Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia

Insurance coverage is pathetic. So far I have paid 90% for all my treatments.

Review: I hope I am reporting to the correct company, but it is difficult by design to actually pinpoint the correct affiliate company when dealing with a company that is made to have many subsidiaries and locations. If the exact address is inaccurate, some details below may be helpful in locating the correct company.

Bills are being mailed from:

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield [redacted]

This spring, I purchased an individual insurance policy from Anthem. The website stated online payment was accepted. Part of the online application process included providing a credit card number.

To my dismay later, I was told that the online payment was just for a different type of policy than the one I had signed up for. This is despite bills arriving monthly stating I can pay online at Anthem.com, despite the claims made during the application process.

Like many now a days, my work requires travel and time away from the home. I started rceiving late bill notices due to being out of town and being too busy to call in for payment during Anthem's working hours (this is why I signed up to be able to pay online).

I called Anthem and one of their customer service representatives confirmed to me that if I were to miss a payment for any reason, the policy would be automatically terminated and reported to a credit agency. No courtesy calls would be made. This is despite the fact that they have my email address and phone number; and despite the fact that they send unsolicited advertisements to it on a regular basis.

I believe this to be a violation of consumer rights in more than one way:

Firstly, it is false advertisement by an insurer.

Secondly, it is not in the spirit of good faith to refuse to make reasonable efforts to reach out to the owner of a overdue account before reporting to a credit agency. If this is legal, it shouldn't be. These laws were not made to allow companies to abuse good meaning customers.Desired Settlement: Anthem needs to promise not to report to a credit reporting agency as a result of this incident.

Anthem needs to consider the policy as active and without lapse and not recognize any lapses in coverage as a result of this, or report any such to any future insurers I may choose to go with.

Business

Response:

September 10, 2013

Dear [redacted]:

Thank you for your August 29, 2013, inquiry and September 9, 2013, follow up letter to [redacted] on behalf of [redacted]. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

As noted in my August 30, 2013, email, we do not have a signed authorization from [redacted] allowing us to discuss the details of his case with you. An authorization is necessary to protect our members' personal health information and to be compliant with rules and regulations set forth under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). We mailed an authorization form to [redacted] for him to complete; however, it has not been returned to our office. As such, I am unable to respond in this regard.

It may be helpful to note that we also received an inquiry on [redacted]'s behalf from the [redacted] and will be responding to their office shortly to address his concerns.

Before closing, I would like to add that all future inquiries should be sent directly to [redacted]. Thank you for your efforts on [redacted]'s behalf.

Sincerely,

Anthem sux. I had heard they were not approving doctor's requests for procedures and [redacted] if they didn't turn me down. I have been a customer with Anthem since 1992 and was denied an MRI that my doctor requested. I hear it is a very big problem and I am not by myself. I pay my premiums but they deny me service. They are nothing but a ripoff. I will be going on Medicare in two months so I wonder if this has something to do with it. Perhaps it has something to do with [redacted].. The whites pay the premiums and the blacks get the services. I would not recommend this company to anybody.

Review: Payment made December 22, 2014 for policy, Anthem cancelled policy January 6, 2015 w/o consent from policy holders or notification of end of contract

Made payment December 22, 2014 for policy, effective date January 1, 2015. Received bill for February on January 2, 2015 that listed a balance of $0.00. Payment was returned and mailed out from Anthem January 6, 2015 reason listed as "contract cancelled", did not receive until January 12, 2015. We did not cancel the contract ourselves, Anthem did. Tried to get a prescription filled on January 9, 2015 and was told the policy ended December 31, 2014. Spent 3 hours total on the phone w/ 5 different associates and was told 1st that the pharmacy had the wrong group #, then that the policy had the wrong dates on it, then that the payment hadn't been applied to all members on the account and just the primary, and then hung up one twice when I requested to speak to a supervisor (associates named [redacted] and [redacted]). Never once did anyone say anything about the payment being sent back and they each said there were not any existing notes in my file about the previous calls of the day.

There is no reason the policy was cancelled except for an oversight on Anthem's part. We didn't receive anything in the mail from them stating they were cancelling the policy except for the check w/ the notation of the contract being cancelled. Their associates are not trained properly, as hanging up on a customer should not be standard practice when a customer is asking to speak to a supervisor.Desired Settlement: Get my family's insurance reinstated, working properly, and able to be used. Essentially, Anthem to provide the insurance I paid for before they returned the payment.

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. [redacted]: Thank you for your January 28, 2015, letter on behalf of [redacted]. I have the following information to offer in response to Ms. [redacted]'s concerns regarding her health care plan. Our records indicate that Ms. [redacted] spoke with a representative on January 13, 2015. At that time, our representative resolved Ms. [redacted]'s concerns regarding her premium and coverage. Additionally, the representative contacted our pharmacy team and ensured that Ms. [redacted] was able to obtain her prescription medication before ending the call. The representative provided her name and direct telephone number should Ms. [redacted] experience any issues going forward. Anthem is committed to providing excellent service to all our customers. It is never our intention to make it difficult for our members to do business with our company. We regret the difficulties Ms. [redacted] encountered and hope that her negative experience does not leave a lasting impression. Ms. [redacted], thank you for your efforts on behalf of Ms. [redacted]. Please let us know whenever we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, [redacted] Executive Services

Anthem likes to tell their customers one thing, but then do something completely different; they also keep you on the phone for hours and you end up talking to 4 or 5 different people who all give you different answers.

I was recently experiencing breathing problems due to my asthma. My doctor prescribed a short course of prednisone which I completed with little improvement,. My doctor prescribed a second round of [redacted] with a different dose and for a longer period of time.Anthem refused to pay for the medication saying that it was "too soon" to fill this prescription again. Since when does the insurance company trump the doctor in deciding when a patient should take medication? I was forced to pay for this medication out of pocket because, even though Anthem does not appear to agree, I had to breathe.