CIGNA health insurance

CIGNA is a name that is at the forefront of global health insurance. They have now been providing health insurance products and coverage for over 200 years. CIGNA are recognized around the world as a company that delivers outstanding customer service, and their customer base continues to grow. They have a huge range of products that are intended to protect your health and wellbeing. Their Choice Fund offers a variety of plans such as Flexible Spending Account, Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements. This does not, of course, include their prescription drug plan that was the first of its kind.

CIGNA can actually trace their roots all the way back to 1792. However in more recent times, the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (CIG) merged with the Insurance Company of North America in 1982 and became the name now renowned as “CIGNA”. CG and INA had separately enjoyed a reputation as industry leaders for many years. After the merger, the new company known as CIGNA sold health plans throughout the USA. The first plans were limited to health, life and dental employee insurance policies. However 7 years later they extended their service to international customers as well. They celebrated their bicentennial in 1992 by adopting the “Tree of Life” symbol.

Since the new millennium, CIGNA has moved away from many of their employer-based systems and have largely focused on individual consumers. This required some huge steps to improve their understanding of an individual customer’s needs and circumstances. They have since won numerous awards for their approach to customer service and their magnificent web portals. They also became the first health service company to offer call centre services for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CIGNA are equally renowned for their social responsibility. They make many monetary donations, spend a lot of time with underprivileged individuals and are also known to donate water to many countries around the world. CIGNA can definitely be considered an environmentally friendly company. They conduct the majority of their business online to specifically avoid the use of paper and they actually recycle 4 million pounds of paper each and every year.

CIGNA are most famed for their very own Choice Fund. This is a wide variety of programs and services aimed at improving your health and wellbeing. As mentioned the Choice Fund offers 3 separate plan options:-

Flexible Spending Account (FSA) – An FSA allows you to pre-determine a fixed amount of money that you will set aside for medical, dental and pharmaceutical expenses. Flexible Spending Accounts are seen as a cost effective way to manage those often unexpected out-of-pocket medical expenses. You will never have to pay any tax for your contributions or any withdrawals you make from the plan.

Health Savings Account (HSA) – An HSA is often thought of as a tax-deferred savings account that will help you pay for the cost of certain medical expenses. A Health Savings Account allows you far more control of how and why your money is spent on health care. You will also have the option to choose whichever doctor you wish to see via the online service and information they offer. The savings account is actually administered by JP Morgan Chase.

Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) – An HRA will typically be used by an employee in conjunction with their employer. Your employer will establish a heath fund for you and will cover any health care services up to a certain annual monetary limit. After this limit is reached, you will need to cover health care costs up to a certain deductible or excess. This will depend on which plan you choose, but you may only have to pay coinsurance for any services and the plan will cover the rest.

CIGNA offer many more health insurance plans which cover just about every eventuality. Their range of plans include coverage for Medical, Dental, Vision, Accident, International and Expatriate, Pharmacy, Behavioral Care, Life, Disability and Individual and Family plans and insurance. CIGNA continue to be a leading worldwide health insurance provider and as recently as 2006, they received the prestigious Marco Polo Award. This is highest foreign business leader honor bestowed by China. CIGNA now have a network of 10.2 million medical members, including hospitals, Physicians and contracted Pharmacies proving yet again that they are the Number 1 choice for health insurance.

Last updated on Jan 22nd, 2011 and filed under Health Insurance. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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