People Googling Obamacare Find ‘Junk’ Health Insurance Instead

Over the next few weeks, millions of Americans will shop for health insurance online. Many will find comprehensive plans through Affordable Care Act marketplaces like HealthCare.gov. Others will be steered elsewhere — toward insurance products that sound great but don’t provide much coverage.

For many buyers, the trouble starts with a Google search, where the first click on a results page can be the difference between getting the coverage they need — and getting ripped off.

Here’s what can happen:

Here’s a search we ran for “ACA Marketplace Kentucky.”

At first glance, the results look promising.

Websites offer “Obamacare” while mentioning “open enrollment” and “aca plans.”

One site ends in “.org”, which you might associate with a nonprofit organization. And there’s an American flag, the kind you might see on a government website.

Taken together, a consumer could easily assume these sites are official Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

None of these links, however, is a government site. They’re paid ads from for-profit telemarketing companies that might sell you an Affordable Care Act plan. But some also offer lower-coverage alternatives that tend to pay higher commissions for the salesperson.

If you were searching for the official Kentucky ACA marketplace, kynect.ky.gov, you’d find it ranked beneath sponsored results, with HealthCare.gov below it.

For consumers, this hodgepodge of official and commercial sites can be confusing. ...