BCBS letters confuse customers
By From staff reports
Published in News on October 31, 2014 1:46 PM
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina sent letters to everyone who will be affected by the 2015 rate increases this week, but about 42,000 customers received information with erroneous premium amounts.
The error only affected customers who were grandfathered into a plan and have Blue Advantage with a $15 co-pay.
According to a BCBSNC statement, there are two components that indicate if the letter the customer received is incorrect.
The first component is a statement making the customer aware that he or she is grandfathered into a health care plan.
The incorrect letter will read, "Good news: your health plan is 'grandfathered,' which means it does not have to include many of the costly requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)."
The second component in the incorrect letter is a $15 co-pay.
If those two components are in the letter, then that rate is incorrect.
Customers should be receiving corrected information next week.
"A large percentage of the letters had higher rates and some had lower," said Lou Boreman, a spokesman for BCBSNC.
About 38,000 customers received letters with rates that were too high and about 4,000 customers received letters with rates that are too low.
The letters were released after BCBSNC announced the 2015 rate increases for ACA plans, health care plans that were grandfathered in and transitional plans. The increases range from 13 percent to 19 percent.