Insurance customers experiencing problems

Associated Press

Thousands of health insurance consumers around the country have started the new year dealing with missing ID cards, billing errors and other problems tied to an enrollment surge at the end of 2015.

Brokers and insurers in several states told The Associated Press that they’ve been inundated with complaints about these issues from customers with individual plans and those with coverage through small businesses. Insurance provider Health Care Service Corp., for instance, has been dealing with delays for about 10,000 companies, while billing errors caused bank overdrafts for 3,200 individual customers of a North Carolina insurer.

These delays mean that some customers may have to pay for care up front or wait for their insurance cards to arrive before scheduling a doctor’s appointment, even though many have technically been covered since Jan. 1.

“I’ve been in the health insurance business 20 plus years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Dallas-based broker Tanya Boyd, who estimates that hundreds of customers have complained about delays in receiving their insurance cards or a confirmation of coverage.

The delays are due in part to more customers than expected shopping for coverage late last year after carriers ended plans in some markets, leaving thousands to find new ones. And a last-minute enrollment deadline extension from the federal government gave people two more days to sign up. An expansion of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that employers cover their workers also may have contributed to the rush.

It’s unclear how many people have had trouble so far this year. To be sure, a certain amount of problems can crop up at the start of every year, after insurers wrap up a busy holiday season clogged with enrollment periods for several types of insurance. But brokers say this year has been exceptional.