United HealthCare Services
reviews and complaints

My name is Ray Roberson, I was forced to retire from Shell Oil Company in 2003.
I had Two heart attacks prior to my retirement and continue to be under the care of
a cardiologist.
Since 1977 until today I have never missed paying my health care premium this is
34 years.
Today I am told that Shell or United health care whoever is speaking will no longer
pay for my Doctor visits, hospital stays or necessary procedures because in 2011,
eight years after my retirement they think I may be eligible for medicare part B.

I contacted medicare and I was told by a lady named Holly that I do NOT have part
B and will not be eligible till I am “65”, I am 60 years old now.

I will run out of medicine in another month and need to see a doctor to get refills
for the numerous prescriptions I must take, it is past time for my appt. with my
cardiologist and I cannot pay for my last colonoscopy which I thought my insurance
would pay for.

Three times last year after we had reached the out of pocket maximum required by our plan, United Healthcare began processing our claims as if the limit had not been met. It took many hours to be able to resolve this matter. In the meantime the doctors who had provided the services began billing us for what they thought was our portion of the charges. It is hard to understand why the processing system does not show when a person has reached their out of pocket limit when claims are being processed. Even efforts through my company arbitrator did not resolve the issue because they took the answer provided by United Healthcare.

Ive been going to the Dr. for a few years on a medical condition. Two years ago I got a job that has (what I thought it was anyway) very good healthcare benefits. For my ongoing medical condition, I found out that the insurance claims they do cover prescriptions, but yet, 99% of the presecriptions my Dr. gives me are NOT covered by this medical insurance! And Im not talking about meds you might just need once in a while...Im talking about meds you need to LIVE! My Dr. gave me about 10 different prescriptions to fill, and was told "they werent covered", before I actually got one that WAS covered! Why they HELL doesnt this "healthcare" company just give Dr.s a freeking LIST of what they DO cover? SO much paper and time was wasted due to these ###s at this "healthcare" company...simply because they couldnt be bothered to tell the Dr. what they DID cover! F**K! I could have died, waiting for these freeking ###s to ok one of the many prescriptions I had in my hand!

And now, my Dr. tells me they have an allergy program that IS covered by my insurance, so I sign up for it, and I get my first two shots. Im given three prescriptions that go with the program, and when I tried to fill them, I was told they are NOT covered by my insurance!?!

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

What kind of ###ED, ###IC, IMBICILIC company pays for a program you cannot use?

The ###s that run these "healthcare" companys need to be denied ANY and ALL medical help for them and their families, and see how they like it!

United has denied numerous claims based on a 3rd party reviewing the claims. However, they refuse to give the reason for denial which prevents the doctor's office from correcting the problem or from appealing. That is against the Provider Agreement the insurance company signed. The 3rd party, meanwhile, are paid a percentage of claims they find a reason to deny. The doctor cannot successfully appeal and continues to file the claims "incorrectly" resulting in even more denials. Someone needs to file a class action lawsuit against United.

What is your definition of explanation? UHC has their definition which is not in any dictionary I know. I just wanted to know what each line item charge was for - that's all. It took me three times on hold to get ahold of a "specialist" to finally tell me that their "Explanation of Benefits" (EOB) does not fully explain the charges. Further, they will not tell you what the charges are unless you spend an hour out of your day to go through their horrible voice-jail, then go from agent to agent to finally find out! This is their policy! They try to blame this on "privacy" protections! Then, because you are transferred, you cannot rate their service on the "#9" option at the end of the call. So this means most will not complain! And they over charge everyone in America for this amazing disservice! They tell me to go to my doctor and ask what the charges are for! This is like going to the grocery store, going home and looking at the receipt and seeing "food" repeated for each dollar amount listed! Excuse me, but what part of "Explanation" is it that they don't get?

Long before have my second child I called the 800 line and reviewed my benefits online. Well to my surprise, after have an emergency c-section 3 plus stay at the hospital, I started to receive bills. These bills were not only for my, but my new born. You see the costumer services reps at United and my online benefits stated the mother and child were both covered under the mother as long as they discharged together, if baby stated, it would then assume its own identity, ocpays, and deductiable...HAHAHA! I had to pay my whole $4500.00 out off pocket for me and almost $4000.00 for the baby.
***Here is the kicker. Our work heard of this and changed the insurance plan. We were all assured by the salesman that this plan would cover mother and child completely under the new $2500.00 deductable. (I even asked if the back of the paper, in one of corners had invisible ink with disclaimers?) We were assured nothing would make the payment go over $2, 500.00 as all as mom and baby state and were discharged together...Guess what... This information was a big fact lie. I just called about maternity benenfits and was told by the benefits department that a normal healthy birth for mom and baby would be $2, 500.00. With complications you could reach a $4000.00 out of pocket for each. WOW! ONCE AGAIN HAVING A BABY WENT FROM ONE AMOUNT TO POSSIBLE MORE THAN DOUBLE.
Peopele be aware there are benefits exclusion, diclaimers and riders, that also play a part. When you look at you benefits package, you are only viewing what they want you to see. My own HR Dept. was shocked when the sale gentleman told me I should have consulted her for the exclusion/disclaimers and riders manual, She had no idea that there was such, nor did she know who to access it. I am glad to have insurance, but it would be nice the facts and not all the smoke and mirrors!

I submitted a faxed request for reimbursement of a dental bill to United Health Care on December 30, 2010. My fax was acknowledged. When we did not receive reimbursement, I faxed the request and all documentation a 2nd time on January 24, 2011 (acknowledgement received). I checked the website and on January 28th and there was no documenation on the receipt of my request, so I faxed a letter and all documentation to the attention of an account manager on January 28, 2011, and again rcvd acknowledgement of receipt. Still no response. I called on February 3, 2011, and after waiting for a long period of time, I was allowed to speak with an account specialist. He (Richard) told me his our request had been denied as it appeared to be a duplicate request, but that appeared to be a mistake and he would escalate payment to us and we should have the money in our account with in 7 days. I asked him why it takes so long to put money in our account (my current flexible spending plan does it the next day). Not sure if that upset him or the fact that I voiced my opinion on not letting a person know if they are denying their claim, so that I would continue to send faxes with no response, , but found out today, he did not even bother to put notes in our file about his conversation with me. On February 9th, 2011, I called and spoke with Rosemary A (thought she was an account specialist, but apparently not, as she could not authorize immeidate payment). After I had spend another half hour on the phone with them, I was a little upset and advised I wanted a check overnighted to us, as it was uncalled for to wait this long for reimbursement of $132.00. She told me she would have this escalated and account manager would call me this morning. No call ever came. I called againt this afernoon and spoke with Sharon, who had advised me that Rosemary did not bother to escalate my request. I advised I was not hanging up until I spoke with someone that could help me because after waiting on hold for 30 minutes, she told me that our claim had been denied as a duplicate. She said that is not going to happen. I was so upset I hung up. It should not be this difficult to get the last of our funds out of this FSA account. *****This company has by far-----the worst customer service I have ever seen. They must have outrageous phone bills for the amount of time they make people hold on the line. Would never recommend them**************

I was a long term employee of At&t untill I suffered an injury
that put me on disability and eventually having 20 plus yrs with
AT&T they retired me. My disability is tough enough to live a quality
of life with the aftereffects of RSD
I the gall of 2010, I was coming up my deck steps
holding the railing, my knee gave out and my arm, causing me
to fall face first on the deck with nothing to break my fall.
I tried to get up but couldn't, my fiancé heard my scream
and helped me get up, not realizing the blood from my nose
and mouth. After finally getting the blood to stop, I had swollowed
a tooth and a piece of another. The pain in my mouth felt like
someone hit me with a brick. I called my insurance for help
because the pain was getting worse and my gums were swelling up.
At first, in calling my At&t benifits it appeared that there was help
under my medical for dental accidents, they got my to
uhc to help me through the process. Since there was no oral surgeon that was covered under both they approved me to see a oral surgeon assuring me that my coverage from the accident would be covered under my medical. It is a matter of co/pay being hard to cover bs impossible.
In seeing the oral surgeon there was so much swelling of my gums and
nose it was hard to determine a course of action. So he medicated and scheduled follow- up. Well as the healing progressed or rather
the result of the fall showing the impact the fall had on my mouth
was aweful. My upper teeth began receeding from the gums, bleeding
and bruising worsened, my lower teeth loosened, broke, chipped away.
What was once manageable with fillings and losing a couple
back teeth due to my heath, became a fact that all the time and
money I had to pay out of pocket over the yrs was wasted. My dentist
dr aiello's put an extensive plan together as required by my insurance
before treating. So months go by with pain and frustration and alot
of hours by my dentists mgr Patti providing medical -dental codes not
knowing as the recovery or disaster in my mouth
was going to continue. Well I faced the facts my teeth
had to go, there were no
guarantees, I heal slow due to my disability.
So, dr aiello's sent a comprehensive pkge in as best
they could looking at whY may occur in process, it was
finally approved, the next step was due to concern
of my health that an oral surgeon was required
by the knowledge of my dentist to do the extractions, so I
could be monitored in case something went wrong.
So know dr santerelli's office had to submit for
their approval for all remaining extractions, now as
many of the teeth were starting to decay, exposed nerves,
teeth becoming worse due to time passing. They got denial, then
approval, then at Christmas when the submitted for
pte approval for sedation, someone looked at it, rejected it
because sedation was already covered under medical. I called in again
so upset and was told we don't talk to patients we talk
to providers... Are you kidding me, my speech, ability to eat and pain were becoming worse and worse. I got a call from UHC representative
that helped dentist who was on special assignment
when oral surgeon approval got cancelled in error.
To sum this up, there iscno one person manage
my case and they were doing me a favor by talking to me.
They won't pay for sedation of 10 plus teeth being
removed with my gums still not healed. My dentist has ordered
a partial for on bottom, otherwise I wld have to
risk surgery to remove 2 bones in my my mouth
that are in the way. They will cover some removals but
not the ones that decayed or fallen apart since which makea
all of this insane, painful, unaffordable, unhealthy
for my condition and let's also not sedate her so
she can suffer more. I begged for one person to handle since
each piece of this was approved in parts, denied in
pards and then changed by someone else.

Had I not fallen, I would not require a partial on the
bottom of my mouth nor a denture on the top.

Even with coverage I am Struggling to find the
co- pay.., . And this pain added to my disability
is inhumainr and barbric.

Last words from UHC, your right this does not
make sense and I can't explain nor get you to
anyone that can... Sorry I guess you have to
appeal again... Goodbye

also covered under mefical

My company is covering each employees using health insurance from UnitedHealthcare India.
Recently in november my wife received an operation for fibroids which have been causing her severe bleedings and the insurance covered the surgery.
The fibroids being too big, the doctor didn't take all of it in the first stage. One month later, bleeding started again and the doctor decided to do a second operation, to remove the remaining fibroids. But this time, the insurance denied the credit for some suspicious and non-relevant reason such as our wedding date, saying that because we are married for 3 years, and because they consider this as infertility treatment (?!?!), UHC is only covering it if you are married less than a year!?! then, they brought various topic regarding a 4 years old ectopic pregancy incident, again with no relevant links to this fibroids issue.
We and our doctor had to deal over the phone with some so-called doctor that hang-off the phone without listening to anyone, and just give a feedback by mail, denying the coverage.
Again, the same operation was covered 2 months before...
So it looks like UHC is playing really dirty tricks to not release money, in a very unprofessional manner.
I would strongly not recommend consumers or company using their "services" if it can be call like this. It is bringing more pain in such moment...

My infant has had regular ear infections. Every time he gets one, the doctor prescribes a typical amount of antibiotic. The same amount that my daughter was given when she had the same problem. I'm declined for coverage every time I go to the pharmacy, because United expects my child to receive an amount that is so low the doctor says it's unheard of. United is so cheap that they set limits on my child's medication that are unhealthy. I just go ahead and pay the full amount so my child can get well, and wonder why I have insurance at all.

It is useless to call the 1-800 number because all they do is resubmit your claim and don't know why it got kicked back. It is hit or miss. It seems they ignore submissions or deny them until you submit them several times and call them but they can't answer simple questions like why it got kicked back or not processed. I choose this Insurance because of the reviews i read but i am switching to CIGNA because of these horrible experiences.

AARP, a division of United Health Care(UHC), advised that I could reduce my monthly health care payments to zero dollars, and still keep my current doctors.This proved to be untrue.It was a fraudulent attempt to have me change from my existing UHC plan at $200/month to a no fee AARP Complete Solutions plan, also endorsed by UHC.I registered, rec'd my membership card with my doctors name on it.However, my doctor was not part of this plan.My wife was distraught that we could not use our current doctors.We had to opt out of the AARP plan and purchase a more costly plan at $517/month.All my conversations were recorded, however UHC said that the tapes recording my conversations with the unscrupulos sales agent could not be retrieved?Can someone recomean a qualified attorney to help me ?

I was laid off my job oct 2009. I had rx plan that covered myself and husband. We called about getting a rx plan when my plan expired. We told the person we talked with that we did not want rx plan until my rx plan expired. He took our information. Then we started getting bills for the plan. I called several times to the 800 number to tell them that we didnot want plan until my plan expired. I send letters, the 800 agents were rude and didnot handle the problem propertly. My plan expired in june 2010. Since i had so much problems with them i did not want rx plan thru them. . My husband did sign up and was told everything was fine. His plan would start in july 2010. Send them $160. 00 to start and then it would be taken out of his social security check. Then we received a letter saying to send them $322. 80, this was for plan since oct 2009. They had applied the $160. 00 to the plan from 2009. (That we did not use or sign up for) now we are afraid they will take it out of his check. I spoke with a kevin? At the 800 number last night, he was rude and said he would cancel my husbands plan and turn the $322. 80 to collection bureau. . . We did not sign up in oct2009, we did not use plan and they want us to pay something we never used or signed up for. The problem is with the incompelent person who took our call in oct 2009 and signed us, when we made it very clear we had a rx plan and didnt need one until my plan expired. Why would we sign up when we had coverage ? Crazy isnt the word for it.

My wife had to go to a specialist because her hearing is getting very bad.Well I go on uhc website to see if the specialist that her primary doctor refer her to is in the network, and he was.I then go to the benefit/coverage page and am under the assumption that all we have to do is pay the $40 copay. So a couple of weeks later we get a bill for $170.On the benefit page it says $40 copay not subject to deductible.I called them and they gave me some bulls%^t! It seems to me they pick and choose what they want to pay. If I would have known that we were going to have to pay out of pocket, we would have waited till the first of the year, since she has to have catscan and surgery also.We pay over $5, 000 a year for coverage and it is thru her employer, so we are stuck with them.We have been with them for quite a few years and have never use it for anything but preventive care ie blood work(lab).I have said it before and I will say it again Insurance Companies are nothing but legalized crooks!

1)Pre-existing riders right from the start - fine, there were a few claims but not any life-long problems... 2)Premium increased $200 each year for two years - dealt with that, I figured that was maybe normal... 3)Now I have gone over 24 months with no problems, but underwriting will not remove pre-existing riders - NOT FINE! POLICY CANCELLED! How do they think I can keep paying for something that they are basically not really allowing me to use. I will be switching to Blue Cross Blue Shield before my next premium becomes due again! UHC won;t see another penny from ME!

UHC's customer Service is non-existent. I received a bill from my former physician for services performed July 2007 through November 2007-yes THREE years ago. I spent 3+ hrs on the phone. I am sure UHC's main customer service site is in India. I was transferred back and forth at least 10 times. I was transferred to an automated survey twice, and once when I asked to speak with a manager, the customer service rep hung up on me. I finally spoke with somebody who seemed to be able to help me but they mentioned by records had been 'PURGED". I somehow doubt that. 'Archived' perhaps, but surely they are 'somewhere' in their system. My former physician has re-submitted the claims twice and each time UHC denies coverage: "Insurance Terminated". Well, DUH! No kidding I am not covered by UHC now, but for the entire year of 2007 I was covered. I have copies of the second submittal by the physician's billing department. Even the form states, "Per the website, this patient was covered 1/1/07 - 12/31/07. Please reprocess for additional payment." I wrote UHC a letter with supporting documentation. I did hear back but they state they have "No record of this claim." Then the form letter tells me to visit www.myuhc.com to view my claims and EOB's. Well I cannot access anything because I am now with Aetna .The stupid letter even tells me to "call customer care on the back of my member ID card..." and to mail a bunch of required info to, "The address on your member ID card."

They infuriate me so much. I am not paying another dime...other than postage to keep sending documentation that I was covered. How can they get away with this crap?!
I'm not to happy with the physician either. Why wait THREE damn years to refile a claim? I do have one of the EOB's with a claim number stating that the physician was paid. At the very least I hope to be off the hook for $140 of the $345 they are demanding.

I had to use their doctors, and the only drs they had, I would not take my dog to. I wound up paying cash and seeing my own Dr. The only problem is, I work for Motion Industries, a part of GPC and that is who I have to get my insurance from. Sucks huh? Might as well who drop them and throw myself on the mercy of the government...only problem with that is they run it too! Really sucks to know that when I do get to quit working at the age of 68 I will have to depend on United Health Care to make sure I die before I become a burden, haha...they sure get their share of government spending though, don't they? Wonder who their CEO knows...don't you?

My doctor prescribes 9 Imitrex (the generic) every month. I work as a Firefighter/ Paramedic in the Arizona heat and they sometimes trigger migraines. When our department switched to United Health Care I went to get my prescription refilled. Instead of the normal 9 pills (which come in a nice packet) I only received 4. They said it was a 30 day supply when I called. When I looked on-line at their website it said it was a 10 day supply. So, I am suppose to pay a $15 co-pay every 10 days for my meds. If I don't get treated for the migraines right away as the Imitrex does I end up in the ER. Not a good thing when I am on shift and need to be ready to save lives and help those in need. I have had to go to the ER before on shift before Imitrex was on the market. It was not a fun experience. Not to mention costly. I don't understand how an Insurance company trying to save money can justify this. If I end up in the ER it is extremely costly to them as well as me. So, if I am only allowed 4 in a month during the wicked heat we endure here in central Arizona I can guarantee I will have more them 4 migraines. I catch them quickly and take my meds. it doesn't effect my job performance. If I don't my whole crew is effected and can't go out on a call that could save someone's life. This just makes no sense to me.

In short it has been a nigtmare. Customer service is horrible. I have extended coverage through Cobra now since I was laid off on June 1 and my benefits technically ended June 15th, 2010. I am waiting to have a gastrectomy and pre approval was submitted 6-9-2010 prior to benefits ending. United Healthcare via Sedgwick CMS is now denying it based on coverage termination, however they received the submission from my doctor prior to benefits endidng and the letter clearly states this, the letter dated June 24, 2010 from them which denies the surgery based on criteria, is also wrong. This is their response...
"Rationale: Based on the information provided, the member does not meet all the extensive and rigourous Plan documentation criteria for coverage of obesity surgery(BMI.35 with significant comorbid obesity-related health condition, for at least 2 years; documented ongoing active participation in comprehensive weight loss program for 6 months within the past 2 years), and the proposed bariartric surgery is not covered."

The administrator for United Healthcare and my employer Sedgwick CMS sent me an e mail with the coverage information and criteria, this is not what it states. With my doctor we made sure all the criteria was met.
Aetna Insurance has approved the surgery and has the same criteria, I had had the same situation with Aetna attached is a copy of their intital denial and also the approval after documents were sent. What is difference with Aetna they were polite answered all my questions and expedited it immediaitely. United Health care continues to give it's people the run around.
They reviewed it and sent a denial within the coverage period. I have extended benefits via Cobra and they continue to say that they will not reconsider the surgery or an appeal because I am not covered and until the monies show up in their account they will not consider reviewing it. BAD FAITH if you ask me.
I have spent 2.5 hours o the phone today going from division to division, they place me a hold AND THEN DO BLIND TRANSFERS! Please help. This again wa s reviewed within the policy period and the appeals should be considered as such other than that United would be acting in bad faith. I have attached copies of everything

My complaint is against United Healthcare and how they deal with subscribers. I have logged over 5 hrs of telephone communication with United Healthcare in a 2.5 week period (from 4/20-5/6). I have been misinformed about information in my account and am enraged with UHC's Care Coordination Department, Appeals Department, and Benefits and Eligibility department.

United Healthcare needs to improve both its voice networking system, making it easier to navigate from one department to the next without having to repeat all of the same initial subscriber information, and it needs to improve the quality of their customer service agents, both in terms of their communication skills and knowledge of UHC's system.