Spread the word about sketchy health insurance! You never know who in your life might be buying health insurance and walk ass-backwards into one of these hustles.
Health insurance plans tied to fake jobs. Self-employed, small business owners and people in the gig economy are getting ripped off when they think they’re buying health insurance on the individual market or for their self-employment business, etc.
This story is truly bonkers and everyone should know about it, and warn everyone else about it, because they’ve found a convoluted way to skirt the laws to get away with selling these dubious health plans! (This is so typical of sketchy stuff.) There’s no federal regulation, there’s no recourse at the state level. The victims of these schemes fall through the cracks with their unexpected medical bills and no place to seek recourse. And with the expanded ACA (obamacare) subsidies possibly going away, more desperate people looking for affordable plans will likely be tricked into these types of ghost health insurance plans from healthcare hustlers.
An Arm and a Leg – A wild health insurance hustle – August 7, 2025 – They thought they were buying insurance. Instead, they got fake “jobs.” When a New York couple purchased a health insurance plan from a telemarketer, everything sounded legit. Meds, doctors, tests? All covered. But it didn’t take long for them to realize they’d been “hustled” – ending up with bills for thousands of dollars, and leaving them no choice but to skip important medical care. In their series “Health Care Hustlers,” Bloomberg reporters Zach Mider and Zeke Faux uncover the exact nature of the scheme – how this couple, as well as thousands of others, signed up for health plans by unknowingly agreeing to work “fake jobs.”
TIPS (from the podcast) if you need to purchase health insurance:
- Don’t bother googling, go to Healthcare.gov – these are regulated.
- Anything else it’s anyone’s guess.
- Be suspicious of any “great deals” on health insurance!
- → “Don’t buy insurance over the phone from somebody you’ve never met.” ←
Arm and a Leg Show – First Aid Kit newsletter: https://armandalegshow.com/first-aid-kit/
I have written 2 separate letters to reps on issues related to this, because it’s best to send letters on different issues separately.
My letter to reps:
Ghost health insurance plans need to be regulated, and plans that are sold dishonestly should be outlawed with penalties for the people who sell them. I heard there are telemarketers and outfits out there selling people sketchy health insurance that doesn’t cover what they promise and are somehow getting around laws by signing up unsuspecting victims into fake jobs and limited partnership businesses. This is so obviously something that should NOT be allowed. What are you going to do to stop patients getting ripped off like this?
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.
The Lever – Jul 18, 2025 Health Insurers Push Huge Premium Hikes As Profits Soar – Health insurance companies are asking state regulators to approve eye-popping rate increases nationwide — reaching 66 percent for some policies. According to health insurers, rates are rising largely because an expanded federal tax credit for individuals and families who might otherwise not be able to afford insurance through the ACA marketplace is set to expire at the end of the year (unless Republican leaders in Congress intervene). This credit reduced health insurance premiums for more than 19 million people last year, or 92 percent of all ACA policyholders, and without it, insurers argue that they can’t afford to cover the bill — instead passing on increased costs to consumers. That’s what many health care insurers admitted to in their state filings requesting marketplace premium rate hikes. However, insurers’ financial reports show they’re generating billions of dollars in revenue and enriching top shareholders — not policyholders — through stock buybacks and dividends.
My letter to reps:
The expanded federal tax credit for individuals and families in the health insurance marketplace should NOT be allowed to expire. People need this. It’s important. It’s popular. It benefits everyone’s insurance and healthcare costs if people can afford to stay insured. Renew the ACA expanded federal tax credit for 2026.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.