Cigna v. United Health Care

mrsv98

Gracie's Mama, Certified chicken wrangler
Joined
Oct 22, 2001
We have to chose a new health insurance provider and our only choices are Cigna and UHC. They are the same cost and our doc is in the network for both.

Does anyone have any experience with either, good or bad? I am going to call our Doc's office too but it is always good to get info from the consumer's point of view.

Thanks!
 
We had United through DH's previous employer and have Cigna through his current employer. I don't have any gripes with either, but I don't have a choice in the matter so I don't know what the differences are, if any. Both have worked fine for us.
 
We had United through DH's previous employer and have Cigna through his current employer. I don't have any gripes with either, but I don't have a choice in the matter so I don't know what the differences are, if any. Both have worked fine for us.

Um thanks, you were no help at all!!! :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

Really, I can't find a huge difference, that is why I have been looking for opinions.
 
We've had UHC for years and I've been very happy with them. No billing issues and plenty of Drs. in the network.
 


We also used to save United, DH's employer switched to Cigna. I have no problem with Cigna, we pay more to have the plan where you can go to any doctor, it's not the HMO.
 
We have to chose a new health insurance provider and our only choices are Cigna and UHC. They are the same cost and our doc is in the network for both.

Does anyone have any experience with either, good or bad? I am going to call our Doc's office too but it is always good to get info from the consumer's point of view.

Thanks!

I've worked in health insurnce for 17 years now. In my experience, except in RI the plan management is essentially the same (in RI they are worlds apart) so, I'd suggest looking at the nitty gritty of the plans then. Not just the weekly cost for the plans but what are the co-pays, do they cover the drugs you use the same (I guarantee you not all are covered the same it's just whether the ones you use are the same), how do the drug, hospital & ER co-pays compare, is UC covered, are the overall OOP maximums the same, are the items excluded from OOP maximum the same, etc.?
 
We have to chose a new health insurance provider and our only choices are Cigna and UHC. They are the same cost and our doc is in the network for both.

Does anyone have any experience with either, good or bad? I am going to call our Doc's office too but it is always good to get info from the consumer's point of view.

Thanks!

Just wanted to say that I appreciate the thread.... I believe I work for the same company and didnt even think to post a thread...duh lol
 


Just wanted to say that I appreciate the thread.... I believe I work for the same company and didnt even think to post a thread...duh lol

Can you figure out the whole MRA thing? Supposedly this is a better system but trying to figure it out will send me to the hospital! :rotfl:
 
We used to have UHC, now we have Cigna. Both are fine and never had a problem with either. Sorry wish I could be of more help!
 
We have to chose a new health insurance provider and our only choices are Cigna and UHC. They are the same cost and our doc is in the network for both.

Does anyone have any experience with either, good or bad? I am going to call our Doc's office too but it is always good to get info from the consumer's point of view.

Thanks!


UHC

Ive been in CIGNA and dealt with them as an agent as well and I have never had a good experience with anything that has to do with claims. THe worst Customer Service in the Industry.
 
It's probably the lesser of two evils, right?

I've not had good experiences with UHC. Our prescription costs shot through the roof when our coverage was switched to them, and working with them was a pain...if you ever actually got a person. It was such a negative experience, corporate wide, that the company switched to a new provider mid-year (after only 8 months with UHC).
 
We have iCgna, it was that or a hmo.

We had it for a whle and since then I have gotten cancer and I have to say they have really been good and have covered everything so far.

I only had one issue with them so far. That was they were not going to approve a biopsy and said it was out of network. They agreed that I had no choice in where the surgeon sent it so they processed it as in network and it didnt cost me anything, good as they are like over $3k each.

They also challenged one of my hospitalizations that was not related to the cancer. they said it should have been a day procedure but I was in the hosp. for 3 days, so the surgeon had to challenge it while I was there.

Some of the issues I have, and this might be depending upon what type of policy you have, what benefits you get etc.
They sent me a brochure about "end of life care and options". Hmm, I am not going anywhere. Then they kept trying to push a nurse case manager onto me. I told them no thanks, dont need one and I can manage my own care quite fine. Then they even had one of their nurses call me in the hospital. My son talked to them and I told them to tell them I am fine etc.

They also seem to push the mail order pharmacy stuff. They either send you letters or call you. I dont know how may times they do that. I guess they cant figure out that no means no.

Also if you get some type of injury or accident our policy has that another company will send you a letter asking the details. I try to give as few as possible. I know they want to know if homeowners, no fault etc. will cover it. Somehow my 3 ds always manage to break some bone doing something etc.

Our policy also has that they will send a letter to you and your dr if you are not filling your scripts properly. I guess they see our ds21 is not so diligent as he should be in taking his asthma meds. Its like they big brother you, but its for your good I guess.

Our friend also has cigna and her dd just had a heart transplant and 2 brain tumors out and they have no problems with them. I think all their stuff is covered too.

Best of luck deciding.
 
Don't have experience with Cigna but LOOOOOOVE United Healthcare. Great customer service and reasonable costs.
 
Had United, have Cigna now, no difference.

Now, the Eye Plan linked with United was Eye Med, where as Cigna uses VSP. I would NEVER, EVER used Eye Med again, at least here, I live in a county with 1.4 million people, and there were 6 Optometrists and no opthamologits in my area. I must have a choice of 100 optometrists and opthamologits in my area that accept VSP.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. DH is going to a "learning session" tomorrow to get more info and I am going to call our doc's office to see if they have a preference. The prescriptions are handled differently and preventative generic 'scrips are free so the is good. Dental and eye care are separate and they mentioned something about those being looked at next year. Really, at this point I think we could throw a dart and be ok.

Thanks for the feedback!:flower3:
 
I have Cigna with my job and I've never had any problems with them.. we have the cheapest HMO they offer and have no trouble at all finding doctors or specialists. Just be sure to DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK the prescription coverage. My company used to also just have cigna prescription insurance which was great, but they switched to cheap-o medco and I really, really dislike them. They barely cover anything that isn't generic. Not a fan!
 
Can you figure out the whole MRA thing? Supposedly this is a better system but trying to figure it out will send me to the hospital! :rotfl:

OMG yes!!! I have no idea about the MRA. I know there's a debit card option, though. I keep comparing the options but what is throwing me off is the fact that there's no copays just a percentage. Did you see the ER is like "we'll pay 80% after the deductible is met, or 60% after the deductible is met if its not a true emergency." Who decides if its a true emergency? :confused3 Obviously Im going to the ER for a reason. Anyway I think I'm going with UHC since I've heard better things about that company. This switch has been a nightmare. They should've just kept what we had, I didnt hear any complaints about those.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. DH is going to a "learning session" tomorrow to get more info and I am going to call our doc's office to see if they have a preference. The prescriptions are handled differently and preventative generic 'scrips are free so the is good. Dental and eye care are separate and they mentioned something about those being looked at next year. Really, at this point I think we could throw a dart and be ok.

Thanks for the feedback!:flower3:

I think the prescription coverage is staying the same. But just make sure you read your mail from them..they like to change things in the middle of the year.:)
 
CIGNA has the best "extra's" in the industry. The telephone support for help with stopping smoking, stress management, pregnancy, etc. is a NICE bonus with CIGNA-and free for you. Depending on what other features your company opts for with CIGNA you could see some nice reductions in your rates or extra money into your HRA if you have one of those plans.

In many states CIGNA and United Health have the exact same network of doctors. In our state CIGNA and Health Partners are the same network of doctors.

Keep in mind that which ever plan you get you aren't getting a "CIGNA" or "United Health" plan, you are getting coverage that your employer picked and CIGNA or United Health just administers the plan (processes the paperwork basically) for whatever coverage your company picked. YOUR plan is never going to be the same exact plan as another company. Prescription coverage, or not, is decided by your employer, etc.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top