Blue Cross / Blue Shield Review

I usually try to be as positive as I can in writing these reviews so as to give people an accurate picture of a service or product. But I feel like to do so now might get in the way of me being completely honest. I have had around three diffirent health insurance carriers in my life, chosen on the basis of the kind of coverage I thought I needed and my desire to not pay monthly for something I never used. The most recent health insurance carrier is Blue Cross/Blue Shield and I have been less than pleased.

Though there is something to say for my wife and I wanting to move on with our lives (getting pregnant and what not) incurring extra insurance costs, I cannot shake the suspicion that insurance companies go out of their way to figure out the best ways to get paid by people for doing nothing. As a relatively healthy individual I have been able to secure the cheapest possible rates because of no pre-existing conditions. In a word, if you have a pre-existing condition that needs looking to, the insurance company will charge you more than you can afford, a high plan deductible before they will help, and will stack up a laundry list of limitations to the coverage that helps them in the event that they want to avoid helping you out with payments. I am not one of those people who think that having good health insurance that covers everything without any cost to you is an inalienable right, but I also do not appreciate having to pay a monthly premium for a (thus far) long life of good health habits and condition. What am I paying for, when the moment I have problems I am given the third-degree like a scolded child?

Nowhere has this been seen more clearly than with our maternity rider. You have to pay for at least 10 months of the rider before conceiving to receive any coverage under the policy at all. Once you DO reach the 10-months, if you get pregnant right away, you must continue to pay the rider each month AND the deductible as the insurance does what they can to make things difficult for you to receive the service you have been paying for. It's not right, and it's a rip off. I guess I just have one of those old-fashioned mindsets that believes that when I pay for something I should get an equal and fair return for my payment. Unfortunately, that does not allow the health insurance companies to turn a handsome profit. I really wish that people's goals were to live well instead of to live wealthy. Something about living well draws people together in relationship, while living wealthy gives the false impression of superiority and necessary class barriers.