Washington State Insurance Commissioner Order Regence To Clean Up Its Health Insurance Act

If you’re a Regence health insurance member in Washington State, and you’ve had some problems dealing with your health insurer, you are definitely not alone. Tens of thousands of Regence health insurance members have been banging their heads against the wall in dealing with the company, and the State of Washington is stepping in. Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is ordering Regence, the state’s largest health insurer, to get its act together.

And it’s a pretty messy act right now. Some of the laundry list of issues that members have had in dealing with the insurer include:

• Regence’s “SurePay” computer system malfunctioned on Aug. 5, 2011, resulting in more than 6,000 incorrect transactions.
• Medical claims from tens of thousands of retirees have gone unpaid for months.
• In more than 200 cases, the company apparently withdrew money from the bank accounts of people who are not even Regence members. Some of the withdrawals totaled thousands of dollars. In the process, some Regence members’ names and identification numbers were accidentally disclosed to strangers.
• Regence’s systems and processes result in after-the-fact denial of claims for many pre-authorized medical services.
• There is a pattern of claims being delayed because documentation has been misplaced by Regence, only to later be found.
• Regence’s underwriting department provided a phone number for consumer questions. When consumers called that number, they would receive a message saying that contact was available only on Thursdays. On Thursdays, there was no answer.

Top WA Health Insurer Racking Up Violations

The Washington State Insurance Commission is working with Regence to develop a mandatory corrective action plan.

Are you a member of Regence health insurance? Tell us about it!

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