Independence Blue Cross Reviews

My email to IBX speaks for itself...

Hello,

This is my second email about this problem. In November and December of 2023 I overpaid $1149.42 in coverage fees.

This was due to the incompetence of IBX and it's poorly managed marketplace enrollment process. I paid the enrollment fee 3 times due to IBX "not having record" of each payment. Finally, I submitted an email via this website and made a complaint on BBB. I was contacted by someone via phone in early February who told me that my refund would be mailed to me shortly.

I have still yet to received my money. I called in late February and was told that my check would be mailed out on 3/4/24. Today is March 18th and I have yet to receive any of my money back. Today I called customer service twice.

BOTH calls were "dropped" and I received no call back despite confirming my call back number with both reps. I was on the first call for 20 minutes before my call was dropped and I was on hold for the second call for 52 MINUTES before my call was again, mysteriously dropped.

I have been extremely patient during this process. Your company has not only stollen my money, you have wasted my valuable time. I am including my original email for reference.

I will be opening another BBB complaint due to nonpayment from your unscrupulous company.

*****ORIGINAL EMAIL- SENT 2/3/24*****

Hello,

In November 2023, I sought heath care coverage for 12/1/23- 12/31/23 due to a coverage gap after changing jobs. I only needed 1 month of coverage. I accessed the Pennie website for Pennsylvania resident marketplace of health insurance. I chose an IBX health insurance plan and paid the premium of $574.71 via a credit card on 11/12/23.

Later that month I was approaching the start date of my new insurance coverage and logged onto the Pennie website to access my coverage information. On the website, it said my coverage was not enrolled. I contacted Pennie via telephone who told me to contact IBX. When I called IBX I was told that they never received my payment.

I was told that I needed to pay IBX from my checking account. I did so on 11/30/23. AGAIN I paid the premium fee of $574.71. I then contacted credit card used for the first payment and submitted a dispute for the payment made of 11/12/23 that IBX said they never received.

On 12/1/23, I logged onto the IBX website and saw that I still did not have insurance coverage.

I contacted IBX by phone and was told it can take several business days to reflect the payment. I logged into IBX and Pennie daily over the next two weeks to see NO INSURANCE COVERAGE. My IBX coverage NEVER reflected my two premium payments. I contacted Pennie and IBX multiple times to resolve this error.

On 12/11/23 I spoke to a manager at Pennie and submitted a ticket to IBX to address my missing payment paid via the portal on the Pennie website. I requested a refund and cancellation of my policy. The ticket was directed to billing at IBX. On 12/19/23 I received a response from IBX saying that my payment was not found.

I continued to contact IBX throughout the month of December.

I created several tickets within IBX to address the missing payments. I submitted bank and credit card statements showing the charges as well as screenshots taken when the payments were submitted online. I was told every time that someone would get back to me in a few days. I NEVER received any response from IBX from these inquiries.

On 12/20/23, I began having health symptoms that I wanted to see a doctor about. When contacting IBX again, I was told that If I paid over the phone with them I would receive coverage within 48 hours. I submitted a phone payment because I needed to see a doctor. It took several days to reflect my insurance coverage.

In summary, I paid IBX $574.71 three separate times. 11/12, 11/30 and 12/20.

I finally received insurance coverage with only a few days left in the month.

I overpaid $1149.42. IBX has made no attempt to help resolve this problem. I couldnt believe how poorly a giant insurance company could be run.

I am seeking to have this problem resolved by IBX immediately.

I want my $1149.42 refunded immediately.

11/12/2023- KEYSTONE HEALTH PLAN E Via Pennie portal link-Amount: $574.71 1/30/2023 - BX BLUE CROSS WEB PMNT XXXXX0892 - Amount: $574.71

12/20/2023- HEALTHINSPREMIUM EDI PAYMTS RSPAX000645**** - Amount: $574.71

Of note, all of the representatives I spoke to on the phone were very helpful and courteous. However, IBX never responded to my calls.

Thank you, Gabrielle Dalton

I am enrolled in auto-pay for my Independence Blue Cross Silver Proactive Plan. For unknown reason no deduction was made in February and a double payment was deducted from my account on March 29th which makes my account up to date.

However all of my prescriptions and well as my spouse have been cancelled due to non-payment!! I contacted billing Monday 8th and the customer service agent stated that she did see account up to date (can also see this on my portal) but two payments had never been credited to my account and she did not know why so she sent account for review. I stated that our medications are needed as soon as possible, rep said she would have pharmacy division send an override to pharmacy within 24 hrs. As of this evening our prescriptions are still on hold!

Also according to the portal the next auto payment is for TWICE the monthly amount due.

The premium is 462.00 but the scheduled deduction is $924.00.

I have been a member of Blue Cross for over 30 years and have never had issues like this.

Due to no fault of ours, we have had all of our need prescriptions canceled by the pharmacy and somehow according to the portal IBX will be doubling the monthly cost!! Please correct my account and send notice to the pharmacy so that we can get our much NEEDED medications!

Each year gets worse. Their premiums and coverages are horrible.

Oftentimes it's a choice between eating and paying their bills. They increase premiums dramatically every year, while also increasing co-pays and deductibles. Their phone system and website are the worst. They should put me on payroll.

Every issue takes 3-8 man-hours to settle, exclusive of the time they force you to spend calling (and calling, and calling) the pharmacy and doctors' offices. IBX must be called multiple times for every issue.

And they are ALWAYS experiencing a high call volume - everyday, all different times. As I write this review, I've been on the phone for over an hour dealing with a problem they told me was taken care of twice already.

12/10/2021

Please give to President or Vice president of IBX:

To Whom it May Concern:

I occasionally have to call independence Blue cross for authorizations for Pain Management. On December 10th, 2021 I called Independence Blue Cross via phone 800-676-**** at 8:55am.

We are very aware of long hold times and we try to use the internet platform as much as possible, but once in a while we need to speak to someone. I was on hold for the about 68 minutes. That was not the issue though. When the call was picked up you could her distant activity in the background and no one was responding.

I kept saying hello over and over. At one point it sounded like someone else was trying to wake the person up by whispering in their ear. I tried to use my phone alarm, as well as, ringtone and only received louder snoring. You could actually hear the person turn over, as if they were in bed.

I kept saying Hello and after many minutes of trying to wake the person up I gave up at 10:19am.

I wanted to make you aware of this unfortunate situation so that another person does not have to endure the LONG hold just to get a sleeping employee! I know you are above these standards, so I ask that you address this immediately.

Thank you,

Faith Studenroth

Billing specialist at Comprehensive Pain

610-366-**** ext 1224