Blue Cross "Health Program" - Legit or a Scam?

[George Costanza]

Our health insurance is Anthem Blue Cross through my employer. For the past several months, we have received DOZENS of phone calls from people identifying themselves as representatives of the "Blue Cross Health Program." They want us to sign up for "monthly contacts" with "a nurse," who will consult with us about our health needs and counsel us with regard to proper health and dietary habits, etc. The presumed purpose would appear to be an attempt by Blue Cross to make a preemptive strike on poor health so that both the inusreds will benefit, as well as Blue Cross itself by not having to provide as much medical care as previously.

We have politely declined. The people keep calling. They are relentless. We are assured we will be taken off the call list. Never happens. They keep calling, and calling and calling.

Which makes me very suspicious. They act as though they are on commission and their earnings depend upon how many people they can sign up for the health care program. So far, there has been no indication that signing up will cost us anything - so why are they so persistent? It is way out of proportion to the service they are trying to deliver.

So I called Blue Cross. They acknowledged that such a health plan does in fact exist, but also said that the persistence of the calls was very strange. The Blue Cross person I talked with said it sounded like a scam where the callers are tying in to an actual service offered by Blue Cross but were not in fact associated with it in any way.

So what are they after? I suspect that, sooner or later, if one signs up for this (with the scammers, not with the legitimate representatives), after they have obtained your trust, they will begin asking for more detailed information, such as social security number, etc.

My question - has anyone else been contacted by people wanting you to get involved in a Blue Cross Health Program? Did you do it? What happened? Anyone else think this is a scam?

 

[pacer]

Do a search of the FBI website using various key words. I did a search of Blue Cross:

FBI

 

[Granny]

I went through this some time back with Humana - and on the cutoff date for changing carriers I "snapped" and went with BC/BS ... no calls since switching. Humana had this thing going on with outside contractors who were having people come into your home (for free, no less) to "evaluate" your general health and generally check out your living conditions, etc. for safety and other BS crap and report the info to your doctor. I'm not having strangers come into my house to check me or anything else in my home. The last person who called me practically demanding and telling me she WOULD be coming to my home. She got a real ear burning string of language from me before I slammed the phone down. I did a little research on the internet and these visits are not required by law and they are not free. Medicare (seniors) did not fully cover the costs of these intrusions and it read like a lot of seniors got stuck with some pretty stiff bills from these contract agencies.

If you've got a doctor, generally healthy, and you see this doctor even once a year for a checkup your doctor is aware of your health situation. If you don't have the best of health and you have a doctor worth his or her salt, you're being seen on a regular basis so they stay on top of any serious issues.

By the way, I got the same or better coverage under my BC/BS plan at almost half the premium cost of what I was paying to Humana.

 

[percysunshine]

Our health insurance is Anthem Blue Cross through my employer. For the past several months, we have received DOZENS of phone calls from people identifying themselves as representatives of the "Blue Cross Health Program." They want us to sign up for "monthly contacts" with "a nurse," who will consult with us about our health needs and counsel us with regard to proper health and dietary habits, etc. The presumed purpose would appear to be an attempt by Blue Cross to make a preemptive strike on poor health so that both the inusreds will benefit, as well as Blue Cross itself by not having to provide as much medical care as previously.

We have politely declined. The people keep calling. They are relentless. We are assured we will be taken off the call list. Never happens. They keep calling, and calling and calling.

Which makes me very suspicious. They act as though they are on commission and their earnings depend upon how many people they can sign up for the health care program. So far, there has been no indication that signing up will cost us anything - so why are they so persistent? It is way out of proportion to the service they are trying to deliver.

So I called Blue Cross. They acknowledged that such a health plan does in fact exist, but also said that the persistence of the calls was very strange. The Blue Cross person I talked with said it sounded like a scam where the callers are tying in to an actual service offered by Blue Cross but were not in fact associated with it in any way.

So what are they after? I suspect that, sooner or later, if one signs up for this (with the scammers, not with the legitimate representatives), after they have obtained your trust, they will begin asking for more detailed information, such as social security number, etc.

My question - has anyone else been contacted by people wanting you to get involved in a Blue Cross Health Program? Did you do it? What happened? Anyone else think this is a scam?

Last year I had an unusually large draw on my health insurance for a once in a lifetime operation (yes, brain transplant). Anyway, shortly after that I started receiving calls from nurses for my provider (United Healthcare) to see how my health was. I interpreted this as a cost containment practice and a way to make sure I was not requesting services I did not need. I did not have a problem with that. From their (UH) perspective I might be some hypochondriac nutball.

That said, the calls came infrequently, months apart, and I verified that it was indeed UH personnel that were calling each time. I did not sign up for anything, and they did not call very often. You might have something else. I might suggest just hanging up on them as if they were telemarketers selling timeshare condos in Florida, and not worry much about it.