The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) is aware that many Florida Blue customers experienced multiple fund withdrawals from their bank accounts to pay for what should have been a one-time scheduled payment of their May health insurance policy premium. Florida Blue advised this was a processing error by the company’s third-party vendor.
The Office has been in regular contact with the company since Monday morning, May 1, as it looks at the adequacy of the refund and reimbursement process and conducts a complete review of this error.
Florida Blue has provided the following information:
- 9,480 Florida Blue customers were impacted statewide by this payment processing error.
- 8,177 are Affordable Care Act (ACA)-Compliant Individual Plan policyholders
- 453 are Pre-ACA-Compliant/Transitional Individual Plan policyholders
- 850 are Medicare policyholders
- As of 2:00 p.m. on Monday, May 1, Florida Blue’s primary banking institution reversed these transactions to refund all affected customers. Florida Blue has received confirmation from several large banks that these refunds have been returned to the accounts of their members, but it may take more time for other banks to complete this process.
- Customers will be advised on how to obtain reimbursement for overdraft bank fees or other expenses as a result of this error.
- For more information, customers are asked to email [email protected] or call the phone number listed on the back of their insurance card to reach the appropriate call center for their policy.
The Office’s primary focus at this time is working closely with the Department of Financial Services and Florida Blue to ensure consumers are made whole as soon as possible.
For additional assistance, consumers may also contact the Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services, via email at [email protected] or through the statewide toll-free helpline at 1-877-693-5236 (in-state callers) or 850-413-3089 (out-of-state callers).
