SelectHealth Insurance Review & Complaints: Health Insurance

SelectHealth is a not-for-profit health insurance company operating in Utah and Idaho. They are integrated with Intermountain Healthcare and offer individual and family plans as well as group, Medicare, and dental coverage.

What is SelectHealth?

SelectHealth traces its roots to the creation of Intermountain Healthcare in 1975, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints donated its fifteen Utah hospitals to the newly formed healthcare provider. During the 1990s, the company opened a health insurance branch, which was renamed SelectHealth in 2006.

SelectHealth offers a range of health plans for individuals and families, as well as employer-sponsored health benefit plans and supplemental coverage. They provide insurance to about 850,000 people throughout Utah and Idaho, and, in addition to the Intermountain Healthcare system, also partner with several other providers for an extended network.

The company’s headquarters is located in Murray, Utah, but they also have an office in Meridian, Idaho.

What types of health plans and insurance products are offered?

Health insurance plans are offered to both individuals and through employer group benefit plans. SelectHealth also writes Medicare and Medicaid plans as well as CHIP and dental insurance. Since the website does not offer plan details without starting a full application for coverage, we were unable to get specific coverage information.

Individual Health Plans

SelectHealth’s plans are offered with three different network options, depending on where you see the doctor. The Select Value has a network of medical providers in a small area of Utah in and around the Salt Lake City area. Select Med covers all of Utah, while SelectHealth Idaho covers all of Idaho.

Health plan options are offered at all levels, including bronze, silver, and gold as well as catastrophic coverage. SelectHealth has both traditional and HSA plans as well as transitional and Benchmark plans.

Medicare

SelectHealth Advantage is the company’s Medicare Advantage program. It’s a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) that utilizes the company’s medical provider network for services.

Using the zip code for the company’s Utah office, we found two health plan options, Essential and Enhanced. Both are $0 deductible plans. The Essential plan has a primary care physician copay of $10, while the Enhanced plan has a copay of $5. The latter has a monthly premium in exchange for a lower out-of-pocket maximum limit and generally lower out-of-pocket costs.

Medicaid and CHIP

SelectHealth offer plans for those who meet the income requirements to qualify for Medicaid or CHIP programs.

Community Care, the Medicaid program, is only offered in select counties in Utah.

Dental

SelectHealth offers two options for their dental plan. One is the in-network only plan, and the buy-up option allows access to visit a non-network provider. Deductibles on both plans are $50 for an individual and $100 for a family.

The traditional plan offers more comprehensive coverage, while out-of-pocket costs are higher on the buy-up plan. The dental benefit plans offer several network options to choose from, all of which are in Utah.

You can purchase dental as a standalone product, or add value to your employee’s benefit package by adding it to your medical plan.

Are prescriptions covered?

If you get health insurance through your employer, your drug list is either RxCore or RxSelect. The name of your prescription drug list is shown in your SelectHealth account under SelectHealth and Rx Claims, and it’s also listed on your ID card.

Does the company offer telehealth services?

Yes, it is provided through Intermountain Connect Care®.  Get care for low-level urgent conditions through a video chat with a provider, 24/7, on your computer or mobile device.

Are the company’s rates competitive?

SelectHealth does not offer a quick quoting option for their individual and family health insurance coverage plans, Therefore, we were unable to access sample monthly premium rates or any other pricing information. They require a person to begin the enrollment process before rates are made available, so we can’t provide any cost estimates at this time.

Medicare rates for each plan type are offered on the site, at $0 for the Essential plan and $39 per month for the Enhanced plan. These are very reasonable for Medicare Advantage insurance plan rates based on what we have seen nationwide.

In order to determine how much your coverage could cost, you will need to get a health insurance quote from the company.

How are claims services handled?

Most claims are handled directly by the provider, although the website does offer claim reimbursement forms that can be used on those occasions where out-of-pocket costs a person incurs for medical care can be reimbursed by the insurance company.

SelectHealth’s direct integration with Intermountain Healthcare means that claims from those providers will likely be processed at the quickest rate and with the least complication.

Are the company’s ratings and consumer reviews positive?

Is SelectHealth good insurance? SelectHealth has the distinction of having been singled out by former President Barack Obama as a model healthcare system in 2009.

The Idaho office of Select Health currently has a Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of A, with 11 complaints on file in the past three years. In Utah, the insurance company does not have a separate file but is listed under the Intermountain Healthcare BBB, which has an A+ rating with 41 complaints on file in the past three years. Both files show low complaints volume for the size of the company.

There are four reviews of SelectHealth on Pissed Consumer, citing failure to pay claims and authorize procedures, as well as a few complaints in the billing department. There’s very little here to raise any sort of concern regarding this company, either in content or complaint volume.

What’s the bottom line?

SelectHealth offers a range of plans with a selection of networks to choose from, which should fit the needs and budgets of most people. This company will appeal to those seeking a homegrown health system that still has the size to provide comprehensive care. Without rates, it is difficult to compare them to other health insurance companies, but on all other points, SelectHealth seems to be a solid choice.