GeoBlue Reviews 42

As a retired Federal Employee Geo-Blue took over the overseas contract several years ago from GMMI. I have had issues with Geo-Blue ever since. They really should not be involved with the FEHB program overseas as they are just a middle man and offer no resolution, explanation or any assistance though they claim to be the overseas assistance center but they should be taken out of the loop as I do not see what value they bring.

Date of experience: July 03, 2025

I signed up fort Single Trip - Voyager Choice coverage. I paid $555. I created a password. I got confirmation of the password and a verification code. I went back, entered my password and the verification code and was immediately locked out. After spending over 2 hours on the phone with a person who clicked her keyboard constantly, I was told that IT would contact me in 3 business days. Then they sent me a lot of documentation on how I was signed up. But no password, so no access. I contacted my credit card company to block payment (first they have to receive a pending charge before blocking). So BEWARE of the worst customer service I can recall and remember this is for health insurance. Think about what might happen (or not happen) if you need to use it.

Date of experience: February 26, 2025

Our daughter was required to purchase GeoBlue for a study abroad program. She attempted repeatedly to purchase the one required semester. Their system only allowed her to purchase a year plan even though her visa is only for one semester. When we contacted the university, they were shocked that she was charged TRIPLE for the plan as her travel was only for one semester. GeoBlue informed us that they would process the refund and would contact our daughter. They have since sent a email that they cannot process the refund. We will be fully escalating this as their system error is clearly predatory and borders on extortion. We look forward to GeoBlue acknowledging their registration error and refunding the incorrect charge as they said they would during our initial correspondence.

Date of experience: May 01, 2024

Horrible insurance company for expats. They cover nothing, even if it is listed in your policy. They did not follow up with doctors who submitted directly if they needed additional information, they just rejected the claims. No explanations, no one to talk to. The worst experience I have ever had.

Date of experience: February 13, 2025

I've had great experiences with the company as an American expat living in Europe. They process my claims quickly and easily, they answer emails within one business day, and their processes are user friendly with no hassle. They were willing to work with the bureaucratic paperwork for my EU visa.

Date of experience: February 11, 2025

Tried to renew the travel insurance plan, I've not used the insurance. called customer service someone answered all I could hear is pots and pans being thrown around, second call, nice lady answered call, she put me on hold then hung up on me.
customer service sucks. I'm changing companies

Date of experience: December 16, 2024

I called international customer service for the status of claim and was told to contact the Claims Department EST. I am traveling. I stayed up late to make the phone call, only to be transferred to the International claims dept. ALSO.. We indicated on the claim form to send reimbursement to us directly and not the provider, so GEO BLUE sent the reimbursement to the provider. Evidently in the multiple emails - they never requested nor got a receipt. They only asked for the invoice. Now, we have to do the entire claim process over and wait another 6 months? ALSO..The hospital in Coventry England would not accept GEOBLUE and we had to pay with our Credit Card. The hospital made us wait 3 months to get any invoice and the hospital refused to follow the rules of GeoBlue...needing letterhead, exact procedure codes, and individual costs of each procedure. back and forth communication between the hospital and GeoBlue was so time consuming and a NIGHTMARE. We are on our 5th claim # for something which should have been resolved long ago. My husband had a ischemic stroke and survived, but all the emails went to his email and in the confusion of his post stroke rehab - it was very difficult to have another job of admin assistant of everything needed to process a claim. There needs to be a guide explaining the difficulty of a reimbursement. It is not as easy as uploading one document electronically.

Date of experience: December 14, 2024

We've been buying this insurance for years. Now for the first time we needed to make a claim. All I know is that they told me 12 days ago that they had mailed me a check that day, after I had called them twice, and I still don't have it. So I'm going to need to call them a third time. I won't buy this again. I don't trust them anymore.

Date of experience: October 15, 2024

I've purchased GEO Blue travel insurance many times and had one claim on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and another at a hospital in Tokyo. All I can say was the claims process was simple and straightforward, and Geo Blue paid my claims promptly and without a hassle. The best travel medical insurance around and at a good price.

Date of experience: September 20, 2024

I used GeoBlue Travel Insurance (Xplorer) for 2 years while I was in China.

Bad:
- I had a simple claim that took over 2 months to process. No controversy or complications, just slow
- My general emails to the company also took days or even weeks to reply
- Member website is about 20 years old

Good:
- Price was reasonable for the package
- My claims eventually got covered

Overall my experience wasn't as bad as some others here suggested. I just feel like there are better options.

Date of experience: October 02, 2024

I've been a customer of GeoBlue for almost 5 years now. It has hands down one of the worst customer service of any companies I've ever dealt with. Not just insurance companies, but companies in general.

There is a supervisor there named Michael Burke. This person basically just sends out coverage denial emails. When you email him back for more clarification he just never responds. When I call in and ask to speak to him, he doesn't accept calls.

I call in at least once a month to speak to a supervisor to file a complaint. They take my information and tell me that they will follow up with me but they never do. They'll send out extremely vague denial letters but won't tell you what their claims department wants. Then one of their supervisors will tell you that they will personally follow up with your doctor to get the needed information, but never will. Instead they'll just continue to send you vague denial letters and tell you to provide more information.

Date of experience: September 17, 2024

I purchase Geo Blue for a trip to Costa Rica.
Unfortunately, I was hospitalized for 5 days in San Jose, Costa Rica with a severe pneumonia. Intensive Care for 2 days. After returning home I submitted everything the hospital gave me in paper work & my receipt for payment that I made to the hospital. Geo Blue said the paperwork did not match my payment but I had everything & Geo Blue had the hospital phone number & information. I never received any compensation from Geo Blue and the communication with them was not good.
Obviously, I would not recommend this Travelers Insurance.
Lois S. Los Angeles, CA

Date of experience: March 15, 2024

The website looked so promising. The first of two claims was paid timely without issue. The second took 168 days of many emails and phone calls and broken promises that "X" would call back. Agents were trained to only say that something was happening and had no access to my total account file.

And, when I sent in a final email after my check arrived detailing the chronology of what had happened and asked that it be sent to the CEO and acknowledged, no reply even came. I had corresponded with him once before I left but his email address didn't work after that. I just thought he would want to know.

If you are going to Australia, you need to know that you only get details of the coverage after you buy. It is only then that you find out that Geo Blue has a relationship with almost ZERO medical facilities in the country so you will be out of pocket.

I also discovered that a large number of the high ratings given to the company came from people who sent them in at the request of Geo Blue before they even left on their trip and or actually filed a claim.

I got burned as I was looking for a company to use for that and future trips to Australia as well. Thankfully, the costs I incurred on my credit card bills were not enormous, but they easily could have been.

Buying travel insurance is not easy and as I said, the website looked promising.

Date of experience: July 21, 2023

My earlier post was not very complementary to Geo Blue as I was experiencing difficulty getting reimbursed for a scan that a Swiss doctor that Geo Blue sent me to recommended I have. 16 hours after I made the post I received a call from Geo Blue that my claim was being honored. I don’t know if my post had anything to do with my claim being honored, but if the check does arrive, I can’t complain anymore.

Date of experience: March 28, 2024

Scam scam scam, do NOT buy Geoblue. Price is low for a reason, when you end up needing to use it you will not get your money. Been waiting since January and they give you the go around, the phone seem to route to the same person (possibly located in the Philippines). They want you to give up and be SOL.
Warning to BCBS to immediately remove from being affiliated with a company that scams people. We provided everything asked for, invoices, travel tickets, doctors medicals records from the hospital and when they run out of things to ask for hoping you can’t provide they don’t give you any concrete reason why the claim is not being processed.
I don’t know how the employees rest at night knowing they a part of this scam. It’s very unfortunate.
We will go with United Healthcare travel
Insurance next time. Stay far away from Geoblue

Date of experience: December 27, 2023

I would leave no stars if I could. The handling of my son’s insurance claim has left a sour taste in our mouths. Despite submitting all the necessary documentation and fulfilling all requirements in two instances where additional information was requested, the claim is still in “review” after seven weeks. Date of incident was 12/28/2023. In mid-February-2024, Geo Blue asked for confirmation of flight records, and we provided that information. Then, a month later (early March 2024), they asked for medical records from the hospital in Quebec; I provided that information on 3/19/2024. It’s now 5/9/2024, and despite multiple calls to the Geo Blue Voyager Claims department, I keep getting the same response: “Still in review.” I’ve asked for the claim to be prioritized, and customer service agents tell me that the claim has been “elevated,” but after calling today for the 10th time and getting the same response, I’ve decided to leave a bad review. This delay in processing and approving the claim is unacceptable, and it has left my family and me feeling tired, frustrated, and neglected by Geo Blue. As policyholders, we expect timely and efficient service, though we understand things take time. However, we are going on month five dealing with this claim. Anyone looking to purchase a policy through Geo Blue should consider other options.

Date of experience: March 18, 2024

Unfortunately, based on an ongoing horrible experience with GeoBlue, I firmly believe that they are perpetrating an ongoing scam to defraud policy holders, at least for larger claims. I badly injured my knee in Mexico in mid-January. I needed an ambulance to pick me up and take me to a nearby hospital. Friends I was with confirmed that the hospital was on GeoBlue’s approved list. At the hospital after an X-ray, I was told I had a tibial plateau fracture and needed emergency surgery. The hospital put several temporarily holds on my credit card, telling me they would be released as soon as GeoBlue provided a letter guaranteeing that they would pay 100% of the hospital and physician charges less $100 deductible as provided on my Trekker policy. Within about an hour, a hospital administrator told me that GeoBlue had provided the necessary letter of guarantee. The surgery was successful, I was transported to a flight back to Los Angeles and the hospital did release the holds on my credit card. I assumed that I was in good hands with GeoBlue and that they were handling the hospital payments. I never received, and have not to this day received, a copy of my bills. GeoBlue even refused to pay the $750US charge for the ambulance company that transported me to the hospital. In April 2024, nearly 3 months after my injury, I received an email from the hospital indicating that GeoBlue had not made ANY payment on my outstanding bills and that therefore they were charging nearly $30,000USD on my credit card…which they did. Additionally, I've been assessed a nearly $800USD "foreign transaction fee" by my card issuer. I immediately contacted GeoBlue and as of today, May 4, have spoken to or emailed GeoBlue at least a dozen times, never given any concrete information or even a copy of my hospital billing but was told again and again only that they were “still waiting for a response from the provider.” I requested the matter be submitted to arbitration (which GeoBlue forces in a dispute) and they have ignored my multiple requests. I strongly believe that GeoBlue has not acted in good faith, does not intend to pay the claim and is hoping that I will tire of pursuing the matter. The stress, depression and anxiety GeoBlue has caused me has certainly impacted the healing of my leg. I am still unable to walk without pain while doing physical therapy every day, this after months using a wheelchair and walker. I contacted the California Department of Insurance and was told that they could not take action because the policy issuer is a Bermuda company. This has all the signs of being deliberate insurance fraud being perpetrated by the underwriter and their GeoBlue sham “customer service” located in PA. Since GeoBlue is licensed by Blue Cross Blue Sheild and GeoBlue markets using their logos, I'll be notifying them of this scam. I imagine they do not want outright fraud to be associated with their brand. Reading through comments of others on various websites, I know that I am not the only customer to have been defrauded by GeoBlue. Many have had experiences very similar to mine. I’ve had to draw on my home equity line to pay my credit card bill to reduce the interest rate on the Mexican charges. At no time has anyone I've communicated with at GeoBlue expressed any sort of sympathy or even understanding of the terrible position they have put me in. I retired recently and now may have to get a new job since I don't have $30,000 to pay for an event for which I had every right to believe I was insured. If anyone reading this has any suggestions for other ways I can aggressively pursue restitution, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Date of experience: May 04, 2024

Unethical insurance company. It's a constant battle getting claims processed for services that are listed on policy terms as being 100% covered without deductible. Deductible calculations are never accurate. Agents are not knowledgeable and it's clear this business uses stall tactics to process claims in hopes you'll pay to avoid bills being sent to collections. Absolute worst insurance company I've ever used.

Date of experience: March 30, 2024

Horrible process for actually submitting a claim. So unnecessarily complicated. I absolutely do not recommend using them.

Date of experience: February 18, 2024

I purchased a policy and, unfortunately, had to use it when I suffered appendiciitis while in Canada. I understand that often people are unhappy with insurance companies because they (the policy holder) didn't understand what was actually covered or follow the instructions for submitting claims. However, neither of those are the case here. I can't imagine a company providing worse customer service than Geo-Blue. The company said it would take 30 days to process the claim. It has been three months. EVERY time I call, I get the same non-answers. "Your claim is under review. I've asked the claims department to escalate your case. Call us back in another week." Today, I received notice that part of the claim had been denied, with no explanation of why. The first person I spoke with couldn't even discern that the claim had been denied. The second person, said it was because I had paid part of the bill, but hadn't submitted a receipt for the payment. Understand, that when I submitted the claim three months ago, I hadn't paid anything, so there were no receipts to submit. I had misplaced confidence the company would actually pay the bills within 30, maybe 45, days. When it became obvious that wasn't happening, I started making payments on the bills to avoid being sent to collections. Geo-Blue never mentioned that I shouldn't do that, or if I did it, I needed to pay the bill in full because they don't reimburse for partial payments. So, now, I have to go back and finish paying the nearly $8k I owe to the medical providers out of my own pocket; wait for the receipts to be generated either by the provider or my credit card company, submit them to Geo-Blue and wait another God-knows how long before I get reimbursed. There is no doubt this company purposefully puts every hurdle possible in the communication process to prevent paying for as long as possible. In general, I am a very understanding person when it comes to misunderstandings and make allowances for unintentional mistakes, but it is clear Geo-Blue's policy is to intentionally cause snags with the hope that people will just give up and go away. I imagine many do. Me? I'm about to contact my state's attorney general and insurance commission and the Better Business Bureau to register complaints. And, I'll write as many of these reviews as possible to help other people avoid the aggravation of dealing with this company.

Date of experience: January 12, 2024