THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross) today acknowledged a regulatory fine of $150,000 has been levied by the California Department of Managed Healthcare (DMHC) in response to a recent issue that resulted in premium billing errors for a small number of the company’s policy holders.
The issue occurred in April of this year and was the result of software problems and human error that resulted in multiple billings of monthly insurance premiums for Blue Cross policy holders whose monthly premiums were paid by automatic monthly debit or credit card transactions. The issue was quickly identified, addressed and resolved. All affected Blue Cross members have since been fully reimbursed or credited for this billing error.
“Our relationship with our policyholders is the most important asset we have and we sincerely regret any inconvenience this issue may have caused them. While not entirely within our control, Blue Cross has acknowledged ultimate responsibility for this error and the resulting inconvenience for our members, regardless of the source of the problem,” said David Helwig, president and CEO of Blue Cross of California. “We have taken all appropriate measures to ensure this software malfunction does not occur in the future and we have offered apologies directly to our members who were impacted.”
Helwig also noted that any members who were negatively impacted by the issue have been held harmless and have had their premiums fully credited or returned through their bank or credit company. As a courtesy to members, late fees or other related penalties resulting from this incident have also been paid by the company. However, because of the quick identification and correction of the problem, the impact was minimal to most affected customers.
Blue Cross of California is one of the state’s largest health insurers and together with its California affiliate, BC Life & Health Insurance, the company serves more than 7.6 million medical members. Headquartered in Southern California, Blue Cross of California offers a flexible product portfolio with a broad range of options for small, medium and large groups, as well as individual plans for people without access to group coverage, seniors and consumers who are eligible for state sponsored programs. Blue Cross of California is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Association and can be found on the web at www.bluecrossca.com.
Blue Cross of California
CONTACT: Robert Alaniz of Wellpoint, Inc., +1-805-557-6789,robert.alaniz@wellpoint.com, for Blue Cross of California
Web site: http://www.bluecrossca.com/
