Manulife Group Benefits Insurance Reviews

In response to a question on the application form for a group benefits plan, I mentioned I saw a therapist for depression five years ago. I included a month and year, and length of time. They freaked out and sent me a letter saying the information was incomplete. There was a three-page form I had to fill out which included questions like "list every date you have ever had any indication of stress or anxiety," as if everyone walks around with notepads jotting down the date of every moment they have ever been stressed. Not to mention the insinuation that I was withholding information, and the incredibly personal questions that weren't really medical in nature. It didn't help that I couldn't even log into their website because they want my banking information.

At work me and my wife both have Manulife for insurance and we work for the same company. We got married and my wife wanted to add me on to her benefits as well (I added her as soon as I started). To which she was told we didn't submit the request within the allotted 30 day....but yet it took 6 weeks to get the marriage certificate so that timeline is not doable....because of this they are now asking for me to fill out an insurability form to make sure they can insure me....odd, since they already insure me and have all the info already. Once again a perfect example of how insurance companies are useless and the biggest crooks ever. I've dealt with Manual life in my previous job and they are worst to deal with and will do everything they can to not have to shell out any money for STD or LTD.... my arm was almost cut off and they still denied my claim...so go somewhere else and save your money don't deal with them they are of no help and just make things worst mentally(stress) and financially.

I worked for my company for 7ish years. Recently moved to full time to receive benefits. After a month or so of being full time, I had some dental repairs. They paid me absolutely nothing, claiming I wasn't eligible because I didn't have coverage at the time of operation, which is categorically untrue. Additionally, there is no way of contacting them to dispute the claim. Stay as far away from these crooks as you can, don't trust them with even pennies for the dollars cause they won't actually care to pay even the minimal amount when it comes down to it.

They deny everything. The final straw for me was when they denied my medical forms submitted to my healthcare spending account (designed to be used for anything medically related). What a joke of a company.

I've been on STD since February through my employer. Manulife consistently makes me jump through hoops in order to pay me, constantly requesting additional paperwork from all of my health care providers. My case manager is incredibly unreliable, never answers my emails, and never contacts me when they say they will. I've had to phone them numerous times to be updated with information, meanwhile, I'm behind on Bill's, have absolutely no food, and can't refill my medication. Mental health leave of absence is supposed to allow someone time to heal with adequate assistance for their wellbeing. This has been the total opposite in that being on leave is more stressful than working would've been.

It is unacceptable that they leave me and my family without medical care for 4 months! On many occasions, we needed medical support but we were hesitant because of them. I am still working on my first claim for 4 months with no sign of them ever processing my claim or even replying to me. Their customer service was nothing but a waste of time, they deal only by mail, they don’t reply with any confirmation when I send a mail, on the phone they never provide any useful information and they can’t even find my profile, they say they will call back with an answer and they don’t. I mind you I have VIP access through my company. I am trying to convince my company to change the benefits provider and I will avoid them at all cost in the future.

Almost every claim with them is initially rejected or delayed for invalid or illogical reasons and involves consistent follow-up time, stress and aggravation. Below are just a few examples. Example 1: I have coverage only for myself; I do not have my spouse or anyone else as a dependent with them. However, for a standard claim for myself, I was told that I need to set up “Co-ordination of Benefits.” The claim I submitted was for myself. Therefore asking for “Co-ordination of Benefits’ does not make sense. Eventually, the claim was paid after several attempts and other incorrect replies. Example 2: For a straight-forward eye-exam (my coverage is 50% every two-years), and this exam was well over two years from my last one, they did not pay up-front saying that they need to “review and adjudicate” the claim before approving the payment. This was only a $59.00 payment, and should not have required any review as it is part of my standard coverage. It should have been paid automatically. The Health Tier I selected & paid for includes eye-exam, therefore this review is unreasonable. Example 3: I submitted a claim online with the dentist’s name, address, phone # etc. clearly entered. The claim was not paid and when I followed up they sent an email stating that “we need the name of the dentist who provided the procedure.” Note: It is impossible to submit an online claim without entering the practitioner’s info; the system would not allow a user to proceed without it. When I pointed out that the info was indeed on the claim, they then said they need the procedure code (which I had also provided). I then provided every bit of coding and detail (on a phone call to them) but still not good enough, I had to re-mail paper-work. At the time of this review, the claim is still pending. Finally, trying to have anything paid from my Health Care Spending Account balance is a nightmare.

I have been in contact with manual life in regards to my maternity for the past month and a half. There have been sometimes I get a manual life employee that is polite but the past few times I have had to be in contact the service is absolutely awful. They do not know their claims process, what a top up is. Tried to put words in my mouth saying I knew more than any of the manual life employees when I, in fact, advise the lady that if she works for manual life you should be a way of the coverage that you offer. She then proceeded to transfer me twice to voice mails. I am due in two weeks, and have been terribly mistreated and spoken to on the phone with these manual people and am incredibly disappointed. I wish I had the ability to change my coverage as they lack communication skills and are ignorant of their own procedures on how to process a claim or what steps need to be taken.

I fractured my ankle and went on short term disability for a month. After asking a simple question about whether or not I was entitled to physiotherapy recommended by the surgeon, under short term disability, the case manager avoided my question and went off topic, minimizing the severity of pain I was feeling. The case manager then deferred to the group benefits department. The group benefits department lied to me by omission. They said I wasn't covered for my physio past the $200 a year, but failed to mention I could carry over the amounts into my healthcare spending account the next year. I only found out this information from my employer. The case managers are not true managers in the sense of the word. They just parrot a script. I'd have a better time speaking with a chatbot. At least chatbots have an excuse for being soulless.

We, unfortunately, don't get a choice as insurance is chosen by my husband's company. We could not figure out why my son's dental visit was not fully covered but mine was. My husband called and asked and they said that between ages 8 and 12 they get 8 units a year but can only use one unit at a time. That means you would have to take your child to the dentist every 6.5 weeks to use the 8 units. 1 unit is 15 minutes. So take them every 6.5 weeks for a 15-minute appointment. My husband asked how anyone would be able to know this as there is nothing anywhere on their website, on our account page, or in any booklet anywhere that tells us these important details. She acknowledged that and said we should maybe do a pre-authorization before every appointment. I have 4 kids. How much does it cost them to do a pre-auth every time? Likely more than allowing my son to use his 8 units better. I told our dentist office about this and they were flabbergasted. The representative simply told us to take it up with our HR office but they likely have no idea about this like the rest of us. It feels like they could just make things up as you go. There is zero proof this policy exists except that they said so. They had nothing to show us or send us. I don't trust them at all.