WASHINGTON — The ObamaCare Internet headaches aren’t limited to the federal Web site.
Washington state’s Healthplanfinder site reportedly has crashed repeatedly in recent weeks and is mistakenly charging customers’ accounts.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘I got screwed,’ ” Shannon Bruner told King 5 News in Seattle after realizing the Web site drained her checking account.
Bruner and her husband, Josh, enrolled in a plan at Healthplanfinder in October, selecting Dec. 24 to make their first premium payment. But the payment was withdrawn Dec. 9, overdrawing the account.
“We’ve got to figure out how to get money to pay the bills for the next week or two until we have another check come through,” Josh fumed.
“It’s just crazy.”
When they tried to correct the problem, the Bruners found the state Web site was down for “unscheduled maintenance.”
Others in Washington state reported similar billing problems.
The 14 states that are running their own online insurance marketplaces have generally performed better than the federal HealthCare.gov site, which serves 36 states.
But problems such as the billing issues in Washington state and concerns about effects of the law, including people losing their current health plans and doctors, further undermine Americans’ confidence in President Obama’s health-care reforms.