Obamacare 'System Error' Drops Connecticut Residents From Their Insurance Plans

Thousands of Connecticut residents have been affected by a "system error" that's led to patients being dropped from their insurance plans, the state's Obamacare exchange CEO said.

Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan told the Hartford Courant the process has begun of calling 5,784 subscribers to inform them that they were assigned an incorrect tax credit. As a result, about 3,900 people were incorrectly told they qualified for Medicaid and others had billing problems — while 903 people were dropped by their insurers.

“This is going to be bumpy, there are going to be some glitches and you know, big surprise, we got them, and you know what guys, we’re going to get more," Counihan told WTNH-TV.

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Counihan said the glitch is temporary and that those who were dropped will get their plans back.

“I say temporarily with great deliberation because they are not losing their coverage,” he said.

Counihan said the "system error" was discovered July 1, though they knew there were problems earlier this year, according to the Courant.

Diane Nadeau told WTNH her 22-year-old son was supposed to have coverage, but didn't know there was a problem until he went to a clinic and found out he didn't have insurance.

"It was supposed to start, and I start saying we don’t have a card, he needs a card, can you send us a card, and they still didn’t tell me there was an issue until he went to a walk-in clinic at the end of May and found out he had no coverage," Nadeau said.

She said she was finally told it was a payment issue — even though she had made repeated efforts to pay.

“I said lack of payment? I’ve been calling you like 20 times to find out where the bill is, how much it is and how we can make a payment to you,” she said.

Nadeau's issue was resolved after a call to Connecticut's state healthcare advocate's office.

“Within a week and half, we got a call from them saying as long as you make a payment today on your credit card, you will have insurance as of July 1st," she said.