Green Shield Canada
reviews and complaints

I was not able to get me dental work done prior to my 65th birthday, because of Covid 19. I was then denied coverage. What a terrible, awful, company. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Website makes it very hard to submit a claim.
Very few drugs are covered.
Any customer requests take days for a reply.
I blame my College Pension Plan for switching from *** to GSC.
Stay away from these guys!

I just tried to speak with agent 'M' on my mother's behalf. He was very condescending and rude. If you don't like to help people, get out of customer service. I hung up without getting the info I was needing. I'd like to give it a 0 ☆ rating.

A total waste of money. They give you back dimes and take dollars. When it is time for 50$ drugs, they do not pay and ask for a doctors note. Who do they think tells you what drug to take to get better but your doctor. And they ask for a letter from your doctor. A total waste of money and time

I had dental work done months ago that was covered and that Green Shield still refuses to pay for. They've gone as far as to suggest that my dentist's office contact my new insurer who had nothing at all to do with me or the work that was done at the time. Any excuse not to pay. Breathtakingly abysmal.

Cancelled it! As a Senior I only needed it for such things as RMTherapy. They only pay $25 per visit and when I submitted account they refused to pay because I needed a doctor's referral before having the massage. Now after cancellation I save the premium, and collect full amount paid off my tax return.

My employer vs employer v switched provider to gsc and now my medication for my diabetes has to be approved by green shield it $170/out of pocket I've been waiting a month and still no answer on if they will cover this medication or not customer service is not the greatest this is the worst plan I've ever had .

Beware, if your company switches to Green Shield. They held meetings to ensure us that our coverage would remain the same, ***. I my self have discovered multiple things not covered, that where with ***, and am hearing form many other employees, that they are experiencing the same problems.

Yesterday I was angry with GSC because I thought they had cancelled my Pharma support without even communicating with me. It ended up being the other partner involved and not GSC. Despite my less than favorable responses to them, they contacted me this morning and communicated with me explaining everything, as well as informing me how bridge the installed black-out periods. Now that is customer service and deserves a 3 star rating.

We called Green Shield with an issue today and had a really good experience
We had a fantastic agent who was patient, willing to take her time to explain what we had done incorrectly. She walked us through the claim entry process so that we could do this correctly in the future. I had to ask her for her name so that I could provide this positive feedback.
Her name was *** and her employee number was ***
Great work *** and thanks a million

Worst customer Service. RUDE. Try hard to avoid coverage. They took forever to study some of my claims and finally denied them. The reasoning was ridiculous: she's not a psychologist, she is a counselor, really? was is the difference? ... And even before, I got some other claims denied for no reason. Each time I ask them for an explanation they were VERY rude and unfriendly. I do not recommend working with this company and I will leave immediately.

Horrible experience. My son was sick overseas and we both had to see the doctor there. The receipt was in English with details about the illness and the cost. My husband summited my son's receipt to *** as he is under his plan and got no problem. I submitted mine to Green Shield and got denied! Same doctor, same type of receipt! How ridiculous! The denied it due to lack of information on the receipt. But what types information do you need? Name, illness, Doctor name and address, cost, everything is there!

I have dealt with multiple insurance/benefit agencies while working and going to school. This is by FAR the worst. If you are thinking about bringing your business and employees here, take my advice and pay more elsewhere. It is awful. Not only is there website impossible, their customer service is pitiful at best. For one claim alone I had to talk to call back about 6 or 7 times. They have every possible hoop to jump through just to get your money back. Also, not all- but many of their agents are just down right rude.

I was dealing with a fairly complicated claim that I have never had before but had the very good fortune of connecting with GS's rep *** (#***) who has been extremely patient and professional in guiding me through the process. This has taken numerous emails and she even had the care and kindness to call me directly on one particularly complex issue that was too lengthy to address properly in an email. As a now retired senior professional with 37 years with the provincial government I endeavored to instill Service Excellence in my staff and that is what I see with ***. Her standard of client care should be what all of GS's service representatives should strive for! Thank you.

Out of the other health insurance providers such as ***, *** and *** that we have used over the years, I must say that Green Shield must be near the bottom of the providers. The agents were professional in answering my questions, but the overall plan that GS administers is so outdated. It seems odd in this day and age that a doctors note is still required for periodic massage therapy when you're using your health spending account and trying to use your limit before the year-end. (Not the case with the other providers). So my son and I had to mask up and go to our doctors' office to get our prescriptions (doctors note) for massage therapy so we could submit our receipt for reimbursement. It seems that GS makes the reimbursement process as difficult as possible so they don't have to pay their members. It's just a shame.

Contacted this Company on December 3 about my coverage regarding my CPAP mask and received a quick reply as follows:

Hello ***,

Thank you for your email.

Your plan will allow one mask every 6 months based on the first paid claim date and up to $325.00 per mask. Your next eligible date is January 1.

Regards,

Green Shield Canada

I purchased the mask ( and a second one ) on January 7/20 and submitted the claim (the invoice had 2 on it so I submitted it for 2 knowing one would be denied). They denied my claim stating I was to early to claim/purchase not quite sure which, kept the receipt and put it under review only after I asked about it.
I followed their instructions as to purchase date and submitted a proper claim after purchasing it. Now they are hiding behind COVID19 saying a review process is needed. I advise them I have an email advising me of what to do, that I waited until they said so, gave them the email's reference number and yet no action. I pay $292 a month and what them to pay what is rightfully mine, but, no reviews are delayed because of COVID 19, understand that, but, it should never have been denied as I followed the instructions they provided me.

My husband and I just got our eyes checked and got new glasses. We've been with Green Shield for years. Because I was a few days late to submit claims, they denied it. Really?

My benefits cover the blood pressure monitor. Green Shield still denied it and will not pay the claim. I submitted a claim for a blood pressure monitor. It is covered in our benefits. It was prescribed by my family doctor. Human Resources and the union told Green Shield they have to pay, and they agreed. I logged on to my account, and it is still denied. Green Shield is very difficult to deal with.

I wanna talk about this thing where GSC won't buy stuff. They won't pay for *** Banville Wife's claim. So, like, here's the deal. *** has been a full-blown Diabetic for over 50 years. She's 85 now and her legs are really bad. GSC knows they cover some of her meds. The nurse cut her toenails in a special room for people like her. I don't care about the $50, but it's not cool that they won't pay. It's dishonest and needs to stop.

Thru Green Shield I get 80% covrage on prescriptions. Alberta covers 70% for seniors but Greenshield wont cover the extra 10%. B4 the *** Pension plan switched to Greenshield, PBC paid the diff when I sent in my expenses each yr. When I asked Greenshield 4 the claim forms, they said I cant claim the 10% diff. Between my hubby n me, that adds up 2 $200/yr that we gotta pay. We asked if we could send our prescription claims directly 2 Greenshield n not go thru the Govt. That way we'd get the full 80%, but the Greenshield rep said we aint allowed. Is there anythin we can do bout this?

Date of transaction: 12/12/22. The amount I paid to the business was a total of $1699.40. The dispute is that Green Shield Canada provided me with a quote for dental work. The dentist had sent it electronically before the procedure, but it couldn't be completed on the same day due to patient discomfort. It had to be rescheduled, and I was charged a different price than the quoted amount. The quote was $663.20, but I ended up paying $1069.60. They say this is because we had reached the maximum coverage for that year, as stated on the quote they gave us. If I had known this, I would have waited a few more weeks to have the remaining work done when the benefits were at their maximum again. The business has explained their reasoning, but I don't think the quote and the amount I was supposed to pay are justified. The account number is ***.

I wanna complain 'bout an insurance company in your area called Green ***. I sent 'em a letter on Nov. %A, 2021 explainin' my concerns 'bout gettin' reimbursed for a medication my doctor prescribed, ***. According to the insurance policy from Greenshields, which is arranged by the B.C. Pension Plan, they should cover 70% of eligible medicine expenses after deductibles 'n stuff. That's how it worked in 2018 'n 2019, as ya can see in the chart in my Nov 5, 2021 letter (most of the cost was considered "eligible"). But in 2020 'n 2021, Greenshields suddenly decided to only cover 29% of the medication cost in Feb. 2020 'n 56% in Jan. 2021 (also 29% in Nov. 2022, which ain't in the chart). This means I gotta pay more outta pocket, even though it should be covered by Greenshield insurance. I tried sortin' this out by sendin' 'em the Nov. 5, 2021 letter 'n a reminder on Feb. 3, 2022, but they ain't bothered to reply. Can ya help me get Green Shields to deal with this? It ain't right for a good company to treat their customers like this. Thanks in advance. Lookin' forward to hearin' from ya.

I signed up for coverage with Green Shield Canada and paid the first and last month's premium. However, due to economic reasons, I had to cancel after using it for only one month. I tried to cancel by mail as instructed by Green Shield, but I couldn't find any information about canceling via email or fax. Finally, on August 25th, I received an email confirming the cancellation for September 30th. I called customer service on August 26th between 1 pm and 2 pm (AST) to inquire about a refund for the last month. The representative informed me that they always bill a month in advance. I explained that I don't need or want coverage for September since my plan is canceled before September 1st. There are still four business days left before the start of the month, so the premium payments for September would be processed before September 1st. It's not fair that they are applying my payment to September 1st, which is the last month of the year's premium. The representative mentioned that since claims were made for August, which has already been paid for, they cannot process a refund for the unused month. This is also unfair.

On October 30th, I bought BD pen needles for $89.98. I sent the claim using the app of the receipt from the pharmacy, which was printed from the register and signed by the pharmacy assistant. The claim got denied, so I called greensheild on Nov 7th to find out why. They told me it was denied because I needed an official receipt from the pharmacy, not a register receipt. I got the requested receipt and resubmitted it under the same claim as they told me to. On November 11th, I received an email saying there was an update to my claim, but I didn't see any changes, so I called again. They told me to wait a few days. Later, I got an email stating the reason for denial was that it must be filled through the pharmacy as a prescription. In the past, I have submitted receipts for this product and other items with a pharmacy receipt without any problems. Greensheild said that was an exception, even though they never told me about it when they processed those claims. If I had known, I could have avoided this situation. I'm not exaggerating when I say stress makes my blood sugar rise, and tonight it has gone up to 18 because of this. I would like to be reimbursed for my medical equipment and also be shown where in the policy it says that I cannot submit on my own for later reimbursement. I would also like to know what I can purchase and submit on my own to avoid this in the future. Thank you.

I got this mental health coverage thing from my employer with Green Shield Canada. I picked a provider who's a social worker 'cause I thought it would be covered. But when I sent in the claim sayin' it was for social work, they said no. They wanted to check if the provider was really an MSW and told me to send it in as an MSW service instead. I've been tryin' for more than a month to make sure Green Shield talks to the provider 'bout her credentials if I send the claim again. But they want me, the patient, to ask the provider for a copy of her diploma, which ain't right. And I don't see anywhere in my booklet that says I gotta do this. So far, I ain't got no proof that Green Shield is reachin' out to the provider 'bout her credentials. They're makin' it impossible for me to use my own benefits with all this red tape, and they won't even do the basic stuff to confirm my legit claim. It feels like fraud 'cause I can't get reimbursed for somethin' I'm eligible for and paid for. I can't even talk to Green Shield 'cause they won't answer my questions in their emails. They just keep copyin' and pastin' the same message, and my claims keep gettin' denied when I resend 'em. The amount's been sittin' on my credit card for over a month now, collectin' interest, and I can't keep goin' to counseling 'cause I don't know if I'll get reimbursed and I gotta pay these unexpected fees.