Washington State Insurance Exchange Beset by Domain Squatters

Soon, eligible consumers will flock to the web portals for state insurance exchanges to enter the health insurance market under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act. But they will have to be vigilant. In Washington — and likely elsewhere — the multiple permutations of the health insurance exchange name and domain can be easily gamed.

King5, a Washington television station, discovered that a local insurance broker had registered a .org site nearly indistinguishable from the state's legitimate portal address. The broker, interviewed in this video, says that customer interaction is above-board — but a privacy expert voices concerns as well:

These kinds of official lookalikes are nothing new — think credit rating sites — and their motivation ranges from opportunistic to outright scammy. But with the high profile of the healthcare reform bill and process, scrutiny is likely to be higher than ever.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio