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Posted by
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on Fri Dec 13 02:33:53 2013, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.
fiogf49gjkf0d Hartford Courant
Misinformation Marred First Month Of State Health WebsiteBy Louisa Moller
10:40 p.m. EST, December 11, 2013More than 2,400 Connecticut customers who bought health plans on Access Health CT were given incorrect information about their insurance plans, in one case underestimating the maximum out-of-pocket by at least $4,000.
The website for Access Health CT, the state's new health exchange, had incorrect information online about deductibles and co-insurance impacting all 19 individual health plans from the three insurance companies that offer those plans through the exchange: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut, ConnectiCare, and HealthyCT. The 12 small-group plans were unaffected.
Access Health CT would not say how the problem started, or who was responsible. The exchange did say that the problem was discovered in late September and was fixed by Oct. 30.
The exchange said a letter was mailed to 2,408 people who bought plans from the starting date of Oct. 1. A spokeswoman did not respond to a request Wednesday for the number of enrollees who changed their plans after receiving the letter.
Access Health CT said in its letter that benefits listed on the shopping screen were inaccurately described and in some cases incomplete. For example, it said, cost-sharing for out-of-network benefits should apply only after the deductible is met.
"Another was pharmacy tiers were not labeled appropriately," Access Health CT spokesperson Kathleen Tallarita said in an email Wednesday. She emphasized that prices for the plans were not in error.
The website problem runs counter to a national narrative that Connecticut's exchange has been held up as a model case for how the Affordable Care Act marketplaces should work. President Barack Obama singled out the plan as a positive example at an event at the White House Rose Garden in October.
Keith Stover, a lobbyist and spokesman for the Connecticut Association of Health Plans, said he thinks the inaccuracies are troubling but not surprising given the complexities of a system-wide overhaul of the nation's health system.
"I think we have a tendency given what the national debate has been over the last few months, to assume that every glitch is a catastrophe," Stover said.
John Javaruski, a 62-year-old retired actuary from Farmington, said he received a letter dated Nov. 1 after he signed up for an Anthem plan with a $2,000 out-of-pocket maximum and zero deductible. According to the revised schedule of benefits attached to the letter, Javaruski's plan jumped to $6,250 out of pocket and a $3,000 deductible.
"The thing I worry about is a lot of those 2,400 people may not know that they had to read that letter and take it seriously. And, I'm thinking Access Health Connecticut owes it to those people to at least give them a quick phone call," Javaruski said.
Courant staff writer Matthew Sturdevant contributed to this story.
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