If you are looking for health insurance in Oregon, Arizona, Washington or Alaska then LifeWise Health Insurance Company is one of the top providers of coverage in the region.
LifeWise offers a wide range of products and benefits, a large network of providers, quick, local service, and online services. Following is some important information about the LifeWise health insurance company that can help you decide if this organization is right for you.
Read this LifeWise Health Insurance review, browse through the customer reviews of LifeWise Insurance at the bottom of this article, and then compare quotes from many different health care insurance providers by entering your zip into the box on the right side of this page.
LifeWise: Company Facts
LifeWise is a private company headquartered in Portland, OR. Within the state of Oregon, there are more than 120,000 members and the company reports more than $324 million in revenue each year. With over 240 agents available, almost every area of the region is covered. One aspect of LifeWise that is most appealing to its members is the choice of over 9,000 providers, hospitals, and physicians.
LifeWise Health Plans
LifeWise offers individual and family plans as well as small group plans. All individual plans contain the following benefits: well-child and newborn exams, yearly physicals, women’s and men’s annual exams, preventive immunizations, cervical, prostate, and colorectal cancer screenings, heart and vascular disease screenings, and musculoskeletal disorder screenings. Also provided for under each plan is prescription drug coverage, alternative care for services such as chiropractic and acupuncture, mammogram coverage, and office visits.
Though each plan offers these coverages, there is a difference in how they are provided and in the cost. In the WiseEssentials 50 Plan everything discussed above is covered through a low monthly premium with more paid out of pocket for co-pays and deductibles. The WiseEssentials Plan covers all of the above through a low rate plan for office visits and basic needs and a higher rate for situations beyond the basics. The WiseSavings Plan is a high-deductible plan that is funded through a health savings account. The WiseChoices Plan offers the widest variety of coverage through a moderate monthly payment. Vision care is also a part of this plan.
If you already have an individual plan through Medicare, you can get a supplemental plan through LifeWise. Supplemental Medicare plans are only for those who are already on Medicare. These types of plans cover some of the gaps in coverage. Having a supplemental plan through LifeWise will help members save additional money on co-pays and deductibles. This plan will also provide freedom of choice in providers, easy claims service, and customer service for any medical insurance needs that arise.
LifeWise also offers health care coverage for small groups with 2-50 employees. The two plans offered are Frontline and LifeWise HSA. Frontline plans offer deductibles from $750-$5500. On the Frontline Plans preventive care is covered in full. Others services are subjected to the deductible, co-pays, and in some cases co-insurance. The HSA Plans are health savings accounts. These plans allow employers and employees to deposit pre-taxed dollars into an account to be spent on medical expenses including deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance.
LifeWise plans for large groups are available for companies with 51 or more employees. The Passport Plan is a traditional PPO plan which gives employees a wide range of benefits with a range of deductibles, co-pay amounts, and coinsurance to choose from. The LifeWise HSA Plan is a high deductible plan that uses the tax-advantage. This plan allows employers and employees different deposit amounts to choose from. LifeWise HRA Plan is a comprehensive PPO plan that is employer sponsored. Employers decide what amount of money will be reimbursed to the employee and for what medical services. Lastly, the LifeWise Universal plan is the most flexible. It allows members to choose providers and hospitals without penalties.
With each of the LifeWise plans there are exclusions to be aware of. The following services are excluded from coverage: alcohol or chemical dependency services, condition resulting from military action, cosmetic procedures, dental services, hearing aids, infertility treatments, mental health services, obesity surgery or treatments, elective surgeries, and sterilization reversal.
LifeWise also offers group dental plans for small or large businesses. There are a variety of plans with different deductibles so employers can choose what fits best into their budget. There are traditional, self-funded, and PPO plans. Coverage is extended to over 80,000 dental providers and provides for routine exams, cleanings, fluoride treatments, x-rays, sealants, spacers, fillings, emergency treatment, oral surgery, root canals, and crowns.
LifeWise Health Insurance Quotes
Be sure to compare LifeWise health insurance quotes with quotes from other insurance companies. If you are wondering if LifeWise is the right choice for your family or your company, you can compare these features with other companies. Use the comparison tool on this page right now to compare rates and quotes from top companies. Seeing these comparisons side by side will help you to determine if LifeWise is the wise choice for your needs. Enter your zip code in the quote box above and get the information you need today!
5 Customer Reviews of “LifeWise Health Insurance Company”
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Review by Gabriel Piltzer, January 12, 2011
This insurance is fine if nothing out of the ordinary ever happens in your life. I am a healthy 27 year old male who exercises 5 days a week. But when I had something I needed checked at the doctor, LifeWise called it a “contract exclusion” and didn’t cover it. They then billed me 100% of the doctor visit and treatment. So beware of going to the doctor when you don’t know your diagnosis up front, you could get billed 100%! A visit and treatment that I expected to be around $60 with insurance cost me nearly $500. I would not choose LifeWise if my company had other options.
Review by Marjorie Lund, January 28, 2011
If anyone has had or is considering a colonoscopy screening please read this. I had the standard baseline screening in Nov 2010 and Lifewise rejected the claims and stated the procedure was not “a screening” but a hospital procedure and therefore applied towards my deductible. The online fact sheet and benefit booklet lists screening colonoscopy as “benefits provided at 100% for this preventive diagnostic service”. I appealed and they “overturned” the decision and agreed to cover the doctor’s charge but not the hospital’s, stating that it was an outpatient service and therefor applied towards the deductible as Hospital Outpatient or Emergency Room Services.
Since doctors do not do this kind of procedure in an office setting I fail to see how this makes sense. My friends on other insurance companies have been paid in full. I am very interested in hearing from any other Lifewise subscribers about their coverage if they have had the procedure. I intend to appeal again.
Review by Christine, February 1, 2011
Never, EVER, under any circumstances choos Lifewise as your Insurance company!! I made this collossal mistake and am having the same problem as the Yelpers below!
My coverage was initially $200.00 a month, and without warning, hey increased my auto withdrawal to $265.00! I’ve only been using this health coverage for three months, so an increase in coverage this early in my plan is NOT ok.
I needed insurance for the lapse in coverage between jobs. Lifewise seemed like a good idea in paper, but reality is a completely different scenario. I would have been better off paying my Cobra than to deal with the myriad of customer service issues, or lack thereof with this company. Lifewise has no regard for your time, and spending 45+ minutes on hold for a CS representative is the norm. I’ve spent upwards of SIX HOURS trying to cancel my plan and they STILL deducted the premiums from my checking account and can’t verify whether or not my insurance has been cancelled. Oh, and the best part is they can’t refund me for the money they took out of my checking account for FOUR WEEKS!!
I’ve worked in customer service before, and I have a myriad of experience with call center agents and the “cookie cutter responses” they provide. Lifewise simply doesn’t care about you, and they don’t have any plans in place to resolve escalated issues, they just leave you in limbo and call you back with more bull$hit answers, giving you the runaround.
I realize looking for insurance companies can be difficult, I’ve done my share of research in selectig lifewise and ignored the negative feedback when making the decision to choose this company because the price was right. TRUST ME when I tell you to take the road less travelled by here and go with another company! If you’re forced to pay your own premiums anyway, pay a little more and get a company that has their $#*+ together. Lifewise is NOT that company!!
Review by CJohnson, September 12, 2011
Find another insurance company! My husband’s company switched to LifeWise on 9/1. Since then, I, my husband, and the company hr person has left numerous messages for multiple people as we need meds refilled and the pharmacy is showing that we don’t exist in LifeWise’s system. We have paid for our meds out of pocket as NO ONE from LifeWise has bothered to call us back but you know the monthly premium was deducted from my husband’s paycheck. They take our money without giving us the benefit. I want our premium refunded and to be paid for the amount of time we have put into attempting to use our benefits. Horrible, horrible people and company.
Review by Karen, October 17, 2011
This insurance company has the poorest overall communication skills and competency level that I have ever witnessed in a company. My husband and I never had to make a claim, but getting on and off of their insurance plans was a nightmare.
The first time I tried to get on the plan was when I was getting married. We called and asked if we could apply together even before we got married so that we could start our joint plan a few days after our wedding. They told us we could and we should explain on the application. We did exactly that, and a few weeks after our wedding we found that my husband was accepted but I wasn’t because we weren’t legally married. Because they gave us the wrong information, I was without health insurance for a month. They even made me refill an application and send it in again despite the error being theirs.
I was a TA during grad school, so I jumped onto a health insurance plan through that, but my husband stayed on Lifewise. At the end of grad school, I wanted to get back on Lifewise until one of us got a job. I sent in my application, and it took one and a half months for them to finally get around to approving me. During that time, I didn’t know if I had health insurance or not which made me anxious. Additionally, part of the hold up was because they took so long to get to my application that they sent out a form to ask me if I had menstruated since I applied! The nerve! Additionally, when the customer service representative said she’d call us back by a certain day, she didn’t.
By the time I had gotten on the plan, my husband got a job. We called to ask what we’d need to do to get off the plan, and they said to just send in a request in writing. We did this, and we got a letter back saying that they couldn’t cancel the policy because we still owed $189 (they were billing my insurance for Aug. and Sept. in October since I wasn’t approved until mid-Sept.). We expected to see the money taken out of our bank account at the beginning of the month as usual, but it never was. So we called, and they said that our policy HAD been canceled with the end date being 8/31/2011 (instead of 9/30/2011 as we asked) which is why our online account stopped allowing us to pay. They made it sound like we should still pay the $189 though, so they gave us an address to mail in a check. I mailed the check this morning, and then I got our Certificate of Health Coverage in the mail today ending 8/31. Now I wish I hadn’t mailed them another $189 since I guess it doesn’t really matter if we were insured the first half of September. SO FRUSTRATING.
Additionally, their rates rise incredibly quickly. They started at $62/person for our plan three years ago, and they have raised the rates each year to about $90/person now.
Please consider getting a different insurance provider if at all possible!!!
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