6.3
Overall Score14 days ago
Founded in 1853, Aetna is a well-established company that currently serves about 46 million customers. This insurance company offers a wide variety of plans, including family and individual plans, Medicare, and Medicaid. Aetna prides itself on providing exceptional customer service.
The Good
- Types of Plans Offered
- Member Resources
- Unique Features
- Customer Service
Types of Plans Offered
Aetna has a large selection of insurance plans. They provide both family and individual plans, as well as benefits that customers can receive through their employer. In this sense, Aetna works directly with both people who are insured and organizations that provide insurance plans. Medical plans typically cover preventive medical care, immunizations, and some hospitalization. Aetna offers a wide variety of plans. Here are the main types of health plans they offer:
- Children's Health Insurance Program
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Long-term and short-term plans
- Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs)
- Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
- Network-only plans
- Network-option plans
- Indemnity plans (in which you set the terms for which facility you take your insurance to)
- Retiree plans
In addition to health insurance plans, Aetan also offers dental and vision insurance:
- Dental Insurance. This is available only in Delaware, Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Depending on your benefits, you can receive coverage for preventative care (such as cleanings), restorative work (such as fillings), and even major procedures like getting crowns.
- Vision Insurance. Aetna's vision benefits are accepted at Pearle Vision, LensCrafters, JCPenney Optical, Target Optical, and Sears Optical. Again, depending on your plan, your benefits can include coverage for contacts or glasses and eye exams. Aetna also offers stand-alone vision plans.
Finally, Aetna has a variety of other insurance plans to meet the needs of all consumers, including:
- Life insurance
- Disability insurance
- Government and labor insurance
- Student insurance
- International insurance
Member Resources
When it comes to tools for members, Aetna rises above its competitors. Customer service is an area where this company shines. Not only are Aetna representatives available around the clock through different mediums, but Aetna members also have access to several different tools to get calculations, answers to questions, and advice about claims.
Anyone can search the company's website and get a tour of a member account before registering. This allows you to see what account access would look like. To see if the physician you currently see is in Aetna's network, there's an intuitive Find a Doctor tool online as well. Furthermore, after entering some personal information about your medical situation, you can get an estimate for how much your health insurance from Aetna would cost and what type of plan you qualify for.
Aetna members have online access to their account, through which they can pay a premium, view benefits, get an explanation of those benefits, find a doctor, and get an ID card. Online you can also order medications, view the status of a claim, ask questions to a virtual nurse 24/7, and get other estimates if needed.
One of the key benefits here is 24/7 service. Another resource is that you receive discounts for gym memberships and weight loss programs. Aetna also provides tools that help you track your health (for example, by seeing your health history and statistics about your blood pressure). In this sense, Aetna delivers on their claim to keep you healthy (and not just pay for your medical bills).
Unique Features
Aetna has been in business for a very long time. Additionally, unlike some, Aetna offers some other types of insurance, such as dental, vision, life, and disability insurance. This adds flexibility to their plans and makes it easier for healthcare clients to come to Aetna for vision and dental needs as well. Aetna also claims to have one of the US's biggest networks of doctors and hospitals. This makes it more likely that the doctor you visit will be in-network for an Aetna plan-or, at least, it makes it so that you have a wide selection of doctors if you need to switch to Aetna's network. Aetna owns several subsidiaries in the healthcare industry. These include:
- Coventry Health Care
- Humana (which they very recently acquired)
- ActiveHealth Management
- Aetna Student Health
- Schaller Anderson
- Strategic Resource Company
- Aetna Capital Management
- Cofinity
- Medicity
Once a member, you have easy access to tools like Find a Pharmacy and the iTriage mobile app that Aetna came out with for your on-the-go healthcare needs. Using their Find a Doctor tool, you initially specify your search by state and type of doctor. Aetna also offers a tool to help you find the right plan for your situation, and there are pages on their website that describe the details of each of their plans.
Customer Service
Aetna prides itself on its customer service. They make their representatives available to customers via phone, email, mail, and even social media. There are a few different phone numbers you can use to contact someone at Aetna, but if you're a member, there is conveniently a specific member phone line to call. At any hour of the day, there is also a virtual nurse available for patients to go online and ask questions.
The company website for Aetna is very informative and easy to navigate. Their FAQs sections largely focus on the logistics of managing your account. Aetna makes it very easy to find an answer if it doesn't already appear on the website. Also, you can expect to contact someone from Aetna 24/7 (using certain mediums) and you will be given information to make the best medical decisions for you.
The Bad
- State Availability
- FAQs
State Availability
Aetna's plans are only available in certain states (these include Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia). The dental plans are even more limited, being available only in Delaware, Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
FAQs
Aetna's website does provide plenty of FAQs sections, but they do not answer questions about prices, premiums, deductibles, and factors that affect these amounts (rather they focus on the logistics of account management).
The Bottom Line
Aetna is a highly recommended health insurance provider. Not only is their plan selection very large; they also provide willing and able customer service. With a long company history and plenty of member resources, this company is sure to deliver a plan that meets your needs.
Of course, for anyone who lives outside of the states that Aetna plans are available in, this company is not an option. In terms of location, Aetna is admittedly limited. They would also do well to provide more upfront information to potential customers about prices and deductibles, which are crucial decision-makers in this industry.
Disclaimer
As part of our service, we attempt to partner with all the companies that we review, and may get compensated when you click or call them from our site; however, regardless of any current, past, or future financial arrangements, companies listed on Best Company cannot buy their position, nor do we manipulate or inflate a company's ranking for financial gain. A company’s ranking is based on and calculated by an objective set of ranking criteria, as well as user reviews. For more information on how we rank companies, click here.
All user reviews posted on Best Company are subject to screening and approval. We reserve the right to approve or deny any review posted to this site in accordance with our Review Guidelines. Best Company never suppresses user reviews—unless they are being investigated for authenticity, or if they violate our review guidelines. We encourage anyone who suspects a user review to be fraudulent or intentionally inaccurate to please notify us here.
User Reviews
Terrible coverage, terrible customer service. Can't wait till my company switches, worst company ever!!!
So far my experience is Aetna has very friendly customer service representatives but they never accomplish anything. Every thing I do with them I have to do twice. It is frustrating with a smile. There has got to he a more simple way.
Great provider! Customer service was always available and wait times weren’t more than 15 minutes. I’m a lupus patient and they covered most all of my meds. The only negative I would share is issues with claims. I was in a car accident and Aetna covered medical cost after my co-pay and deductibles. Since I’m receiving an under insured payment from my car insurance company, Aetna wants me to pay them back for the medical coverage. That’s crazy, why am paying insurance if I still have to cover my medical costs from an accident that wasn’t my fault.
I currently have a health insurance plan. They are great to work with and make sure that when you call you know your benefits before you go to a Dr. that happens to be out of network. They are great to work with.
We were with Aetna for a little while with my husband's company. They were great to work with and processed our claims in a timely manner. The co pay was a little high, but besides that they were a good insurance to have.
We are currently with Aetna Insurance and we haven't had any issues with them. So far they have paid all our claims sufficiently and their participating Dr's are good so we have no complaints.
I currently use Aetna but not very happy with their service. I have been waiting 6 months to determine if my tooth implant would be covered and still have not been given approval. Not very happy with Aetna.
We currently use Aetna insurnace and have found it easy to find participating Dr's but we really hate the high deductible plans. Their services are good.
I love Aetna!! We no longer have Aetna because of job change but when we did, I was very happy with our coverage.
I had Aetna just for a short time because my company ended up switching, but while I had them, they made billing so easy. They always had it coded right and were always so willing to help me when I had questions!
My husband and I both have Aetna insurance through our jobs. We are satisfied with the service. So far so good!
I used Aetna insurance while in Colombia volunteering. I had to call them frequently and they were always helpful and allowed me to get the volunteers into good hospitals. They required a ridiculous amount of paperwork on the back end that was overwhelming and excessive.
We had our second child under Aetna and it wasn't the best experience. We hadn't had any problems before that with Aetna - great copay and prescription benefits. It just didn't seem like the hospital worked very well with the insurance company. We payed up front for our baby and then were sent so many bills afterward, claiming they were going toward our deductible too. It was just much more confusing than it needed to be. But all in all, pretty great service!
Lousy, they don't help personally, you get 'robo help' when you try to do a "live" chat, and if you ask a question not already in the FAQ, you get some pat nonanswer.
They are horrible! High premiums, high deductible, piss poor coverage, my doctors hate dealing with them too!
They are great. Claims are handled quickly. Never a problem
They over charge my deductible wanted me to pay $2000 for one office visit when I have a $30 copay. That's from corporate when I called. Terrible
They cover almost of my expenses. My perscription plan also covers rmost pf my prescrtptions, but the I don't like the way the tiers work.
Poor - Service was always poor. We were not covered for most every thing that was listed under our coverage.
Great no problems experienced since swithcing to them.
very prompt--reliable and a good value for the cost of the policy and the coverage we need. Without it we would not have the level of care that we have needed. To get in touch with them when we need to is encouraging and dependable that we can rely on at very difficult times because of our health.
We have Aetna for our medical and dental coverage. They have great coverage and customer service but are quite costly.
Aetna has been good so far. Good coverage and good availability of doctors.
Premiums are low, some co-pay is high. Customer service is great.
Better service to members. The service that members get on the phone and about inquiries is just non existent.
We always pay more than we anticipate and they don't like to coordinate
They offer me a very nice package with low deductible, good coverage, reasonable premiums. They are also very responsive.
Premiums go drastically higher every year.
They think they are the doctor. I don't like that they call and try to tell me about my meds. I talk to my doctor when he prescribes something new. I don't need an insurance/nurse calling. That is just wasting my money.
nothing the insurance company is doing an exemplary job of getting me the different healthcare provider I need for my healthcare.
We had Aetna Health Insurance in the past offered to us through my husbands company and we loved it! It was nice and easy to use and covered all of our health and welfare needs. Every time we needed to go to a specialist it was so helpful that they all accepted Aetna. I like that they are such a wonderful service that many doctors use.
Love Aetna. Great rates and awesome customer service. Everything available on line!,
Tough time to be an insurer. Aetna has always been very helpful and their customer service has always been great.
Similar to other health insurances that we have had through our companies plan. We didn't have any real disagreements or problems to speak of. Overall a great company.
I was covered with Aetna insurance when I was on my parents plan. Customer service did a great job at answering all the questions I had with benefits. They were great at helping knowing what was on the plan, but I did not like the plan. We had to still pay quite a bit out of pocket.
Call center is totally useless!!! I have never had even similar experience.
Extremely frustrating company. Ever since I switched to this company, it's like pulling teeth to get my arthritis medication. The price went up by 100 dollars and they switched the pharmacy my medication goes to without telling me or my previous pharmacy. I'm so sick of not being able to get my medication when I need it and being in unnecessary pain.
This is a horrible company. The amount of time you have to wait to get you payment is RIDICULOUS. The whole point of having this is so you don't get behind in bills while out of work but the time it takes to get paid is so long that getting behind is a guarantee. I'm still waiting to be paid and am now facing eviction because of it. I called and told them this and even tho I have been approved, I was told there's nothing they can do to quicken the direct deposit and that it will take another week for payment! Unacceptable! My family and I will be displaced by then as I have a max of 3 days to move out from the premises. My wife had disability once for maternity leave and the entire process from start to finish was HALF of what I've already been waiting. Be warned, this company is a joke!
I had this insurance while I was in the U.K for two years. They always were able to get me into a place where I would be taken care of. I had coverage for every issue I ran into while I was there.