Great-West Life Health Insurance Reviews

My son recently became very ill and #greatwestlife will not pay for his medicine. The 2 reasons they have given you are also madness in my opinion. 1. It's too expensive –or- 2. It’s a new drug... 1. is the only reason I have insurance and 2. Every Dr. I have spoken with has been using this since the 80s to treat this illness. The head of the specific division of pediatrics at BC Children Hospital has written a letter to GWL with no result. The drug is covered by Pharmacare and they still won't cover it. ...BE WARNED! #greatwestlife are not an investment, not an insurance company they are highway robbers.

They have a policy where if you have two different plan coverage but both with GWL, they will only pay for the procedure once regardless of how much money is on either plan. Ex. if I have 1000 worth dental work done, my plan only covers 800. You'd think my spouse's plan, which covers 1000, also would cover the balance of 200. Nope, GWL will only pay for the procedure once. So why am I paying for 2 plans, why don't you provide me with service I'm paying for on both plans?

Waiting on phone call more than 30 min and nobody answers, just the operator says: wait. I tried to call more than 3 times this morning. Even no star for this but no other option.

Sadly through my workplace, we are forced to pay into this horrible company. They charge a fortune in monthly fees, yet cover nothing that other reputable insurance companies offer. A prime example is their pathetic mental health coverage. You can’t even get the cost of one appointment covered with a psychologist. Also, I’ve spoken to a few working moms who have coverage under their insurance policies for breast pumps. Big surprise, Great-West Life do not consider it essential. They do not care for their customers, they are simply out to gouge hard-working Canadians from their hard-earned money!

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!

Unfortunately, I have negative things to share about my experiences with GWL. Not only have they made me jump through hoops for both dental and medical coverage, they have not honoured a predetermination as they say they need “more information” which is clearly a stalling tactic. My doctor has appealed meds coverage twice, I’ve appealed twice and they only come back with “we just don’t cover that med.” Not even a generic. I hate to say but I am going to try and opt out of this coverage because it’s horrible. Very very disappointed and extremely dissatisfied.

This is about "Drug Insurance", which is not available in the Product type. The Ontario Pension Board's Ontario Public Service Pension Plan drug coverage is supposed to be 90% but Great-West Life Assurance has applied a $1,000/year limit on a specific drug. The information available from the Ontario Pension Board and from the Great-West Life Assurance's GroupNet websites state that the drug coverage is 90% without any exception. Great-West Life will not provide the insurance policy, only a sketchy self-excusing letter explaining the limit using Health Canada and other excuses to deny payment for copayment coverage for a drug I have been taking for at least 13 years at the same dosage. My doctor submitted a form requested by Great-West Life Assurance in which the reason for prescribing and the dosage was stated, which Great-West Life Assurance rejected. Great-West Life Assurance is dishonest. Ultimately, this will probably be settled in small claims court. It isn't just about the small amount of money involved, it is the principle that the information presented by the Ontario Pension Board and Great-West Life Assurance state specific coverage, which is not being honoured and, if there is an exception, that information is not provided, and the supposed exception to 90% coverage is for a different condition for the prescribed drug. The Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat is a party to the insurance policy agreement and will be named as a party in a small claims court lawsuit. If this is resolved in small claims court, it will cost Great-West Life Assurance and the taxpayer of Ontario a lot more money than the outstanding unreimbursed amount.

Give me a break! They put you on hold for hours and hours...they dropped my call 3 times in 1 hour...was on the phone for several hours to get one claim question answered. They do not reply to emails. It's a gimmick!!!

Absolutely pathetic Customer Service. They should be ashamed. Stay far away. Three months waiting for a claim. They say they will call you back and never do. They never let you speak to managers. They say a manager will call you back in two days and it never happens. They say they took care of everything yet when you call the dental office, they say they haven't heard from them in weeks. STAY FAR AWAY.

Don’t advise anyone to get benefits through this company! They do anything in their power to not pay you any money. When you have more than enough doctor letting stating you can’t go back to work and Great-West Life doesn’t think that’s good enough 'cause apparently, they are doctors, not an insurance company!! It’s a joke