Empire BlueCross BlueShield of New York Reviews

Don’t. Don’t do it. I pay $900 a month to have my medically necessary claims denied because they’re not medically necessary according to Blue Cross even though they do no research. You wait an hour when you call their bragged about member services. Someone barely listens to you on the phone and says someone will call you back later and no one ever does. They for real hate you and don’t care about your health. How much my health has declined because they won’t give me access to the treatment I need is disgusting. They’re greedy and incompetent. They deny claims because they’re “too expensive” when they’re literally an insurance company…. like it’s your job to help us pay. They wont even fork over 30%.

I’ve been with Empire for years and I have always used the same NJ doctors and dentists. My daughter is 1 and a half and has had the same pediatrician for the majority of her life. We live in New York and Empire randomly decided that they were no longer going to cover our NJ doctors' visits. So all of a sudden I get a bill from my daughter's pediatrician for $500 for 3 visits that were empire decided to not cover without explanation. We pay empire almost $4,000 a month and they wouldn’t cover BASIC PEDIATRIC PHYSICALS AND SICK VISITS. After 5 phone calls, tears, raising my voice and blood pressure they told me there’s nothing they can do. We just cancelled today and will be finding a different insurance carrier. One that cares for their consumers and families who pay OUT OF POCKET for their absolutely disgusting customer service and horrifying benefits.

If you are retired and less than 65 years old DON'T EVEN CONSIDER EMPIRE!!! You will only be able to get an HMO policy in NYC and NO DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU without waiting for several months or longer! We waited 3 months and still had not seen a GP to get our meds refilled after moving from another state! We ended up MOVING OUT OF STATE just to get medical insurance and see a GP!!! We paid our $2000+ per month and got NOTHING in return!!! Considering all the 1 star reviews on this site for Empire I'm sure this review will be lost and I doubt anyone will see it. I've asked to be contacted by Empire so I can request a refund of the premiums we paid but I doubt I'll hear from anyone. They are truly that worthless... in my opinion... the only one that matters to me.

After months of weekly full-color postcards urging me to get a mammogram, I did. They told me that my $1,120/month policy didn’t cover this simple preventative care measure. Every claim I submit is soundly rejected until I can prove I obtained pre-approval. They don’t even cover 100% of my annual physical! This company had a D-rating with Better Business Bureau a year ago and now I was surprised to see it has dropped to a resounding F. One star rating average on Yelp. Would you want to have these guys as a health-care provider?

Blue Cross Blue Shield refuses to accept that I have not been a city employee or eligible for their insurance for months, despite many proofs of leaving the Department of Ed and their policy. Now, the doctors' office will not accept my new insurance, and BCBS will essentially not allow me to get the medical care I need with any insurance. They are the worst. The person I talked to at BCBS gave me a bogus phone number to call, and BCBS did not help in any way when my new insurance and my doctor reached out to them. All I need them to do is release me from the plan and they will not do it.

Empire Blue Cross Insurance is the most incompetent company since I retired and moved to Florida. The peer to peer physician had a call with my podiatrist to approve my MRI and he/she was disrespectful, rude towards my doctor and the MRI was denied. The staff at empire are also incompetent and nasty. Staff has also hung up on me in many instances. A Manager from Empire Ariana ** sent me an email on May 23, 2023 saying if she could assist in my care to reply to her email. So I did 3 times with no response. When I had this coverage in NY and I was working every procedure and surgery was covered. I move to Florida in 2016 and your company has gone down the drain. I need this MRI. Horrible insurance company. Disgusting and disgraceful.

Empire does not update lists of providers. They have lists online that were inaccurate then and are the same today. They list labs and doctors that do not take their insurance. Some are incorrect because they do not exist anymore. It is law that these lists are accurate. When you are deciding between companies, these lists become false advertising.

Like most health insurance plans they require you to see in-network providers but, they will make it impossible to reliably find and see covered providers. 1. The "Find Care" tool provided to identify in-network providers is full of incorrect information. It will tell you a provider is in-network but, then the claim will be denied and you will be liable for 100% of the cost. You have no recourse unless you call the morning of your appointment and record the agent on the phone telling you the provider is in-network.

As of August 3rd, 2022 (08/03/2022) Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association of New York's dental care provider list (on their website and Sydney app, and anywhere accessible to its members) is being falsely enhanced to populate a bigger in-network list than is actually provided by your current membership (specifically the ones for your PAID member ID when typed into their search). They’re doing this with the knowledge of it happening and aren’t doing anything to stop it.

I change my PCP by calling EMPIRE BSBC customer service and they confirmed the change. Later, after 5-6 doctor office visits I noticed that BSBC denied my visit to a specialist "Because my PCP on file didn't render that service". I called them and explain that I have the referral and that I changed my PCP and that I did everything by the book... Customer service people are useless... They can tell you only "what says in the file"... I tried to explain the whole process again and again... like you are talking with a wall... I will change my Medical Insurance and never again BSBC...