Peninsula Daily News
news services
OLYMPIA — The head of Washington’s health care exchange said that 6,000 accounts of people who had enrolled for health insurance coverage next year have been mistakenly canceled.
The “erroneous cancellation” affected both the customers’ enrollment and payment for coverage starting Jan. 1, 2015, Washington Health Benefit Exchange CEO Richard Onizuka said in a statement.
“Early analysis indicates that our system integrator, Deloitte, ran an automated enrollment cancellation process in error,” Onizuka said.
Deloitte implemented the design and construction of the Washington health care exchange and provides technical support for managing its components.
“We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to our customers and do not take this issue lightly,” Onizuka said. “Exchange customer support representatives, staff members, navigators and registered insurance brokers are already working with impacted customers to help them reconfirm their 2015 coverage.”
The 6,000 accounts represent “a portion” of the total number of customers enrolled for coverage beginning Jan. 1, he said. It wasn’t clear how sizeable a portion that was. The second open enrollment period in the exchange began Nov. 15.
What’s next
Bethany Frey, spokeswoman for the exchange, said the error may involve both new accounts and renewals of 2014 policies.
“It will take a few days to contact everyone. Every individual will be contacted by a customer support rep, exchange staff member, broker or navigator,” she said. “They will also receive a letter, or an e-mail, depending on their preference.”
Frey said the exchange is also working on generating robocalls to ensure affected consumers are aware of the problem.
The exchange’s release said customers should take steps by Dec. 23 to ensure their coverage begins on Jan. 1:
■ Sign in to their Washington Healthplanfinder account at www.wahealthplanfinder.org.
■ Click on the “Select Plan” hyperlink under “My Household Coverage” on the homescreen to select a Qualified Health Plan.
■ Re-submit payment. Previous payments submitted to Washington Healthplanfinder will not be deducted from the customer’s account.
Customers can also call the exchange customer support center at 855-923-4633.
There is a special menu option to get assistance to re-enroll in the Qualified Health Plan a customer selected.
Technical glitches have plagued the exchange website, including one on the Nov. 15 opening day that led the staff to take the site down until the next day.
In addition, during the exchange’s first year, problems caused numerous applications to be “stuck” in the system.
Other complaints centered on problems with the handling of payments customers made for premiums.
