Anyone ever work for Anthem BCBS?? or maybe someone you know has.. (Portland: insurance, attorney)

[baba02703]

We are planning on Moving to Maine and I wanted to apply to work for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Right now I work for Perot Systems doing billing for BCBS of RI. So I figured I might have an advantage over someone off the street should a position open up. My big question is how are they to work for? I was hoping someone out there either works for them or knows someone who either did or still does. I have heard BCBS of MA is a hard company to work for and very demanding. I just want to get a little 411 before I commit to anything. Nothing would be worse than moving to a new state to a job that ends up being crappy..

Thanks
Dee

[elston]

My DIL worked at the office in S Portland for a little while......I havent heard her say one way or the other.....I will ask her....but not sure when I will have any info. (I don't know what capacity she worked in--some type of clerical work I think.)

[corgis]

Originally Posted by baba02703

We are planning on Moving to Maine and I wanted to apply to work for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Right now I work for Perot Systems doing billing for BCBS of RI. So I figured I might have an advantage over someone off the street should a position open up. My big question is how are they to work for? I was hoping someone out there either works for them or knows someone who either did or still does. I have heard BCBS of MA is a hard company to work for and very demanding. I just want to get a little 411 before I commit to anything. Nothing would be worse than moving to a new state to a job that ends up being crappy..

Thanks
Dee

As a retired insurance agent who sold BC/BS products for better than 30 years, I certainly hope that they are tough and demanding to work for. Subscribers who buy BC/BS have a right to the most exacting attention from each and every employee. Claims should be paid correctly and according to the terms of their policy. Coverage should be strictly adhered to and the subscriber should not have to worry about someone not treating their question, concern or problem with the utmost professionalism.

If I were a manager, I would demand excellence and strict attention from all my employees.

[baba02703]

I know they are demanding and demand excellence. I work for BCBS now but looking to move to Maine and work for them. A friend of a friend has said bad things about them as an employer. this is what the lady told my friend and that scares me. i want to see if she is lying or just a bad employee making waves. see her story below

[SIZE=2]I worked for them for 5 years…they were awful! I was an exceptional employee and exceeded all expectations for the 1st 3 years I worked there. I then became very uncomfortable at my workstation. My neck and shoulders were killing me. I brought this to the attention of my manager, who sent me to a Dr. and the Dr. sent me to a Physical therapist. The therapist came right to the office on 3 separate occasions and told them my station was not ergonomically correct. Nothing was done about it. …I was removed from all keyboard use or computer work at all, which was what my job was…processing claims and customer service. It was 8 weeks of sitting in a chair doing nothing, with my manager treating me like I was nothing. Then I said something about needing something to do. She handed me a skirt bottle and a roll of paper towels and said to go clean all the empty desks…there must have been 400+. I also was not supposed to be doing anything repetitive. I was in tears by the end of the day! I went to him and said this was hurting me so bad and I cannot continue to do this and his response was “ nowhere on your Dr.’s note does it say that you cannot wash desks…you need to go get a new note” I was blown away. How someone could be so ignorant. Then I was sent to the mail room…to sit at a desk and fold and stuff envelopes. This hurt worse then keying all day. By this time I began getting Anxiety attacks driving to work. I would turn the corner and see the building and my hands would come off the steering wheel and my heart would pound, I couldn’t breathe…I was brought into the HR office and was given a hand written piece of paper saying “my duties”…the HR manager and my manager said to me that I had to fax this piece of paper to my Dr. right then and have him check off what I could and could not do and fax it back. If there was anything checked off that I could not do I would lose my job! The 1st question was can she use a keyboard? On my Dr.s order form that they had a copy of the very 1st thing written on it was in capital letters “NO KEYBOARD USE!” I refused and called my attorney I had recently hired. They next day I was taken out of work with Major depressive disorder and Anxiety attacks. This was in april of 2004…in November of 2004 still out of work with the injury and mental illness I was 7 weeks pregnant and I was terminated…I never received a letter(still to this day) to notify me I was terminated. I found out when I received an EOB denying my Dr. visit for my pregnancy. It was an awful experience and it took 4 long years of hell, but I sued them and won. My attorney told me it was next to impossible to prove them responsible for the mental portion of it, but we tried anyway…Anthem was found at fault for both my neck and shoulder and mental illness. For a company’s Motto is “ Caring about the health of the people we serve!” They sure the hell don’t care about the people who serve them…I would recommend it….It also seems to my like they do an awful lot of layoffs as well….be careful.[/SIZE]

[mollysmiles]

baba I can understand your anxiety I wish I knew about them from either personal experience or even a friend of a friend, but I don't have any information that can help either way. I can tell you though that one person's experience is not necessarily every person's experience, and often times there is more to the story. At the very least, there is *always* another side to the story. People only tell us what they want us to know, so try to keep that in the back of your mind.

One example I share is this: I found this forum because my husband and I were looking to move to another state. We googled the state and the town and City Data came up. I discovered the forums, and went to that particular state forum. I thought it was awful! There was a lot about "outsiders" moving in and being awful to the locals, and how the "locals" hated outsiders. The more I read from those posters, the more worried I became. As the time approached for us to go and interview and visit, the more I found that I didn't really even want to go! All of that awful feeling was based on those posts, by people I didn't even know. I did go, and it was NOTHING like those people had said AT ALL. All that concern, all that worry, did not apply to my situation. Obviously, we didn't end up moving, but it taught me a lesson

Good luck with everything, and I hope that you're able to put aside some of your concern enough to have an open mind. So many times we create our own experiences, and we're able to benefit most when we don't have any preconceived ideas.

[elston]

baba I sent you a DM based on the tiny bit I learned from someone who worked there......nothing bad in their experience, other than it is a large impersonal corporate work enviornment and they were looking for less of that.

I thnk MollySmiles' response is wisdom speaking to you.

[flycessna]

My ex has worked their for 12 years. She is very happy with the job. she has had 2 children while working their. She has moved around and been giving better assignments. She has always liked her supervisors. She has worked from home the last 8 years and that has been a huge advantage to her. When she got hired she applied thorugh the maine state career center which provided a one week training course....she was hired almost immediatly.

Its a job....all jobs a tough....I certainly understand that each office has its own culture but I think where most of them all work from home it is what it is...

this economic down turn might affect them though...I don't know how they will do financially in the next 5 years.

[elston]

LOL a wise man I once knew used to say, "every job has its out house to clean" I remembered that all my working days......sometimes it was my day to clean the outhouse.

[flwrs314]

I work for Anthem BC/BS in Virginia, have been here for 2.5 years and they are a great company to work for. I work in Customer Service and the pay is good and benefits are great. The job is demanding. You have a lot of knowledge, but the management and tranining is great.

[flwrs314]

One thing about Wellpoint (who owns Anthem), they do have layoffs and eliminate some positions, but they always find jobs for the people they layoff, usually within a month. They also get severance pay.