As open enrollment on the Affordable Care Acts public exchanges enters its final days, brokers and agents working to get consumers covered have one complaint that still tops their once overflowing list of grievances: carrier availability and flexibility. Several brokers across the nation pinpointed Blue Cross Blue Shield companies in various states as some of the worst culprits.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois is impossible to reach by phone on both the agent side and customer side wait times are in the hours, says Anne Petry, broker and consultant at Jaggi Insurance in Forsyth, Ill., where the state is relying on the federally run operating system. They have the longest wait times to get through on the phone and you can tell theyve hired a lot of new people once you do reach someone.
