As she’s done dozens of times, Orlando attorney Kristin Longberry logged into her Florida Blue account Friday and paid her monthly premium of $2,000.
But Monday, during a routine review of her bank account, she discovered that Florida Blue had billed her 71 times instead of once — $142,000 — and put her account in overdraft.
“My account is frozen, and I needed to pay the rent for my office today,” Longberry said.
An unknown number of other Florida Blue members like Longberry were charged multiple times Monday for what was supposed to be their May premiums.
According to Florida Blue, the issue happened over the weekend, through a vendor.
They company said it is working to resolve the issue, but the overdrafts have caused serious headaches for consumers, some of whom have had their accounts frozen by their banks on the first day of the month, when they usually pay their major bills.
Longberry said her bank, which routed her call to the fraud department, said they couldn’t fix the problem until Florida Blue canceled the pending charges.
“We are very sorry for the problems this is causing our members. We are addressing the situation as quickly as possible,” Florida Blue officials said in an email statement shared by company spokeswoman Christie Hyde DeNave on Monday afternoon.
These are the steps the company outlined in its statement to address the problem:
The insurer said it is trying to identify all of the overpayments and quickly make refunds. It said it was already started processing some refunds to customers.
It pledged to reimburse its customers for bank fees that cause the overdrafts because of the glitch.
It has temporarily halted taking electronic fund transfer payments and has paused automatic payments while is works to resolve the issue
The company said it won’t cancel any policies because customers are currently unable to make payments.
Florida Blue will make sure medical care isn’t denied for customers who need it, even if they aren’t able to make their premium payments because of the problem.
DeNave said it’s still not clear how many members have been impacted by the payment system issue.
Longberry said Monday afternoon that she was trying to call Florida Blue’s customer service to relay what her bank told her and faced a 50-minute wait time.
It’s been a tough year for Florida Blue. It started off with problems related to the Obamacare health insurance marketplace, where the company had issues verifying some members’ plans and payments.
The company attributed those problems to the early-year rush of a large number of Floridians who had signed up for one of its Obamacare plans.
The nonprofit company is Florida’s largest health insurer. It was the only provider to offer marketplace plans in all Florida counties during the 2017 open enrollment period.
nmiller@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5158, @naseemmiller
