An anecdote about our compassionate health insurance industry.

[Cronopio]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072101677_2.html?hpid=topnews

Cigna, one of the nation's largest insurers, took away its own employees' alternatives in 2006 and left them with only high-deductible coverage.

"There were a lot of unhappy people," said Wendell Potter, who until last year was Cigna's head of corporate communications. For many people enrolled in such plans, "the deductibles are so high that they forgo care," he said.

[Horse with no Name]

1. One of the not-for-profit hospitals I worked for many years ago

had an excellent health plan. Then, they changed to Cigna. Even the girls in the business office said Cigna was difficult to get reimbursement from and gave the plan holders a hard time.
Nobody could really figure out the change.
A couple of weeks later, in front of the hospital was a van that said "Donate to xxxx Hospital by Cigna".
Yeah...there aren't any perks tied to which plan your EMPLOYER chooses for YOU.:eyes:

[dflprincess]

2. My employer switched to Cigna for this year

and it's awful.. Everyone has to fight with them over every claim. Next year, we're switching to one of Cigna's high deductible (they like to call them "coinsurnace") plans despite mounting evidence that plans like this result in higher costs for everyone because, as you point out, people forgo care.

And just think, it looks like we're going to forced to continue handing our money over to these crooks. I suppose they have to make up the money they spent lobbying against real reform somehow.

[Horse with no Name]

4. Well make no mistake that OUR pockets are financing this assault

on a national plan. The insurance companies are pouring 1.6 million bucks per DAY into lobbying to make sure this doesn't happen.
Next year?
Our deductibles will be higher, coverage will be lower and premiums will be out of this world. This isn't a shared society where the money for lobbying will come out of THEIR pockets...no, we will be punished and it WILL come out of our pockets.
I fully expect our healthcare "choices" next year to be "worse", "worse than worse" and "you've got to be kidding me".
We are going to pay dearly for our dissent on this issue. That is why it is so important to do it right. It's the only shot we have and if we lose, we lose big for a very long time.:(

[knitter4democracy]

3. Cigna's the worst.

If it's not the worst, Aetna is. They're the cheapest for a reason.

[dflprincess]

5. I had hoped they might behave themselves - at least for a little while

after Wendell Potter went public.

This year I have a $500 deductible which I haven't hit yet, but I had to fight with them over an FSA reimbursement. They said they needed a copy of the Explanation of Benefits, I asked if that would the EOB they sent me and was I really suppose to believe they didn't have a copy of it. I never did get a straight answer and just faxed them the EOB....twice.

[knitter4democracy]

6. We're in a fight right now, too.

I ended up having to pay about a thousand dollars' worth of medical bills that the last insurance company the ex's office had us on just plain decided not to pay. One person agreed that they were supposed to and said he'd take care of it, and then we were told that some committee had decided that was bunk and wouldn't pay it at all. The ex let it go to collections, and I got to pay for it out of my half of the tax refund (which is a whole 'nother issue).

Now, the current insurance is refusing to pay for anything from when they started because the last insurance company was billed first, and they, of course, refused to pay. Now everyone's refusing to pay without the ex sending in answers to the EOB and more. He hasn't done it yet because the bills are in my name, and he wants to stick me with them.

[dflprincess]

7. Tell the you're going to call your state's Insurance Commissioner

and the state Attorney General. If you must, lead them to believe you know at least one of these people and will be speaking to him/her personally. I know people that has worked for.