momto4kings Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 We might be changing employers, thus changing health insurance as well. I like what we have now, but it will not be an option anymore. Has anyone had United Healthcare? We are in Utah. What has been your experience with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMommy Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 It's OK. We had it until the first of the year. Co-pays (at least for the plan we had) were pretty high compared to what we have now, but the deductibles were OK. All of our doctors were covered under the plan, which was important to us. The biggest problems we had were with our pharmacy coverage. That was terrible. I'm relieved not to have to deal with that anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I had it through my old employer from 2003-2005 and a number of my colleagues had problems with UHC not paying claims & doctors/clinics sending the bill to collections. I didn't personally experience any of these problems, but my old employer wound up switching to Blue Cross because there were so many complaints. We have had it here in CA since April 2011 and (knock on wood) haven't had any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 double-post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I had it through my old employer from 2003-2005 and a number of my colleagues had problems with UHC not paying claims & doctors/clinics sending the bill to collections. I didn't personally experience any of these problems, but my old employer wound up switching to Blue Cross because there were so many complaints. We have had it here in CA since April 2011 and (knock on wood) haven't had any problems. UHC routinely denied claims for various reasons (and sometimes no reason!) The choice of providers was small and we figured out that was because their reimbursement rates were so low. There was one particular office where their contracted rate was lower than our co-pay, but we still had to pay the full co-pay.:glare: And, yes, if they don't pay, then you are liable.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jen* Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We have had UHC for 6 years and have never had a problem with them. They have always paid all our claims quickly and have never denied anything. We mainly have routine healthcare stuff except for DS#3 and his NICU stay. Even then they didn't question anything and paid the whole thing minus our copay. My DH works for a large company and we have a great plan through UHC. I think more depends on the plan your company pays for than UHC itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwin Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 I have it and haven't had a problem. They're not Empire/BCBS, but they are better than Aetna (the main doctor group in our town won't take Aetna, and it's what my husband has.) One of my coworkers had to fight them on his daughter's NICU stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fhjmom Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) We have had UHC several different times and on routine stuff they were pretty run-of-the mill. We did have a hearing rider that covered all of our speech and hearing expenses related to hearing loss, including hearing aids, which is normally not covered. Every.single.time we had a claim for one of those visits, it was denied and I had to call and go through a huge explanation to get them to pay the claim. :tongue_smilie: I don't know if it would have been any better with anyone else though. I will say something positive: UHC has a foundation that helps people who have insurance coverage but have children with medical needs that are not covered by their insurance. We had a high deductible policy when the girls were first diagnosed with hearing loss and we were able to get a grant from their foundation to help up get the hearing aids. I really appreciated that and you do not have to have UHC insurance to apply to their foundation. Edited January 27, 2012 by fhjmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8circles Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We've had it for several years & have never had any problems. The few glitches were solved painlessly with one phone call & many apologies on their part. I think co-pays & such are specific to the actual policy, not the insurance company. We've had UHC with two different employers & the co-pays & other details were different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto4kings Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Thank you so much for your responses. My dh is excited about the new job--he'll be making nearly $20k more and the work will be more along the lines of what he likes to do. I just need to stop worrying about the insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We have had UHC for 6 years and have never had a problem with them. They have always paid all our claims quickly and have never denied anything. We mainly have routine healthcare stuff except for DS#3 and his NICU stay. Even then they didn't question anything and paid the whole thing minus our copay. My DH works for a large company and we have a great plan through UHC. I think more depends on the plan your company pays for than UHC itself. :iagree: with this, except we didn't have a NICU baby. We don't need referrals, and have always had a great selection of doctors. They even covered acupuncture. Overall, the pharmacy coverage has been great, but we've hit snags since the new year started. They paid $600 for one child's antibiotic, but denied the other child's antibiotic, which was $90. This is a result of our company's plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah C. Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 UHC has various plans available. I am on my parents' plan, which has excellent coverage - but I don't really have experience with it, since thankfully I haven't had to use it. I had a roommate who was on her parents' UHC plan, and it did not have the coverage she needed (in this case, maternity coverage for dependents, which my parents' plan covers). Same company, two different plans. I think a lot of possible issues will depend on the plan you have. I hope your insurance works out well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Thank you so much for your responses. My dh is excited about the new job--he'll be making nearly $20k more and the work will be more along the lines of what he likes to do. I just need to stop worrying about the insurance. For $20K more I wouldn't worry about the insurance....:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 My DH works for a large company and we have a great plan through UHC. I think more depends on the plan your company pays for than UHC itself. :iagree: We had UHC for years without any negative experience. They covered different facial surgery, mole removals, oophorectomy, ER visits, mammos, well checks, vaccines, MRIs and everything in between with minimal cost to us and no battles. They even covered $1500/mo. Tier IV scripts, and we only had to pay $100/mo. In 10+ years, the only thing they covered poorly was my Novasure ablation kit (which apparently was a separate product purchased by my doctor and not a negotiable item). The customer service was horrible. I hated talking to those people on the phone more than actually going to the doctor. It seemed like they could never answer a simple question, or could never guarantee that their answer was correct. But our UHC plan's coverage was great. We have a low cost Blue Cross/Anthem plan now, and it's far inferior to what we had with UHC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3Boys Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We had UH for several years, right up until we moved a year and a half ago. We were very pleased with them. They never refused any claims except one time they questioned a prescription. One call from the dr's office cleared it up. They were very helpful with any inquiries we had and usually got right back to us with any info we requested. Now we have Capital Blue Cross and we are not so pleased. Dh has been suffering with stomach/sinus problems and so far none of the meds/treatments have worked, so his dr wanted to try something totally different. Capital is refusing to cover these 2 prescriptions for dh because they say it is too expensive, yet there is no generic for either of them and dh's dr said there is nothing else that does what these prescriptions do. We (dh and his dr) have been back and forth on the phone with them and they finally agreed to allow one of the prescriptions for a specified amount of time and will cover it if it works. They are still considering the second prescription. We miss UH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellers Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We have United Health Care and have never had a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We had UHC at least twice. Never had any problems. Even with ds special needs and operations. What they cover, the costs, deductibles, etc are dependent on the contract they have with the employer providing coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We had United Healthcare for many years and it was fantastic - always covered specialists, vision/hearing specialists, lab testing, etc. with no referrals. Much much better than our current Blue Cross Blue Shield. However, most coverage is changing fast these days, so it's hard to say... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 The worst insurance company I ever had. They would fight every claim for no reason. They tentatively approved, and then denied my surgery, less than 12 hours from when the surgeon was scheduled to cut. Just to reapprove it the next day, making us reschedule everyone and the OR. They messed up my orthodontist billing, so that it took years to straighten out. The paid correctly, then insisted that they overpaid-reclaiming monies from the Dr, then overpaid by $800. When I called to say they overpaid, they said they were right, I was wrong, so I let it go. 2 years after my treatment was complete, they contacted the office again, saying that the bills were still messed up. The office manager, said too late, too bad, go away! They went through 3 computer system changes and a buy out while I had them. I assume this was part of the problem. When ever I would call, I would have to tell them to look for various parts of our billing in the different systems. You would think that they would have had notes, or links bu they didn't. It was up to me to keep it all straight of which system was holding which information. It was a nightmare! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 :iagree: The customer service was horrible. I hated talking to those people on the phone more than actually going to the doctor. It seemed like they could never answer a simple question, or could never guarantee that their answer was correct. . :iagree: The worst insurance customer service I have ever dealt with. I bill insurance for a living, so I talk to a lot...they were the worst, by far, to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Be prepared to argue EVERY SINGLE CLAIM. I suggest soothing music when calling the costumer service. Your blood pressure when already be high enough. Study your book so when they deny your can quote the book where it says covered. I almost did cartwheels when we got new insurance however I wanted to avoid the emergency room;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krista in LA Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We have UHC and I had 2 hospital stays including a surgery during one of them and I can't complain much. They were concerned that it was a preexisting condition so I had to send proof that we were insured prior to that (dh's company keeps switching plans on us). After that, they paid everything except for about $200 in charges where they didn't want to pay a provider directly because it was done in a facility setting. We have Healthcare Advocate so I just called them and they took care of it all for me. The amazing thing to me is that they paid the nurse anesthetist more than they paid the surgeon! And that was on top of what the anesthesiologist got. Anyway, I can't complain about UHC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda S in TX Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We have had UHC for over fifteen years. Sometimes they do good;sometimes they do bad. Customer service is always terrible and the phone answering people do no know anything beyond the basic. I have had five babies on UHC. Two with doctors, one with a midwife in the hospital, and two with a midwife in my home. All of the hospital births were covered with no problem. UHC approved my homebirth midwife because we didn't have hospital midwife in our area at the time. They approved the midwife and sent us an approval letter. When the claim was submitted, they refused to pay. After lots of phone calls and paperwork. They double paid (sent payment to us and the midwife). My 6yo, Hannah, was diagnosed with cancer last year. She has had several surgeries, many hospital stays, and tons of doctor visits. After we paid the deductible, UHC covered it. But on the other hand, they are still arguing with the hospital about claims from June 2011. Hannah had proton therapy approved. It is not the standard radiation for her type of cancer, but the doctor filled out some paperwork and UHC approved it. Deductibles vary from year to year ($3000-$8000) and on our plan, you have to pay it all before they pay for anything. Then you pay a portion until you reach the out of pocket maximum. Then they pay for everything. Prescription coverage is terrible. This past week, Hannah had her first Neulasta injection. Our copay is $880. THE COPAY!! That is for two injections and she will have them every three weeks. Everyone in the oncology clinic hit the roof. They said they have never seen a Neulasta copay for more than $50. And this is an outpatient med. It's not like the hospital can get it for us and we can put it on our installment plan. We have to get it directly from the pharmacy and pay immediately. UHC is all over the board. Customer service and prescription coverage has always been terrible. What they cover and how much they will pay for it varies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiCO Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We might be changing employers, thus changing health insurance as well. I like what we have now, but it will not be an option anymore. Has anyone had United Healthcare? We are in Utah. What has been your experience with them? United Healthcare has a lot of different plans, so co-pays and such depend on what plan the employer chooses. I find United Healthcare to be an easy company to work with. They also pay 100% of lab work, which is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We had UHC with my husband's employer. The plan you get is a function what the employer negotiates with UHC. Also, the customer service is also a function of the employer because when you call, it says that the customer service is for employees of X company. We had great coverage with UHC but again it was what the employer negotiated. We had two different plans for BC with other employers and the first employer paid for everything and customer service was great. When we had BC with the second employer, it didn't pay as much and customer service for the X company employees was awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We've had UHC for almost 4 years and have been very happy. In UT it covers Intermountain Hospitals which includes Primary Childrens in SLC. My ds employer has the plan were we have no copay and we have an account that draws down during the year. My ds had an accident on the playground and UHC medical was great about paying all the bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Deductibles vary from year to year ($3000-$8000) and on our plan, you have to pay it all before they pay for anything. Then you pay a portion until you reach the out of pocket maximum. Then they pay for everything. Prescription coverage is terrible. This past week, Hannah had her first Neulasta injection. Our copay is $880. THE COPAY!! That is for two injections and she will have them every three weeks. Everyone in the oncology clinic hit the roof. They said they have never seen a Neulasta copay for more than $50. And this is an outpatient med. It's not like the hospital can get it for us and we can put it on our installment plan. We have to get it directly from the pharmacy and pay immediately. UHC is all over the board. Customer service and prescription coverage has always been terrible. What they cover and how much they will pay for it varies. Keep in mind that these things will vary greatly, and are dependent on the choices your company makes for coverage. UHC, like most insurance companies, has multitudes of plans, giving employers many options to choose from. For example, we currently have Blue Cross/Blue Shield. We have a deductible but no co-pays after that. A good friend also has BCBS, she has no deductible but pays 20% of everything up to $10,000/year, and then is covered at 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) We have had UH for several years with dh company and it has been very good for us. UH custmer service is very good, I get through quickly and get my questions answered. I've had to go to a dr in a different state while on vacation and it was not an issue at all. Edited January 27, 2012 by lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We've been with several companies, including UH. IMO, there are no differences. They all had equal pros and cons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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