Thursday, January 1, 2009

Detect Fraud On Cyberspace When Obtaining Texas Health Insurance

By Jordan FeRoss

When most people think of fraud, they generally think of credit card or identity fraud, They do not realize that one of the fastest growing forms of fraud today is health insurance fraud. Because you provide personal information when applying for health insurance online, it makes you more vulnerable to fraud. As with any online purchase, you need to use simple, common sense safety precautions, especially because of the amount of personal information shared.

Because setting up an online insurance shop is so easy for just about anyone, it can be difficult to know who to trust when providing sensitive information to someone supposedly selling you insurance. You must always be vigilant when using the Internet to shop for health insurance in Texas. And keep in mind that if it sounds to good to be true it probably is, especially with regard to health insurance.

Here are some different ways to detect fraud when looking to get health insurance in Texas. One trick to look for is what is called a "pyramid" scheme. It works when you sign up to pay a membership fee online in order to get health insurance. The scheme offers people financial perks if they agree to this and invest their money. They also try to encourage you to get more people involved to do the same thing.

The only way to make your money back is to sell these same valueless memberships to other unsuspecting people. Health insurance in Texas is a big industry and there are plenty of unscrupulous people looking to take advantage of others in order to make a quick buck.

Another scam can be harder to detect because it appears more legitimate than the pyramid scheme is the plan that offers you health insurance in Texas at a great rate but denies all claims or does not really provide insurance. You are paying for a service this "company" cannot provide and do not really have any recourse. Beware of any company offering ridiculously low rates as they are often scams.

Some of these internet health insurance scams in Texas even target the health insurance agents and companies themselves. It can be difficult to know who to trust anymore when it comes to buying health insurance in Texas, especially online, but with a little careful investigation you should be able to tell the real deal from the scams out there.

Another one of the major frauds regarding health insurance in Texas is when unlicensed agents attempt to sell you health insurance. The laws in Texas require both the insurance company and the agent to be licensed in order to sell you health insurance. This protects the consumer and makes sure that an agent knows what they are doing before they sell a product like health insurance in Texas that has a huge impact on a person's life and well-being. If you find suspicious activity that may be fraudulent, you should report it to the better business bureau and any other local or state agency that deals with fraud.

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