Florida Blue’s auto-pay glitch affected 9,500

Insurer fixing errors and paying for fees

Health insurer Florida Blue on Tuesday revealed that 9,500 of its customers were affected by the electronic payment glitch that drained bank accounts, triggered overdraft fees and left some unable to access their money.

The tally was revealed the day after Florida Blue members took to social media to complain of logging into their bank accounts and discovering their accounts had been debited for their monthly payment amount multiple times.

The company acknowledged the glitch on Monday and promised to correct all errors, but said at the time that it did not know how many members were affected.

Altogether, Florida Blue insures more than 5 million people.

“Approximately 9,500 Florida Blue members had payments withdrawn from their bank accounts multiple times over the weekend,” the company said in a statement emailed by spokesman Doug Bartel.

Among members reporting multiple debits was an Orlando-area attorney who told the Orlando Sentinel that she discovered 71 withdrawals for a total of $142,000.

The company, also known as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, initiated charge reversals for all impacted customers “within 24 hours of becoming aware of the issue,” according to the statement the company released Tuesday.

“Many of these members have already seen refunds reflected in their accounts,” the statement said. “Other refunds are currently being processed by members’ financial institutions. We expect those refunds should be completed within the next few days; in some instances it may take slightly longer.”

The statement went on to say the company has received questions about banking fees and potential impacts to credit standing “and we are working directly with banking institu-