Great-West Life Group Benefits Insurance Reviews

I had a group plan via my employer with Great-West Life. I was diagnosed with Diabetes, Hypertension and was advised by the doctor that I was at High-risk to suffer a Stroke. But these scammers did not approve my claim even for one day to be off work and their excuse was, “many people suffer from it and they did not see a reason why I should be off work”. I had to quit my job to take care of my health. But the funny part is, I reluctantly applied for EI Sickness Benefits and was approved by them after showing the same Medical Certificate and Notes that I had provided to GWL. This clearly proves them to be unethical scammers and hope they get treated the same and worse thousand times over!

My company uses them for our disability. I sent my forms in the day after my surgery. I have chased around and called multiple times and I'm not getting anywhere. They claim that they are waiting for information from an employer's side. And they have left messages. They won't return my calls and sound aggravated when you call to follow up and see if there is any new information... It is going to be 30 days since I filed in 5 more days... Luckily we are financially stable... I am horribly dissatisfied.

I've been insured with them through my work and have been paying into them for almost 2 years with no claims. I finally made a claim for orthopedic shoes and it has been a month since I sent them what they asked for - doctor's prescription and podiatrist's. They rejected my claim BY SENDING A LETTER THROUGH SNAIL MAIL!!! I can't even touch how bad an idea that is because it's slow and dated... ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY CAN CALL/EMAIL OR UPDATE MY FILE! I called to find out why, and I've had to wait on the phone for half an hour before a representative picks up and tells me the same things. They refuse to pay for my shoes because according to their system my condition requires orthotics, not ortho shoes. I asked them to cover my orthotic insoles and they said my plan doesn't cover those, only ortho shoes, but they won't pay for my shoes because my condition requires the insoles... I explained that my doctor told me to get both of them for my condition, but they are saying their system says otherwise and they don't cover insoles. Fast forward to a month and I've spoken to the supervisor twice and have only received the same runaround. This is literally the worst runaround in the history of runaround. It goes likes this: "Your doctor says you need these things but our system says you need only the insoles. We do not cover insoles for you but we do cover shoes for you. We can't give you shoes because according to our system you need insoles. We don't cover insoles for you." It is ridiculous! This is what I've had to hear for a month AFTER waiting on the phone for upwards of 20 minutes and up to a half-hour. Please! For the sake of your sanity, and your money, if your employer offers benefits through this company, don't waste your money because you can easily pay for your stuff without going through them if you choose to opt-out.

I sent them an email asking about one of my claims.

They responded back 20 days later with little to no information.

They do not care about their clients. Thankfully our workplace has switched to another provider.

I feel like they scam people I’ve paid into this company for years through my work. I never had to use them until just recently. I had to have surgery and was going to be off work for 1 month to 6 weeks. All the papers were filled out by both myself and the surgeon. It has been a month and I have not seen any money from them... In fact, they are asking for all the forms to be filled out again by me and my surgeon. My surgeon has faxed them three times now..now no one is responding to my calls and messages that I have left. I had to pay my bills and rent with my credit card. I’m running out of money and I feel helpless. I’m not sure what to do anymore. This company needs to be Investigated.

I have been working with Great-West for my insurance coverage for nine years, alongside them is another insurance company for my husband. There is absolutely no comparison. Great-West should be embarrassed and disgusted by their “service” to clients. They have always been very slow to process claims and question everything on top of their slowness, however, in the last three months, they have become even worse with me. They have a claim that they have not processed since June 8! They have emailed me four times about it, asking for different information, as well as called the service provider about it July 30th and questioned them. What’s more, is that it doesn’t even show up on their online system as being received and under review! So I called last week and inquired about that claim and she said she could see it and everything looks fine so it should be processed in a few days. I said fine and I still want to speak to a manager. Still, no claim has been processed and no one has called me back! I have many other problems with this company but the list is too long to type here so I just put my recent problem. I caution any employer or individual thinking of going with this provider, you’ll regret it! I have talked to several other people at my work place and they have said the same thing - NIGHTMARE! Unless you want to be on a constant audit DO NOT go with this company! I wouldn’t give this company even one star if it were not mandatory for posting!

Dealing with GWL on a disability claim for my wife has been completely abhorrent. As others have noted, if they can find ANY reason to deny the claim, they will. We have in writing from them that while her doctors may consider her unable to work, they don't agree (without justification given) so go back to work. Despite our request to be seen by a doctor of their choosing, they declined and stuck with their decision on appeal. If your employer defaults to their decision, as he does, then you are stuck with the employer demanding that she return to work despite doctors instructions she can't. The sad irony in this is she is paying for this 'coverage'. The sad footnote is every health care provider we have dealt with, has had nothing good to say about patient experiences with GWL.

I've been off work for 5 months, my EI ran out in April, it is now the end of May. They told me complete lies about waiting for my employer to respond about my income to find out they didn't actually reach out until May 23rd. I've called a few times a week and they kept giving me the same excuse while talking down to me as if I'm bothering them to do their job. Now the person who handled my claim is away and will call me next week. I've been told next week for 4 weeks. This is completely unprofessional, you can't seem to get through to anyone in charge. I'm a single mother, having health issues, no other income. This is insurance I pay for and they treat me like I'm working for them. I have not been able to speak to one person who has been polite or understanding during this whole process. This is completely unprofessional...

I’m supposed to have group insurance for dental. However each year my out-of-pocket expenses go up and up while Great-West finds new ways to not pay for claims. Recently I had 2 fillings on 2 teeth that happened to have crowns on them. The crowns were not touched. The two teeth under the crowns had cavities where my gums receded. $430 was the cost and $0 was the benefit amount. They don’t cover fillings to teeth that have crowns on them. They consider this “crown repair” when the dentist never touched the crowns at all. This is just one of many ineligible claim excuses they come up with to render your dental plan with them practically useless. I’m going to be pushing our union to switch to a better provider. We have approximately 40,000 employees and many of us in my section are fed up with this company.

I recommend everyone to stay away from Great-West Life Group Dental Benefits! Twice I’ve had to get a crown on my teeth and both times they denied my claim stating that they determined that a filling was all that was needed! My dentist assured me that a filling would not work and this last tooth had a large chip to the point that my nerve was exposed! I’ve never had this many problems with any other Group Benefits Company!