I was called by an agent today after filling out an online survey for health insurance quotes. She gave a quote for 119.95 a month which included 30-50 co-pays for doctors, a dental, vision, and prescription coverage. This would be coverage only for my 5 year old daughter. She did not want a social security number and said they do not do medical background checks. She said the name of the company was HealthChoice. She also said I could keep my current doctor because they were a nationwide PPO. This all sounds too good to be true. Has anyone ever heard of this company and if so what reviews do you have about it? Any info is greatly appreciated.
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What state do you live in and what website did you use to complete the request for information? If you completed an online insurance quote form then you may have received a legitimate f/u call. I looked up Healthchoice and the name it self is a valid Health Insurance company name used for several State and National Managed care plans. See the various links below. Did they not provide you with a phone number or website? I can check it out and confirm whether or not it's a valid Health Insurance company or Managed care organization or simply a discount plan, which is what was referred to a provider list. A PPO is a Managed Health Care Insurance Policy. We have a PPO plan with my job with United Health Care and I think its 30% or 20% out of pocket. Company pays the rest. The higher the out of pocket the cheaper the premium. Plan covers medical, vision, dental and RX. Also note the Helathchoice name is also used for companies that work with medicare supplement insurance and I also found a shared medical services group called the Health Choice Network, where federally qualified system of healthcare facilities across the US have joined together in a network, but this website is for shared services for the group of healthcenters, not the healthcare plan as I believe the individual states or communities manage the plans. The links to some of which are in my list. I also found a site for a company called Total Healthchoice which appears to be an Insurance benefits company. Can you give some additional information as there appears to be a lot out there about a variety of Insurance or Managed care networks using this name. If you could help narrow it down, I can probably give additional assistance. ~J~ "Update" - Saturday 8-23-08: Thanks for the additional info. The company is called Consumer Health Benefits Association (CHBA). This is not a Health Insurance company, but a Health Program. The representative was likely using buzz words to mislead, you in to thinking that this plan is, or is similar to "real" health insurance. Huge red flag on their website: "PRICING DISCLOSURE: THIS PLAN IS NOT HEALTH INSURANCE. THE INITIAL MONTHLY FEE AND ONE-TIME PROCESSING FEE ARE NOT REFUNDABLE UNLESS GOVERNED OTHERWISE BY THE CONSUMER'S RESIDENT STATE LAWS. " This is like one of those credit card apps you get in the mail for 1000.00, but it costs 500.00 to get the card and 25.00 a month fee to keep it active every month, so you end up owing more than you would ever charge. They say that you're are rebuilding your credit, yeah right. That's just like saying you have "real" insurance with this plan. There are "real" affordable plans available for you that will not require you to pay a monthly fee on top of the plan costs in addition to processing fees. The benefits listed are or seem to be discount or savings plans (possibly significant), but it doesn't appear that there are any guarantees of the actual price reduction/savings. There is a guarantee certificate, but understand that only qualifies, if you end up finding providers on their list. So you have to make sure that everything you need can be taken care of, w/i their discount network. Notice on Choice A is primarily Accident Insurance and Medical financing. I have a feeling that they make their money off of this as well as possibly provider referrals. There are some other services there, but nothing like health insurance. This is a plan specifically designed to sell you something other than Health Insurance. Notice Choice B if you select each of the benefit links to the right it indicates that the majority of benefits, medical, dental, vision, etc. are savings or discounts that the member qualifies for with specific or select providers. This sounds like a decent provider discount and accident insurance type plan, though there are several out there that probably sell for less. The mail order drug program is not what you would typically think. It is basically buying through Canadian Pharmacies. I don't have a problem with that, but it's not a mail order program, it's basically just ordering your meds through a Canadian Pharmacy, which you can do right now at a significant savings, without paying someone a monthly fee to learn how. Our prescription drug system is a mess here in the US, so if you can find brand names for less elsewhere then do so. My doctor actually referred me to a Canadian website to get a couple that are not covered under my plan. You can benefit from those savings all by yourself. I did a basic search for a children's hospital w/i 25 miles from my home. I live in Dallas and the search showed no results. Which was odd. I tried looking for a general physician and the search showed 53 doctors. Most were a part of the Three Rivers Provider Network. Nearly all 50 were at 1 facility which I believe is part of Baylor Hospital. My doctor was not on this list. As you know with a major health plan a physician search of 25 miles in a major city should have returned 3 - 5 times the results with providers in various locations. I'm not an agent, but if you are simply looking into insurance for your child, check the state health insurance plans that are available for children, or go to the United Healthcare website. They offer affordable insurance plans and sell direct to the public. I added a link below to their website and also some links to some websites where consumers have made complaints of fraud or sales misrepresentation against this company, so check them out. Check the CHBA website out thoroughly, as long as you understand the program fully, the cost and services provided, maybe it is something that can benefit your family. Just be sure that it is exactly what you need and expect. Confirm if your provider is listed, or if you were to sign up for this program, what are the benefits? Are the doctors close to you? Are the dental and vision providers close or affordable? Call a doctor and see what a basic physical exam, with immunization would cost and what your pout of pocket would be. Contact the participating pharmacies see what the discounts are for your regular prescriptions, or those you might take on occasion like an antibiotic, pain medication, etc. Link to CHBA and consumer complaints: http://www.nbchealth.com/index.php?sid=0… http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/30… http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaint… http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?i… Here's a link to United Healthcare. Give them a try to see if they have something you can afford. http://www.uhc.com/
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