Blue Cross customer service woes leave some fuming

He's spent hours on hold.

"I held for 3 hours and 11 minutes with Blue Cross," Michael Morand said.

Morand and his wife, Tonya, are trying to navigate through the service meltdown at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

Tonya is battling multiple sclerosis and another debilitating chronic condition, requiring $75,000 a month worth of medication.

But when the Morands got word from Blue Cross Blue Shield that they needed to enroll in a new policy for 2016, things quickly took a bad turn.

"(We) signed up for it, paid for it. January 1st, nothing. 2nd, nothing, 3rd, nothing," Michael Morand said.

Michael waited, but new insurance coverage from Blue Cross never arrived. Last Monday, he had to pay more than $400 out of pocket for one of his wife's prescriptions. This week, Tonya's other meds are running low.

"She took her last pill out of a bottle that's another prescription she's on this morning," Michael said. "And it's a $4,250 prescription."

Blue Cross Blue Shield NC have said the problems affecting seven percent of individual insurance customers resulted from human error at its processing and billing vendor. A spokesman for the insurance giant told ABC11 that the "vast majority of ID cards have been mailed out" and that "we expect call volume to lessen."

The company said the challenges they've faced are "not acceptable" and that the insurer is working to "earn back trust."

Back at the Morands, Michael isn't holding his breath.

"It's annoying, but it's beyond that now, knowing you have a loved one that's suffering. You feel helpless," he said.