressure sales tactics and efforts to obtain personal information from consumers in advance of the opening of the online markets known as insurance exchanges.
White House officials said that consumers should be suspicious if anyone asked them for money to enroll in a health plan offered through an insurance exchange. Legitimate insurance counselors and "enrollment assisters" will not ask for money, they said.
In addition, White House officials said that Medicare beneficiaries did not need to sign up through an insurance exchange. Advocates for older Americans said that many were confused and wrongly believed that they needed to apply for coverage through the exchanges, scheduled to open Oct. 1.
The White House warning, part of a coordinated effort by federal agencies to protect consumers, came several hours after a House committee issued a report describing "risks of fraud and misinformation" in efforts to enroll millions of low- and moderate-income people who are eligible for subsidized insurance on the exchanges.
The staff report, from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, expressed concern about the security of information that would be made available to insurance counselors who are supposed to educate consumers and help them enroll. The counselors, known as navigators, will often have access to Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home and e-mail addresses, and income data for people seeking insurance and for members of their households, the report said.
Moreover, it said, "There are already reports from across the country that scam artists are attempting to impersonate navigators and assisters to steal credit card information and personally identifiable information in order to take advantage of massive confusion about Obamacare."
But Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said, "We will not tolerate anyone seeking to defraud consumers in the health insurance marketplace."
Ms. Sebelius met at the White House on Wednesday with Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission officials to discuss ways to prevent, investigate and prosecute consumer fraud and privacy violations. In a warning to consumers, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, said anyone making unsolicited calls requesting personal information "may be trying to steal your identity."
The exchanges and another major provision of the 2010 health care law, the expansion of Medicaid, are expected to provide coverage for 25 million people by 2016.
The administration issued new projections on Wednesday indicating that the growth of national health spending, which has been extraordinarily low by historical standards, would pick up with the expansion of coverage, improvements in the economy and the aging of the baby boom generation.
The estimates, published in the journal Health Affairs, indicate that national health spending will grow by 3.8 percent this year and by 6.1 percent in 2014, to $3.1 trillion. By 2022, national health spending will reach $5 trillion, or 19.9 percent of the total output of goods and services, up from 17.9 percent of the gross domestic product last year, the government said.
Gigi A. Cuckler, an economist at the Department of Health and Human Services and principal author of the study, said the new health care law would add one-tenth of one percentage point to the average annual growth in health spending from 2012 to 2022. This, she said, will "increase cumulative health spending by $621 billion."
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