Cigna ( )


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  1. gravatar julie Says:
    June 12th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    Cigna Sucks. My husband has Cigna & although they paid for a 30,000 heart procedure, There had to be many phone calls to find out why partial payments had been made & why I kept being billed by the hopspital. Not only that but their in network doctor book is terrible. I could not find one doctor I knew let alone a surgeon. The best heart hospital in my area is St Fransic & not one sergeon was in network with Cigna. Thanks god there wasnt too bad of a deductable for going out of network. This Insurance company makes people settle for inexperienced sergeons at mediocre hospitals just so the bill will be covered. JUST TERRIBLE. I know 5 people who had the same catheter procedure done as my husband & not one of their surgeons were in the Cigna network.

  2. gravatar LeNora Hart Says:
    June 14th, 2007 at 1:48 am

    For a year I have had swollen lymph nodes. Cigna has been telling me they are fat pockets (as if I don’t know the difference) and referring me to their “specialists” who concur with them. I recently went to the hospital because of chest pains. The doctors there told me my neck and underarms are full of swollen lymph nodes. It’s been a year! I’m convinced that they feel my life is expendable. I’m changing to a private plan in July. But I have a lawyer and Cigna will own up to their part in my misdiagnosis.

  3. gravatar William Cowan Says:
    June 14th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    CIGNA has been very fair, fast and I have had no problems. I have gone through 14 years of lung cancer, oxygen, morphine pump, etc. I give them 5 stars

  4. gravatar Anna Says:
    June 15th, 2007 at 4:25 pm

    I went to my Cigna doctor in Pheonix, AZ for complaints of severe back, shoulder, and neck pain because of extra large breasts. I wanted a breast reduction. Now this doctor worked for Cigna exclusively as Cigna their own medical buildings for their HMO. It was similar to Kaiser. I asked my doctor what was the protocol for getting this procedure done as my pain was tremedous. She found out for me, so she said, and told me I had to do 6 months “conservative treatment” which included going to expensive physical therapy to do ridiculous excersizes, take a NSAID medication which tore up my stomach, and see my doctor once a month for updates on how I was feeling. I was paying $550 a month for this insurance (just for me at 30 years old!!) I got through the Arizona Small Business Association http://www.asba.com/ My doctor’s visits were 40 dollars a pop also. I did this conservative treatment for 6 months and she gave me a referral to a plastic surgeon where I went for a consultation. He submitted a claim to my insurance and I soon recieved a letter that I was rejected. They said it was not covered. My doctor wrote an appeal letter and it was still rejected. I then found out that there was a TINY little clause in medical mumbo jumbo that this version of Cinga insurance from the ASBA did not cover breast reductions no matter what even if medically necessary. I was extremely upset noting the pain I was in and that my expensive insurance stealthily did not cover it and that my stupid doctor whom I relied upon to find out if it was covered should have done so properly since she worked for Cigna exclusively. Thankfully I moved to California and got a better insurance plan and got the procedure covered. On another not I have tried to get individual insurance before and got rejected as being a “Major medical Risk” for having a common ailment that is definatly not a major medical problem. Insurance companies SUCK!!!!

  5. gravatar Dot McMurtray Says:
    June 15th, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    I take a form of thyroid (Cytomel) that has to be freshly compounded and cannot be put in a regular pill. Cigna won’t pay for it even tho they don’t have a compounding pharmacy that can make it. They want to give me Synthroid, which is a precursor of the type of thyroid I need, even tho mu body makes too much of the type they want to give me. Morons…and I pay out of pocket for a medication I will take til I die.

  6. gravatar Marianne DiAntonio Says:
    June 18th, 2007 at 11:52 am

    At the age of 37 I went through a lengthy (30 hr.) surgical resection of a large meningioma located near my brain stem. Six months later the tumor had grown back - to 80% of its original size. I then requested permission from CIGNA to obtain “gamma knife” (stereotactic radiosurgery), an alternate treatment for brain tumors that was in wide usage in Europe but not the U.S. CIGNA denied my request.

    Because I had worked in the insurance industry some years earlier, I KNEW what to do. I immediately wrote a letter of complaint about CIGNA’s decision on my case to the Insurance Commissioner of my state (Colorado).

    The Insurance Commissioner in turn wrote a letter of inquiry about the case to CIGNA, and within two days’ time CIGNA decided to APPROVE my request. I was able to obtain the gamma knife treatment! (Part of my case was documented in “Family Circle” magazine in April, 1994)

    This all happened in the ’90s and therefore is probably of little interest to you now BUT — Michael, you FINALLY have America’s “ear”, so please advise all these desperate people - for now - to consider contacting their state regulatory office. The state insurance commissioner can punitively pull a given company’s license to sell insurance in that state, so he or she is often the best first step in jump-starting a reevaluation of your case by your insurance company!

    Sadly, bribes and threats have ruled the game until now…..

    Thanks -

  7. gravatar Lindsey Drake Says:
    June 18th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

    I had my second daughter Feb. 9 of 2007 while covered by Cigna Insurance. I immediately contacted them and added her to my coverage. A month later I got a nasty bill from the hospital she born at telling me that my claim had been denied and I needed to pay them $3000.00 NOW. After muddling through the HR department at my company and finally getting someone to help me I found out that her birth date had been entered in their system as Feb 20. I called Cigna and explained to the representative what had happened. The guy actually argued with me about what day she was born. No really. What a joke right? I bet he would remember the day if I had him push a 6 pound human being out of one of his orifices. Well finally they conceded to the mistake and assured me they would send payment to the hospital. Low and behold just last week I received another letter from the hospital telling me I was going to collections for this bill because it has still not been paid. (This was the first week of June)So three times since then I have been on the phone with Cigna, each time they tell me it will be sent but it still has not. I do not have the funds to pay the $3000.00 bill as I decided not to return to the corporate nightmare that I worked at before and I have opened my own cleaning company. (nothing is better than an honest days work) I really have no way to fight this. I just have to wait. I realize that this is a very minor thing compared to the atrocities that families go thru every day. But none of it seems right. Its just a big game to them. Who can hold out the longest, who has money to pay for litigation. Obviously the deck is stacked against the average family. I realized this quite some time ago when I decided to quit my job and tried to reasonable insurance coverage for my family. HA! I researched on the Internet and found a great group called momsrising.org. They keep me up to date with any legislation in my state, or that may affect universal health care. Through them I have been able to send my governor and representatives on both sides pleas for universal health care, not to mention child care credits, friendlier work environments for moms ect. Its hard to feel like you can make a difference and I think that is why so many people say, but few do. Thank you to Michael Moore for doing. This is very very important to us. Let us know what else we can do to help!!

  8. gravatar Carolyn Says:
    June 19th, 2007 at 8:04 am

    I know dealing with insurance companies can be a royal pain in the ass. However, I must say that during an extremely critical time, Cigna was above and beyond my expectations. In 2000 our son was critically injured in a fire. His injuries were burns to 75% of his body with 20% 3rd degree. At no time was I pressured, or made to feel his care was being limited by the insurance company. They assigned a case manager (as is usual on “extensive” cases) who basically asked …. tell me what you need. Months of post-hospital rehabilitation were covered with a small co-pay (although the rehab hospital didn’t inform me of the co-pay until much, much later… but what the hey>>) The insurance even approved a new procedure (laser hair removal) that was an attempt to prevent the facial hairs trying to grow through scar tissue on areas of his face. Considering the difficult time we were going through, I can honestly say the insurance company was not even on our radar as an area of concern.

  9. gravatar Michael Duncan Says:
    June 26th, 2007 at 6:39 am

    For the most part, I’ve been pleased with Cigna’s coverage. In the past five years, we’ve had three significant claims in which there were two minor problems:
    1) MRI in which Cigna initially chose to pay for the MRI but not the drugs required for the contrast ordered by the doctor. After repeated calls and letters, they paid–one week after I gave up and sent a personal check to the provider. The provider promptly refunded my money.
    2) Spouse hospitalized with pneumonia–no problem with any coverage.
    3) Spouse underwent O/P surgery at a pre-approved hospital. Cigna denied coverage for anesthesiologists because his group wasn’t covered. When we argued that we didn’t have a choice once we chose the pre-approved hospital, they eventually paid; however, had we not challenged, we would have paid for the coverage.

  10. gravatar Doug Jungemann Says:
    June 26th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

    Pretty crappy. I have Multiple Sclerosis, Cigna did nothing when the only two neurologists on my plan in my community refused to see me. I have to travel an hour away to see a neurologist even though there are two in my community.

    Tel-Drug, the online pharmacy run by Cigna screwed up the first five orders for my medication that I made (they’ve done fine with the last two though). The told me they were dropping me when I got upset that they screwed up my orders. That has been rectified.

    The main reason my insurance is so bad, however, is because of the poor choices made by my employer, Echostar Communications. The fine folks at Echostar decided that their employees would be fine with a $1250 deductible and a 20% co-pay. The previous year’s insurance (through Cigna) was much better.

    About the time the insurance became crappy, the company started sponsorship of a NASCAR team. That sponsorship cost between $12-$16 million per year, or $600-$800 per employee per year.

    I guess that’s why my insurance sucks.

  11. gravatar andy Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    I was employed with a solid company with high premiums for insurance and still got denied standard health. Never again will I base my work choices on health benefits. Excercise is better for your longevity anyways. Health care is a joke.

    Better to be poor.

    It’s a full time job just dealing with the paperwork.

    They are con-artists with paperwork and denials. Makes you sick thinking about it alone.

    Can’t imagine the profit motive board meetings at HMOs. Thank you Mr. Moore.

  12. gravatar andy Says:
    June 27th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    yah

  13. gravatar marie Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 9:01 am

    In august 2004 my sister died from everything that is wrong with our system.
    Dx *pre-cancer. Questionable (protocol) treatment.
    Cigna was the insurer. Cigna refused several requests to change a chemotherapy medication; doctors neglected to treat hypertension.
    Result: stroke. Death.

  14. gravatar Gary Lund Says:
    July 1st, 2007 at 3:25 pm

    I started a new job in June 2006. Six months later my Cigna Medical coverage kicked in, and I received my benefit information and prescription card in the mail. The following day I received a letter stating that the card *may* be invalid and a new one would be sent if necessary. At the end of the *same* week I received an email stating that my medical coverage had been terminated due to an insufficient number of hours worked to maintain participation within the plan. I had taken one week off of work to move to a new residence during that month.

    Further the email indicated that my insurance termination was effective as of the end of the last week in which benefits had been withheld from my last paycheck.

  15. gravatar J. G. Wood Says:
    July 1st, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    My family is insured by Cigna and we have no complaints. They cover our annual physicals for a $15 co pay and we have our choice of which doctor to go to in their open network.

    They cover brand name and generic drugs for a very reasonable co pay of $10-25 or 40. I take a blood pressure medication and my wife is on several medications due to various conditions.

    My wife has had scoliosis for many years and Cigna has approved several different approaches to treatment from her doctors. Cigna also pays for twice monthly therapeutic massages prescribed by her doctor.

    Mr. Moore’s film tells one side of a story. There is one thing that would bring down the cost of healthcare overnight…..TORT REFORM…. fully half of the procedueres ordered in this country are uneccesary.

    Doctors order them to cover their rear ends in case they are sued. Lawyers are the only ones who benefit. They take 35-40% plus expenses off of the top. If we had laws on the books that limited a lawyer’s share to something like 8%, with no reimbursement for expenses, you would see a dramatic drop in the number of cases filed…….AND all of those long waits in the ER would be shortened because the physicians would not be ordering 5 additional tests for each person that come in the door so they won’t get sued!!

    I would really like Mr. Moore to do a documentary on the legal system in this country compared to Cuba and Great Bitiain and Canada. Since the government is providing the health care, who are the patients suing when something goes wrong?

  16. gravatar Kevin K Says:
    July 1st, 2007 at 8:20 pm

    I am still suffering because I couldn’t afford the care they wouldn’t approve. And they made lots of money off me for three years.

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