a rant about Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida....

[steve2470]

Do not read this if you're not in the mood for an angry rant....











Ok, you're still here.

I have very few insurance options. BCBS of FL happens to be my best option price-wise. Lucky me!

The price might be "right" but the customer service is F************G TERRIBLE. Where do I start ?

1- Poorly trained phone reps

2- My prescription drug rider totally ignored and they told my pharmacy I had no coverage. What???!

3- Surreptitiously changing their formulary so I have to pay more for a medication. No notice, no phone calls, emails, old school mail, NOTHING.

4- Numerous problems with their website

5- Numerous poorly-drafted emails to me, which they have had to retract within 24 hours.

This is the coup de grace which really pisses me off:

I had to change plans in November to lower my overall costs. They FORCED me to pay for January 2018 in advance to change my coverage. Fair enough. I paid the premium for January.

Because I know how F*************G INCOMPETENT BCBS of FL is, I got a supervisor to tell me that no indeed, I would not be billed AGAIN in January 2018 and would only be billed again in February.

Guess what ? You guessed it. They are NOW informing me that I have not paid my premium for this month! And to boot, I cannot login to their website!

THEY ARE THE MOST INCOMPETENT COMPANY I HAVE EVER HAD THE DISPLEASURE TO DEAL WITH. I would really have to scratch my head to think of a more incompetent company.

Whew. I feel better. If you've had good luck with them, I am happy for you. I think I am cursed with them.

[Phoenix61]

1. I have the same insurance

But I have a local agent I use when I need to change anything. Is there a local agent where you are? Maybe they could sort things out better than someone over the phone.

[steve2470]

2. good idea, I will look for someone

eta: sent an email to an agency, wish me luck lol

*knock on wood for a prompt reply*

[Sedona]

3. I've had BCBS of Georgia for 2016-2017

They abandoned Georgia at the end of 2017.

I had similar experiences with them here.

They even changed my .primary care doctor without notice or my permission. Took me weeks to undo that.

I now have Kaiser Permanente.

BC leaving Georgia may have been a blessing.

Wish me luck

[steve2470]

4. good luck!! nt

[TexasTowelie]

5. Hello Steve,

My experience is in property & casualty insurance rather than health insurance, but I can assure you that BCBS failed to test their computer systems adequately and bugs in the programs will appear throughout the month of January for most companies. I know that during the last year I worked at a former employer that I saw either a) programs destined to fail because not business scenarios were considered and/or b) the data quality was ridiculously poor (e.g., were you born on the 42nd day of the 14th month of the year).

Keep in mind that a lot of the computer programming work for large companies occurs in other countries (likely India) so that creates further delays both because of the different time zones and also because contract programmers don't understand the business rules as well as an in-house programmer does. The work week was also shortened with only four business days and it probably takes a couple of days to notice a problem.

I used to have CIGNA as my insurer and I usually did not receive my insurance card until the 10th or 15th of the month and had to print it out online on top of that. I can also say that their customer service was horrible and frustrating so I suspect that it may be a problem throughout the insurance industry.

As far as BCBS billing you a second time for January, you will probably need to get a copy of your check or other proof of payment and mail it to them with the remittance slip. Send it certified mail with return receipt requested and also request a credit to your bill for the expenses you incur. Keep copies of the information in your records.

It's a pain that you have to jump through so many hoops, but I've come to expect foul-ups at the beginning of each year.

I will offer a piece of advice (even though you didn't ask). If you see that you are going to run out of medication within the first few days of a new year, then get those prescriptions filled on December 30th or 31st. Treat January 1st as though a hurricane is about to arrive so that you aren't a "guinea pig" while BCBS fixes its problems.

Good luck with everything. I hope they can address your concerns quickly.

[steve2470]

9. thank you, it could very well be a massive computer screw-up

They've F*****D up before and had to issue apologies and retractions for bogus emails. This info was in an email.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. A long, long time ago

(and possibly in a galaxy far, far away) Blue Cross Blue Shield was the gold standard of health insurance.

Not so much any more. For one thing, there are about 7,000 or so different BCBS entities. I don't know the exact number, but a while back when I was doing outpatient registration at a hospital (those patients who were coming in for routine testing of various kinds) we had a very thick booklet of all the BCBS entities, not all of which the hospital accepted for coverage.

It also seemed, the small amount I saw of insurance declines, that they were pretty much number 1 in how often they declined to pay for something.

Despite the supposed best price, you might want to check into your alternatives.

But much sympathy to you about all this.

[steve2470]

10. thank you! nt

[csziggy]

7. I had them as my ACA insurance - they delayed my diagnosis by denying

Tests

Last March my cardiologist wanted a MRI of my heart. I could not get approval confirmed from BC/BS until AFTER I had gone on Medicare July 1. Fortunately my supplemental, Colonial Penn/Banker's Life gives me no problems at all.

Aside from that, every single time a test was requested, it was delayed by BC/BS.

But maybe BC/BS did me a favor. By the time I got the MRI then some other followup tests, the final test showed a mass on my kidney. Maybe the delay by BC/BS allowed the mass to get big enough to show up on the last test, a CT scan. Anyway, by the time they found the mass, they had already decided I needed an aortic valve replacement. That mass put me in the category for a trans arterial valve replacement (TAVR), which is much less invasive that the open heart surgery I might have had to get (I was trying to get into a clinical trial for low risk patients to get the TAVR when they found the mass).

I had the aortic valve replacement in October and my kidney removed in November. Still healing from the second operation, but doing good.

What is sad is that years ago my husband and I had BC/BS and it was great. It's just the level of service has degraded over the last couple of decades.

[steve2470]

11. best wishes to you, hope you are healing well! nt

[csziggy]

13. Doing great - just got home from my first cardio rehab session

I even had the energy to go shopping for slippers and socks, then grocery shopping afterwards!

Before the TAVR I couldn't have done one of those things without getting worn out and feeling as though I was out of breath.

Thanks!

[BigmanPigman]

8. I have them with the ACA as part of Covered CA.

I have had about 50/50 good and based experiences with them over the years. I talk to them on the phone and need to take a Xanax first as a precautionary measure sometimes.

[steve2470]

12. end of the saga (I hope)

I called BCBS of FL, and got a very nice lady by the name of Virginia on the phone. She confirmed that, yes indeed, everything was in order, and that A LOT of people had the same complaint I did.

I asked her, politely, to relay the problem up the chain of command. Oy vey. Maybe one day BCBS will get their act together. It's bad enough that we Americans have to deal with a broken healthcare system, but this kind of S****T just makes it even worse.

All the best to all of you with your health and your health insurance. A little over 5 years for me for Medicare!

[steve2470]

14. BCBS of Florida would not know competence if it came up to them and bit them on the ass...

SECOND MONTH IN A ROW THEY SAY I DID NOT PAY MY PREMIUM. Of course, I did, and have proof of it.

Jeebus lawd. They.Do.Not.Give.A.Shit.

They get your premiums and laugh all the way to cashing them and laugh at you for getting annoyed with their incompetence.