Obamacare Loophole 'Legalizes Fraud'
Newsmax
 
An often overlooked provision of the Affordable Care Act allows Americans to scam the system by taking advantage of a grace period for paying insurance premiums.

Under Section 156.270 of the 11,000-page act, people need to pay a premium for just one month and then can qualify for a three-month grace period during which they don't pay premiums — but continue to get covered medical care.

The insurance company must pay claims during the first month of the grace period, but during the second and third months doctors and hospitals will be left to collect unpaid bills, Watchdog.org reports.

And any doctor who is paid by the insurance company during the last two months of the grace period will have to return that money if the insured don't pay their premiums, according to the website.

"In a sense, it legalizes fraud," declared Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute of Human Exceptionalism. "It legalizes putting your burdens on the insurance companies' shoulders and never paying your premiums."

The only downside for the scammers is that they have to wait until the following year's open enrollment if they want coverage on the insurance exchange.

The loophole is already being exploited in Massachusetts, where a healthcare system similar to Obamacare was enacted in 2006 and signed into law by then-Gov. Mitt Romney.

"People [in Massachusetts] are signing up and getting care and bailing out," said Devon Harris, senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

"I was talking to an insurance agent a few years ago. She said once a week she would get a call from a college girl who discovers she's pregnant and wants health insurance. That's an example of a condition you can schedule."

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, predicts the loophole "will help break the system" and "bankrupt people involved."