Sidecar Health Reviews 

I applaud the notion of being prudent with scarce health care dollars.

However, a mistake on Sidecar's part (duplicating an existing expense when they requested additional info which I uploaded) somehow couldn't be fixed by them, leaving me on the hook for almost $1,200 of lab services that had already been paid for. After 48 minutes on the phone trying to remedy the situation, the supervisor to whom I requested a transfer stuck to his script and wished me a great rest of my day. As if. So I cancelled my household's participation that day. Reached out on social media with no response. Terribly disappointing overall.

EDIT: Prompt received wouldn't allow comments to be added. Tagged Sidecar on LinkedIn and X. Have already spoken with "Member Care" and got exactly nowhere. Feels like more of the same. Disappointing and frustrating.

Pretty much a scam. Will be taking to court for my money back. Disgusting and don't let me take the time to figure out who is responsible for this horse****.

When I accidentally submitted the incorrect invoice, the customer service representative was a huge help! I had accidentally put an invoice in for the wrong date, I was charged $170, so I was reasonably confused and stressed out. After I described my problem, the woman on the phone connected me to someone else, and I explained the situation to the lovely person--I wish I got her name--and she let me know how I can email to get the credit back once I got the correct invoice. She was super sweet and bubbly, an absolute star. I did as she said and I got my $170 in credit. Great experience overall. So far I'm really happy to have Sidecar; I'd have no other way to afford therapy which I've needed for so long.

Most insurance companies that I have had will do the extra work for you, which creates peace of mind. You simply inform people of your insurance and then it's billed. I dislike the extra work that I have to do of requesting a coded bill (which most will not give you right then and there) and then remembering to submit the bill in a timely manner.

Been helpful with the prescriptions

The concept of this type of health insurance is great, but in reality it cost me more than not having insurance and the customer service was sub-par at best.

When I no longer needed Sidecar and requested to cancel my account, an agent was very helpful and cancelled my policy same day and informed me I would receive a partial refund for the unused billing period.

Then when my husband contacted them 2 minutes later, they told him it would take a month to cancel and he would not receive a refund. When he shared the email I received confirming my refund, instead of honoring it for him they went back on their word and revoked my refund and cancellation.

Every agent I spoke with said something different and even had me listed as living in a different state then I actually do. In my opinion this company needs a lot of work before they can really compete with other insurance options.

If I could re-do my decision I wouldn't have signed up and instead asked my doctor for the cash-price and paid out of pocket. I ended up spending more paying for Sidecar then I would have if I just paid the cash price for my appointments.

I think Sidecar is great. You can customize your plan to fit your budget. They send reminders to submit your invoices, which is very helpful. Everything is pretty straightforward and easy to understand. You can even change or cancel your plan at any time, so there is no long-term commitment required. I truly recommend it to anybody I know who is uninsured and looking for affordable options.

If you're willing to work with your providers, some of whom may not fully get this concept and can actually make it more challenging for self-pay patients, then Sidecar Health is a breeze. I've not had any major issues to deal with yet, hopefully won't, but it's been the easiest process to use the Visa card, submit invoices, and track my expenses in the dashboard. Customer service and quick and so nice. Compared to what I would have been paying for "regular" health insurance, I'm definitely saving a ton. I've also seen all the doctors I prefer. I might have saved a little more going to one over another, but not significant enough to matter. So far I highly recommend Sidecar Health.

Works exactly as stated. Easy to upload documents by phone. Credits/adjustments within a week or less. Great reimbursement option.

Such a scam of a company!!! Do NOT to trust them when insuraning your family. Nothing that they present to you lives up to the expectactions. So hard to deal with, and such a hassle. I have paid more in preventative care than I ever should have. I should have paid nothing, and I didn't have on preventative care treatment covered. 1 Star is generous

Sidecar Health works the way I want my insurance to work. I feel empowered to get the healthcare services I need without having a traditional insurance company act as a gatekeeper. And then Sidecar offsets some (or even all!) of the cost! Recently I got a shoulder and a knee MRI and then took them to the orthopedist to review. I got all the info I needed in a single orthopedic session. Traditional insurance would have had me go to the orthopedist, THEN get the MRIs, THEN back to the insurance!

Great transparency, quick and excellent customer service, and flexibility with great coverage.

Great first experience

Customer service for Sidecar Health was very helpful, checking to see if my receipt was uploaded properly and very patient answering any questions I had.

Scam. After 2 years with their highest tier policy I only had 2 emergency visits. They were less than $300.00 and yet they covered $50.00 of one and zero of the other. They say you can demand certain paperwork from doctors but that’s not true, clinics tell you that they don’t even have that breakdown and you are denied.

I have been with Sidecar for a year, and the first few transactions where good. However, even when you ask your provider for an itemized bill, and they say, here is your itemized bill, Sidecar won't always accept what you provide to them. I had a chiropractor I had been going to for 10 years, and they said his rate was too high, which isn't the case, his rate is pretty standard for the area. Secondly, if I switch to another provider, they will require xrays, and initial assessment, before they will provide service, which will ultimately cost more. I am skeptical of Sidecar after a year, however, I rarely visit the doctors, so if I were anyone consider Sidecar, go with a higher deductable and pay less out of pocket and pay cash for cheaper services because they won't likely give you the full amount or barely any towards your deductable. So you may as well pay a lower premium each month.

So far so good! I never get sick however, the first month I signed up I had an ear infection due to a cold and found a telemedicine site cheaper than the benefit amount listed on estimated care. I attached my invoices and I then received a credit towards my premium for next month. No other INS company has ever done that. Very pleasant and easy experience and I am so happy I found Side Car for my family. We pay for what we need instead of giving away our money to regular insurance companies. Thanks Side Car!

This is decent carrier if you need to visit your primary care physician from time-to-time for normal stuff - and don't want to deal with a high deductible. However, if you have a standard hospital procedure, like a colonoscopy, you may be surprised to discover very little is covered by Sidecar. I shudder to think how stressful working with Sidecar would have been if I had a serious health issue with a broad spectrum of providers to help me.

Based on my disappointment with this latest claim, I would have given Sidecar only one star, but they handled simpler claims with fairness, and some members of their customer service team tried to help me get documentation from three different service providers.

I think they want to do good. The unfortunate truth is that this insurance isn't built for the realities of today's medical system. In order to get proper medical codes for Sidecar processing, you would need to have your bills processed like a standard insurance claim - but that can't happen because Sidecar isn't recognized by the medical profession. So, you end up stuck between a rock and a hard place.

For peace of mind, I will be switching to Obamacare next year.

Updated on 1/12/24: I made the switch to Obamacare starting in February, which would have covered almost all the recent colonoscopy costs as preventative. Don't get me wrong - the people from Sidecar want to help, but the basic concept falls apart when big medical networks are involved, and the hospital assumes you're a self paying customer. One of Sidecar's customer service reps has already spent a lot of time trying to call for info - but the hospital sent a bill with internal rather than standard medical codes. The descriptions are pretty clear, though.

I will definitely update my rating if these claims can be resolved successfully with Sidecar. I hope their management will look at my experience, and other similar ones on Trust Pilot related to documentation, and come up with a set of expectations and policies for the future. This could be good insurance if they could work out this kink! In the meantime, it's causing me a lot of unnecessary time and stress to discover I'm currently on the hook for $5K in medical expenses - and would have had $4K covered automatically if I had enrolled in Obamacare!

Updated on 2/7/24 - I'm happy to say that Sidecar did work with the documentation the hospital provided. We were never able to get the standard medical codes hospital, but it looks like Sidecar assigned codes after reviewing all the documentation I submitted.

My final reimbursement was almost $1500 on a $5300 in colonoscopy charges. Not very good but better than less than $250 after my first document submission.

If I had gone through an Obamacare insurance provider, I probably wouldn't have paid more than $1K out of pocket - vs. $3.5K through Sidecar. This is another area of breakdown in the Sidecar system. Some health care providers actually charge self-paying patients more - not less! To my surprise, none of my medical providers were willing to negotiate a cash price after the bill had been generated too.

I would have given Sidecar 4 stars before this experience with a standard colonoscopy.

By the time I finish my policy after 22 months, I will have received about $4.5K in paid benefits for about $16K in premiums paid. They do pay on claims (sometimes fairly, sometimes miserly) - but I would not to want to be in a compromised health condition, struggle to get documentation, and deal with lots of uncertainty about how much can really be reimbursed.

Obamacare will be far less stressful - which is important if you need health insurance that reduces financial risk.

Reply to Sidecar Message - I think your response highlights two weaknesses with your offering: 1.) I wish I would have been told from the git-go that you could find a health care provider at a better cost so I didn't have to pay an extra $3.5K out of pocket. Instead, your marketing emphasizes i can select my own health care provider; 2.) My main reason for leaving Sidecar is that I wanted insurance that would not be a wild ride if I had an emergency or a severe health challenge. Sometimes, it's not possible to shop for a treatment. The $2M benefit policy was misleading to say the least

I was lucky the financial damage was limited to $3.5K. It would have been a much worse situation if I had a health challenge and got billed $50K - and then went through multiple frustrating rounds of gathering documentation - and still owed $35K. Unnecessary risk and stress is UGLY.

Sidecar is the best insurance you can get at an affordable price.

We have the premium insurance option. Which ends up costing us more per month. Yet the extra leg work and processes didn’t pay off for my prescription. I shopped around, found the best deal, and I still had to pay 65 dollars out of my pocket for a monthly generic subscription. I thought I would be better guarded against having to pay a premium on a prescription that I only paid 10 dollars a month for on my previous insurance.

**Edit**
As you can see below, the company did in fact reach out to me. The rep was very kind and explained a useful process to lower the out of pocket expense at the pharmacy. He even sent me specific links that I could use at the pharmacy that have been proven to do so. He then went a step further and covered the costs of my out of pocket expenses. The experience was clean and refreshing, it felt as if he actually cared about me and my wellbeing. He walked me through the process and expressed that if I ever have any questions or concerns I can reach out directly. I will be moving my rating from a 3 star to a 5 star. I’m looking forward to seeing how this pans out at my next pharmacy visit, as this is a monthly occurrence. If there are no further edits, know that I was taken care of. All I can say is, well done.

Talk to a person who was very helpful answering questions made everything easier