Do NOT seek healthcare through MassHealthPlans.com

Submitted by justsomegraphemes t3_zk2zu6 in massachusetts

It's a private company that sells your info and tries to markup healthcare plans. I made the mistake of giving them my phone number and I've received about a dozen calls in the last 15 minutes from various companies trying to sell healthcare. It's clear from the website and nature of the calls that these companies are middlemen/grifters and should be completely avoided.

Free or low-cost state healthcare can be found here https://www.mahealthconnector.org

EDIT- My original link was to Mass.gov. The above link is much more direct. Thank you u/PolkaD0tMom for pointing this out.

​

200

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

PolkaD0tMom t1_izxkgl7 wrote

Sorry but you also linked the wrong place. Everyone should be going to www.MAHealthConnector.org.

73

gamingaway t1_izz3aei wrote

Related tip- if you need access Mass Health, go in person to one of the offices. You might have to wait a couple hours, but someone will take care of it then and there.

Doing it over the phone or online can be really frustrating experiences. It's been a few years since I needed the insurance so perhaps this has changed, but I kinda doubt it.

14

justsomegraphemes OP t1_izxlvf3 wrote

Thanks! I got there through Mass.gov but you are correct. This is a much more direct link. I updated the post.

11

NerdWhoLikesTrees t1_izzepiw wrote

It's not wrong. It's just not specific.

Navigating to an official resource through mass.gov is a safer way of ensuring you get to the correct place and more people should follow this good practice when trying to find something for any given organization.

Source: I work IT and the amount of malicious shit on Google results or any other random website is terrible. Nobody wants to navigate through a site anymore. They're impatient and want their specific result immediately via Google and it leads to bad sites. And I clean up their messes...

The health connector website is available in the Health and Social Services section of mass.gov

9

Garethx1 t1_j00e7qq wrote

If youve used the MASS.GOV site you should know its complete horseshit though. I often have much better luck using google to find something within the MASS.GOV site using google than the actual website itself. Ive done some experiments looking for specific information on the MASS website and often have to go 3 or 4 clicks down from where I think the info should be. There were also a couple times where PDFs for oarticular legal documents were dead links and I had to get them from a law firm website that had thankfully had them mirrored. Its downright embarrassing.

4

NerdWhoLikesTrees t1_j00fist wrote

If you think about how vast the information is on a state website, an extra 3 or 4 clicks really isn't much. Like I said, Google results can often be malicious. Proceed at your own risk.

But for anyone else reading what I wrote in reply to the other commenter, going to Mass.Gov to apply for Mass Health isn't wrong, and it certainly isn't a bad choice.

Think about it: The entire post is about OP explaining that this for-profit website, with a similar and convincing URL, is designed to take advantage of people who don't know better. So then this commenter gives ANOTHER link that they say is the real link. Now, from my experience I believe it is the real link, but it's a .org address and not .gov. I'd hope people would be cautious accepting links from strangers on reddit and check Mass.Gov.

So Mass.Gov might be kinda crappy. Well, that sucks! But I'm accepting the inconvenience of triple checking the state website before handing over a BUNCH of my personal information to sign up for health insurance.

4

Garethx1 t1_j00geb5 wrote

Im just talking about what an embarrassment the Mass website is. I mean, I dont mind clicking around a little more, but from a design standpoint of a government or any site, you should be minimizing folks clicking around. Bad design has consequences. We can talk about personal responsibility but the people who are in charge of that site should be applying basic desing principles and trying to make the site easier to use vs whatever it is theyre getting paid for.

3

PolkaD0tMom t1_j013ddy wrote

OP made a post about not going to the correct website and then didn't link to the actual correct website. Better to be accurate than obscure. And better to inform people what the specific website to apply for insurance is.

1

NerdWhoLikesTrees t1_j022c67 wrote

In theory, yes it's better to link to the specific website. In practice, when trying to decide if you click on a link from an anonymous user on reddit, I don't think Mass.Gov is wrong or a bad choice. That's all I'm saying. And yes, I still believe that even if Mass.Gov is not well organized

1

Argument-Upstairs t1_izyergg wrote

I've seen sites like that for Medicaid as well. It's so irritating. You have to feel bad for those not-internet-savvy folks who fall for it.

12

RevengencerAlf t1_izziagq wrote

I swear to God every government service has Predators out there doing that shit. Even my town Water Department has big fucking banners plastered all over their website saying they're not affiliated with this bill paying service that barely technically doesn't break any laws but definitely lets people think it's an official way to pay their water bill when all they do is tack on a huge fee and mail the town of check that usually results in a late payment anyway because it doesn't follow the proper format

6

SheeEttin t1_j007ups wrote

I always see these daytime TV ads for Medicare stuff that's clearly targeted to take advantage of elderly people. It's messed up.

3

MonsieurReynard t1_j00cs8q wrote

During Medicare enrollment season -- which just ended -- it's not just daytime TV.

It's a predatory world out there for the elderly. Everyone wants to take their money and take advantage of their very age.

3

and-its-true t1_izzwck0 wrote

These bastards scammed me out of $300. They lied on the phone and said it was THE government run healthcare website. I explicitly asked that way. They signed me up for a fake plan that essentially covered nothing, and didn’t meet the MCC requirements. Apparently the company is owned by Aetna/CVS which makes me pretty mad at them.

7

justsomegraphemes OP t1_izzy2e2 wrote

That's worse than I expected. I thought maybe they sell actual plans for profit but damn, that's just fraud.

3

LucasRaymondGOAT t1_izygy2m wrote

Yeah I fucked up with this too and received SO many phone calls over the span of a month. Blocked the number via iPhone, they'd call with a new number.

I'm still trying to get insurance but might just wait for open enrollment through my job. Even on health connector there's open enrollment periods or you have to have a life-qualifying event outside of that open enrollment.

6

Kindness911 t1_j005y3a wrote

Healthcare for all is an amazing nonprofit - been around for 20 years or more! They are paid counselors there just to help you understand stuff and help you sign up. google it.

2

Lovemesomediscgolf t1_j00akjo wrote

As someone who deals with fraud on a daily basis, please do periodic checks to make sure none of the agents have signed you up for unauthorized coverage.

1

justsomegraphemes OP t1_j0210gx wrote

How/where does one check this? I provided contact information, but nothing else.

1

Lovemesomediscgolf t1_j029ls4 wrote

I know it sucks, but you'll have to call the 800 number associated with the program. Other than that, maybe lifelock is a possibility?

I see this on the federal level all the time. A potential consumer inquires about the coverage, and they get bombarded with agents. Many agents that chase the customer are not trying to help the customer, but themselves. And it only takes one to figure out how to circumvent the system.

1

COVID_2019 t1_j01ol6w wrote

I clicked out as soon as they asked me to agree to their privacy policy and wanted me to enter in some details I felt uncomfortable with.

1