Complaint Review: Mega Life And Health

To all us bloggers;
Blogs are simply opinions, everyone has one.
The only reason anyone should purchase any type of insurance, whether it is life, health, property, auto, etc., is to cover a major liability. That's all insurance is meant to do.

Insurance companies are in business to make money and the house always wins.

I own a small family business and our rates with Aetna are very expensive, but it's superior coverage.
Every September I go through this insurance hunt again, I have researched almost every insurance company in my State, read blogs online, contacted my State Department of Insurance, interviewed Blue Cross, Mega/Mid-West, Time/Assurant, World, Celtic, Golden Rule/UHC, Humana/Cigna, etc.
Bottom line: You get what you pay for.

Call your State Dept. of Insurance for information on a company or agent.

If the Company is licensed in your State, it has been audited and passed inspection.

Take the time to read your policy, on all health insurance you have a 10 day free look. Ask questions from the Agent/or Company and write down the full name of the person you spoke to, time and date, and the answers as given. Record the conversation and inform them they are being recorded.

Insurance Companies are always evolving their policies to sell, so what may be available in January may change in the next fiscal quarter.
Not one of the aforementioned companies are bad.

All Companies, or their representatives, either chose to be ethical or unethical, that's why all companies keep lawyers on salary.
Call any company you want to do business with to see how accessible and user friendly they are.
When shopping insurance, call an agent to see if they respond to you in a timely fashion.
You want to trust somebody, trust yourself.

Aetna, UHC, and Cigna are huge companies, deal primarily with large business accounts, and can be severely lacking in the customer service department in my experience.

Aetna took me an average of 30 minutes to get a simple query answered, and I was transferred from one office to the next. Eventually I was pushed of to a sales person even though I had a policy! These companies do offer excellent comprehensive coverage. Again, you pay for it one way or another.

This year I interviewed with John from Farm Bureau/BCBS, Ken a broker who had Celtic, Assurant and World, Paul with Golden Rule, Steve with Mega, and Mary from a company called United American which is a severely limited plan.

They were all nice people, but only the United American and Mega agents explained to me what my per incident liability was. Blue Cross was superior coverage, but we had them in NY and was dropped when we moved to NC, I could not believe the plan was not portable. No one informed me, not even the agent I met with recently. He told me to get out of the insurance business and offer my employees their plan because they were the only ones who would guarantee issue.

We all applied because it was the most comprehensive for individuals and the rates were reasonable.
What I got back in October was not even close to what was quoted.

If I listened to the agent and quit "over paying" Aetna, we would have been screwed.

What made the Mega agent stand out this year was his professionalism.
It may be just luck of the draw as all companies eventually respond to complaints by self regulating.
The Mega agent thoroughly answered all my questions, warned me never to cancel any plan until my new plan passed scrutiny, and put us both on a conference call with the company. Their policies as of this writing, are catastrophic in design.

Mega confirmed on the conference call everything the agent explained to me. What my liability choices were, defined per incident and lifetime maximums, and what the association Alliance for Affordable Services was. Since Mega is an association plan with either NASE or AAS in NC, you can cancel the association membership and still keep the insurance.

When I called Mega in Texas a week later, the customer service rep asked me when I called, who was the agent I spoke with, in a few minutes she repeated who I spoke to in their office, and what about. That's incredible customer service.

I am staying with Aetna through my small business, but I did purchase the Alliance benefits and the Vision insurance from Mid-West. I have used the benefits and have saved much more than the $40 per month it costs. The association discount dental alone was far superior than the insurance BCBS offers. When I thanked Steve with Mega for the hours he spent answering my questions, reviewing my current policy, never pressuring me to do anything but stay insured, he told me the best way to show my appreciation was to tell a friend, and to post my own experience and wisdom here.

Bottom line:
It is simply foolish to have the risk of being uninsured.
If you can afford the best, get the best.
If you are not well off, then heed the advice from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners:
Make sure you have, at the minimum, at least one million dollars of coverage per incident.

Most companies I have mentioned meet that criteria, but not on all their policies.

Know what your liability is, and review your policy before you accept it.

Go to www.naic.org before you purchase any type of insurance.

Do not take anybody's word here, not even my own.
Do your own homework and hold folks accountable.
Good health and happiness to all of you.

Paul
Charlotte, North Carolina
U.S.A.