In August my cousin received a fax at her office from The Medical Benefits Group in Texas offering low affordable medical insurance. It stated unlimited Doctors visits ($25.00 copay) prescription plan, hospital, dental, vision...
I needed medical insurance so I called and inquired. I spoke to Mr. Kevin Sweeney who said this was actual medical insurance. When I asked him how come the cost is so low, he answered these are plans that were not taken by employees in various companies and they offer them to people who do not have insurance. He said the insurance was through the National Fire Association and the provider will either be Beech Street or National Preferred Provider Network. He directed me to their website which is www.beechstreet.com and www.nppn.com.
He then sent me what looked like a generic power point presentation of what the plan covered (which I deleted when I thought I was a member of the plan and that the member packet would be coming, which it did not come until January). He informed me that to sign up I would be charged a one time fee of $320.00 and then $199.00 per month there after. He said that I would have to set up the initial charge on a credit card and then I can change it to mailing in my payments monthly. I agreed and he told me that the plan would start in 15 days and my account would be debited. His phone number was then disconnected. I sent him and email and he sent another phone number to call which was 800-262-1733. (This number is now a permanent fax machine).
The insurance was never set up so I called and called all of September. The company consisted of Kevin Sweeney and a man named Oliver. No one else ever answered the phone. They were vague and never returned phone calls. There supervisor never returned calls and I kept calling until they told me that I need to call the company directly who will be handling the insurance which was National Alliance of Associations, 141 Ganttown Road, Turnersville, New Jersey 08012 and the company who will be paying claims is AIG Companies. Kevin Sweeney said his company was the marketing company for National Alliance. The phone number I was given was 856-374-1599. I was also directed to a website for the company at www.naaus.org which no longer exists.
I called the phone number and would always get the receptionist who would transfer you to customer service or billing and you would be left on hold for hours. No one would pick up or call back. This also went on for days. I finally got through to a woman Kristen who worked in billing and she helped to get my insurance set up. This was in October. She faxed over ID Cards and claimed that the packet was on its way. They charged me a $339.00 initial set up fee instead of $325.00 and I tried to get a refund and the receptionist would never put me through to the billing department. I never received a member packet either. They also told me that Kristen no longer worked there.
For the whole month of September I called and called and would never get a return phone call. At the beginning of October I spoke to a woman named Ann Marie and she said she would send a membership packet out to me and that she would call me back in regards to this matter. She never called back and would not accept my phone calls. On October 10 I spoke to Jim D. Who said he would solve this matter and send the membership packet. I never received it and my credit was not refunded. Again he never returned the phone call and he seemed to vanish also.
I also was told that I belonged to Aetna Access Dental and when my dentist called to confirm I was not in the system and they said that I was not part of their plan.in fact, there was not a dental plan just a discount plan. The prescription plan was also a discount plan when I was told the highest I would pay is $40.00. The medicine I need cost $1600.00 and was not covered by the plan at all.
Now I was extremely mad and I called again. Someone directed me to email the supervisor Mindy on the naaus.org website. I emailed her a long letter and she never responded. After that I left her a voice mail at Extension 212, along with the President Thomas Sullivan at Extension 206. Neither one returned my phone call. After having no luck, my sister-in-law Diane Baruso who works for an insurance broker started to call for me. She spoke to a woman named Kathy T who said she would help to resolve this matter. We faxed a letter over to her on or around November 12.
In the beginning of December she Kathy T finally helped me and I did not receive the membership packet until the beginning of January. Again, I never received my refund. When I received the packet and ID Cards they were different from the cards that were faxed to me and also with different information. I looked at the member booklet and discovered this was not the plan I had signed up for. My name was also spelt incorrectly on the cards. I called back Kathy T and she said that the company who signed me up for this plan pulled it away from National Alliance and gave it to Claims and Benefit Management Company, P.O. Box 159, Chino Hills, California 91709. The phone # is 800-363-9488 or 877-475-5023, fax # 919-902-1892.
I tried to call this number also. Once again the number belongs to an answering service. For one month I left several messages and no one would return my call. I finally spoke to a representative and asked them why I was transferred. They claimed that National Alliance misrepresented themselves as Medical Insurance with false claims but are really a benefits program. I tried to call this number again and was never able to get through. Now the doctors bills all started to come back to me and nothing this plan paid next to nothing when I was told that there was to be unlimited benefits. I could not possibly know because a membership packet was never sent to me from August until 2008.
I started to investigate this company on the internet and found them on usacomplaints.com.Com. (See complaint cases) and discovered that this company has done this to many other people.in total they debited from my account $1234 and did not cover my medical bills. I also discovered that this is a scam all across the Untied States and the companies belong to a ring. They disconnect phone numbers and go by several different company names and the debits get withdrawn under PBC or NABSA. I immediately went to my bank and closed my bank account so they cannot withdraw money further. I also faxed a letter to Claims and Benefit Management Company and sent by mail to cancel and stating my intensions to report this company and sue (which was returned as an unknown address).
If anyone has any information or would like to take action against this company please contact me at (REDACTED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES)
Gee
Franklin Square, New York
U.S.A.
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