Equitable Life of Canada Health Insurance Reviews

Terrible. They cover nothing but charge you a boat load every pay check!! Always the same excuse "health Canada does not cover this"....no problem taking my money every 2 weeks though!

My son has Equitable Life as an Extended Health Provider. 9 months ago my son was taken off of work because of severe IBS, he has received 3 cheques from these people only, it's now been 4 months and again he has seen nothing. As a family we share the rent, 4 equal payments, my 90 yr old father has been paying my sons share for him, I am on Worksafe benefits myself and since my pay was so low so are my benefits.....we no longer have an emergency fund for rent as its all been used and we are no longer able to subsidize my son. I am paying for everything once again and have now gone to a lawyer because it is affecting my relationship with my father. This company has the worst customer service I have ever witnessed and absolutely no clue how to attend to their own business!!!

I tore all of the ligaments in my ankle and my healing process has been going slower than expected so the doctor prescribed me a TENS machine and compression socks. They first rejected the TENS machine until I submitted more information, then they only decided to cover part of the cost after being off work for 3 months for the injury and a wife on maternity leave, I could not afford to pay the remaining costs, they did not cover potentially slowing my recovery even more. In order to have things covered, I would have to submit an estimate first have it reviewed and then, go out an purchase if they were to cover the unit, if not I am back at square one. At this point, I am very disappointed with the process and coverage received. They couldn't answer me if the compression socks would be fully covered either even though it would be within my limits of coverage for both items. Their motto should be screw you over and make you jump through hoops enough so we don't have to pay claims.

Beware! The Policy Booklet states that they will pay 50% for the crowns up to the maximum annual allowed. Had 5 crowns to do, so they REFUSED to pay because they say that if it's 4 crowns or more, they will only pay the amount allowed for a partial denture! This exception isn't even in the booklet! They ended up paying only 25%. Lost more than 500$.

I purchased Health Insurance (medication) after losing my job in July 2017. I received a letter from Equitable Life stating I could continue coverage if purchased within the first 3 months of being laid off. I called and spoke with agent and finally decided to purchase insurance as I needed it for heart and diabetes medication. I ask the agent what it would cover and the agent told me that coverage would continue "as it was" with former employer. So I agreed to purchase for $146 per month. After about 4 months I was told by my pharmacist that my limit had been reached for the year when trying to get my medication. I called Equitable Life to inquire what was going on. The agent I spoke to then said to me that I had a $1100 "cap" for the year in which I was NEVER TOLD when I purchased. After phone calls back and forth with a few different managers, I was told that I should have basically had "read the fine print" before purchasing. I even told the manager why would I spend almost $1800 a year to get $1100 in coverage? She "denied" that I was never told. In any case, it was never resolved and I cancelled immediately. This is by far the worst company to deal with and would not recommend to anyone. Lowest star rating was 1, but I actually give this company a -5 star rating. Avoid, Avoid, AVOID

Our plan was previously with green shield never had any issues with them. Got my orthotics for my work boots as I usually do every year this year my claim was denied. They told me even with my prescription they do not cover orthotics for flat feet I asked what they do cover orthotics for and they refused to tell me. I spoke to two different agents on different days both would not tell me what medical conditions were covered by my insurance pertaining to orthotics. I asked for this policy in an email to show my plan administrator we’ll see if that email ever comes through. Really disappointed. They send out paper benefits cards cheap from first impression to last.

I will NOT RECOMMEND this insurance, especially their Group Health and Dental Benefit due to:
1.Their booklet does not reflect the full requirement esp with custom made orthotics (please read another review here by dee on 24Jan2017);

2. Don't respect doctors prescription or find the medical judgement unsatisfactory;

3.They issued me a statement stating my condition "does not warrant treatment" though they have not seen, nor assessed my condition - the statement was plainly based on all the paperwork they received.

4. You get what you pay. Before they pay up, they will ask for too much paperwork. They think, our MD's or health service provider can make letters after letters to explain further your need for treatment.

Please avoid or spare your company and your employees complains, embarrassment, headache and grief just avoid this insurance as stay with the big names.

Their policies are a lot worse than those of other insurance policies, for example: 90 days to submit all claims after you terminate (and who wouldn't). Their systems are archaic and when you call in, nobody knows how to direct you properly. Any employer who is using them is simply trying to go 'el cheapo' on their employees. I lost 1500 because of their policies that they did not disclose until it was too late. Frauds.
When I was trying to get my orthotics approved, it was a joke. We went through 3 cycles with Paris Orthotics (the biggest orthotics maker in Vancouver, Canada). They couldn't believe it. Equitable kept rejecting the claim (due to the fact that Paris didn't specify the manufacturing process with enough detail, and I saw the level of detail they prepared! In the end, on the pre-approval form Equitable wouldn't confirm if they will cover the orthotics 'for sure'. Paris Orthotics have been in business for years and never have problems with any Insurance companies. That was until they met Equitable life. In the end, I didn't want to risk $500 so I had my old pair of orthotics fixed (which they didn't cover, at 1/8th of the cost). This was typical. Don't use them, don't buy them.

Overall I would not hold a policy with this company again. I found that the company did little to no communicating and made customers jump through many hoops and did not provide up front coverage.