I've always had excellent service from Premera and they have a good network of providers. Note to people looking to save money with doctors and hospitals.... don't ask the doctor if they "take' your health insurance - of course they do. Instead, ask if they are in your insurance company's network of providers (or look it up on your insurance company's website). If so, then the insurance company has negotiated lower rates, so you end up paying less co-insurance/out of pocket. read more

Premera's customer service has been consistently disappointing. Communication is poor, and there is a clear lack of follow-up when issues arise. Working with their affiliated pharmacy, Credo, only adds to the frustration--prescriptions are not handled reliably, and there is little accountability when problems occur. For the cost of this coverage, the level of service is unacceptable. Delays, confusion, and unresolved requests seem to be the norm rather than the exception. It feels like the burden is always on the customer to chase answers and fixes. Overall, this has been a high-cost, low-service experience. I would strongly recommend others carefully consider alternatives before choosing this provider. read more

Would rate it a zero if I could. Unhelpful and poor customer service when you call director line for appeals. Would not recommend.

I am a new provider working to get credentialed with Premera. I submitted an application but they keep getting it confused with an old application for a different clinic when I ask for an update vai credentialing.updates@premera.com. There is no way to call or talk to anyone that can do anything at all. I have sent an email 3 seperate times with the same response about an old clinic and an old application. This has been an aweful experience just trying to get an update on this. Additionally, a coworker applied for the same a few day after me and has been approved. What do I do at this point? read more

Much worse than the theoretically similar Blue Shield of CA plan I was on before. Premera's MO seems to be outsourcing reviews to default denial of care companies and implementing purposefully arcane processes in order to get their clients to give up and either not receive care or pay out of pocket. An example: When I broke my ankle, I tried 3 durable medical equipment pharmacies (2 in network) and all either refused to or could not figure out how to submit a claim for a knee scooter, which I needed in order to move walk. At last Premera got their intended outcome and I paid out of pocket. I then tried 4 times to submit the claim myself. The first three were rejected for lack of one more new piece of (un)necessary information (some of which were already in fact included, but a real person would have had to read a document photo). They even asked for my pharmacy's EIN, which the pharmacy said no one else asks for. Finally once I had all ther required information, my claim was denied as they determined I should rent a scooter instead of buying one. Each claim took over a week to review so if I had waited I'd have been immobile for a month. They could have easily just told me the information needed and what would be covered from the beginning, but that would have meant paying for care. God forbid you get cancer while on Premera. read more

Terrible , unhelpful customer service. Way too long wait times, frequently cut off. Recently received notifications that our 3 long-time PCP's were no longer in network. After hours wasted on the phone w them, turns out they all were still in network. Their suggestion of a new PCP had retired years ago. Just crazy and unorganized anytime soon have to deal with them. So ready for a new insurance company! read more

The nurse line is an absolute waste of time. I have Kaiser and their nurse line is top notch, will prescribe medications and order lab work, on the phone with the nurse. I've called Premera for my husband and my daughter both in the last 2 days, they have both been diagnosed with the flu, with no help from the people answering the phones on the 24 hour nurse line. Who are these people? Not registered nurses, let alone registered nurses that can make any decisions, or be helpful in anyway. Complete waste of time. I'm guessing Premera tells them they do not have the ability to do anything, and just to answer the phone and send customers to the walk in clinics or ERs. Just makes me appreciate Kaiser on a whole new level. Premera is snot. read more

This review is for my Medicare Supplement plan through Premera Blue Cross of Washington state. Please be advised that there are separate Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies all over the country that have little connection other than their umbrella affiliation, so a review of one company can't be broad brushed over the entire organization. However, based on my experience, it doesn't surprise me to see such low ratings on Yelp. After not seeing the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies on any on line list of best Medicare Supplement companies, I suddenly found them at the top of a list with a 5 star rating on one normally reliable website. Don't believe it - at least as far as Premera Blue Cross of Washington state is concerned. Their premiums are low and they do pay the charges they are required to pay, so I have to give them more than the obligatory one star. However, woe be unto you if you should ever need any customer service. If you don't regularly access your account on line, they deactivate your password without telling you and then you have to get a new one, the procedure for which is anything but straightforward. They deny up and down that they do this, and neither their reps nor their web pages say anything about having to change your password periodically. I have had my policy for over four years now and have been repeatedly locked out of my account and have had to call to regain access, even though I regularly get emails from the company, which proves that my on line account is active. They steadfastly deny any problems on their end and act as if there is something wrong with you. Well, I have dozens of on line accounts and never have this problem with any other than Premera Blue Cross. The attitude of the reps varies from sullen at best to downright snotty. After initially refusing to provide EOBs on line, they now refuse to provide mailed paper EOBs, so on line is the only way to access your account. Once I had a problem with a $20,000 charge that was denied, and I called for service. The rep put me through a big long song and dance, complete with feigned sympathy, and purported to connect me with my provider's billing office with which I was on hold for 45 minutes before I finally gave up. In hindsight, based on what I know now, the problem was that my provider failed to bill Medicare before billing my supplement plan. This should have been obvious to a rep who is paid to deal with these situations. All she would have needed to do was state this outright and advise me to send a message to my provider's billing off through MyChart telling them that they need to bill Medicare first. That would have taken about two minutes rather than the nearly one hour of my time that she wasted. And if you have a high deductible plan, the website does not keep track of your cumulative progress toward spending down your deductible. You have to manually do this using a spreadsheet you create yourself to see when they are going to start paying charges. This is hardly quality customer service. This is the only Medicare Supplement plan I have ever had, so I have no idea how Premera Blue Cross of Washington state compares with other companies, but even if all the rest of them are just as bad, that is no excuse for providing such poor service to paying customers. They need to shape up before I can recommend them. You should not have to dread dealing with your health insurance company. read more

Once again - Premera is the worst. I started at the Bronze tier of coverage at 650$/month. It increased to 700$ the next, and then $790/month for 2025. This is for one person, and for everything I do (breast exams, colonoscopies - all mandatory preventative care - huge out of pocket extra payments). Then this year they told me it was going up to $1,010/month. It would be one thing if it were amazing gold standard care, but it isn't and still comes with tremendous out of pocket costs that come out of nowhere. Switched to Regence. I have had no major surgeries, cancers - anything. Just a money grab. Do not use this company. read more

Awful insurance. They go out of their way to NOT cover what is covered. The price changes every time I get a refill. Can't wait to drop them. THEY SUCK! 1 STAR IS A STRETCH! read more

Wow. The worst Customer Service. 2 Hours on hold and waiting to find out my Provider was all of a sudden Out of Network after 15 years with Premera. Nothing on the Explaination of Benefits stated the Provider was no longer In Network - 2 of the Customer Service Reps had no idea why I was being declined. When I asked to speak to a supervise, they said they were too busy. I spent an hour on the phone and they could conveniently call me back 2 days later. They let you know who is in charge and how little they are their to assist you. In response, to asking for assistance finding a new Provider, they sent me a list of 2299 Providers - WTF?!? I'm going to review that list? Really? Premera Sucks!!!! read more

HIPPA violations not taken seriously. Employe accessing family medical information and texted it to another family member. This employee also accessed records of people they went to school with. When reported they didn't seem to want to know all the names of people we were aware they accessed. This is an employee that has been there 10 years. I was sent a letter confirming my violation but not others received letter. Also told they are retraining this employee. Looks like Premera training in HIPPA is flawed if after 10 years you let an employee access records for their personal use. read more

Not only do they not pay on any medical bills saying it's toward your deductible..I had a stroke last week and need medication that's been prescribed they have to approve or denied before I can even get them it's been 48 hours and I still haven't been approved or denied and need the medication ..they won't even let me just pay out of pocket for it until they hear from the insurence ..unbelievable..worst medical insurence ive ever had and im 58 ..customer care is worthless 0 help ..why are we paying so much out of our pay checks ..cant wait to drop them after enrolment time comes ..horrible medical insurence ..-0 star if I could read more

My family and I have been with them for 8 years. This last year over half of all medical billing's have been denied. They have a new policy to deny most everything saying that their experts don't think our doctors are correct and that nothing is medically necessary. Stay away from this company. They want your money and are willing to kill you to get it. read more

Absolutely the worst insurance company to deal with. Their top priority is to deny prescription coverage. With how much is paid already for the policy and the denials I see no reason to carry their insurance. When I make the switch I will not go back. Hopefully this will get shaken up in the future so they can't just pick and choose what they do with no oversight. Insurance companies are scamming billions. Speak with your wallets is my best advice and it has not failed me yet. Good thing my prescription has a heavy heavy discount through GoodRX. Insurance is becoming more and more useless everyday.... read more

There is absolutely nothing redeeming about Premera or their contracts MANDATING the use of specialty pharmacies. Not to mention their staff pharmacists overruling prescribing physicians and denying coverage for meds that DOCTORS deem necessary. You'd think that pharmacists practicing medicine would be illegal. But Premera bribes everyone they can to ensure this won't be the case. The ACA has given insurance companies 100x the power they used to have. Too bad no one read the law before enacting it (well, the authors/insurance companies did). If you have any other choice, DO NOT go with Premera or United Healthcare (their parent own 79% of all PBMs/specialty pharmacies. And single payer/govt run would be even worse!!! Had to deal with that fiasco as well. read more

For a company that claims "We put our members first" you seem to care less about your members than making money. How is it you can process a claim from a provider the same day but if I have to buy a Breast Pump and request a reimbursement the claim sits untouched for over 24 days to date with still no indication anyone is doing anything. Look at the receipt, verify and then reimburse. This is not rocket science. There are literally applications that will automate this process but Premera would rather not pay out the claims until the absolute last minute. That is the opposite of putting members first! If you have a choice...choose someone else read more

It took 3 months to get reimbursed for my glasses. I mailed claim forms 3 times. The last one I mailed Certified and saw that they received it. The claims department could not find it. I finally got a supervisor who allowed me to email her the claim form and receipt. She put it through and it took a month for them to issue the reimbursement. The second incident is my name change. I was told that it had to be updated with Social Security first. I had already done that, received my new social security card, and the Dept of Licensing was able to see the change and change my Driver's License, but not Premera. I had to be on the line with Customer Service for over an hour. I will switch back to Humana during open enrollment. read more

I had the pleasure of working with a gentleman named Ray yesterday. I explained to him that my doctor's office had informed me that my pre authorization for a test was denied and asked if he could help. After looking through my file, Ray discovered that a pre authorization was never filed and offered to help by calling the doctor's office to understand what happened. After calling the doctor's office we discovered that the nurse was unable to submit the pre authorization and Ray offered to help her through the process. Within 24 hours my pre authorization was approved and I am headed to the doctor for the necessary tests! Thank you for all of your help and support with this matter! One of the best customer service experience I've ever had! Ray is truly invaluable to this company and his customers! read more

This is an update only for PBC's Medicare Supplement Plan. When I first enrolled in MCare I chose PBC's Plan F (which is no longer available to new enrollees) and it was a great decision. As bad as the experience was with my wife's standard health plan, I have had almost no complaints with my plan. The monthly fee might be higher than for other plans but there are almost no out of pocket costs, and I've yet to receive any denial of medical service or DME costs. This is exactly why I chose to go with a Medicare Supplement plan and not a Medicare Advantage plan. read more

I have had premiere Medicare advantage for years and all of a sudden they started to lie and now cheat out of paying for the refunds for services that they offer. Make sure that if you send in a receipt that they are supposed to refund you on that you send it certified mail... If you need to speak to a supervisor make sure you have at least 1 hour set aside. SO disappointed! Keith hartle read more

This is by far the worst insurance company I have ever dealt with for one simple reason, their "network" is non-existent. I live in a mid sized city and have to drive past 5 hospitals to get to one in network. In a major city, there are only 1-2 in network providers for specialists so you have no choices and generally have to drive unnecessarily long distances. Some facilities will be in network for certain treatments and not others, so you need to constantly ask if everyone you are talking to is "in-network". Stay FAR FAR AWAY from this insurance company that doesn't actually have a network. I will call out that their agents are very nice and sympathetic when you talk to them, it's not their fault their company/network sucks read more

Christina at Premera's customer service number was very helpful today. I had an issue with my PCP 's office not having her listed as my PCP on my insurance so they were billing me a higher copay. Premera had already fixed this at their end but my dr's office there was nothing they could do. I called Premera and Christina offered to call them while I waited and took care of it right then and there. She was polite and pleasant to deal with. Nice in these days and worth mentioning. read more

Worst insurance company by far. Their follow up is non existent. We filed a claim and we had to follow up 4 times with them. They kept asking for extra documents to review and dragged the case for 8 months After we submitted everything wasted numerous hours on the phone with them providing every single document they kept adding to their requirements they declined our claim. They make you jump through loops hoping that you give up in the end. That is their tactic. read more

I wished that I had read the reviews sooner. I really would switch to another health insurance. It is more than three months that i have an issue with my bill. Couple of months ago, I called customer service regarding my eye doctor bill, I was told that I should not worry about it because it is taken care of it. Today I received a Premera statement showing my coverage denied......For sure I will cancel Premera next year. read more

This company is by far the worst company to ever work for, management is overboard micromanaging, you do not get enough training, they basically want co-workers to tell on each other if they work an account incorrectly. I just left and you have to be employed for 3+ years to get 100% of your 401k. Management as well as others in leadership do not know how to speak to people. I thank God that I found something else. The company needs a reality. check and my some big changes to support their employees. read more

Primera greed discriminates against underrepresented communities and their opaque restrictions and appeals endanger the health of those families unfortunate enough to be assigned this insurance by employers. They rapidly respond to insurance commissioners but make no efforts to follow doctor recommendations made with education and actual client interaction. Be prepared to be disgusted at best, and best luck to you and your family if you actually need medication. read more

Like many others, I have had an awful experience with BCBS Premera. They are a nightmare and I just figured it out that it was them as the main cause. I have made the complaints about them to the division of insurance in Alaska, various states, and will continue the fight to get the correct care as a customer. As an actual medical provider, I absolutely cannot recommend this company with the amount of deception I have been subjected too. read more

First time working with this company and they are the worst Health Insurance company I've ever worked with. I would give 0 stars if I could . I'm suffering with excruciating back pain and they denied my prior authorization twice for surgery. Horrible, heartless company stay far away if you can. @jeffroe read more

I would not recommend Premera to anyone. They conceal information and make it difficult to understand your coverage. I got left with the bill after calling [prior to receiving care] and being told otherwise, so talking to a person there is not a good option either. I have asked family and friends what their healthcare experience is like with other providers and will be making a switch as soon as possible. My insurance w/ Premera is through my employer and have made them aware of how awful it is to work with Premera. Just don't sign up with Premera, you can find something better. read more

I originally had a group Premera plan through an employer but circumstances changed and I needed to get my own insurance (individual plab). As I had Premera through the employer I thought they'd be a good option to get through the healthcare exchange. However they are incredibly sleazy to individual members. There used to be a claims portal for PDFs on my group plan, but suddenly my individual plan has no claims portal and I now have to fax any claims like its the 90s (true of all individual). I got a nice plastic membership card for my group plan but I received a literal wax paper card for my individual plan (apparently individual cards are handed out thru another center so they can try to justify passing out this slop). Those are just a few examples of how they needlessly drop the bar to treat individual members like trash. read more

My experience with Premera has been that they deny claim and make the billing so difficult that they hope you give up. We have the insurance thru work so there is not another option, however, I would not recommend Premera to anyone who has a choice. read more

Horrible insurance company. No direct deposit available, claims take 50 days to process and pay out with no communication whatsoever. Do not deal with them if you can help it. read more

Worst company I have ever dealt with would give them negative stars if I could. I have been trying to get them to 'recognize' my doctor for 6 months. They said fill out the forms and they will get back to my doctor with 'credentials' so she will be on the HMO plan and they will cover her. Six months later (after open enrolment ended!) they sent an email to my doctor's office saying the HMO network is unfortunately not accepting new providers at this time. What the hay.... why didn't they say that prior to open enrolment ending! I could have changed plans to someone else who my doctor works with! Will never use Premera again! read more

Wow. Switched over to Premera from Regence on the WA plan finder as I wanted an HSA eligible plan. Dealing with them is straight out of Kafka. The website spins in circles trying to load. Their app doesn't work. I call, the recording says long wait times would I like a call back, press 1, "I'm sorry that functionality doesn't seem to be working right now". Spend 36 minutes on hold, the person in pharmacy says I need to talk to durable medical (for a product every other insurance company covers under pharmacy benefits), and then disconnects me while transferring. Call again. This time after twenty minutes, I get transferred to Express Scripts...which tells me I need durable medical...but can't transfer me because they are not in house Premera. This company appears to be stuck in the 1980s. Only 49 months to go before I can switch away! read more

I had a family plan offered through my employer. Premera Blue Cross is the Holy Grail of BAD insurance. They dodge, hedge and weave regarding every claim we made and we're an extremely healthy family. Everything from a COVID test to a foot doctor visit to an MRI, it's been deny, deny, deny. My experience with customer service has been very similar to other reviews. When I speak with them, I'm told not to worry, this is definitely covered and 30 days or so later, I receive my EOB (explanation of benefits) and NOTHING is covered. They claim to use a 3rd Party called Carelon to determine benefits coverage. It's a joke. Carelon is in lock-step with Blue Cross' denial of benefits. I could go on and on. So, if your employer offers this insurance, they've either been duped or they do not care about their employees in the least. Consider yourself warned. read more

Over a year ago a neurologist ordered an MRI on my lumbar spine. Premera refused to authorize it. After the pain became worse after let go so long, my PCP ordered an x-ray and it showed significant damage. She ordered an MRI, it went right through with my current insurance. Surgery is forthcoming. February of this year I had a fusion done on my neck. Premera refused to pay for the type of anesthesia my surgeon requested claiming it wasn't "medically necessary." They refused to pay for some lab work as well in the past. Horrible company to deal with! Thank God I no longer have to worry about it! Good riddance Premera! ​​​​​ read more

Awful company! I have a PPO Plan through my employer that Premera manages ( employer is self-insured ). Insurance repeatedly refuses to authorize tests or treatments. I have multiple back fusions, and the idiots refuse to authorize an MRI after I've begun experiencing new symptoms. This company makes me resent my employer! Don't use this group.... For anything. Lots of calls, conversations, and wasted time. read more

I seriously cannot believe this company. The level of customer service - or I should say complete lack of any service of any kind - is shameful. I've been trying to pay my premium for a month. Even though I own my own business, I can't use a business credit card. I had to then get a new credit card to pay this, but I can't get access anywhere. I go to the website and I get blocked. I can't pay without some kind of number which I don't have and can't get anywhere online. My only option is to call them, but I'm blocked at every turn. Spent a FULL TWO HOURS on hold. Finally gave up and requested a call back, which I waited for another two hours. I get a call back - they hang up on me. Request another call back, when they call me its to tell me they have too many callers and my need is not urgent enough and then I get CHASTISED by the representative. $650 a month for this garbage. This is what you get when you have for profit companies in charge of our health care. NOTHING. read more

For year one Premera appeared to be a decent healthcare provider. Year two suddenly they made me responsible for 100% of my bills and stated they wouldn't pay. Calling to find out, speak to a live person, then a supervisor took hours, hours. They told me, years ago, I had been with united healthcare. I told them correct, that had ended, years had passed, then I had signed up with Premera. They told me their "internal team" thought I might still be receiving healthcare from United, so they had cut my premera blue cross support and I was charged 100%. So I pointed out, "If I left my credit card with the health folks who billed me I would be charged 100% right?" Yes. And that's not a worry. "Well, we don't know." Will this happen again? Phone goes dead. My review is great at sign up, but dismal in delivery. read more