Some Massachusetts residents trying to buy health insurance this weekend on the state's online exchange ran into issues when the payment system stopped working hours before a payment deadline, according to a Boston Globe report.
Dell is the subcontractor handling payment and billing for Massachusetts Health Connector, and decided to take the system down overnight for a weekly update last Saturday. However, when the system went back live early Sunday, it was not working properly from approximately 1 a.m. to 1 p.m. The system was not fully functioning until early afternoon, according to the report.
Sunday at midnight was the deadline for consumers to pay their first month's premium for coverage beginning Jan. 1. Those who missed the deadline will not be covered until Feb. 1.
"We have expressed our displeasure to Dell about its unilateral decision to proceed with an update the same day as a payment deadline for coverage," Jason Lefferts, Connector spokesperson, told the Boston Globe.
However, the outage did not appear to significantly affect enrollment payment, according to the report.
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