Undercover Video Shows Dallas “Navigators” Apparently Coaxing An Obamacare Consumer To Lie

By Robert T. Garrett

Dallas Morning News’ Trail Blazers Blog

November 12, 2013

Update at 3:16 p.m.: Attorney General Greg Abbott says he feels vindicated by the O’Keefe video.

Abbott, who is running for governor and has criticized the Obama administration for not requiring more background checks and privacy-law training of navigators, said through a spokesman Tuesday afternoon that he knew something like this would happen.

“Just as Attorney General Abbott predicted in letters to the federal [health and human services] secretary and Texas insurance commissioner, the Obamacare navigator program is ripe for abuse,” said spokesman Jerry Strickland. “Any program that suggests Americans lie to game the system is a program that is out of control, and out of touch with what taxpayers want and deserve.”

Original item at 1:18 p.m.: A conservative activist has secretly videotaped three Dallas health insurance exchange “navigators” as they appear to advise a consumer to lie about his income and smoking to get a better deal on subsidized health coverage.

James O’Keefe, known nationally for hidden-camera videos targeting the community organizing group ACORN, said Tuesday that his Texas video is the first of several to be released in coming weeks that expose abuses under the Affordable Care Act.

“This investigation shows just how vulnerable Obamacare is to fraud,” he said in a statement.

O’Keefe’s video debuted late Wednesday on Fox News and the conservative National Review Online, setting off Republican cries of outrage.

Officials with the National Urban League, whose Dallas affiliate hired the navigators, had no immediate comment.

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