The problems plaguing Obamacare enrollees in plans with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina are still “weeks away” from being solved, the company chief executive says.
Brad Wilson, CEO with the state’s largest health insurer, said Wednesday that the volume of calls to the customer service center has made it difficult to keep on top of repairs.
“It was an avalanche that overran us,” Wilson told WRAL news. “Once you get behind, it takes a while to dig out.”
The problems, which began more than two months ago, saw 25,000 customers either enrolled in plans they never signed up for or had the wrong amount of money drafted from their bank accounts. Still more had to wait weeks for identification cards they could use to see their doctor. The issues stemmed with the transition from a legacy software system to a new platform.
“It set off a cascade of events that ran through the system,” Wilson explained. “We’ve got plenty of work left to do, but we’re going to stay at this until every customer’s concerns, problems, challenges have been met.”
The flood of complaints has been so great that state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has ordered a performance audit of Blue Cross, seeking evidence to fine the company up to $1 million a day for any state regulations that have been violated.
Wilson, who started the process Monday, said he “cannot speculate” whether the company deserves a fine, but says he plans to cooperate with Goodwin and his team.
The issues come amid an uncertain future for Blue Cross. After losing $282 million on plans purchased through the HealthCare.gov marketplace last year, the insurer is considering pulling out of the market.
“It’s time we take stock as prudent businesspeople and understand what it means for our company,” Wilson said, noting that the loss was more than double the $123 million the company lost in 2014.
