Comments on: Empire Health Insurance Company

By: pulseps

pulseps — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:21:43 +0000

try to get appointment to neurologist and Psychectric but over 50% doctors not accept this insurance in north New Jersey! really surprized. i am paying 10.5K a year for my family insurance and its not worth paying.
i have this insurance from my work but i would definately try to change to different insurance than Empire BCBS

By: Bruce Walker

Bruce Walker — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:44:55 +0000

Worst customer service imaginable. They process in-network claims as out of network, admit they made a mistake, then demand the physician reimburse them for the out-of-network payment previously made prior to issuing a check for full payment to cover in-network preventive care that’s supposed to be 100% covered. Claim has dragged on for 6 months, each time I contact Empire BCBS they say it will be taken care, and then they do nothing. The provider has now flagged my account as in errears. If ever there were a company that represents everything wrong with the present healthcare system, Empire Blue Cross would have to be the winner of such a dubious honor.

By: Walter Young

Walter Young — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:37:07 +0000

They don’t get any worse. Customer service is non existent. They keep switching providers to the cheapest but most incompetent to save a few bucks. What they don’t realize are are too stupid to is that the providers force Empire to spend extra time to straighten out the wrong submissions. I guess they never heard of ‘time is money.’ Empire is a classic example of what is wrong with our healthcare system. They put the burden on their customers and providers while they sit back and collect all the profits.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:57:21 +0000

Totally agree with the above comments about rude, smug, obnoxious customer service as well as the fraudulent representation of the tradition plus hospital plan. After more than a year of paying good money for hospital coverage i had to go to the emergency room. Apparently empire will pay the hospital but not the doctor that works at the hospital. WTF is that??? Who would even think of creating an insurance plan like that? Although the policy never actually states that the doctor bill is covered, it also never states that the doctor bill is not covered. Wouldn’t any reasonable person safely assume that if they are buying hospital coverage that it would also cover doctors at the hospital as well?? CLASS ACTION SUIT? Count me in.

By: Mario

Mario — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:00:14 +0000

Altho I have had no serious medical problems the customer service and the website has always answered my questions in a polite and concise way in explaining payments, coverages etc. They have sent reimbursements soon after I have submitted my claims.

By: Sue Wirick

Sue Wirick — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 01:11:47 +0000

Couldn’t agree more with the other reviews on how terrible the customer service is, though I would add the words belligerent and obnoxious to describe the customer service representatives (when in fact, you actually get to speak to a “human being” (not sure “human being” describes the creature at the other end of the phone). Our son was hospitalized twice for 4 days in March and then 1 week in April. The BCBS paid the 2nd hospital stay but not the first one because they said it was a pre-existing condition. He was hospitalized both times for the same condition? These folks aren’t even rational.

By: Kevin Bailey

Kevin Bailey — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:08:02 +0000

Empire BCBS isn’t just the worst insurance company I’ve ever had the misfortune to deal with, they are without a doubt the worst company of any kind I’ve ever had to deal with. Forget trying to get assistance on the phone. After spending an inordinate amount of time working though their obtuse voicemail system whatever representative you speak with will prove to be totally and completely useless. I’ve spent more hours on the phone with these people than I can recount and spoken with numerous agents, not once have I ended up with anything approximating a useful outcome. At the moment I’m just trying to get them to change my mailing address. That’s taken 7 calls so far and I’m no where close to completion. Each time I get a completely different story. Of course I should be able to change my address online, but their website is just as bad as their phone service. Briefly, it simply doesn’t work, and of course forget about using the backspace since that causes the entire app to crash, and that’s even before logging in. In short, it is not possible to communicate with this company.

By: Dani

Dani — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:15:07 +0000

Empire Tradition Plus Hospital Program is a rip off insurance. 3 months after enrolling into the plan I broke my foot and went to the ER for an ex-ray. The Tradition Plus Hospital Program does NOT PAY FOR ANY DOCTORS OR PROCEDURES IN THE ER. Did you get this? The do not cover the ER. The cover the “visit” to the ER but NOT any procedures like X-ray or any doctor that will speak to you about your condition. They will bill you afterwards and have 6 months time to do so. This is NOT disclosed anywhere in the paperwork clearly. The do not disclose that 99% of doctors that work in the hospital do NOT work for the hospital and will bill privately. Be very careful with this plan it is NOT the coverage you think it is and will not prevent a huge bill should you have an accident.

The customer service is likewise terrible, rude, condescending and avoiding direct answers to direct questions. When I sated that I was never told this fact about doctors not being included in the plan, they blamed it on the broker that sold me the plan who is not employed by Empire (how convenient for them as they can therefor not be sued for this misinformation.) The told me “as long as you’re handled by the doctors who work for the hospital inside the ER you’re fine” little did I know that 99% of them do not work FOR the hospital. Who knows such things? Its a rip off and clearly waiting for a huge class action suit.

By: Fehsinger

Fehsinger — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:26:11 +0000

My mother had BCBS for years. Anyway, she was hospitalized twice in 2 weeks (discharged to early the 1st time) and BCBS absolutely refused to pay her bills. They looked for an excuse not to pay her bills and claimed that she was no longer lived in NY as her SS check was being sent to me as her representative payee and, therefore, she didn’t reside in NY and they refused to pay her bills.

I spent months trying to prove that she still lived in NY and always did. I had SS write to BCBS to explain the situation, had senator Clinton contact them, and I even had Medicare involved. Believe it or not, BCBS even had they own representative visit her in her home in NY but still refused to pay her bills categorically stating that she didn’t live in NY and, there they didn’t have to pay. Don’t depend on BCBS. They will take your money for decades, but will put you out to dry when you need them. Be forewarned.

Bottom line, I wouldn’t recommend BCBS to anyone. They will take your money and then abandon you.

By: James

James — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:10:01 +0000

@Nick Ecky

While I do not have any personal experience with Empire BCBC (so I will leave the star ratings blank) I just couldn’t resist responding to your comment that:

“they are the most hostile and bureaucratic group you’ve ever seen. BCBS makes a great case for why we NEED some sort of government mandated health care solution!”

It is absolutely hilarious that you think that somehow the United States Government would be LESS bureaucratic than Empire BCBS!!! Pretty funny stuff if that is what you really believe. Wow

PS You could also probably make a strong case that the US Government would be more hostile than Empire BCBS as well if you have ever been to a DMV or when you take into account that if Empire BCBS denies a large claim there are a million attorneys that would jump at the chance to take them on while if the US Government denied a claim under a government health plan then good luck winning against the US Government in court