Washington Health Exchange Error Cancels 6,000 Accounts

 A navigator helps client in sign up for healthcare during the 2013 open enrollment period. Photo by Helen Silvis

Representatives for Washington-state’s healthcare exchange are rushing to re-enroll people before Dec. 23 after nearly 6,000 accounts had mistakenly been cancelled.

 Richard Onizuka, CEO of Washington Healthplanfinder released a statement the day of the Dec. 2 cancellations citing their system integrator Deloitte for the error. Onizuka says a monthly automated enrollment cancellation process was run untimely.

Accounts affected include some of whose coverage was set to begin Jan. 1, 2015.

With the sudden termination of these accounts affecting thousands of individuals and families, exchange customer support Representatives, staff members, navigators and registered insurance brokers are rushing to reconfirm Washingtonians for 2015 coverage.

Impacted customers need to take the following to go into their Washington Healthplanfinder accounts, and resubmit their payment for a Qualified Health Plan by Tues., Dec. 23 at 5:00 p.m. Those that don’t, will not receive coverage come the start of the new year.

“The deadline is really important, not to wait until the last minute. We understand this is a inconvenience but we want people to get the coverage they need,” says Bethen Frey, spokesperson for Washington Healthplanfinder.  

Frey says the exact number of accounts affected is still being calculated. She also says and the deletion process was largely random, and didn’t affect any one particular plan or region of Washington.

Customers affected have been and continue to receive additional communication from the exchange via mail or e-mail depending on their communication preference.

Those seeking assistance in their re-enrollment are urged to call the exchange’s customer support center at 1-855-923-4633 and select a special menu option.

Customers will also receive additional contact from the Exchange via email or mail, depending on their communication preference, to ensure they are aware of the issue.

On Monday, the Exchange Board approved a motion to conduct a full review of the code and architecture behind the Washington Healthplanfinder marketplace. 

An email sent to Deloitte for comment was not immediately returned.