‘Navigators’ raise identity theft risk

http://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/local/navigators-raise-identity-theft-risk/article_e528f016-2f09-11e3-847a-001a4bcf6878.html

Posted: Monday, October 7, 2013 6:00 am

BY JACKSON ADAMS, Illinois News Network

Growing concerns about identity theft and fraud have led the Illinois Department of Insurance to issue a public warning, just as the new health insurance exchanges enter their implementation phase.

Concern focuses on those charged with assisting Illinoisans with enrollment to the new health insurance exchanges, the so-called “navigators.”

Navigators will “educate consumers about the health insurance Marketplace, answer health coverage-related questions, and facilitate consumers’ selection of affordable health coverage through the Marketplace,” according to the navigator training manual.

This will give navigators access to individuals’ personally identifiable information: the information necessary for identity theft.

The Illinois Department of Insurance warns people about giving their personal information through “unsolicited telephone calls of any kind,” as well as to people pretending to be navigators.

“We have been made aware that scams are possible,” said Kimberly Parker, a Department of Insurance spokesperson. “If someone is at your door, err on the side of caution.”

Some steps have been taken to help citizens discern real navigators from frauds. Real navigators will carry licenses provided by the Illinois Department of Insurance. Their names can also be found on an online directory.

However, to find the online directory citizens first have to find the Department of Insurance website, assuming they have Internet access at all.

Other steps are self-contradictory. Although the warning says citizens should “look for government seals, logos or web addresses to make sure the information comes from a trusted source,” it also warns about “entities that have sound-alike government or company names.”

The Illinois Department of Insurance is not the only institution warning about identity theft in connection with Obamacare navigators.

In August, the attorneys general of 13 states signed a letter listing their concerns about consumer privacy protection in connection with the navigator program. The letter highlights a risk of inadequate training for navigators and fewer consumer protections than is provided in the market—particularly regarding who is liable if information is stolen.

The letter states that the navigator program’s requirements are “less demanding than many federal privacy requirements, such as those applicable to federal census workers … without more protections, this is a privacy disaster waiting to happen.”

Concern also reached Congress.

A congressional report titled “Risks of Fraud and Misinformation with ObamaCare Outreach Campaign: How Navigator and Assister Program Mismanagement Endangers Consumers” examines testimony from officials responsible for implementing the program.

Among its conclusions, “the main concern for consumers is the heightened risk of identity theft and financial loss from a poorly managed outreach campaign.”

The state of Illinois has tried to put extra safeguards in place for its navigator program. Illinois requires navigators to pass a background check to get a state navigator license, although this is not in federal requirements. The state also passed laws allowing the Department of Insurance to revoke navigator licenses in cases of misconduct.

However, navigator training lasts only three days, and much of it is spent completing a 20-hour online course. Concern centers on how adequately they are prepared to handle personal information.

The “Health Insurance Marketplace Navigator Standard Operating Procedures Manual” devotes only a couple of pages to how navigators should secure personal information. Among its tips to navigators are instructions to clear web browser histories, lock up portable devices that may carry such information and advice to “not leave documents that contain PII or tax return information on printers and fax machines.”

Questions about navigators’ proper role leaves open why they should be handling personal information at all.

“Navigators are a good idea,” said state Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, who sponsored the legislation that is now the Insurance Navigator Act. “Their mission is to bring people into the marketplace, not keep their documents. With insurance agents, however, it’s a different story.”

It should come as no surprise that some will take advantage of the confusion – identity theft is a big and growing problem. And stealing someone’s identity requires very little in the way of personal information.

“The main piece of personal identifying information that can lead to all types of identity theft is the Social Security number,” explained Eva Velazquez, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “This is exceptionally true for governmental identity theft and benefit fraud, such as obtaining government assistance or filing of taxes.”

According to the Consumer Sentinel Network, a report that helps law enforcement track identity theft crimes, there were nearly 13,000 Illinoisan victims in 2012 alone. More than 40 percent of those were described as “government documents or benefits fraud.”

“There has been a great rise in tax return fraud. One sign of evidence of this is the huge amount of activity by the IRS recently to fight such fraud,” said Velazquez. “At the ITRC we always stress the need to find balance between security and convenience. As organizations attempt to make it more convenient for consumers to do things such as file taxes or apply for benefits, the opportunity for fraud will grow.”

Since convenience is crucial to the success of the new health insurance exchanges, the importance of security has fallen to the wayside.

“The health exchanges are opening a Pandora’s box of new crimes,” said Russell Butler, of the National Identity Theft Victims Assistance Network. “Everybody is at risk. You could be poor with no income and people could use that to obtain benefits.”

Butler also added that identity crimes have become more sophisticated over the years, with victims even having their medical identity used for treatments.

“As things get more automated, there is more opportunity for fraud,” he said.