Great-West Life Health Insurance Reviews

As detailed with the other reviews, Great West Life will find any reason whatsoever to deny coverage, regardless of what your doctor says. I am requiring medication to deal with my arthritis, and my doctor and I have tried several treatments. Luckily I have supplemental coverage through a different company (who approved the drug with no hassle!) because Great West Life wants me to try a drug that would react FATALLY with the drugs I am already on (and have been on for years). Literally they want to put me at risk of DEATH before they cover this other new drug.

Great West Life - we'd rather kill you than pay you.

They often drag out the claims process in an attempt to avoid paying out a claim, which often puts customers in a position of having to cover expenses while waiting for a claim to be approved. The agent said that they "getting tones of faxes".
Requiring excessive paperwork to cover simple drugs .
Not good value for money

Throughout the years I have had to deal with them for one claim or another. Filled out paperwork for coverage on glasses, my primary insurance company refunds the money no problem and I submit the remaining amount with receipt and paperwork. And they claim I need to fill out more. This is not the first time I've done this either, seems every time I've dealt with them they change information needed or claim they need more. Funny how it's only their company I have frustration with. I've had coverage throughout my 28 years of work and never had issues with any other companies. A company I worked for changed to to them for insurance and because I hate them so much I quit and found another job. I refuse to have them as my primary insurer, I cannot help who my wife's company has but I can sure prevent my pay to go towards them.

My company terminated the group insurance with GWL on January 31, 2016. All claims served and sent before this date were supposed to be accepted and paid.
My wife's eye glasses were bought on December 15, 2015 and after claim went through here insurance, it was submitter to GWL (sent on January 15). And they refused to pay it because they artificially delayed the claim processing up to February 9th! How ridiculous!
Beware of this bunch of scammers.

In 2012 I had my upper front teeth broken off at the roots when I was head-butted by a child, and due to root absorption, they were extracted in 2013. Great-West said they were diseased, so wouldn't pay my accidental coverage. I offered to have an independent test of the teeth as my surgeon and dentist said my teeth weren't diseased. I was also covered by my husband's insurance company Sun Life, who sent me letters that they would pay a large amount of accident insurance. I even called them just before my surgery for implants to make sure I was still covered and they assured me that I was. After my surgery, they said I was never covered by them. How could they have my name etc. and I am not covered by them? After surgery, my surgeon said he was unable to repair the damage to my upper pallet, so I am left with an uneven gum line that looks terrible. I am still reeling from all my costs and if Sun Life hadn't committed to paying, I would have chosen a less expensive route such as a bridge. I am still in shock and still having financial and health problems from all the surgeries and antibiotics.

I unfortunately have Great West Life as my benefits provider through my company and have had a terrible experience with them. They are consistently slow at processing your claim, and often taking weeks at a time. They have also on numerous occasions screwed up my claims and have repeatedly contact me for information that I have already provided them. It is not easy to resubmit an entire claim if you have already sent them the original copies. I've also had to deal with 3 separate individuals on one claim only to have to re-explajn my claim to each of them. This is a waste of my time and money. My husband has Sun Life and I have never had issues with them. They are fast and efficient at all times and provide detailed information of your plan and claims on their website where great West life seems like an archaic website.

It seems that when submitting dental claims electronically at the dentist's office, the EDI system that GWL uses is failing to process quite often. This causes the dentist's office to have to mail in the claim creating a delay.

With direct billing for dental I had no problems. The problem occurred when I submitted an online claim for athletic therapy on September 10th, 15th, 17th. I received an email stating that my claim was being processed. I thought it was great, and I'd be reimbursed within a few days. After waiting, and checking online for my claim status I was locked out of the website. So I called to inquire about the delay. I was told that they were behind and it would be 7-10 days. Then I received a letter dated September 21st (on September 24th) stating that they couldn't find my provider registered with any of the appropriate governing bodies. So I did a search online with the appropriate associations, and easily found that she was a member. Why is the burden of proof placed on the patient? I called again and provided the information required. I got another email stating that my claim is being processed. In the meantime I had attended a total of 5 appointments at $68 a pop by this point with $0 reimbursed. I managed to regain online access and found out my claims had been denied for the same reason. So I called again today and was very angry and frustrated with the representative who I told this needed to be resolved today. I literally am out of money and had to borrow some cash to buy a little bit of food until payday. Why can't a big insurance company find proof of registration and certification of a service provider when its easily accessible to the general public? I told the representative to call my AT himself because I was done dealing with this situation. My other options? Rely on pain killers until I become addicted or damage my liver and become a burden on society.

Great West Life is literally a pain to deal with. They complicate things that should be simple and quick to deal with. They also take absolutely no responsibility for anything. Most information I've received from them is inconsistent.

I had my wisdom teeth out almost 1.5 months ago. I sent in a form for pre-approval 2 months ago. They literally just need to issue a cheque to me. I still have not received it. I have called them four times and they issued a cheque to our old address 3 weeks late (despite the new address being updated and us receiving other claims at this address). The representative was literally trying to argue with me on the phone about who's fault that was. Who cares? That's not the concern. I don't have money that I should have received a month ago. I am out of pocket and the surgeon's office is waiting to be paid.

Completely unacceptable. I get better service at Walmart for free.