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Health Insurance Survey Result by CSSS
August 26, 1998
CLAIM: This survey is conducted by
CSSS. CSSS has no intention of damaging or establishing the reputation
of any party involved. CSSS is not responsible for any information
replied by students. The results cannot be assumed to represent
the opinions of all CSSS members.
Summary of the survey:
We received 38 replies. Some answered questions directly,
most about their experience with insurance companies. Data show
that students are not in favor of OSU insurance because of its high
price. But OSU insurance is the best of all in service. Many students
recommended that for new students the OSU insurance is suitable
in the first quarter and can be switched to other insurance companies
in the following quarters. For students whose health condition is
not very good, SOU (OSU) insurance is suitable.
NCS insurance ranks high in both MOST LIKELY and MOST UNLIKELY
categories. We believe that in the past two years many students
have bought NCS insurance and has various experience dealing with
this company. In the meantime, IFCSS is not well-known among students.
We thank all students who replied to the survey. We hope this survey
result will provide some helpful information for students, especially
new students in choosing their insurance companies. OSU requires
all registered students to buy OSU insurance or other approved health
insurance. We hope all students have a good health here.
Question answered:
1. Which one of the following plans you are MOST LIKELY to choose
for the following quarter?
A. OSU health insurance
B. NCS (National Chinese Service) health insurance
C. ICS (International Community Service) health insurance
D. IFCSS health insurance
E. Others (please specify which one)
Number of answers chosen
A 2
B 5
C 2
D 2
E United Chinese Plan
2. Which one of the following plans you are MOST UNLIKELY to
choose for the following quarter?
A. OSU health insurance
B. NCS (National Chinese Service) health insurance
C. ICS (International Community Service) health insurance
D. IFCSS health insurance
E. Others (please specify which one)
Number of answers chosen
A 5
B 4
C 1
D 4
E
Experiences/comments/suggestions by individual students:
I prefer to choose ICS as my Health Insurance Plan because it is
cheap and the quality is acceptable.
***********
2. Which one of the following plans you are MOST UNLIKELY to choose
for the following quarter?
A. OSU health insurance
B. NCS (National Chinese Service) health insurance
C. ICS (International Community Service) health insurance
D. IFCSS health insurance
E. Others (please specify which one)
D. IFCSS is an anti-Chinese organization.
> > 3. What good/bad experience do you have with the above insurance
companies?
No. OSU insurance is expensive but has great coverage. Also, you
never receive a bill from them.
4. Any suggestions for students to choose an insurance plan?
New student buy OSU insurance for a quarter and decide later.
***********
I am an ICS police holder. I got my money back from them, though.
I went to emergency room two years ago for a little surgery and
the cost is about 500$, I think they paid their portion and it was
mot much hassle for me. What I did was that I gave the insurance
company's name to the hospital when I checked in and filled out
a claim form afterwards and send it to them. Then the hospital sent
the bill directly to the insurance company and I paid my portion
and that's it. I think for anything other than emergency, you have
to call before you go. And for the expense of medication, they usually
do not cover non prescription ones, which sounds reasonable to me.
I think the reason that we always see complaints is that people
usually remember bad experience longer. Good luck in finding insurance
plan.
***********
I plan to buy United Chinese Plan this fall. It is recommended by
the Embassy of China. Can someone share his/her good or bad experience
on ECP?
***********
I have been a NCS customer for the past 2-3 years. During this period,
NCS did reimburse me several times (all of them were within 2-4
weeks) for different expenses, including lab test (100%), x-ray
(100%), drugs (80%). What I did differently was sending the claim
forms to the insurance company directly, but not to NCS. This might
be a key issue. As of some of you may already know, NCS switched
to a different insurance company recently, I am not sure this one
will be as good as the previous one. One thing you need to check
before you buy an insurance is whether they will pay for the drugs.
One insurance plan ( their headquarters is in Florida, I don't remember
the name, either ICS, or IFCSS) DOESN'T COVER ANY DRUGS. So, be
careful.
***********
Actually, INS paid my bill twice on time. I guess they don't want
to be too bad to me.
Choose a plan base on your health condition, not just how much it
costs.
***********
According to my own experience, NCS is bad too, I paid this company
for almost two years, when I got sick this quarter, they refused
to pay me. Since I don't have time to argue with them, I paid by
myself. Now I think it is more suitable to say if you have insurance
by these Chinese insurance company, it is most likely you don't
have any insurance at all, the only difference is you have to pay
about $90/quarter to them.
***********
1. Personally I think that CSSS is doing a very good thing through
this survey. I suggest CSSS to setup a homepage to contain the survey
result, and also other personal experience are also welcomed, such
as rental, car repair etc.
2 MOST LIKELY: Student Health Plan (OSU's)
3. Most UNLIKELY: NCS
4. bad experience: In April, I visited Wilce student health center
and spent $70.00. I have called NCS for about 10 times, and they
never give me a satisfied answer. The staff even told me that why
didn't I buy OSU's insurance instead of NCS's. I am still waiting
for their result. If not get answer, I am willing to sue them. Hope
others will avoid this kind of bad experience. 5. Suggestion: All
people within this list share your good/bad experience with us.
Such as house rental, car repair etc. My roommate and I also have
bad experience with our current house, it is very DIRTY and a lot
of Cockroaches The landlord is an Indian old man, he like Chinese
to rent his house. But he never care about the condition of the
house. Never rent this house: 218 West 8th Ave. (Landlord is an
Indian) We will post the experience again at the end of this month,
when a lot of chaises new students will look for a house.
***********
1. Which one of the following plans you are MOST LIKELY to choose
for the following quarter?
It really depends on how much do you want to pay.
2. Which one of the following plans you are MOST UNLIKELY to choose
for the following quarter? NCS
3. What good/bad experience do you have with the above insurance
companies?
I have very bad experience with NCS. My wife got pregnancy this
Jan. after she bought insurance from NCS. However, my wife's insurance
would end July so she called them several times and they replied
no problem to renew. Unfortunately The NCS ended their contract
with Idealife which they were underwritten in March but they never
told us. In April, when we mailed the renew form to them, they denied
to renew. After many many fighting with them and sent complain file
to Ohio state insurance customer service dept., and under the pressure
of law suit by OSU student insurance benefit office, they finally
renew my wife's insurance. However, they told me the coverage is
very bad to pregnancy woman. As I know, their new insurance offer
is very bad on the Doctor (network doctor is very less in Columbus
and the network hospital is very far from campus).
4. Any suggestions for students to choose an insurance plan?
Be careful to check the coverage, such as pre-exiting condition,
network doctor discount, network hospital and additional condition.
For the new buyer, it is better to check their policy carefully.
Also, if some argues happen, you'd better have their letter or fax
as an evidence.
***********
I totally agree your points. I had much worse experience with NCS.
I even filed a complain letter to Ohio insurance customer department.
They are investigating NCS. As I know, their new insurance carrier
is very bad on doctor and hospital.
***********
Dear Sir:
First thank you for your efforts to improve the health insurance
level of all our Chinese students. As a new student here I know
little about the health insurance plans though we have so many choices
here. In this summer quarter I have choose OSU plan as my health
insurance plan. To meet the requirement of the university, I will
take ICS health insurance to be my health insurance plan for autumn
quarter from the suggestion from other international students (
I have bought the ICS plan by filling out the application form and
sending them the needed premium ). I do not understand why so many
rumors flooding over the campus about ICS's not-so-sounding reputation.
If ICS is really has some unsounding characteristics, I think the
dear fellow forks who have bad experience with ICS company should
be more considerate for others and should tell us about this earlier.
I have bought the ICS plan for next quarter so I think what I do
may just hope those stories flooding on campus be only rumors. Any
way I really appreciate your efforts for trying to make better living
and studying environment for all Chinese students in Ohio-state
University.
***********
I am totally agree with Mr. Sun Yan. I have an same experience in
1996 when I just arrived here. It cost me more than one year to
argue with NCS. They will create a lot of excuses to make you quit.
I have no patient to wait for several dollars, so I gave up. Don't
choose NCS if you are not expected to be cheated.
***********
1. I am in NCS' program. I also feel it is not good because they
only interest in collecting money. 2. My current apt. belongs to
Eventide. It is cheap and you can find one to save money. But I
had to say that the manager of the rental office is of bad temper.
Some days ago I went to see an apt. Because I was too busy to response
his phone soon ( actually I do not know he called me and let me
reply by 4:00pm because I am not in my office), he insulted me when
calling my office and speaking to my colleague. How can he did that.
I am waiting for his apology. Otherwise I want to seek legal suit
if possible. Who knows where to delivery this kind of complain?
Thanks for help.
4. Any suggestions for students to choose an insurance plan?
A LOT. IN FACT WHEN I BOUGHT THE INSURANCE, I DID NOT UNDERSTAND
MANY OF THE DETAILS OF THE COVERAGE AND CLAIM PROCESSES. I DON'T
EVEN THINK I UNDERSTAND THEM NOW. SO IT IS MERELY A MUST THEREFORE
I BOUGHT IT.
***********
To Whom This May Concern:
1. I would possibly choose OSU in the following quarter. I have
only bought two different health insurance plans so far. One is
OSU student health plan, the other is NCS. I prefer OSU mainly because
I trust doctors from university affiliated hospitals. I don't have
very good health, so I did some research when I first decided to
buy insurance and I still pay much attention to information about
insurance today. The first appealing advantage about OSU is that
I don't need to file any claim forms, which indeed has saved me
time and headache. The second is what I mentioned earlier. When
I first bought my insurance, I had no idea where I could find good
doctors. Later on, an American nurse told me that in a place she
was unfamiliar with, she would go to a university hospital and usually
people got to know good doctors from words of mouth. I also heard
subsequently on news that OSU is especially famous for several departments
in the country, among which is gynecology. I would recommend new
students choose OSU during their first quarter. When they become
more familiar with the American insurance system and policy, they
could switch to different plans depending on their own needs. If
you have a good health, there is, however, no need to stick to OSU
whose expense is twice as the other plans. I also knew of a plan
offered by the Chinese Embassy. It sounds good, but I don't think
OIE has the information about it. I also consider this kind of survey
necessary and important. I hope we could have similar surveys at
least once each year, which don't have to be limited to health insurance
plans.
***********
I want to share my experience with all of you. Like the previous
two unlucky fellows, NCS did not give money to me either. I got
sick and went to Wilce Student Health Center. I spent $18. According
to their policy, if I go to student's health center, this fee will
be waived. I sent our every necessary documentation to the address
indicated on their insurance form. A week later, the forms were
returned to me and I was asked to send to another address. They
said that they were not handling this. I sent the claim to the other
address. Until now I have not received any response for my claim.
I am really too busy to spent a lot of time on $18. So I accept
the loss. But I want to remind my fellows that my own experience
told me that NCS is not a good company. I am not going to join this
company any more. Unfortunately, I just sent out my application
and check to ICS one day before someone posted his news saying that
ICS is a very bad one. I think I will just consider it as a loss.
The health insurance guide in OIE rated ICS an A+. The best of all.
I am wondering which one to buy now. Every company is cheating us
poor students. My GOD!!!
***********
I'll never choose ICS (International Community Service) health insurance
again. They always try not to pay your medical expense. You have
to spent a lot of time to argue, to fight. They use different ways
make you finally give up because you have no enough time and energy.
Once I asked one of the representatives"why are you telling the
lie when you know it's a lie" and she told me that's the way they
make money. They know most of us are busy so they make mistakes
on purpose. They know we are foreigners and use some difficult words
on purpose. I fought for my case for one year. Although I won and
improved my spoken English(I had to call them almost once a week
for one year), I would prefer never have had this experience. If
you want your health insurance really to be an INSURANCE, you had
better not choose ICS. P.S. I also know some other students and
scholars had same problems with ICS. Actually the former OIE advisor
Recar(she used to be a scholar advisor) knew some complains about
ICS and did some investigation. Hope the coming students don't have
to pay expensive tuition to learn the lesson I had.
***********
Thank you for your suggestion. Life is tough here for our foreign
students, we got to learn how to take good care of ourselves and
fight for our rights. Let's share our experiences (good or bad)
and get cleverer.
***********
If your emergency cost were $5000 instead of $500, you will see
what happens. I bet anyone who has problem with insurance understands
the policy much better than the insurance representatives because
1. You really care about your case especially when the money is
a large amount; 2. They confuse you and themselves on purpose.
***********
I am an ICS police holder. I got my money back from them, though.
I went >to emergency room two years ago for a little surgery and
the cost is about 500$, I think they paid their portion and it was
mot much hassle for me. What I did was that I gave the insurance
company's name to the hospital >when I checked in and filled out
a claim form afterwards and send it to them. Then the hospital sent
the bill directly to the insurance company >and I paid my portion
and that's it. I think for anything other than >emergency, you have
to call before you go. And for the expense of medication, they usually
do not cover non prescription ones, which sounds >reasonable to
me.
I think the reason that we always see complaints is that people
usually remember bad experience longer.
Good luck in finding insurance plan.
***********
I am using NCS currently. My coverage is for three months. But I
did not receive the insurance card more than one month after the
beginning of the coverage. I wrote them a e-mail and they sent me
the insurance card. But there is no claim form and coverage description
included. I wrote them another e-mail to request them. Now, another
month has past, I still do not receive them and any e-mail reply.
It means that I actually can not use the insurance to make any claim
at all.
4. Any suggestions for students to choose an insurance plan?
If you want less trouble, you'd better choose OSU's. They paid my
bills twice in time. Seems good. But keep in mind that the total
amount is less than $100. I suggest that the new students buy OSU
insurance in the first quarter. Then, if you want , buy other insurance
quarter by quarter. Hope it helps.
***********
SOU health insurance is provided by Central Benefit, but they seem
release the responsibility of registration to OSU offices. So, any
problem happen, try to call some OSU offices to want out who is
responsible first.
***********
Let me tell something about NCS. These guys are definitely cheater.
a friend of mine got pregnant during insured time from NCS, the
damn NCS refused to renew her insurance when they learn this. Beside,
the president of NCS, Mr. Zhao Haiqing, and bunch of his stuff have
a strong discrimination over Chinese or Chinese-speakers. You call
them and speaking Chinese, they ask you to wait for half hour and
never get back to you; but if you speak English or are American,
they put you to line real quick. This might not hurt me too much
if NCS never put its damn ads in Chinese, but it does, which implies
they accept speaking Chinese also.
However, Zhao haiwing will treat you differently if you s |
