Personally, I think UHC should be ranked at the bottom of any list you
are considering. I've had the misfortune of being force into UHC
before I retired and now again after retirement. Although they are
mere "administrators" of IBM's money with regards to employees and
retirees, my experience is that they are slow in paying for legitimate
claims, make false representations to cause delays of claims through
resubmittal, and use incorrect schedules to make payments from.
Recently I spoke with the insurance department person at my doctor's
office about Aetna and UHC. She gave a thumbs down on UHC's practices.
Recently UHC payed an out of court settlement to one of the states for
failure to pay claims by claiming the insured used a non-network
doctor when in fact, they had.

One of my doctor's said UHC failed to pay him from the proper payment
schedule for an in office procedure, instead paying him from a
previous year's schedule in which the procedure was a hospital
outpatient procedure, shorting him about $2000. Even the State
Insurance Commisioner could not force them to correct it.

In 2000, I was insured by Aetna, when my wife was admitted to a non-
network hospital in Hawaii. Even though they didn't pay until they
were billed twice, they paid 100% of the bill after my copay. Other
than that incident, I had no problems with Aetna, and I used them for
a few years. Even the Aetna Dental DMO worked well. And I never
encountered any office that wouldn't accept Aetna.

You should note Aetna may be different in each state (the same for
UHC, I suppose), because the insurer is licensed separately in each
state and has it's own individual identity apart from the others.
Formally, ours is called Aetna Oklahoma. Can Aetna Connecticut be
different? I haven't the foggiest idea.

Being on Medicare, when my wife reaches that pinnacle in her life, we
will be looking at a Medicare Supplemental plan to join. But I've
already ruled out AARP's offering and Secure Horizons because they're
both either owned or administered by UHC.

Hope that helps.

--- In ibmretiree@yahoogroups.com, "suenjim2000" <suenjim4@...> wrote:
>
> NetBenefits and the IBM letter talk about offering two new Aetna plans
> for Medicare eligible retirees.
> I go into a lot of doctor's offices that say that they don't accept
> Aetna. For that matter they say the don't accept United Healthcare
> either - but I assume that's where UHC is primary.
> What experience with Aetna is out there?
>