More than 9,000 Florida Blue customers have excessive withdrawals for insurance premiums

May 03--Florida regulators are looking into unauthorized withdrawals this week from the bank accounts of thousands of Florida Blue insurance customers.

More than 9,000 Florida Blue customers saw multiple fund withdrawals from their bank accounts for what should have been a one-time scheduled payment. Florida Blue officials acknowledged the snafu as early as Monday and posted apologies on social media outlets, but the company was not sure how widespread the problem was at the time.

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A prepared statement from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said the withdrawals were supposed to be for the May health insurance policy premiums for Florida Blue.

Toni Woods, spokeswoman for Florida Blue, the company is accepting accountability for the snafu.

"We are very sorry of for the problems this caused our members. It is important to note that by 2 p.m. Monday members began receiving refunds into their bank accounts. This matter is being dealt with at the highest levels of Florida Blue's management. We are making things right for our members and ensuring this does not happen again," Woods said in an email Wednesday.

State regulators said they started coordinating with Florida Blue officials as of Monday, looking into the inappropriate withdrawals. Florida Blue officials told insurance regulators that they are beginning the process of refunds and reimbursement.

Officials are still looking into how the excessive withdrawals happened. But the Office of Insurance Regulation said it appears to be a vendor error.

"Florida Blue advised this was a processing error by the company's third-party vendor," a statement from the Office of Insurance Regulation said Wednesday.

The name of the third-party vendor was not provided in the prepared statement.

A spokeswoman with the state regulatory agency said it would have no further comment beyond a news release sent to media outlets on Wednesday.

That release did provide a breakdown of the numbers of people and policies that were affected by the excessive withdrawals:

n 9,480 Florida Blue customers were impacted statewide by the payment processing error; 8,177 are Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant individual plan policyholders; 453 are Pre-Affordable Care Act-compliant/transitional individual plan policyholders; 850 are Medicare policyholders.

n As of 2 p.m. on Monday, Florida Blue's primary banking institution reversed the transactions to refund all affected customers. Florida Blue has received confirmation from several large banks that the refunds were enacted to the accounts of their members, but it may take more time for other banks to complete the process.

n Customers will be advised on how to obtain reimbursement for overdraft bank fees or other expenses as a result of this error.

n 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.

Woods added that Florida Blue will not cancel any policies related to any payment issues until the issues are resolved and any damage to anyone's credit standing will be resolved with the help of the company. All automatic payments for policies have been hold until the issues have been resolved and anyone needing health care services will be provided those services as Florida Blue works on resolving all payments in May "even if they are unable to make premium payments."

The Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services is also involved in augmenting the reimbursements. Customers can contact that office's email at [email protected], or can call the statewide helpline (877) 693-5236. Out-of-state customers can call (850) 413-3089.

Drew Dixon: (904) 359-4098.

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