Colonial Life will screw you and leave you without medical insurance coverage - most unprofessional experience EVER. SanMarcos, California

Dear John, 

First of all, you can't even count correctly. Secondly, you finally respond almost three years after the fact? Shame on you as I assume you're an employee of Colonial. I know what I'm talking about and you really don't. I was there and you weren't. I have witnesses and a very, very strong case. The salesperson and district manager of COLONIAL were involved along with one other salesperson - all employees of Colonial. Once the coverage trouble started, nobody would help us and they all disappeared. Several calla to them went to voicemail. We had to go outside your company and beg for coverage with our old insurance company. Along with this task, we had the embarrassment of many doctors offices denying coverage and sending huge bills to the house. Undoing the mess Colonial made for us took time both at work and at home. Never heard from them again. No return call, follow up call, or visit. No apology. I guess when the going gets tough - they get going. Or, in your case, show up three years afterward.

It's been almost 2 years since this post was updated; so I won't waste too much time on a rebuttal.  I do feel the need to set things straight.  Colonial Life DOES NOT and never has sold health insurance.  It's just not what they do.

While I'm not aware of the specifics of this scenario beyond what has been written here; I can say that it sounds like the agent that worked with your employer was/is a broker (aka professional shopper) that uses Colonial Life products to do what Colonial Life products are designed to do...supplement your insurance...not serve as your health insurance.

Health insurance pays doctors and hospitals/medical facilities ("Providers") for doctor and hospital charges.  While supplemental insurance payments can be forwarded to providers to pay toward their charges, they are by and large designed to pay directly to the claimant for them to use the money to pay doctor/hospital bills or for any other use they choose.

Supplemental insurance IS NOT health insurance.

I don't know you, but I can sense your frustration.  However, I can't help but wonder how much of your frustration is due to your own lack of understanding and willingness to listen when informed.  That's not any of my business.  But I will say one should first inform themselves before they speak...especially when attacking others.

Your fight is with a broker/rep...at least that's where it begins.  I can't speak for Colonial Life, but I'd venture to guess that they haven't helped you because they can't help you.  As you were already told; your best bet is to go to the state insurance department and file a complaint against this agent (if you haven't done so already).  But don't misinform people.  Colonial Life didn't sell you any health insurance because Colonial Life doesn't sell health insurance. Good luck.

Colonial Life sales people came to the door and handed out business cards imprinted with Colonial Life offering a variety of insurance needs and then proceed to completely butcher the medical benefits (not supplemental) transaction for months on end, affecting the medical benefits of the employees. That is a direct reflection on Colonial Life. Several calls were placed with very unsatisfactory results. The district manager who was directly involved would not answer her phone or return my phone calls. Shame on them for turning a blind eye when I called the corporate office to voice my deep concern. After that experience, I assume it is a company culture problem to stick their head in the sand and hope the problem goes away.



They created a tremendous amount of stress over several months, embarrassment at each doctor's office, and worry if we had medical benefits. Finally, the carrier had to take over to clear it up months later.



Don't try to claim "It was not us" because it was. I was there and experienced it first hand with witnesses. Don't try to sugar coat it. 



Never again Colonial.



Grade: F

Colonial Life only sells voluntary benefits and does not sell major medical insurance - what consumers think of when they think of health insurance.

That being said, some Colonial agents may act as brokers for major medical carriers and some brokers sell Colonial Life products.

Do not confuse a good company with a agent who may be acting unethically and/or misrepresenting products from another carrier along with Colonial Life.

A Colonial agent is not acting as a Colonial agent if they are representing another carrier, they are that company's representative for that transaction. 

In this particular situation, the responsibility lies with the agent, not Colonial Life.  Colonial Life is unable to provide any assistance for a product that is not thiers.  Your complaint should go to the department of insurance against this particular agent.

Thank you for your comment about the possibility of the boss spinning this story. Fortunately, this is not the case. I have tried to get involved by calling the Colonial Assistant District Manager who was at our site "selling" the package to us. She now won't answer the phone and obviously screens her calls because after I left a voicemail from my cell... two minutes later she called the work line asking for the boss. She never returned any of my phone calls. Real unprofessional. It is amazing she is employed. In the 7 1/2 weeks since we were supposed to have a new health insurance policy for the employees, she never showed up once to apologize for leaving us without insurance.

Avoid them like the PLAGUE.

Colonial came to my employer and convinced him they could give low rates for health insurance, saving him much more than he was currently paying with another insurance broker. The policy is for Aetna health insurance. Colonial was acting as a broker. Now, Aetna is involved, still trying to clean up the Colonial mess. 9/22/2011.

Maybe the boss is hedging on keeping health benefits and is stringing you all along while he tries to find something cheaper. Maybe the business is in big trouble and he's not telling y'all. He may never have followed through and set anything up with them, or anyone else, and is just spinning a coverup story.

I am confused Colonial life does not sell health insurance, they sell voluntary benifits. How did your health insurance change? I would check on that it doesn't make any sense. They sell medical bridge but that is not health insurance, it helps fill the gap on a high deductible health insurance plan. Please comment on this, so I can understand.