4 ms·

They're fantastically better than any other insurance I've had. What they cover for my family is easily another income every year. What did you have before?

by waspleg 12y ago

nostrademons 12y ago
Anthem is very schizophrenic about their group vs. individual plans. I was covered by them under Google's group plan and they were easily the best insurance company I've had. They paid for all sorts of things that other insurers wouldn't bother for, no questions asked, and were great to deal with. Then I tried continuing with one of their individual plans after leaving, and they were easily the worst insurer I've ever dealt with. Things like not informing me that my PCP (who'd certainly been part of the group plan) was not part of the individual plan's network, or finding out that the nearest available PCP who was is 40 miles away (I live in a major metropolitan area with several million inhabitants). Not being able to change my address through the website - they have a form up that doesn't work, along with a message saying "If this form doesn't work, please call ..." Taking hours to get ahold of a human on the phone. Billing hassles. Sending out "your coverage is ending in 30 days because of non-payment" notices even though I'd faithfully paid online on-time. I'm actually quite glad that their terms are "Your policy ends automatically when you don't pay", because they've made it pretty much impossible for me to pay them - their online billpay refuses to take my payment (failing with no error message), which I suspect is because my address changed, but their website makes it impossible for me to update my address, calling them takes more time than I'm willing to invest, and I don't have any trust that if I send them a check it will actually be credited to my account. I just started a policy with Blue Cross Blue Shield instead, which has been a joy in comparison, and let Anthem lapse. If you read the Yelp reviews, they're far worse than my situation - folks being promised coverage for hospital stays and then denied coverage afterwards, and multiple lawsuits outstanding against them. The cynic in me thinks that Anthem is basically unable to continue as an operating business, and so they're triaging accounts. The big group accounts like Google get top-of-the-line service, so that they can keep them and hopefully bring in enough revenue to tide the company over. The individual accounts - anything that's small enough to (presumably) not have many other options and unable to sue - get screwed. So if you're in one of those groups, be thankful; if you're an individual, start looking elsewhere.
- feld 12y ago
  That is an interesting point of view. Thanks!
feld 12y ago
Unity Health Insurance which is localized to Wisconsin -- run by the UW Hospitals. It's far better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin_Hospital_and_Clinics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin_Hospita... https://unityhealth.com/ https://unityhealth.com/ edit: I had group insurance with Unity for like 8 years. Never once had a scrap of paper to review or a bill to squabble over; everything always covered. Now I'm on a group plan for Anthem and I almost choked when I received the summary of benefits which was greatly reduced in scope. I guess I had it good.

They're fantastically better than any other insurance I've had. What they cover for my family is easily another income every year. What did you have before?

by waspleg 12y ago

They're fantastically better than any other insurance I've had. What they cover for my family is easily another income every year. What did you have before?

nostrademons 12y ago

Anthem is very schizophrenic about their group vs. individual plans. I was covered by them under Google's group plan and they were easily the best insurance company I've had. They paid for all sorts of things that other insurers wouldn't bother for, no questions asked, and were great to deal with. Then I tried continuing with one of their individual plans after leaving, and they were easily the worst insurer I've ever dealt with. Things like not informing me that my PCP (who'd certainly been part of the group plan) was not part of the individual plan's network, or finding out that the nearest available PCP who was is 40 miles away (I live in a major metropolitan area with several million inhabitants). Not being able to change my address through the website - they have a form up that doesn't work, along with a message saying "If this form doesn't work, please call ..." Taking hours to get ahold of a human on the phone. Billing hassles. Sending out "your coverage is ending in 30 days because of non-payment" notices even though I'd faithfully paid online on-time. I'm actually quite glad that their terms are "Your policy ends automatically when you don't pay", because they've made it pretty much impossible for me to pay them - their online billpay refuses to take my payment (failing with no error message), which I suspect is because my address changed, but their website makes it impossible for me to update my address, calling them takes more time than I'm willing to invest, and I don't have any trust that if I send them a check it will actually be credited to my account. I just started a policy with Blue Cross Blue Shield instead, which has been a joy in comparison, and let Anthem lapse. If you read the Yelp reviews, they're far worse than my situation - folks being promised coverage for hospital stays and then denied coverage afterwards, and multiple lawsuits outstanding against them. The cynic in me thinks that Anthem is basically unable to continue as an operating business, and so they're triaging accounts. The big group accounts like Google get top-of-the-line service, so that they can keep them and hopefully bring in enough revenue to tide the company over. The individual accounts - anything that's small enough to (presumably) not have many other options and unable to sue - get screwed. So if you're in one of those groups, be thankful; if you're an individual, start looking elsewhere.

feld 12y ago
That is an interesting point of view. Thanks!

feld 12y ago

Unity Health Insurance which is localized to Wisconsin -- run by the UW Hospitals. It's far better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin_Hospital_and_Clinics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin_Hospita... https://unityhealth.com/ https://unityhealth.com/ edit: I had group insurance with Unity for like 8 years. Never once had a scrap of paper to review or a bill to squabble over; everything always covered. Now I'm on a group plan for Anthem and I almost choked when I received the summary of benefits which was greatly reduced in scope. I guess I had it good.