My husband's employer began using Cigna as a health insurance provider in 2011. We also have an HSA for the first time this year.
In mid-February I had 2 claims, one on 2-15, the other on 2-17. Our deductible had not yet been met so both of the claims were sent to our HSA account for automatic payment. At total of $1, 566.07 was deducted from our HSA account for pay ent to the providers.
In early March I was told by one provider that they hadn't received payment and were trying to work with Cigna in order to verify an EFT payment. In late April I received a bill from the other provider showing no payment had been received by them either.
I called Cigna on 4-27 and was told by Consuela that they were working with the first provider (I'll call them Provider A) to track down the payment. Provider A, I was told, was being connected with a Cigna online business site that would allow the provider to track down all necessary information themselves.
Re the payment to provider B, I was told that an EFT payment had been made and was transferred to Chase (who runs the HSA) for further information. Chase informed me that everything Consuela had just told me was incorrect and that once Cigna debits my HSA account Chase can no longer see what happened to the funds.
So I called Cigna back and talked to Yolanda. She supposedly put in a request to get information as to how payment was made to Vendor B. She said that she hoped to get a response that day, or the next day at the latest, and would call me the following day with news.
Yolanda did not call me back so on the afternoon of 4-28 I called Cigna and this time spoke with Ray Lynn. She could see Yolanda's inquiry but said it looked as if it went to the wrong department. She said that she would put in a new request for tracking and would call me back on Sunday or Monday. She did not call me back.
I called Cigna again on 5-1 and spoke with Elia who sent me to Mandy who, before I could stop her, sent me to Chase where I was told the same thing I was told before--Chase can't help me once Cigna debits my account.
SO, I called back to Cigna again and spoke with Julie. She said that she could not see a payment being made in her system and that 'we are waiting to hear from that department'. I was supremely frustrated at this point and asked for a supervisor.
I was given to a supervisor named Jeff Ellison. He said that he would find out if funds were paid to vendor B. If not, the funds that were taken from my account would be credited. If a payment was made he would get me the check clearing info. I thought...finally, I'm getting somewhere...but I was wrong.
When I spoke with Jeff Ellison again on 5-4 he said that he could not find any record of payment having been made to Vendor B. He said that he would update the service request so that the money would be credited back to my HSA. He said that he would have verification within 24-48 hours and would call me back by that Friday, May 6th.
Jeff didn't call me on Friday the 6th or Monday the 9th. I left him a voice mail on the 10th and on the 11th. Late in the afternoon of the 11th I got a call from Julie (apparently calling instead of Jeff). She told me that the payment matter was still under investigation. Cigna did take the money from my HSA and did not pay the provider, but that Cigna couldn't figure out where the money went. 'When the mystery is solved we will credit your account'. At this point I was fuming. I explained that I didn't care what Cigna had done with the money or that they needed to figure out the glitch in their system. They admitted to having withdrawn money from my account and having not paid the vendor. There is no reason for further delay, I said, pay me back! She was so sorry, she said, but they were 'working' on it and she couldn't give me a date by which I would be credited.
On 5-16 I touched base with Vendor A to see if their payment issue had been solved. Big surprise, it had not. they had gotten online with Cigna's Business Services site but all the information that they could see was 'payment was made on X date'. No payment details or an audit to show which account the payment went into. As the provider said, "Cigna has been less than helpful."
I tried to reach Jeff Ellison again and could not--only voice mail. So I called the main number and asked to speak to another supervisor. I was transferred to Gracie Lewis. She listened to my story with a mixture of horror and disbelief. She kept saying, "that just doesn't sound right that we would have taken money out of your account, not paid the vendor and drug our feet in returning your money." She apologized for Cigna's behavior and said that she would do some research, get things straightened out and call me the next morning.
5-17: Gracie didn't call me this morning. I called her and she returned my call. She said that she is working with the client service partner (my husband's employer?) and her financial services department. It is confirmed that no check went out to Vendor B...yet, she cannot tell me when I will have my money back.
I explained to her that, in my eyes, Cigna's actions translate to theft and said that if any banking institution took $1566.09 from my checking account and refused to return it I would have solid grounds for legal action--same here--and I'm considering it.
She said that she was working really hard to get this resolved...blah, blah, blah. I explained that I had gotten that same story from every person I have talked to over the previous 3 weeks and that as 'hard as everyone is working on it' nothing is being done. She said that she 'escalated' the matter to a higher level. I asked if she was the first person to 'escalate' the situation and she said yes. If this is true, it's a clear sign of how terrible Cigna's customer service is. This should have been elevated to a high priority situation on 4-27 and should have been resolved within a couple of days. Instead, the issue was passed around and ignored. I'm not hopeful that dealing with Gracie will be any different. I told her that I read Cigna's Ethics Policy online and got a huge laugh about their dedication to 'fair treatment of customers' HA! I have never been treated so poorly by any company in my life. Frankly, never imagined that treatment like this was possible.
NOTE: I asked what was happening with the payment to Vendor A. She said the investigation is currently on hold until the matter with Vendor B is solved...assuming Vendor B issue is solved they will use the same template to solve problem with Vendor A. Again...ridiculous...as if everything at Cigna were being done by hand with pen and paper in a back room. If they can't work on issues simultaneously they are operating in the dark ages. IMO, they are simply not in a hurry to refund my money because...they don't have to be. And that's what makes me the most angry. We are financially well off, but I know that this kind of gross incompetence could wreck some families with big medical bills and shaky credit. Absolutely, totally and completely disgusted with Cigna.

The consequences of this clustered mess is that we have medical bills that are due...and in some instances past due...that we will either need to pay for out of pocket (and therefore lose the advantage of paying with pre-tax dollars with funds from our HSA) or risk having damage done to our credit...all because Cigna has taken our money and refused to return it.
If anyone out there in HR is considering using Cigna, I can say loudly and clearly RUN THE OTHER WAY if you value your employers and their time and sanity.

Each passing day I am grateful to God that I can still get up and go to work. Some days are better than others but I have to go because our only other source of income is my husbands disability. In the mean time I have had several strokes and I was diagnosed with a PFO which stands for patent forman ovale also known as a hole in my heart. This hole is believed to be the cause of my strokes. Transcatheter closure of a patent foramen ovale (PFO) is considered medically necessary for individuals with a history of cryptogenic stroke . This was copied from the website below,
http://www.anthem.com/ca/medicalpolicies/policies/mp_pw_a053319.html
My health insurance through my job is Cigna. I need a procedure called Percutaneous Transcatheter Closure in which my insurance company will not approve because they say it is not fda approved. If that is the case why is this procedure being done on a regular basis . Recently I learned that another patient who also has cigna was approved for the exact same procedure but yet I was told by Cigna customer service on several occasions that this was not fda approved.and Cigna would not approve it for anyone and yet they approve another patient for the exact same procedure as what I am being denied for, I do not know about you but this sounds like the truth is that this is an expensive procedure and that is why they are dancing around the real reason for the denial it is expensive. I guess the CEO who makes millions of dollars every year does not want anyone to cut into that. One year the CEO made 12 million dollars and recently was saying that he was going to give his employees raises. Yea raises but at whose expense. Their customers expense. I was told I could have a major stroke and even die from this. In the last few days I have not been feeling well and I am not quite sure what is happening, I could become a vegetable or be dead at the age of 50. Please think about this, If this was happening to you or a family member you would be fighting like crazy and hoping someone would take the time and expose this injustice, Cigna is doing this because they think they can get away with this as they have done in the past. Together let us show Cigna and the government that this is not acceptable. No one as of yet has helped me so first come is the one who will get the story. The hint is that if something happens to me my family especially my husband has vowed that he will bring cigna to their knees and put them out of business. Who are they to decide who lives and who dies? Doctors would not put their reputations on the line and do a procedure that is not fda approved at the risk of being sued. I read about a 17 year girl who needed a transplant done and cigna would not approve it and finally as a result of people picketing in front of cigna they agreed to authorize the day the girl died. Now the girls parents are going after cigna for murder. So will my family if this happens to me. Think about how you would feel if everyone was sitting on their hands and your loved one or yourself needed a procedure as a matter of survival what would you do. You would hope like I am hoping that someone would have the guts to standup with me against cigna and say that this is not acceptable.

Please help me
Rose
954 889 4369

CIGNA does not pay attention to what they are doing! And due to their lack of ability to do their job, my family is being harrassed by bills. Without getting into all the details, I will sum it up by sharing the oh so familiar expression the Cigna customer service parrots.."We are aware of the mistakes that have been made, and we can reassure you that going foward, bills will be processed correctly." Bullshit! A multitude of health claims for cancer treatments, doctors appointments, & hospital bills were processed wrong and were denied, or were paid wrong and now CIGNA wants refunds from health providers in order to process claims correctly! Meanwhile, after I alerted Cigna to their mistakes 8 months ago & SEVERAL times after, CIGNA continues to make mistakes and here come the bills. I cannot comprehend how the same mistake is made repeatedly, unless a Qualified Idiot is is responsibile. I do not recommend Cigna to anyone.

We had very bad results with this group. We trusted Dr.Cigna and his group to do whats best for our children, and they totally screwed their teeth up. After spend over $6, 000.00 and 3 plus years our daughters teeth are worse. And Dr Cigna refuses to take ownership of his substandard work. Interesting enough one of his assistants did agree with me and felt the proper steps were not taken to effectively correct their teeth. I was going to accept it and move on, but no way. I will look into legal council.

So a word of caution before you select this group.

One of their contracted providers, Radiology Assciates if Indianapolis, failed to file a claim. Cigna tells me that under their contract, they cannot come back on me for the charges. They did and Cigna provided no help with my defense, only to tell me that I do not owe the charges. Rad Ass attorney says "that the contract does not mean anything." Apparantly Cigna feels the same way. They will just take your premiums and that's it... Thanks Cigna, your a credit to your industry.