Be very weary of this company. They are not what they seem.
I was in need of Health Insurance and learned of this company. Something in the back of my mind told me to be aware, but I went ahead and took out a 'policy'. I was approved by email in about 10 minutes. Hmmmm. I paid a fee plus my first months coverage and was told I would get my policy and benefit cards in the mail within 10 days. I was also told it would be 30 days before the 'policy' kicked in and that they billed 30 days in advance.
10 days came and went. Nothing. I called the person who 'sold' me this policy and never got a response after sending numerous emails and making numerous telephone calls. I started getting suspicious when I noted that this person, Pat Murphy, had an email address of...@ yahoo.com. I called and resorted to hitting different extension numbers and left numerous messages on the extensions where a there was a voice mail at, but received no response. After about 20 attempts I was able to reach someone. This was nothing more than a telemarketing company and this person gave me the number of a plan administrator company.
I called and sat on hold for 20-30 minutes. I finally got a response and was told that it was mailed but that they would send me another policy. It never came so I called again was on-hold for 20-35 minutes to be told it was mailed and that they would send me a new policy. I went through this at least five times before I finally got minimal information in the form of a photo copied benefits plan that looked more like a sales brochure. So I called again. After a few weeks I got a nice color brochure with one membership card. Not one for every member of the family. Just one. It was hard plastic and was phony looking.
I also received notice that they also gave me dental and vision benefit at no charge. These were nothing more than a discount plan and offered no paid coverage. I started looking at the benefits and was shocked to see how much they didn't cover. For example $100 for an ambulance. I know the cost for an ambulance in 1990 was over $1,100. They did provide benefits if you went to one of their providers. Something like a maximum of $300 annually, after your co-pay, for doctor's office visits, and some coverage of hospital stays. The benefits were only for their service providers and if you went outside their network, which is real possible since they only have 200 participating medical providers in the US, you were assured that you would only have to pay the same thing that the medical provider would charge a insurance company. Their maximum benefit was like 100k. A coronary or a serious illness would eat that up in no time.
I obtained insurance through a licensed agent (I strongly suggest you do this) and called the administrator to cancel the policy. BTW this is a 'membership'. Draw your own opinion from that.
The person I talked to told me that I had to mail, email, or fax in a termination letter. I took the email approach and didn't get a response. After several days of this (which brought the date they would have received the cancellation after the first of the month - important for later in this writing) my emails came back as 'delayed' and after a few days came back as "undeliverable". I checked the website I was earlier given: www.assocationbenefitsca.com and it was unavailable. The email given to me was [email protected]
I called the benefit provider back and the gal I talked to was very helpful and said she would walk it over. She emailed me back in a few minutes and stated that my plan administrator had been changed and gave me a phone number. (800) 591-6764. I called this number and after being put on hold, was informed that I would have to mail or fax a request for cancellation in. I was also informed that they only canceled accounts at the end of the month, so I would have to pay for all of November (I contacted this person on November 4.) I faxed in the letter (had to go to an office supply store to do so) of resignation of my 'membership' and also advised that I was not allowing them to take money out of my checking account. I put a notation on the fax to please call me to acknowledge receipt of the fax.
I didn't receive a response. I noted that on the date of this writing that they took the 'membership' fee out of my checking account. I will give them the benefit of doubt because it was a short notice, but it will be interesting to see if I get credited for it as promised.
So far I have paid like $1700 for 6 weeks of so called coverage. Luckily none of us needed medical care.
It will be interesting to see if I get reimbursed. Also if there is a rebuttal on this.
To be fair I will further respond to this if they do reimburse me, and then again if I get ripped off. If not, lawyer time.
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