This company sucks! My husband has called numerous times and always gets stuck with a person who cannot speak good English! It’s a total ripoff! Would NOT RECOMMEND!!
Response from Sidecar HealthAug 2, 2023
Hi Barbie, thank you for taking the time to write this review. We're sorry to hear about your experience and take your feedback very seriously. All our Member Care agents are native English speakers based in the US. We also have dedicated member support 7 days a week through chat for your convenience.
AR
Antonio R.
TOTALLY MISLEADING
EDIT: I am replying here to the message below to side car health. My original comment follows this unedited.
The problem has nothing to do with what is possible and what is not possible with your "coverage". The biggest problem is NO WHERE on your website before you buy the coverage are you warned that no matter what, you'll pay 20 percent.
Sorry to break it to you this is indeed a co pay and or a deductable, you just try advertising the contrary through semantics. Further, no where, even after you've purchased the coverage are you warned that you could end up paying most of it, just to "shop around for the best prices" which brings me to the next point, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "shopping around for best prices" and being in a "network" that either covers you or not. They are the same, and differ in name only.
And last, but certainly not least : for the one thing I used the card for YOU DIDN'T EVEN COVER AS MUCH AS THE MONTHLY PAYMENT that I would have been paying had I remained on the plan. In short I paid you 245 dollars and you covered 223 of it.
To summarize, all of the things you advertise as benefits of using this type of insurance over others don't exist. Even if you "don't have co pays and deductibles" your customers will ALWAYS be paying out of pocket. And shipping for cash prices is the same as being in a network. Even if there is a way to benefit from your "scheme" I was completely unaware of how because of the obfuscation of your site, your system and quite frankly your customer service. FURTHER your company made NO ATTEMPT to look into this before you tried to flag my review as false and made me verify.
TOTALLY MISLEADING. The website states "no copays, no deductible" wrong, you pay 20 percent the minute you use their card. then they will hit you for the rest after the services. i had bloodwork done and they paid 222 dollars from 890 dollars, leaving me with the rest.
This essentially means I pay 250 month to take 223.80 off a single medical expense. IN WHAT WORLD DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?
Then they tell you can shop around for different cash prices, but advertise "NO NETWORKS!", what is the difference? if I have to shop around for better cash prices, it is no different than shopping round for doctors in a network. I TRULY believe that any positive ratings are false there is no way, logically , anyone can benefit from this scheme.
Response from Sidecar HealthMay 24, 2023
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. One of the aspects our members love most about Sidecar Health is that there are no network restrictions, therefore you're free to go to any location you choose, which includes labs for blood work.
You are correct, unlike traditional health insurance, Sidecar Health involves some upfront work to identify the cost of care before receiving care. With this, our members can know before getting care whether they will keep the savings (more than half our members transactions) or pay the difference, which can’t always be said for traditional insurance. Our Benefit Amounts are set to match the average cash price in the marketplace, however providers pricing for bloodwork can vary greatly. Checking pricing before getting bloodwork is always recommended. Many of our members have been able to “keep the savings" by choosing lab providers who charge less.
Resources for bloodwork with Sidecar Health are available in your member portal or you can also call our Member Care team.
*This review is for the Sidecar Health Access plan. Sidecar Health also offers employer and ACA plans, which provide more robust coverage and additional major medical protections.
DH
Doug H.
I could go on forever about the two…
I could go on forever about the two months I've been on this insurance, but I'll keep it at this: If you have a family, and your employer offers this insurance, opt out and get your own insurance. Customer service was made out to be very helpful, but the opposite is true. It's a lot of extra work, especially if the hospital you are at does not know their cash price for services at the time. I believe the company started with good intentions, but it has been nothing but a headache in an already complicated industry. Edit: they did offer a three way call. Customer care was incredibly rude not only to my wife but also to the hospital. They're the reason I'm leaving a review.
Response from Sidecar HealthMay 1, 2023
We are very sorry to hear you haven't enjoyed your experience with Sidecar Health. As you’ve learned Sidecar Health is different than other types of insurance. Instead of asking your providers “are you in network?”, our members ask “how much does this service cost?” for planned procedures or care. We recognize that this is more work versus traditional insurance and a completely different approach. Many of our members love that this extra work on the front end provides much needed transparency and additional healthcare literacy. Additionally, the upfront legwork helps ensure seamless process on the back end, which we know can be very frustrating with traditional insurance (including surprise bills). Hospitals are required to disclose their pricing and we feel badly that you had a hard time getting that information from them and that the 3 way call our member care offered for you with the provider wasn't to your satisfaction. We take these reviews very seriously and will be reaching out to learn more.
FC
Flo C.
again I look up shingles vaccine and it…
again I look up shingles vaccine and it says one thing but then covers only a certain one(which it does not say when you look it up before hand) so you owe. I have not ever looked up a drug or service and it be right. I called about the shingles shot and the lady read off a certain brand that was to be given. That's not what my look up said. She said she would get answer and call back- no call!!!. Very frustrating and not what what I was told would happen. NOT HAPPY!!!!
Response from Sidecar HealthApr 6, 2023
Thank you for writing in. We understand your frustration – what you’re describing is not how our product is intended to work. We have made adjustments to our flow and there should be no further issues in using your Sidecar Health VISA benefit card. Thanks for your patience and please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or concerns
AS
Alex S.
Sidecar Health is WORST insurance for diabetes ever.
If you have diabetes this is the worst insurance there is. They consider insulin not preventative and will not cover a dime of the prescription until you pay your crazy deductible and we all know how expensive insulin is.
Response from Sidecar HealthMar 29, 2023
Thank you for writing this review. We take reviews very seriously and would like to understand more. We’ve gone ahead and requested some more information via Trustpilot so we can be sure to address everything you’ve mentioned above. That said, we have members taking insulin that are pleased with how it works.
For Sidecar Health major medical members, Sidecar Health guarantees access to prescriptions at or below our Benefit Amounts, which includes insulin.
We are also always available to help our members (we have helped other members find insulin below the Benefit Amount). In some cases where the insulin prices have gone up, we have also increased our Benefit Amounts.
CH
Chris
Great idea but reality is different
Great idea but reality is different. This will not help if you live in a state with Healthcare mandates, it does not cover in case of emergency, and if you need to use it for the Doctor's office the Doctor's billing department makes it very difficult to get the information that Sidecare needs to process a claim.
Response from Sidecar HealthMar 29, 2023
Thank you for writing this review. We take reviews very seriously and would like to understand more. We’ve gone ahead and requested some more information via Trustpilot so we can be sure to address everything you’ve mentioned above.
AM
Alexander M.
Good luck getting paid for claims
After submitting all of my paperwork they kept telling me that they needed my medical records, even after I uploaded them. They used this as an excuse not to process my claim. Total scam artists. Good luck collecting on any claims.
Response from Sidecar HealthJan 18, 2023
Hi Alexander, thanks for sharing your feedback with us. We’ve gone ahead and requested some more information via Trustpilot so we can be sure to address everything you’ve mentioned above. In the meantime, you can always reach out to our Member Care Team via phone or live chat.
AH
A H.
Cheaper to pay out of pocket on your own.
Edit: Sidecar response below is BS. They never reached out to me. But they did contact Trust Pilot to say thus was a bogus review and asked them to remove it. This was an easy fix since I have an email trail and just sent Trust Pilot the screenshots. Stuff like this is a FTC violation and I will file a complaint if I need to.
Sent in my prebill for an $8058 biopsy procedure. Sidecar would only recognize a few of the line items totaling $3642 and said they will only pay $498.45 and I had to pay the rest on my own. Sidecar has you send a prebill and will authorize what you can spend in advance.
They also incorrectly put on my prebill that I was discounted $2214 by my medical provider. The discount for those line items was $1214. Still not sure why the other charges were ignored.
I did try to contact sidecar for an explanation via the contact information provided and never received a response back.
It would be cheaper for me to not pay my premium and pay completely out-of-pocket for this so I requested a cancelation in writing. I would recommend getting real health insurance or using a health share plan.
Response from Sidecar HealthDec 6, 2022
Thank you for your feedback. Your experience highlights the exact problem Sidecar Health is trying to solve, A. Harris: What providers bill in the US for the same procedure varies greatly. This information is usually opaque to consumers on traditional plans. This is why we advise our members to get a pre-bill for care so they know the cost and their coverage and can make informed decisions. Our benefits are set based on the average cash price of any service. This means that 50% of members find providers that charge less than the average cash price. And they get to keep the savings. About half the time, members receive money back on their claims.
Often times with pre-bills, we will process the facility and professional components on different claims. If this is what's happened in this case, the other charges weren't being ignored, rather moved to be addressed separately.
We have reached out to you to provide some additional detail on the reason that your pre-bill appears to be so far from our average cash price. We regret that we did not respond quickly enough and that this information comes too late for us to keep you as a customer. We value each one of our members and hope you will give us another opportunity to serve you in the future
