(WHDH) — Victoria Hall is struggling to walk again.
She suffered a head injury in a car crash last winter.
Her mom Kristen wants to do everything she can to help her.
It’s a difficult situation for the teen, who was already dealing with seizures that often land her in the hospital.
“She’s on all kinds of medications. All kinds of doctors. So yeah, it’s expensive,” says Kristen Hall.
Kristen has been paying for medical insurance through the Massachusetts Health Connector.
So she was shocked to learn recently that she didn’t have any coverage and the family’s doctors weren’t getting paid.
“I’m staying up, can’t sleep. Cried over it,” says Hall.
“This was horrible,” says Alfred DeAngeles, who says the same thing happened to him.
“I went to the doctor, and I had no insurance,” says Alfred, “I was worried. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Alfred was also paying the Health Connector for insurance every month.
The state system is supposed to help people access affordable health insurance.
“I spent 8 hours on the phone one Monday with them. And it didn’t do anything,” says Alfred.
Alfred was told to sign up again after the connector’s automated system wasn’t registering payments he made over the phone.
“I signed up 5 different times,” says Alfred.
For Kristen, the problems kept coming. First, her account was canceled. Then medical bills weren’t paid.
“It’s everything. Every time I turn around, something different is going on with my account,” says Kristen.
7 Investigates has heard from five other people facing similar problems in the last month.
“The buck stops in my office, and we will resolve each of these,” says Louis Gutierrez.
Louis Gutierrez is the executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector.
He says in July, an out-of-state firm started running the call center, and a new billing system went into action.
“They’ve had a range of struggles since going live,” says Gutierrez.
Gutierrez says about 2,500 accounts have been affected.
“That number needs to come down,” says Gutierrez.
One of Alfred and Kristen’s biggest complaints? That customer service can’t seem to help them.
“Our contact center vendor still needs to measure up in a variety of areas,” says Gutierrez. “We really look forward to doing right by each of our members.”
The health connector has now resolved all the issues involving the seven people who contacted us.
Alfred got a $1,000 refund.
“It’s a good relief to have channel 7 help you,” says Alfred.
Kristen’s account has been sorted out and all her medical bills are being paid.
Now she and Victoria can focus on her recovery.
But she worries about others.
“I mean people need their health insurance,” says Kristen.
If you’re having problems with the health connector and the call center isn’t helping, Gutierrez says there’s someone else to contact.
You can email the customer service advocate program here.
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