Complaint / Review
Blue Shield Of California
Deceptive marketing of PPO health Plans, that are so restrictive that HMO plans are better, San Francisco

Blue Shield of california places so many restrictions on how the their PPO plans are administered that it approaches the same service as HMO plans.
The plans are vastly more expensive than HMO, but almost everything has to be pre-approved before any procedures or prescriptions are issued.

Example:
Recently a pre-approval was required for my spouse to get Ambien prescribed.

Example by cardiologist prescribed Diovan (for Heart patients with Diabetes), and this was refused by the plan.

Example My cardiologist was a CT scan of my chest, this also has to be pre-approved, why? I have one of their best PPO plans (PPO250) which I pay a lot for.

I have had HMO's in the past that were less restrictive that this so-called PPO. They should be prevented from doing business in this fraudlent way.