North Carolina commissioner says fines likely for Blue Cross

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — North Carolina’s insurance commissioner says he expects to issue big fines against Blue Cross and Blue Shield for technology problems that have resulted in insurance coverage and payment problems for thousands of customers.

Wayne Goodwin told The News & Observer of Raleigh the fines could reach “millions of dollars” for the problems this year.

Goodwin says the nationwide computer failure that prevented enrollments in the Affordable Care Act was fixed in two months. He says Blue Cross’ technology problems in North Carolina have lasted twice as long.

Blue Cross spokesman Lew Borman said in an email to the newspaper that most of the customer enrollment issues have been resolved. Borman also said that the number of calls to the company’s customers service department have dropped considerably since January.

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