Hundreds of Connecticut residents have been dropped from their health insurance plans and thousands have lost the Federal subsidy they were due, Access Health Connecticut CEO Kevin Counihan confirmed Thursday.
Counihan revealed that, in the last several months, more than 5,700 people lost their subsidy, including more than 900 who were cancelled from their plan through the exchange, all due to a computer system glitch.
“This is a technical issue,” Counihan said.
The issue impacts subscribers who made changes to their applications, Counihan said. Those changes triggered a coding issue that altered a form sent to the insurance companies to calculate premiums. In some cases, subscribers had issues with their coverage even though they continued to pay their premiums.
“They made that reported change and they had an incorrect subsidy calculation as a result,” Counihan said.
According to Counihan, the exchange has been dealing with issues on a case by case basis for months but did not know the specific problem until July 1.
State Senator Len Fasano said he was first alerted to the problem by constituents. When he contacted the exchange, the Republican said, he was snubbed.
“The initial response from Access Health was we don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t know of these issues,” Fasano said.
Counihan responded saying that he was confused by a letter he received from Fasano. The two have since spoken about the issue and Fasano told reporters he is satisfied with the exchange’s response.
The issue will be permanently resolved by July 18th, Counihan said. On Friday, the exchange will call all of the subscribers impacted. Everyone who has a lapse in coverage will have it restored, Counihan emphasized.