Bluecross and Blueshield insurance

[Chicago526]

I have a top-notch plan with BCBS and so far, no problems. I agree with all the others, the better plan your company has, the less problems you generally have with any insurance company.

 

[Arielle22]

I had BCBS HMO Blue New England for 8 years before I switched in January. We never had any problems and we really used it. One dd had several surgeries and multiple trips to specialists. I had knee surgery and DH and I both had emergency room trips.

I am an HR manager and can tell you how the decision is made on what plan a company has. You are given statistics on previous year's claims and how much money all claims cost. You are then given renewal rates based on claims history as well as current census (age, addresses of employees).

In order to bring down the rates you can pick and choose different levels of deductibles. For instance this year raising the deductible for hospital stay was not enough of a savings for us to justify raising it. Next year may change.

We switched plans to my insurance (Guardian) because the cost of BCBS would be too high $186 per wk versus my $163 biweekly.

 

[Stitchfans]

They vary - from area to area - plan to plan..

Mine is not good - but it's certainly better than nothing..

Congrats on having insurance!! No one can "afford" to be without it..

Exactly. My DH also pays for his to the best of my memory $175.00 a month for all of us. They like to "play games" with us. Blue Cross in the past never did that but like to now. Since my last stay in the hospital with my ulcer sores on my legs they paid here and there but we have to hound them to do so. We still are left with thousands of dollars out of our pocket that we owe.

My biggest gripe is when they play games with our prescriptions. They actually tell us we can't have the entire months worth and nonsense like that. So again we have to pay out of pocket sometimes to get the rest.

But as said it is better then having no insurance at all. The hospital bill alone would of wiped us out.

 

[cybrkitn]

DH has United Health Care and Empire BC/BS as he works for the State of NY. His benefits are so good that I've waived my employers benefits because they just can't compete

 

[Bluecross is ripoff]

My hubby started a new job and they offer bluecross insurance. It's 46.00 a week for all of us 2 adults 2kids. It has a 750.00 deductible. Is BlueCross a good insurance company?

I had other good dental insurances but had to buy my own now that my employer doesn't pay for it anymore.
I purchased BlueCross dental. What a mistake. I paid for three months. First I paid for Oct Nov Dec ....went to the dentist in Nov and was told that I wasn't covered...seems that if you buy in Oct. they go back tow months through Aug. and Sept.
BlueCross people told me it was done that way so that I wouldn't have a waiting period of the 6 months before it all kicks in, so I purchased another 3 months worth for me and my family.
Guess what ? I went to the dentist after that and was told that there was a six month waiting period..BC/BS plain out lied to me and robbed from me.
So now I paid for 6 months insurance and got only four months ..of which nothing is covered. They had told me that the coverage would start at day one with no waiting period.
They don't have an online address and they don't have a customer service telephone line.
CROOKS ! !

 

[happygirl]

I had other good dental insurances but had to buy my own now that my employer doesn't pay for it anymore.
I purchased BlueCross dental. What a mistake. I paid for three months. First I paid for Oct Nov Dec ....went to the dentist in Nov and was told that I wasn't covered...seems that if you buy in Oct. they go back tow months through Aug. and Sept.
BlueCross people told me it was done that way so that I wouldn't have a waiting period of the 6 months before it all kicks in, so I purchased another 3 months worth for me and my family.
Guess what ? I went to the dentist after that and was told that there was a six month waiting period..BC/BS plain out lied to me and robbed from me.
So now I paid for 6 months insurance and got only four months ..of which nothing is covered. They had told me that the coverage would start at day one with no waiting period.
They don't have an online address and they don't have a customer service telephone line.
CROOKS ! !

LOL thanks for bring this post back over 6 months ago

 

[HsvTeacher]

We have BC/BS of Alabama, and it's wonderful! My DH and I pay nothing for health insurance, since we combine our school system's allocations. We have $20 copays for doctor's office visits, $50 for emergency room visits, $3 for lab tests, and $5 90-day generic prescriptions. We couldn't ask for anything better!

 

[mhsjax]

My hubby started a new job and they offer bluecross insurance. It's 46.00 a week for all of us 2 adults 2kids. It has a 750.00 deductible. Is BlueCross a good insurance company?

I have had them for 20 years, plus I have worked in physician billing for 12 years. I LOVE them. Never had a problem.

 

[mhsjax]

I loved them when I had coverage with them in FL. They paid absolutely everything related to my pregnancy!

Same here and I had 3 all with amnio. I didn't pay a penny with any of my kids.

 

[pweyl36]

Did you have a lapse between ins.? If so you better make sure that your husbands plan does not have a pre-ex clause. They will make you wait up to 18mos. before they will pay anything that they consider pre-ex. I work in a dr office and we have pt that never new this and end up paying the bill or they cant get a referral to a specialist. Just check your plan.

 

[NikitaZee]

My family has BC/BS out of New York and it's the PPO plan - we have the best insurance of anyone I know. No deductible, no co-pays, no lifetime maximum - they even pay for things that a lot of companies won't, such as IVF and gastric by-pass surgeries. It does have everything to do with your employer and which plan they have chosen, though. I honestly hope we have this plan for a long, long time!

 

[DISNEY1975]

Funny I just saw this post. I just got off the phone with BCBS.

I received a bill from a hospital and it asked me to pay about $700. I called the billing department and asked why so much. they told me they received a letter from BCBS staing they would only pay $600 and to bill me the rest. If I had any questions to take it up with BCBS.

I called BCBS to ask what that was all about. They told me the hospital could not bill me that amount and that they are under contract with BCBS and they paid the contract amount. My responsibility to the hospital was 10%. The woman at BCBS asked for the phone number to the hospital and my acct number on the bill. She put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back saying I was all set and that I would receive a new bill from the hospital for $101 !!!!!

She gave me a refence number and her number in case I had any issues in the future!

Excellent customer service.

 

[HsvTeacher]

Funny I just saw this post. I just got off the phone with BCBS.

I received a bill from a hospital and it asked me to pay about $700. I called the billing department and asked why so much. they told me they received a letter from BCBS staing they would only pay $600 and to bill me the rest. If I had any questions to take it up with BCBS.

I called BCBS to ask what that was all about. They told me the hospital could not bill me that amount and that they are under contract with BCBS and they paid the contract amount. My responsibility to the hospital was 10%. The woman at BCBS asked for the phone number to the hospital and my acct number on the bill. She put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back saying I was all set and that I would receive a new bill from the hospital for $101 !!!!!

She gave me a refence number and her number in case I had any issues in the future!

Excellent customer service.

Oh yeah! BC/BS is great about dealing with the hospitals. Our local hospital tried to bill me for the physician's assistant during my back surgery. I called BC/BS, and they took over from there. We ended up owing nothing.

 

[Nancy]

Funny I just saw this post. I just got off the phone with BCBS.

I received a bill from a hospital and it asked me to pay about $700. I called the billing department and asked why so much. they told me they received a letter from BCBS staing they would only pay $600 and to bill me the rest. If I had any questions to take it up with BCBS.

I called BCBS to ask what that was all about. They told me the hospital could not bill me that amount and that they are under contract with BCBS and they paid the contract amount. My responsibility to the hospital was 10%. The woman at BCBS asked for the phone number to the hospital and my acct number on the bill. She put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back saying I was all set and that I would receive a new bill from the hospital for $101 !!!!!

She gave me a refence number and her number in case I had any issues in the future!

Excellent customer service.

That's what any good insurance company should do..it's what I do all do with the company I work for. Providers are notorious for billing the difference between the allowed amount and contracted rate...I can just imagine how much money they get that they shouldn't because the patients just pay it because it is a bill and don't question what might seem like a large amount....being an educated consumer is a good thing.

 

[aprilgail2]

DH has United Health Care and Empire BC/BS as he works for the State of NY. His benefits are so good that I've waived my employers benefits because they just can't compete

Thats the same insurance I have- its great--and doesn't cost us a penny, employer pays 100 percent!

 

[Mskanga]

We have BCBS PPO plan and my daughter was treated for cancer , they paid for everything 100% after the initial $1000 and we have no lifetime cap limits, that to me is a big relief as treatment for my daughter in one year alone was over 1 million.
We pay $400 a month for it and our copays are $15.

 

[RangerPooh]

Growing up we had BC/BS and had excellent coverage! Over the years we've had a few different providers due to whom ever our current employer was and they were never as good as BC/BS. My current employer offers BC/BS and we accepted it. For our family of 4 (soon to be 5) we're paying between $300-$400 a month (I forget the actual amount), with $15 co-pays. We've been very pleased with our coverage.