What comapny provides your health insurance?

[BlondGirl]

Now is your time, whip out your health insurance card and answer the poll.

Then, please, tell us what experiences you have had with this insurance company as far as getting your health care needs met.

 

[Ksss]

I have had pretty good experiences with my insurance company. Although, recently I did have a minor problem. I went in for surgery to have some endometriosis cleaned up and an ovary removed. The company rejected the submittance...comes to find out they had me registered as a male! and of course they don't pay for men to have ovaries removed. The woman I spoke with in the accounting office got it all cleared up for me, and we both enjoyed a few laughs over it. Overall, I like the type of insurance I have and have never had any serious problems with them paying anything.

 

[ksmybuttons]

My company is self insured. It has a contracted administrator. We are informed of exactly what they cover and as long as you stick with the program, no problems.

 

[roxie]

Now is your time, whip out your health insurance card and answer the poll.

Then, please, tell us what experiences you have had with this insurance company as far as getting your health care needs met.

I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They in my own opinion are not the best, but it works for us. Currently, we are fighting with them to get my diabetes supplies covered by our insurance. They will cover my insulin and my needles (only if I get insulin) but will not cover my testing strips. I find it to be quite stupid on their part, it seems like they would want me to be healthy and not get sick, as I have a host of other medical problems that complicate diabetes, but as of yet they still will not cover those stupid strips, so out of pocket expense runs about $150-200 a month.
On every other matter as far as my health, they do what they have to do, basically what I pay for, nothing more. Anytime I have called them with questions or anything, I have been treated rudely and very disrespectfully, it's gotten to the point now, where I just let me SO deal with it. He has much more patience than I do with such matters.

 

[starlis]

I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and have through pretty much my entire working career... I've always been happy with the network of doctors that accept the various plans, and have been satisfied with the care I've received. However... I've never had any real serious or chronic medical conditions, so... there ya go.

 

[BlondGirl]

I will describe what I know about the plans you folks describe from my point of view.

BCBS is good in that referrals to specialists are easy. They have a good volume of doctors to choose from. HMO Blue is more restrictive, but overall is okay. No hospital tests (that I know of) require preauthorization. No in-office testing requires preauth either.

PPO plans are the way to go, again IMHO. You can choose your specialist from your list of approved docs. Your costs upfront are higher, but then again, you don't have to see your primary doctor (PCP) to get a referral (the copay at the PCP-s office and then the copay at the specialists office). And your care is typically faster since you don't have to wait on the insurance dance to get the referral.

 

[KillerMuffin]

The Veterans Administration and TriCare West, military provider. They both suck ass.

 

[BlondGirl]

KM, I am with you there. My military friends here have Humana insurance. It is down at the bottom of the barrel. Most of the doctors here were planning to drop Humana until they managed to worm their way to being the University of Texas insurer and apparently the Coast Guard provider as well.

A military wife friend of mine who was diagnosed with MS last year has had so many problems with her health insurance meeting her needs (IF they are willing, often she has to go to the hospital for drugs that we give in our office--as required by Human.), her husband is planning to quit. They have put up with the shitty insurances for so many years and now it is no longer worth the risks.

 

[Bigdog]

Blondgirl

Since you seem to be in the know, who would be a good choice for short-term coverage?

To explain: my COBRA coverage ends 3/31/02, the coverage thru my wife's job starts 5/1/02. So I need health insurance for the month of April. The insurance company I am with now doesn't offer individual coverage.

Any light you can shed on this would be much appreciated.

 

[BlondGirl]

Bigdog,

My personal recommendation would be for you to run screaming from the COBRA--it is described as the biggest insurance rip-off of all. I suggest that you call your auto insurer and ask them what health care insurances they offer. State Farm for my son is 325 for 3 months coverage. With COBRA, it would have been 400+ per MONTH!!!!!

It is definately worth it to investigate. I do believe MetLife has some good plans too, but I did not really research that much. No matter what you get, it is bound to be less than COBRA. Please post here what you discover and then decide. I don't intend to have the shitty insurance I currently am "blessed" with forever and will need to pick a new insurer and hopefully make the wisest decision from what my future company will offer.

 

[Guest]

Man, this thread hits home

PM me if you really want details here

My job is to fight with insurance companies to get them to pay for inpatient and residential psychiatric care. I have experiences with them all. Some are good, some suck.

Muffin, Tricare through the military is BY FAR the worst.

I've also had personal experiences. When my son was born, he was in the ICU for 2 weeks, my wife for 1. United Healthcare, through a computer error, deleted us from the system. I now have our "bill" under $100,000. I also have a lawyer.


DAMN, now I'm thinking about work. And I'm on calll this weekend, too.

I had one siucidal and homicidal kid who had a plan to cut off his brother's head with a chainsaw. The insurance denied it. They said:
1) does he HAVE a chainsaw?
2) can he start it?
3) can he lift it up to neck level?
4) can he use it?

Fucking makes me sick. I reported them to the authorities, and action was taken. We admitted the patient and at e the $15,000 bill.

 

[Bigdog]

Blondgirl,

Since State Farm is my auto insurer I will inquire on Monday about what they offer for health coverage.

COBRA is more expensive, but they can only charge you 10% more than the actual cost of coverage. Since the insurance we have covers some things others won't, it was cost-effective to pay the COBRA premiums. The cost for us was only about $60 a month more than our other options.

At this point, cost is less important than loss of coverage continuity. The last time we didn't have coverage we got nailed with a $3500 hospital bill. The cash cost of current prescriptions is roughly $650/mo.

I thank you for your input; I will let you know what I end up with.

 

[Rubyfruit]

We have Cigna. My husband's employer offers a variety of plans, from HMO to PPO. We opted for the PPO (at a higher premium), but in my opinion it's definitely worth the extra cost, especially if you have members of your family who need to see specialists.

 

[lilminx]

I have Aetna US Healthcare, and I have yet to have any problems with htem. As long as I use doctors that accept my insurance, I'm fine.
My prescription plan is provided by my union. It's great, because if I fill my birth control pills directly through tme instead of in a pharmacy, I only pay $2 for 3 packs of pills. In a pharmacy, I'd pay $5 a pack, which is still great.
Many prescription plans don't cover birth control pills, or only partially cover them . I think that this is incredibly stupid- they'll partially cover an abortion, and they'll cover the healtcare of you and your child if you get pregnant, but they won't cover you being responsible and NOT getting pregnant.