Houston Chronicle
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, the state’s largest insurer, was fined $10 million on Friday by the state and ordered to repay customers who wrongfully faced out-of-network emergency room bills they should have never received.
While the exact number of customers eligible for refunds and total restitution amount is still unknown, a Texas Department of Insurance investigation revealed that between 2017 and 2019 about 90,000 Blue Cross and Blue Shield members got incorrect information about what the insurer would pay. During roughly the same time, hundreds of thousands of other customers received inaccurate marketing materials and plan information, leading to potentially higher than necessary out-of-pocket costs.