Need some advice with a serious HI enrollment issue

Need some advice with a serious HI enrollment issue

Here’s the situation and I’m sorry it’s so long winded. We enrolled for a new Health Insurance plan with Highmark BCBS in Delaware through open enrollment with Healthcare.gov in December of 2021. Paid our first premium 12/6/21 through the portal provided by the enrollment site.

Right after Christmas, let’s say 12/27/21 we called Highmark because we had not received our ID cards in the mail yet or anything in the mail from them. Spoke to a representative who stated that all was fine with our plan, put in a request for our ID cards, and said it would take approximately 10-14 business days.

1/11/22 My wife and I called back stating we hadn’t received our cards yet. The rep we spoke with now states that they don’t see a payment being made for our first premium. I confirmed the amount ($667.34) and the date it was taken from our account 12/6/21 and after a long hold, the rep stated he found the payment but stated it “was paid to the wrong billing account”. This rep then said he was making a request to have the payment moved from the incorrect place to the correct place and this would take 3-5 business days.

The rep also provided us with our Member ID numbers and RX numbers so we could schedule appointments and such. We scheduled a doctor’s appointment for my wife, provided this info to the doctor’s office who said it was valid but unable to process due to “eligibility issues”. I immediately called Highmark and the rep I spoke with this time said she would call the doctor and advise them of the payment issue and that the insurance was valid. She ALSO admitted that this was their fault and that we had in fact paid our premium.

See also  6 Things Everybody Needs To Know About the No Surprises Act

Emailed through the Contact us portal on Highmark’s website on 1/19/21 and received a generic reply that the request to “move” the payment was still processing but that the rep requested this to be “expedited”.

Called again 1/21/22 and spoke to a rep who stated the request to move payment was STILL processing and will take approximately 10-14 more business days. What happened to 3-5 business days???

I’ve since requested updates through the contact us portal on Highmarks website 1/24, 1/25, 1/26, and today 1/27 all of which have been unanswered. We’re approaching February when another payment is due and have had no access to services, or at least no access without having to call, be on hold for an hour, have the rep call the doctor’s office to advise them of the issue.

What the hell is going on? I can never seem to get anyone on the phone to tell me an honest answer, or even why this happened, or the truth to how long this will take to rectify. This premium is already stretching our budget to the absolute maximum and to not even be able to use it is INSANE to me. What resources do we have to get help for this situation? We’re in Delaware and have a State Insurance Commissioner, should we contact them? Any advice or insight into this is appreciated and again, I’m so sorry this was so long-winded.