In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, nine Senators ... wrote that the [health exchange and navigator] program lacked appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of consumers and demanded more details on its requirements.
“The standards proposed by your Department could result in a convicted felon receiving federal dollars and gaining access to confidential taxpayer information," the letter stated. "The same standards allow any individual who has registered with the exchange and completed two days of training to facilitate enrollment, as if the decision to purchase health insurance is similar to the decision of registering to vote."
The “unreasonably low standard” for becoming a navigator both undermines the state’s ability to ensure consumers are protected and raises questions about the appropriate use of federal resources and the protection of highly sensitive information, they said....
“As you are well aware, health insurance agents and brokers are subject to strict state-level exam-based licensing laws and annual continuing education requirements, as well as significant federal and state privacy, security and market conduct requirements,” they wrote. “Furthermore, agents and brokers have a personal legal and financial liability to comply with all of these laws and requirements, as well as a requirement to maintain professional liability insurance to protect consumers.”
And in case you had forgotten how admirably our federal government guards your taxpayer dollars in health and welfare programs, it might be a good reminder to watch this video:
Scamming Medicare and Medicaid is so lucrative that the Russian and Nigerian mobs have gotten involved. And one of the New York crime families has moved to Florida because defrauding Medicare is both more lucrative and less dangerous than some of the traditional organized crime activities.
