California's largest health insurers mostly miss the mark when it comes to meeting national standards of care and customer satisfaction, according to state regulators who issued the latest report card on so-called PPOs on Thursday.
"Insurers have a lot of room for improvement, particularly in the area of customer satisfaction," said state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
Five of the six insurers included in the report card got dismal reviews from their clients – garnering just one star out of four – when rated on customer service. The remaining insurer got a middling two-star grade.
Consumers complained about the difficulty in getting someone on the phone, obtaining cost information and getting claims paid.
"We want to really put pressure on health insurers to step up," Poizner said. "It should be a wake-up call."
The report card graded the state's six largest preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, on a four-star scale, with no company earning a top score in any of the quality indicators measured by the agency.
Three of the companies – Aetna, Cigna and United Healthcare – received three-star grades for their performance on meeting national standards of care guidelines.
Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Health Net each received two stars.
To read the complete article, visit www.sacbee.com.