Two weeks ago we brought you the story of Cathy Kelley, a Poulsbo resident who was among the 13,000 customers mistakenly over-billed by the Washington Health Benefit Exchange for March health coverage.
The Exchange promised
a speedy resolution to the error.
Kelley kept in touch via email after the story ran and provided regular updates on the circus that ensued.
To recap, Healthplanfinder billed Kelley $1,043.88 for her insurance plan in March, instead of her usual $347. She spotted the error and had her bank put a stop on the automatic withdrawal, blocking the exchange from taking the money out of her account.
While rushing to reimburse customers for funds it had mistakenly withdrawn, the Exchange credited $1,043.88 into Kelley’s account — replacing money it never actually removed.
A week later, Kelley received an email asking her to mail in a check for $1,043.88 to repay the Exchange for the money it had credited to her account to replace the money it thought it had mistakenly withdrawn from her account.
Kelley mailed in the check.
All that flailing took care of the triple-billing debacle, except the $347 payment for Kelley’s March insurance (due Feb. 23) still hadn’t been processed.
The Exchange assured Kelley her insurance coverage would not be interrupted and the correct payment would be processed by March 11. As of the 12th, the payment had not been withdrawn, she said.
So, more than two weeks after the initial error, Kelley is still trying to do what she was trying to do in the first place: Pay for her March health insurance.
She did receive a very apologetic letter from exchange CEO Richard Onizuka, which is posted below:
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