MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) _ The administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin will pay Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont $1.6 million to cover past due premiums and incorrectly paid claims because of technical problems with Vermont’s once-beleaguered health care website.

Lawrence Miller, Shumlin’s chief of health care reform, says the state and BCBS signed an agreement Thursday.

The Times Argus reports (http://bit.ly/1MpUBdW ) that Vermont Health Connect lacked a key function _ automated change of circumstance _ when it launched in October 2013 so workers had to manually process customers’ changes to their personal information, which caused a backlog. The insurance carriers in many cases were not notified that they should stop billing customers or not pay claims for coverage that was terminated.

The state recently upgraded its software allowing staff to process changes quicker.