Cigna procedures threaten my health

I have Cigna and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2009. I was
given excellent care and cigna even assigned me a home health worker
to see if I needed anything and that i was doing good after my
surgery.

Cigna has been great for oour family and I am highly pleased with them

I am so sorry to hear about your struggle with Cigna. My uncle had
Cigna when he was diagnosed with cancer. He had Cigna for decades
before he got ill.

My uncle ended up selling all of his possessions, then his livestock
(pets) and finally his ranch to pay for his care. His friends donated
and 'loaned' tens of thousands to keep up his treatments. He died
penniless in an old camper trailer. His elderly wife still lives
there, unable to work due to age and without a retirement since it was
spent on medical bills for her husband.

It took less than 1 year to lose everything-to erase a well earned
life. Cigna should be shut down for sure.

The former CEO of Cigna is now on a crusade to stop the abuses. Maybe
you could look him up in Google-Wendell Potter. Not sure what he can
do, but maybe he will listen and add your complaints to his files.

Good luck in your fight.

My family had Cigna coverage for about 4 years. As long as you don't
use it you never realize it doesn't work. We just stupidity let the
company take bi-weekly payments out of husbands checks. The time I
really need to use it I was denied. Fought with them for a year. Had
to hire an insurance letter writer/advisor. She was a former insurance
employee who claimed she needed to redeem herself. She put together a
15 page letter with probably another 30 pages of old doctor records
and told me to be patient. She was correct, they finally paid.
Interesting enough my son had a estimate for his wisdom teeth removal.
The doctor's office showed me what I would pay and what Cigna would
pay. My portion was around $500.00. This was with a policy that a
portion was supposedly paid by the company and we paid approx $400 a
month. THEN...we were laid off, and I signed kids up on a low-income
state policy that cost only $15.00 a month per kid. Wisdom teeth were
removed by same doctor, same total cost, but I ONLY paid $40.00. I
still had to fight with the insurance company to get approval for out
of network doctor (closest network doctor was 500 miles away). I had
to insist that my kid was entitled to treatment for pain since
insurance company wanted to take so long to approve. This insurance is
Blue Cross.

Watch "Sicko" and "Sick Around America". You will find out disgusting
stuff about the healthcare system and insurance companies here.

Insurance companies actually provide bonuses etc. to their employees
who deny operations. The more important the operation is, the more
expensive it will be. The more major operations they deny, the more
money they save.

"Cigna," he replied, "Can you not afford better coverage than Cigna?
They're notorious."

You realize your doctor was way out of line making this statement. So
maybe he felt he wouldn't be able to charge you an exorbitant fee
because Cigna wouldn't pay it while other insurance companies would. I
don't know if your insurance policy is through your employer or it is
a private party but each policy pays differently. He really had no way
of knowing what they would pay ahead of time. And what they pay is
based upon what fee codes he uses.

Also, insurance companies can't cancel your surgery only you or the
doctor can. Apparently your doctor didn't think enough of you as a
patient to try and work something out. I hope your operation wasn't
life-saving.If it were me, I would be looking for a new doctor.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but I'm not surprised. Cigna is the
absolute WORST insurance company we have ever had the displeasure of
dealing with.

We were stuck with them for several years, through my husband's
employer. It was the only insurance option that was offered. They go
out of their way to get out of paying for pretty much anything. One
of the few things they didn't try to get out of paying for was my
annual mammogram, but that was only because Massachusetts state law
requires that insurance cover one per year for women 40+.

Just one of many examples of Cigna's cheapitude that we've endured -
my husband's doctor ordered a colonoscopy. He'd had his appendix
removed and they found cancer in it. So of course, they wanted to
check to see if it had spread anywhere else.

Cigna covered the colonoscopy itself, but decided not to pay for the
anesthesiologist. We got a bill for $900. I guess he was supposed to
have something stuck up into his nether region, poking around up
there, while wide awake. We fought and fought with Cigna, until they
finally settled and paid a paltry $125 on that $900 bill. No wonder
health care practitioners hate them so much!

We weren't the only ones who've had such issues with Cigna. The HR
department at hubby's work got so many complaints, that they finally
got rid of Cigna and switched everyone back to Blue Cross/Blue Shield,
who we've NEVER had a problem with. The switch to Cigna was to save
the company money, but, in this case, you get what you pay for. I am
so glad we're no longer stuck with them.

Good luck to you in getting any kind of response from Cigna. They
exist simply to take people's money, and give them nothing in return.
They deserve to go out of business!

I'm sorry about your experience. I have had several insurance
companies over the years (always through employers) and Cigna has
always been my favorite to work with.

The day you lose your job - and your "good insurance" - you'll be
singing another tune.

And you have been badly misinformed and propagandized that America is
still the "best care in the world". We are currently ranked only #37
in overall quality of medical care. I know - I worked inside the
"best health care system in the world" for 40+ years, and I personally
witnessed it slide slowly downward into something that is today, at
best, a crap shoot for most people who seek a physician's services.
Too many of them are running scared themselves - caught in the middle
between stupid insurance companies who play more games than you can
ever imagine, but who still pay the doc's bills - and wanting to do
the right thing for the patient as best as they can.

Bottom line - the American health care system today is all about the
BOTTOM LINE - and nothing else in 2010. Our once-proud system has
been broken by greed, plain and simple. We can no longer afford to
subsidize the cost for the 47 million among us who are now shut out of
the system completely - but who will, inevitably, get sick anyway.

You just think you are one of the lucky ones - you don't know enough
about how the system actually works to understand that you are being
robbed - yes, stolen from - every time you pay your insurance premium
for your employer-sponsored plan or your private plan if you are
self-employed. But believe me, from now on if you ever do have a truly
serious illness, you can expect that "good plan" to drop you just as
fast as they possibly can - and they will, I promise you, encourage
your employer to get rid of you, too, if you aren't protected in some
way (union, iron-clad employment contract, self-employed).

And get rid of that "socialized" medicine garbage! I daresay most
Americans don't have a clue what "socialism" really is - and they
certainly don't have any firsthand experience with health care systems
in other countries. That is just more of the fear-mongering political
propaganda you have been fed for so long that you don't even realize
that you are fully brainwashed about this critically important issue.

Your obvious problem is that you don't much like the current president
- as indicated by your "obamacare" comment.

Here's the facts: Your elected US Representative and US Senators are
the ONLY people who can do anything about this problem - WOULDN'T MAKE
ONE BIT OF DIFFERENCE WHO THE PRESIDENT WAS - and right now, they are
sitting on their hands, engaged in a Mexican stand-off, doing exactly
NOTHING about this serious problem that is threatening to bankrupt
America.

Stop with the artificial rhetoric and repeating "propaganda slogans"
to avoid looking the hard truth in the eye. That is exactly how Hitler
led the German people down the primrose lane!

Good day to you.