Scams abound during ACA open enrollment; Feds offer $5K reward in fraud suspect search;

News From Around the Web

> Open enrollment for health plans offered pursuant to the Affordable Care Act has brought scam artists out in force, the Albuquerque Journal reported. One con involves people posing as insurance marketplace navigators to steal money from victims. Article

> The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of Medicaid fraud suspect Balfour E. Opoku, owner and operator of Progressive Counseling Services in Virginia Beach. Announcement

> "Operation No Show," a joint enforcement operation by the Kansas Attorney General and the DHS Office of Inspector General, obtained its first criminal conviction for Medicaid fraud, the Wyandotte Daily reported. The program's investigative focus is payments to personal care attendants who file false claims for helping beneficiaries with household tasks and personal care. Article

Health Finance News

> Millions of insured Americans forego care because they don't believe they can afford to pay their out-of-pocket costs, concludes a new Gallup poll on health coverage. Article

> The American Hospital Association and its constituents continue to vent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General about the use of extrapolation techniques to determine how much hospitals have been overpaid by the Medicare program. Audit

And finally…Pregnant panhandler drives away in a Mercedes. Article