Massachusetts Health Connector
Reviews and Complaints

Their billing system mistakenly cancelled out my 2020 coverage August 2020- Dec 2020. I have EIGHTEEN CASES OPENED over this issue, escalated up to crisis cases, pages of notes and promises, but EIGHT MONTHS LATER AND NO RESOLUTION. I'm in collections and credit is being ruined for past due medical bills; I'm being denied care by primary care and other hospitals because of the amount of bills from August through December. They said they sent the letter of reinstatement over to BCBS on seven different occasions. Yet BCBS never received it. And the Health Connector has no other help to offer.

I want to keep the dental insurance plan that my wife and I had in 2020. I had to call to report a change. I am getting Medicare 4/1. Needed to cancel my plan and keep wife insured and asked them to keep dental plan for my wife and self the same. They were able to cancel my health plan as requested and gave my wife her own health plan and dental plan. But they terminated my dental plan. 4 phone calls later they have been unable to sign me up for a dental plan.

My payments went from $45.00 per month to $628.36! My business has been closed since March because of the pandemic and when they took the over $600. out of my account on Dec. 24th I was thrown for a loop, Merry Christmas to me.
I called on the 28th and the customer service rep assured me that the amount would be put back into my bank within 24 to 48 hours. 4 days later, no money put into my account so I called back, the info I was given was not accurate and it will take 5 business days, so I continue waiting. I have called 8 to 10 times and have gotten 8 to 10 different answers and still no money. $600. wouldn't be an issue but times are tough with my business closed and bills need to get paid.
Today, over a month of not getting any results I called yet again. Different customer service person of course and now they tell me that it takes 30 business days to get the money back, at this point I think I should accrue interest on my money!
Very disheartening to think that you can't trust our state's insurance plans.

On 12/24/2020 Health Connector deducted $348 out of my checking account. I called on 12/29/2020 to find out why. I was told that the plan I was on went up on prices. So, without any notification I was penalized. She stated I should have received notification back in November which I did not. I asked the representative why this was not told to me on 11/20/2020 when I called in to update my information for open enrollment. She also stated the last representative that I spoke to had that my son, husband and I were all on MassHealth which is not the case. Only my son is on MassHealth. This is by far a huge mistake on your end and I want to be reimbursed. How did my monthly payment go from $ 90 to $348 a month. Shame on you. I also filed a complaint with the attorney general.

After being advised by a MA Health Connector representative on two occasions that I could keep my wife's and my insurance coverage through them rather than accept Medicare Part B, I took their advice Then on 10-7-20, I received a letter from the Connector stating that I am ineligible for service through them because Medicare is available to me, as I turned 65 in May. They also stated that both of our coverage have been cancelled retroactively to May 1, 2020. I've made several calls trying to get a supervisor on the phone; only one supervisor ever returned the call about rebating the 7 months of premiums I paid due to misinformation by their representative. Yesterday, I called to make sure my wife was covered by a reinstated coverage for just her. The agent told me that the only way to guarantee that she would be covered starting yesterday would be to make an additional payment as a binder. I did that, and as I was told, I called back again today to verify everything. Today the agent told me my wife was not covered. When I asked again for a supervisor I was assured that one would call me back today. I told the agent that if I didn't get a return call today I would have to stop payment through my bank. I have received no call back. So now, Medicare Part B has told me I won't be able to get coverage until July of 2021, and even though the Health Connector owes me over $1800 in back premiums paid toward a now non-existent policy, I've paid another $130 to bind a policy for my wife that hasn't happened as agreed and no one will call me back. So both my wife and I are without health insurance thanks to the Massachusetts Health Connector and they won't return my calls to rectify the problem.

I have been waiting almost 4 months for a corrected/updated 1950A form so I can do my 2019 taxes. I have spoken with supervisors and had this issue escalated but still nothing. During 2019 I requested (three times 3/29/19, 6/28/19, 11-2019) to have this insurance canceled since my employer sponsored health insurance kicked in on 4/1/2019. It was finally canceled 11/2019 and I was told this delay wouldn't affect my tax return but it has. I have a list of dates I called and the person I spoke with at Health Connector etc. The IRS doesn't want to wait much longer. What I need is a corrected/updated 1095A form that shows I only had the Health Connector insurance for Feb and March of 2019 so I can complete the paperwork for my taxes.
Thank you
Albert D. Frizzi
[protected]

7/13/2020
Client number [protected] Igor Soares and Adriana Luchian Soares phone number [protected].
I called last week and was on the phone for 2 hours asking for confirmation that my dental insurance was cancelled and asking for a refund for the month of July starting with which my service was no longer active and that I had paid for in advance. The representative confirmed the cancellation and created a case number for the refund [protected]. She told me I would get a call or an email in 48 hours. She also told me that if I didn't I can call the same number and give my case number and they would be able to help me. I waited for a few days and didn't get a call or email back. I called back the same number today and talked to Tanya for 2 hours. She put me on more than 10 holds verifying information and was not able to find me, my husband or the case number. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said her supervisor cannot find any information either. After I insisted many times, she said she would put me through to a supervisor. I asked the supervisor's name and she didn't know it. Instead of putting me through to a supervisor, she put me through to the end survey. I called again, waited for another 20 minutes to be connected to someone and Leanna answered. I asked to talk to a supervisor. She told me that she cannot do that because the escalation line is down. I asked when I can talk to a supervisor she told me she does not have that information. She insisted that she could help me so I asked if she can find my case number. I stayed on the phone for another 30 minutes while Leanna put me on another 4 holds trying to find the information.
I would like to get my refund asap and get an explanation/apology about why I am getting such poor customer service.

the worst website and biggest nuisance in all of new england. I dont know how but the system enrolled me in tax credits that I never wanted or signed up for, and I didnt realize i was getting them. I moved to Hawaii in october and had health insurance there and because i never changed my address i was billed and given tax credits that I am now responsible for in Mass. I literally lived in another state and had health insurance in that state. They should cancel those tax credits especially because my income was well below the poverty line. Now i have to fill out a form 8962

ARD (Authorized Representative Designation) forms are required to speak to customer service representatives about specific information regarding your enrollments within health connector, if you are not listed as head of household in the original application for enrollment and therefore not the main subscriber, regardless of role within the household.

I have listed my husband as head of household in our original application, not aware of this unwavering rule. I have sent in a signed ARD form over a decade ago. The form is supposed to be kept on file forever. However it has, in the past, just vanished without a trace. Representatives had incorrectly informed me that the ARD form expires (this is not true) My husband works fulltime hours and is unable to place lengthy personal calls during certain times and unfortunately there are a multitude of hiccups within Health connectors systems that provide unclear, misleading information that requires me to call almost every month to ask for clarification. Once again my ARD form disappears without a trace.

I would like to know why ARD forms just disappear, especially since I am told that they DO NOT expire. Where do they go? Who is erasing my files? Why are files not backed up? Are representatives just 'yanking my chain' and just trying to avoid answering tough questions that they have no answer for? Why can't health connector just get it together? It would be in everyone's best interest to reformat their system in a clear straightforward manner to avoid the need for customers to call in every month 2-3 times to sort out this jumbled madness.

So I missed a payment I believe for August or September and when I figured out that I didn't have insurance and was wondering why I called the health connector I was told I had to be reinstated for the year 2019 and I had to pay $260 before October 23 Which I did I paid on October 22 and was told It will take 15 days for someone to tell Me if I've been reinstated Which I never received a call so I call them within 15 to 20 days To ask if I've been reinstated and is my health Insurance active because I can't receive my medication at the pharmacy so I spoke to a lady to figure out What was going on with the Reinstatement she found out and fixed it And said I will be active within 48 hours so the next day goes by and I receive a voicemail from the health connector telling me to call them so I called them toask why did they call me When they said I was all set so the lady tells me that my health insurance is not active and I need to renew my application Which was not told to me both of the times I called previous to the last call so now I don't have insurance for sept or oct and dec and won't start to the new year which is wrong

Got a new job, Made a bit more money so I sent in my updates for income. I get a notice in the mail saying that I can still use mass health, But my level changed to 2B + Tax credit. I work from 7-5 weekly, I drive for a living so its hard to be on the phone for a 50min wait while making delivery's. I used the call back option on 10/25, 10/28 & 10/29. Each time they called back at around 5:30-6:00PM. And each time I gave them my info, Asked if my plan would be the same, And what do I need to do on my end if anything to stay above board on policy. Every time they put me on hold for about 15 min. Then hung up on. Once i chock up to a mistake, But two more times? That's just blatant laziness in my opinion. They are paid to do a job. At this point I am not surprised why call centers get sent overseas. Honestly, I think we would get better service if they sent half the calls overseas, That way the MA health call center would have to either do their job, or get replaced by people who will do their job for them. It's sad how they treat people too. Almost everyone I know that has MA health hates dealing with them & complains about attitudes, Hold times & many call transfers.

I have spoken with a couple of different people starting last week and last week the person said that we are all set except I had to upload some information. I attempted this and the website would not allow me to get in so I called again today. The person on the phone disconnected once and then put me on hold numerous times without helping me at all. So either the first person I spoke to or the second have no clue as to what is going on. I need my meds or else do could legit die but I don't have the money to be paying full price for meds. It's either I die on the street of die having a place to live. I'll be going to the hospital to get this resolved but I want it known that if something happens before then I put 100% of the blame on health connector and it's affiliates. I am now writing this all out and will leave it for someone to find in the event something happens. If I survive then I'll test it up but until then thanks for nothing.

After being 1 week late on my September 23rd payment, I was sent a termination letter on 10/9/19 informing me that because I hadn't paid my 9/23 bill, my insurance was terminated with no warning. When I called was told that I need to pay for September, October and November bills (which I have never heard of pre paying for health insurance). The total amount they expected from me to re-issue my insurance is $790.00. I have always received a termination warning letter and I am sorry but after 1 week of being late on September payment I am getting terminated. I have a disability and was in the hospital in September for 4 days and now I will have to pay out of pocket because of this issue. Absolutely unacceptable. I was given no information from "customer service" they are rude talk over you and do not listen or try to assist. They only want their money period.
I should not have to pay for 3 months of insurance, and they should not expect me to. This is a monthly payment arrangement.

I got health ins from my employer and I didn't know the exact date of my coverage so I paid my regular bill to HC. When I found out that my new coverage date would be the date of my employment (which was earlier than possible canc. date for the HC insurance). I tried to backdate cancellation date of my HC ins. It turned out they dont do that. Now i have double insurance and paid for both.

I am writing this email on behalf of my parents, Bhaskar Khare and Damayanti Khare. Their Member id is [protected] and Reference ID: RefID_[protected]. I am authorized representative. Their insurance was terminated from April 2018 till June 2019. "Not responding to their notice" was given as the reason for termination by Healthcare Connector. My parents haven't received any notice from Healthcare connector. When I talked to the customer service, I came to know that Health connector were sending notice to wrong address. As per my knowledge we haven't change address and neither my parents nor I know the wrong address place. I have been telling this to representative numbers of times. I have been calling them last 5 months. My parents case went to audit and they said they will get back to us, that never happened. I didn't hear back from Health connector. When I called them every time they are saying I changed the address. I am denying this accusation of changing the address. Since I applied for my parents it is the same address. After number of attempts to resolve this matter I realized that Health connector are not ready to help us. They are denying that their representative have made this mistake. My parents has medical bills of $ 1000 and more. Now my parents bills are going to collection agency.
Please look into these matters. Customer service gives wrong information each time. I have been spending hours on phone and nobody is ready to help me. I hope to get some help.

Thank you

Called MA Health Connector from phone number on website - couldn't update my password and locked out of the system - kept on hold for over a half hour -

MA Health Connector is unprofessional and does not provide good customer care.

They should answer calls quickly or do what other companies now do - get a call back number and return the call at a later time.

Several yrs ago wheni was using GATRA ride service weekly to Providence RI ( I live in New Bedford) i had several very bad experiences with Car Rapid's service. they did not show up at all once, one tike they came for me at 12:50 pm for an appt in Providence at 1pm. I refused to go with them because it was so late and they gave me a very hard time about it. One day they picked me up At Butler Hosp in Providence RI. The driver said he knew a short cut. I was very familiar with the area and i knew that he was making a wrong turn. He would not listen to me and was very rude. He went his way and we ended up getting totally lost. would not listen to me about the correct way. we ended up in a lot of far away places in RI, and also in Dighton and the towns in that area. His boss was yelling at him over the phone and he was screaming and yelling back at him. He refused to listen to me or even talk to me. It took us 90 mins to get home- usually a 35 min ride! i had a heavy suitcase in the trunk and he refused to help me with it. I let GATRA know and they stopped sending them. I have not had to use GATRA too much lately. I did call last week to schedule a trip to Taunton for 7/2/19 at 1pm. They gave me Car Rapid. I objected but they said i had no choice. I got a msge the night before from the driver saying that he would pk me up between 12- 12:30. the next day i went out front at 11:50am I remember because the Price is Right was just starting the showcase bidding. at 12:30 no one had come. I called Car Rapid and the woman told me that, the driver had been there at 12pm, that I was not out, and that he left at 12:05 after having called me 4 times! this is total bull. I was right in front of my house and there was no one there, and my phone never rang nor shows any of those calls as having come in. I verified the # with the woman i spoke with and it was the correct #. when i called GATRA to book forthe next week appt on Fri 7/12, i explained the issue to the GATRA rep and she told me that i must be wrong because they have some type of meter that tracks them. She refused to believe me and told me that i had no choices. i have a reliable friend who works for another ride servicer and he tells me that Car Rapid cars ARE NOT equipped with these trackers and that that is how they get away with bad stuff all the time. So now i am worried that the same type thing will happen this Friday. I am involved in very serious therapy for a bad PTSD and these appointments are vital to me. I need dependable service (as does anyone!) I used to have Community Access and they gave excellent service and i do not understand why i can not get therm anymore. i have recently used Semper Fi car service and they were good too. I do not want to go through having to be worried about whether or not they will show up- if at all! and furthermore i do not want to have to deal with rude, unprofessional drivers. This is not fair to the MH members. i also am aware that complaints against Car Rapid are not at all a new or scarce thing. they are a notoriously bad company in regards to reliability and character of the drivers. I will not accept this. Sincerely, Diane McCarthy. MH ID # [protected].
127B Carriage Dr. New Bedford, Ma 02740. tele [protected] DOB 9/17/56
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The Health Connector switched off the insurance that I was relying on, and had fully paid by autopay, with no bounces or anything, with 6 days notice. That is, I was notified, completely unexpectedly and unpredictably to me, 5/25/19 that my Health Connector on-exchange Health New England policy would be out of effect 5/31/19.

There was a switched-to MA Health coverage, which required a time-consuming subplan selection and PPO-available research procedure in order to activate a network of hospitals and providers and a primary care provider in the area.

Apparently, the Health Connector thinks these sudden switcheroos on people are OK, and will not stop from doing them. (This is the feedback I have from the Health Connector ombudsman staff.)

They are not OK, because, for one, they can bankrupt a person by leaving care uncovered.

You can be in the hospital X for 2 weeks, with procedures approved at a hospital in network for insurance plan A that you were relying on to pay the bills, and when you come out, you discover the day after you went in, the Connector switched you to insurance plan B, for which hospital X is out of network, and your procedures are unapproved.

You can be travelling, get into an emergency, and whoops--the insurance card that you thought you could use in an emergency is no good.

(Technical, for those wanting to trace and see the way this happened to me, and see its systemic, not one-off nature. Obamacare insurance splits into two completely different sets of coverage: expanded Medicaid = Mass Health though 138% of Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and an on-exchange plan at 138% FPL and above. I was just above the crossover, at 138.9% of FPL. This was Using the 2018 tax year, filled out Feb 2019 1040, that the Health Connector requested I send in, and did send in, 3 months prior, in Feb 2019. They used that 138.9% FPL number to give me my Health New England on-exchange plan.

What happened was MA Health decided, for some reason, to redetermine MA Health eligibility in the middle of the year using new Federal Poverty Level income levels, about 2% higher. A chunk of new people become MA Health eligible. Then this runs through their systems, and any old on-exchange plan is cancelled, at the speed of light, with little or perhaps negative number of days of notice to the people relying on the policy. My guess is this may have happened to about 1500 people using the Connector for insurance, with incomes in that sensitive zone.)

I was able to figure out what happened and get accurate information from the Health Connector ombudsman staff. (This bunch of people is small, but they are some of the few people that actually know how the computer system works over there.)

The person I spoke with at the ombudsperson office gave the clear explanation above, but indicated that there is no way they will stop this sort of thing. She suggested that to prevent this from happening to me in the future, I, at next open enrollment, decline any subsidy for an on-exchange plan, and select "don't need any help from the government paying for the insurance". (This could work because it disconnects MA Health eligibility as an exclusion for on-exchange plans.) I'll probably have to do this, even though I lose like a $5000 a year subsidy.

Thus, I have to assert that, even at this point under Gov. Baker ("The New Health Connector" you hear on the phone), where there have been some notable improvements, but health insurance provided by the Health Connector is still dangerous, because it can completely wipe you out financially with one of the gaps in coverage it gives you.

(My assertion is consistent with numerous other Yelp reviews here.)

(I had had 2 gaps in coverage due to Connector incompetence about 4 years ago under early Gov. Baker. I had hoped things were improved to at least the point where there are no coverage gaps, but apparently no.)

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Further: both MA Health agents, and Connector agents often give incorrect information, and will not direct you to any people who can solve your problem, or get you correct information.

In my own situation with the 6 day notice coverage switch, I got misinformation from 3 agents in a row. Both MA Health and the Health Connector will point you to multi-week-in-the-future "fair hearing" type procedures, presumably in front of someone who knows as little as the phone agents about what's going on.

(There are, actually, two groups of ombudsman people, one for the Connector, and one for MA health, which are small, but do seem to have about the only available people who understand what the computer systems are doing. But neither MA Health agents, nor the Connector agents, will point you to them. Only to their "fair hearing" procedures. )

I have been utilizing MA health connector since Aug. 2018. They received all of my eligibility requirements (proof of residence, etc.) no problem. Once open enrollment came up, they asked for all of this information again. I faxed over proof, and heard nothing about it since. I assumed everything was fine, and I came up as covered under my health insurance on the portal. Out of nowhere, Feb. 2019, I received a letter stating that I had been terminated for my insurance due to not getting proper proof. I spoke to customer care over and over to finally be assured they had received my proof and would be restarting my insurance. I received another letter in April 2019 stating they were terminating my insurance for no reason. I spoke to the customer care and they assured me this was not a letter they had filed on their end, despite it being in my notifications on the portal, and that I would be ok. I tried to make a doctors apt today and when entering my insurance information, they expressed that it was inactive. I contacted Tufts and they too said it was inactive. I contacted MA health connector who said it was active, and they will send confirmation over to tufts. In the meanwhile, in order to be seen, I will need to pay out of pocket and keep receipts to be reimbursed. I am extremely frustrated with the MA Health Connector, as they appear completely disorganized and have found it impossible to get consistent information. I hate that I have to get insurance through them, and that they are the only option. I want an organized, clear and concise way of obtaining health insurance. Not with all of these run arounds, and they finding out that I'm not even covered when I have been paying all year! I don't know where to go from here. I'd love support in finding out what to do next.

I called back in December 2018 when I went online to pay my monthly payment. My husband and I were both covered by Tufts through the Connector. Suddenly my payment had tripled. I called customer service and spoke to a woman who callously informed me that that was just going to be my payment now, because the connector had used state records to update my income information and adjusted my payment-- WITHOUT NOTIFYING ME. This is completely unethical. NO ONE but the policy holder should be able to change that information. My husband needs insurance or his insulin costs $700 a vile, and without it he cannot function, so this woman helped me re enter our income info, and told me that I would just have to get on my work's plan, which I cannot afford, but the Connector thinks I can because they don't consider people's expenses! It's insane. So I kept my husband's coverage because without it he could die, and here it is March and I have nothing, because I can't afford the insurance through my job, nor is it an open enrollment period. So my health is falling apart because the connector thinks they know more than I do about my finances, and this lady basically told me "tough luck" and to kick rocks. Unbelievable. Sad, and archaic of our country, especially a state like MA that's supposed to be so "progressive". This is the fifth time now by the way, that the connector has screwed my coverage up completely with their incompetence. It is like a full time job dealing with these people, and they don't even pretend to care.

If I could afford coverage elsewhere, don't you think I would, just to not deal with these loons?!