BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona

Complete garbage! This company does nothing more than serve as a gatekeeper to health and medical care for people. I have been dealing with ongoing health issues with my doctor for some time now; various treatments and significant lifestyle changes have proven to be minimally effective, if at all. Recently, I had another follow-up visit for further diagnostics to find a root cause of these issues. The result of this testing did indeed find the root cause, allowing my doctor and me to finally formulate an effective treatment strategy. I was actually feeling optimistic, then, of course, in true ignorant, bean-counter-controlled fashion, BCBS of AZ denied my claim on a basis of medical necessity as they do and have done for many people struggling with health issues. Because as you see, they are always about the bottom line and nothing more!

My wife and I are retired and depend on reliable health insurance. Blue Cross Blue Shield is an oxymoron. They canceled us without notice. We received no notification by mail or email. They obviously do not care about their customers' well-being or they would have a better way of notifying you. They canceled my wife's insurance for two late payments. We did pay monthly, but they were not willing to reinstate her. This is just terrible customer service. We are shopping for a different company.

This insurance company is a huge scam! Beware!
I am located in Yuma, AZ. I am never able to see a physician when I am sick. Anywhere in this town, they bill BCBS as if you saw a physician, but you are being seen by a PA or an RN. Never a legitimate Medical Doctor. I can't find a decent pediatric doctor in this town. Many are doctors from other countries, and we can't even confirm their legitimacy, and most are here temporarily, and have no commitment. Appointment wait times are 4-7 weeks away. This is unacceptable! Why am I being forced to purchase this insurance? I want my money back so I can be seen in Mexico, where I believe I can find better healthcare.

Didn't cover any healthcare facilities in my town; I had to drive an hour to go to their approved ER. Routine blood work was not covered, and overall it was just a waste of money. I even opted for the more expensive silver plan.

This company is awful. If I could, I would give no stars. It screwed up the billing system for everyone months ago when it was billed in advance. The computer system went down, so it switched to billing in arrears. Fair enough. Now, it is trying to bill again in advance by making it harder to make only a double payment for online payments. You are forced to double pay online while the company tries to sneak a bailout for its error unfairly. Look elsewhere for insurance.

I can’t imagine worse health”care”. We enrolled in a Blue Cross BS marketplace plan called EverydayHealth Pima Focus Network in Nov. 2020. They have many plans, I can only speak to our families experience with this plan – but I’m sure there are similarities across plans with customer service and overall ease of use. Long story short: Blue Cross BS is a huge bureaucracy with zero flexibility or concern for customer’s needs; everything I’ve worked through with them has been very challenging.
Long story: right off the bat my wife, our newborn and I were all assigned the same primary care doctor. Unfortunately this doctor was impossible to contact – literally I could not track him down. Internet searches revealed he just finished graduate school, but may not have even had an office. Blue Cross BS gave me a number for him upon request, but I left multiple voicemails and never heard anything back – to this day. That Blue Cross BS representative acted like I was the one who was missing something.
Our plan is an HMO, so we need a referral from our primary care for anything. I had been having great success in physical therapy (for whom I had a referral from my previous primary care), but this had to be postponed until a new referral from my new doctor. So my therapy was delayed for months while I failed to get in contact with our Blue Cross BS doctor, and Blue Cross BS could not make an exception when I pleaded my case to use the old referral.
We did not have the easiest time finding primary care doctors; this plan works with a limited range of providers (none of the providers we had worked with previously were on this plan), and the offices which are in contract are often sub-par. I finally found a young doctor who was on my plan and accepting new patients, and he had an opening to see me after a month. So then I finally got back into physical therapy.
Originally when I was doing research on the marketplace I knew that I was going to continue physical therapy. I contacted Blue Cross BS in advance to determine who much the physical therapy was going to cost. I knew the office and the doctor, which after some time they were able to determine was in network. Blue Cross BS representatives and supervisors were unable to give me even a ballpark of the cost of physical therapy. “It depends on the contracted rate with that office”, I was told. “What’s the contracted rate?” “We don’t know,” or “that’s not something I can see”, or “that’s complicated”, or “use the cost estimator online”. I used the cost estimator online, but the office and physical therapist were not listed – most of the therapists listed were a reasonable cost per visit, around $60.
After my first month of physical therapy I was anxious about the cost – but even then could not access that information, because processing could take more up to 30 days. So I started my second month of physical therapy. Then I received bills for $13,000. Blue Cross BS stated this provider was out of network. After a few phone calls they assured me that a mistake was made. It was in network. They would need another 30 days to re-process this bill. The bill was re-processed and my portion of the bill each month was $900. I called and tried to negotiate these bills, and a supervisor advised that there was nothing I could do to change these bills, but that in the future I could determine the contracted rate with the provider. Which I told her I had tried to do in advance even before signing up for this insurance plan and had found to be impossible for that provider. Not helpful. At that point with those bills I had met my deductible, but paused therapy again due to costs.
I then realized that the coinsurance rates on our plan had changed. The original plan I signed up for on the marketplace had coinsurance rates of 20% and now the rates were 30% - which can be a difference of $1,000 easily for a major procedure, birth, etc. I had not been informed by Blue Cross BS about the change to my plan – which happened at the beginning of the new year, 2021. Upon further research, the marketplace had tried to reach me about the plan changing, but I did not pay attention to these emails because I thought that I was a Blue Cross BS member and that of course of something was changing in my plan that they would contact me. Marketplace representatives agreed that that Blue Cross BS also should have been in contact with me about the change. Blue Cross BS representatives advised that I could change plans, however, I just met my deductible so that would not be a reasonable choice. I informed them that I had chosen this Blue Cross BS plan over a very similar Ambetter plan due to the coninsurance rates. Again, as usual, there was zero flexibility working with Blue Cross BS and there was nothing anyone could do.
I then had some blood work done which was ordered by my primary care – amino acid tests – which found that I had deficiencies in multiple amino acids that could be linked to muscle and nerve pain. The doctor made a mistake – the lab for the blood tests was out of network and he did not file the pre-authorization with Blue Cross BS. I received a $2,000 bill, and Blue Cross BS denied the bill. A Blue Cross BS supervisor advised that the doctor simply needed to file a request for post-authorization, and to explain that he works with the lab because it is the only one that does this type of test (which appears to be true). My doctor and doctor’s assistant have now spent more than 2 months trying to help me process this request to no avail. The assistant says she has had a hard time jumping through all the hoops to file this post-authorization, waiting on hold for long periods of time, being assured by one representative that everything is in order, and then not seeing the request actually be processed. I can relate to her frustration. Blue Cross BS still has not resolved this issue – and of course it is not in their interest to do so.
Later I get a call from a customer advocate, who talks to me like a child for not understanding what “in network” means and offers to explain how I can make sure that I am using my healthcare plan correctly. I explain that my doctor made this mistake and could I actually talk to her supervisor to see how this is being resolved. She explains that her supervisors actually just supervise the customer advocacy work, and that she could connect to member services. “Thank you, nevermind, I’ve been there.”
On multiple calls with Blue Cross BS I have lost it. I have yelled about the absurdity of their system and this whole healthcare mess we’ve created. But leading up to these tantrums I have tried wholeheartedly to calmly resolve my issues – they have not made it easy. I’ve tried contacting them through their member portal – and experienced multiple week delayed responses. Their whole site feels like something from the early 2000’s, yet apparently they pay their web engineers hearty salaries. Nothing – absolutely nothing is impressive about Blue Cross BS.
We will be switching to Ambetter when the marketplace opens up in the fall. I remember on my first phone call with Blue Cross BS I asked a representative, “I see on the marketplace that Blue Cross BS has a member satisfaction of two stars. Why is that?” to which he replied “I’m not sure what people’s experiences are with Blue Cross BS.” So I tried again, “Why would I choose Blue Cross BS?”, to which he replied “if it meets your needs.”
It is impossible on paper to know if your healthcare plan will meet your needs. Blue Cross BS does not. Ambetter probably will not. But I’m guessing they am better.

I recently became very disappointed with BCBS of Arizona.
They denied my cologuard test. They said I would receive papers for my doctor to fill out. I took them to my doctors office. They accidentally lost them.
I called again for a new set. 5 calls and no additionally set of papers weren't sent. I finally got upset. Called again. The gentlemen I spoke to said I set they were sent. I didn't get any additional sets. He emailed one. I told him I have no computer.
Just the other day instead of a set of paperwork. Which I was going to the doctor this week to fill out. I GET a denial letter

It was relatively easy to get hold of someone when I had a question and was able to ask and get questions in 'Plain English' I could understand, though had trouble applying as they lost my initial application, though they were quick to accept my second one in a more timely manner. The application itself was a little confusing and I had to ask questions on more than one occasion. It was suggested that I apply online next time, than submit a paper application, which I didn't necessarily like being told, I will admit. Overall, a pleasurable experience, and I don't regret choosing them as my Health Insurance Provider!