Anybody have CIGNA health insurance?

[Mad Jenny Flint]

What do you think of it, overall? Are they a good company to work with- customer service okay/informative? Do they cover your claims?

 

TIA,

[Jyniffrec]

We have Cigna. They always approve our claims but we have had a problem recently with them forcing the hospital my kids use to charge us for an ER visit when they were actually admitted. That costs us another $100 for each visit. That is the only problem we have had.

 

The staff in doctor's offices don't like Cigna, but they say that the patients almost always do because they work so well with their customers. I think there must be extra work for the staff when they have to file with Cigna. My kids' GI doctor always says that we have good insurance when he is considering a procedure.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

I really appreciate your response, and I'm looking forward to hearing what others say... :)

[Gratia271]

We had CIGNA insurance for several years with no problems whatsoever.

[ScoutTN]

We had it for 6 years and it was excellent.

Not so happy with our Aetna now.

[kaylk in tx]

we've had cigna for about 4 years now. no complaints. anytime i've had to call, they've been very helpful. it was usually the dr office not coding something correctly.

 

we had aetna before and it was pretty awful. they delayed payments to dr offices so long that many dr were about to drop them.

[Dandelion]

We had Cigna for 10 years (through my previous employer) and LOVED them.

 

Never had a problem, they approved all claims and processed them quickly, they approved lengthy ongoing speech therapy for DS (which we had to then discontinue when we switched to Tricare - they wouldn't pay for it because we were homeschooling and they expect speech therapy to be provided through the public school system).

 

Cigna has got to be one of the top insurance providers (at least from the perspective of the client) as far as I'm concerned...

[Holly IN]

 

The staff in doctor's offices don't like Cigna, but they say that the patients almost always do because they work so well with their customers. I think there must be extra work for the staff when they have to file with Cigna. My kids' GI doctor always says that we have good insurance when he is considering a procedure.

 

This is true. I worked for hospitals and dr's before in the patient accounts dept. As a patient accountant I didn't like Cigna. However as a member of Cigna (we had Cigna for 2 years on my hubby's employement) we loved it except for the ER visit cost which was very confusing to us as a policy holder. So I have been on both sides in this re: to Cigna.

 

Holly

[Kathleen in VA]

We have had Cigna for about a year and a half and I'm pretty happy with them. Dd11 had her appendix removed last September and the total bill from the hospital was $100. She was hospitalized for three days so that was a huge relief.

[Tap]

We have Cigna and have been happy. I have had many appointments over the past two years due to a back issue.

 

I was talking to an dr's office billing clerk recently and she said they don't like Cigna because the reimbursements were sooo low.

 

As a patient, it has been great.

[ConnieB]

We have Cigna. They always approve our claims but we have had a problem recently with them forcing the hospital my kids use to charge us for an ER visit when they were actually admitted. That costs us another $100 for each visit. That is the only problem we have had.

 

The staff in doctor's offices don't like Cigna, but they say that the patients almost always do because they work so well with their customers. I think there must be extra work for the staff when they have to file with Cigna. My kids' GI doctor always says that we have good insurance when he is considering a procedure.

 

Actually a big reason doctor's offices don't like CIGNA...they're so big that they have negotiated very low payments for the doctors...but they're so big that the doctor's don't have a choice but to accept patients with CIGNA or they'd be turning away a lot of patients.

 

It is good insurance, but you do need to stay on top of what you are eligible for, because like many insurance companies if they can put your procedure into a category that they don't have to pay (or pay as much) they do....sounds like that is what happened to the previous poster who had to pay the ER fee even though their kid was admitted. Be sure to not just try to resolve it by phone, file a formal appeal of the decision.....that's where you have the best chance of correcting the decision....but so many people argue with their claims department, are continually denied as they go up the supervisor chain and then give up....and that's what the insurance company is hoping you will do. Argue for a reasonable number of escalations, but then give up and file an appeal. Appeals have outsiders reviewing it not just internal adjusters so you get a more fair assessment. This is especially important for things that the insurance company deems "unnecessary" but your doctor says is necessary.....the claims folks aren't doctors and aren't qualified to make that decision, but the appeals adjusters include doctors.

[klmama]

CIGNA covers most of our claims right away, but dh has to be very diligent to make sure they cover what they should when we are submitting claims for reimbursement (instead of the doctor's office submitting directly - some doctors won't). It really seems to depend on who worked at CIGNA that day whether reimbursement claims get paid the first time they are submitted. Dh now has the direct number for a supervisor for those times the claims are denied. She's always very helpful and processes them correctly. :)

[Mejane]

Cigna is great. Now, if you had asked me about Blue Cross... :glare:

[Desert Rat]

We had Cigna for several years with no problems. We have pretty healthy kids though with just asthma to contend with. We don't need any major medical claims other than an occassional broken bone.

[2cents]

We have Cigna and we're happy with it. Never have any problems. :)

[elise1mds]

My experience has been mixed.

 

Overall it hadn't been bad UNTIL I tried to look into occupational therapy for DS. They are AWFUL for mental illness around here. Horrid. They cover *one*... *ONE*... occupational therapy facility in our entire metropolitan area. There are at least half a dozen. When I tried to call to get somewhere closer because their covered facility is an hour's drive away, which is ridiculous in a town of this size, they refused to work with me because they do cover that one single OT facility. Then I tried looking into dyslexia testing. They refused point-blank to cover that because it is an "educational" problem and not a "health" problem. They also refused to cover my son's peak flow meter for his asthma because it was deemed "unnecessary." Oh, and they also forget that my PCP is an internal medicine doctor and consistently try to bill me extra for a specialist visit. We've gone round and round with that one and just this week another one of those bills turned up for my husband's latest visit (we have the same PCP).

 

On the other hand, they didn't argue about covering DD's latest surgeries (tonsil- and adenoidectomy) and have gone to bat for us when a doctor tried to bill us six months after an ER visit because his office had forgotten to file. Our policy doesn't require a referral, so we can see whoever we want, and they have never made a noise about it. According to the site, though I haven't confirmed it, chiropractic care is supposed to be 100% covered. Their 3-month prescription plan is prompt in getting refills, and the folks there are very polite.

 

So... just my experience. :)

[Revwife]

I had Cigna for 12 years when I was working and I LOVED it! I had no problems at all! I wish I still had them:)

[MaMa2005]

We have had Cigna since January 1, 2010 and love it. No problems. All our doctors were ecstatic when we got new insurance. They said Cigna is so much easier to work with than United Healthcare. (DH is a teacher.)

[Mad Jenny Flint]

You have no idea how great it has been to read your replies.

 

I do appreciate it.

[Tap]

We have had Cigna since January 1, 2010 and love it. No problems. All our doctors were ecstatic when we got new insurance. They said Cigna is so much easier to work with than United Healthcare. (DH is a teacher.)

 

I tense up even hearing Unicare's name! I only had the coverage for 9 months but spent over 3 years dealing with them.

 

DH and I got Invisalign at the same time. We were in them for less than one year, and all the work was in one calendar year. Very, straight forward claims.

 

I had two insurances both who insisted they were secondary. We finally got it straightened out that UH was secondary but they were still going to have to pay the max out of pocket on ortho, $2000 for each of us, so it really didn't matter.

 

They paid claims, changed computer systems, then disputed the claims. Insisting they were primary and shouldn't be receiving secondary bills. I called, straightened it out. Everything was resubmitted to smooth things over.

 

They disputed all charges citing that they didn't get the information they needed. Hmmm they got some but not all the info that was Mailed...sorry don't think so. But.. All info was sent again for all the treatments. They changed computer systems again. Disputed claims, wanted money back. They tried to say I had less coverage than I did because the policy changed-2 years later! More phone calls. Paid claims again in full.

 

New computer system AGAIN. They sent a check out of the blue, a year later to my dentist, who deposited it. They realized they overpaid and wanted it back, calling my dentist's office. Oh, and by the way, they wanted all of the information resubmitted for a 3rd time. Because there were no records of the claim in the current system.....of course not, it was 3 systems ago and 3 years had gone by.

 

The receptionist said....nope, send a formal letter and we will see you in court.

 

Never heard from them again. It was a joke and I spent no less than 20 hours on the phone going over the same information again, and again.

 

My primary, Aetna, paid and never had an issue...on the exact same claims. So, I know it wasn't the dentist's office.

[dmc]

Hi,

 

I had Cigna insurance about 7 years back and their coverage was one of the best. It was so good, they cover everything. I have had good insurance but they seemed to be above everyone. Hope they still as good.

[Caribbean Queen]

I used to have Cigna. My son had a huge hospital bill and Cigna covered everything they were supposed to cover. A lady from Cigna even called me to make sure I had everything I needed to take care of him. Nice customer service.