For instance, members who enrol in the Allwell plan can create online accounts and use that account number to log on and view their benefits and claims information, or request a replacement ID card. They could also search for a doctor and securely send messages to the plan.
Customer Satisfaction
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) collects complaints about insurers and annual market share estimates for the largest insurers in the US and calculates a complaint index, which shows how an insurer’s complaint numbers compare with size. An insurer with a complaint index of less than 1.0 indicates one that has disproportionately fewer complaints than other, similar-sized insurers. An insurer with a complaint index greater than 1.0 means one that has disproportionately more complaints than other similarly sized insurers.
NAIC doesn’t rate Allwell per se, but many of the individual plans are rated, and Allwell plans in the NAIC database had zero complaints in the three years between 2018 and 2020 in the majority of the states, with one or two having just one complaint in one of the three years. However, several did have a lot more, predominantly the plans in Kansas, Nevada and Ohio.
Third-Party Ratings
Allwell itself hasn’t been regularly rated, but Centene has had at least one review.
Financial Strength
AM Best, a credit rating agency that evaluates rating for insurance companies according to their financial viability, has not assigned a rating to Centene or its affiliates since 2013.
J.D. Power
Patients rated Medicare Advantage plans on member satisfaction with coverage and benefits; choice of providers; Billing, payments, cost; customer service; information and communications; and ease of finance. Allwell’s parent company, Centene, was the lowest-scoring Medicare Advantage provider of the 10 ranked by JD Power, with an overall score of 773 out of 1,000.
NCQA
However, neither Allwell nor its parent company, Centene, is accredited by any of the main accrediting agencies for health plans, including the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Some Allwell individual subsidiaries are in NCQA’s system, but they haven’t reported any data on which to base a rating. Only one – Arkansas Health and Wellness Health Plan – is rated by NCQA at 3.0 out of 5.0 points.
In fact, for any plan offered by Allwell, only two are rated by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA), a measure of health plan quality. And those two don’t fare too well.
Medicare Star Ratings
Medicare insurance plans that cover the Part D prescription drug benefit are given ratings by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) between one and five stars, called Star Ratings, with five being the highest rating and one being the lowest. CMS gives the ratings based on things such as customer satisfaction and access to care. Not all Allwell plans have a Star Rating, either because the plan is too new to get a star rating or because it doesn’t have enough information to be rated. The Allwell plans that are rated by CMS received between 3.0 and 4.5 Stars, an average of 3.36.
Part C (Medicare Advantage) scores of one Allwell plan ranged between 2.5 and 4.5 Stars; average = 3.27. Part C (Medicare Advantage) scores for another Allwell plan ranged between 3.0 and 4.0 Stars; average = 3.39. Part D (prescription) at Allwell: I = ratings for 2017, Out of 4 Stars are Mediocre, 3.5 – Good, 4 – Very Good 2016 Star Rating
Cost
The cost of health plan coverage includes premiums (the amount you pay to be enrolled in the plan), deductibles (how much you have to spend for covered services before the plan begins to pay), and the specific costs you face for services (usually, through cost-sharing, known as copayments or cost-sharing but they go by other names too). The plan prices vary depending on the specific geography (state) in which you live and the details of the specific plan. Your best bet for finding your specific costs is to visit the Allwell website for your state and look up the plans within that state, using your zip code. There are literally dozens to look through, and many have zero monthly premium.
Allwell Medicare Boost HMO
This is an HMO example with drug coverage:
Monthly premium: $0
Deductible: $0 for medical and $150 for drugs
Annual out-of-pocket maximum: $7,550
Allwell Medicare Simple HMO
This is an HMO example without drug coverage:
Monthly Premium: $0
Deductible: $0
Annual out-of-pocket maximums: $4,900
Allwell Medicare PPO
This PPO example includes prescription drug coverage:
Monthly Premium: $19
Deductible: $0
Annual out-of-pocket maximums: $9,000
Competition: Allwell vs. UnitedHealthcare
Allwell is associated with Centene, the sixth-largest national plan in 2023 for Medicare Advantage, which is the private alternative to traditional Medicare in the US. UnitedHealthcare is the largest national plan for people on Medicare Advantage, covering 29 per cent of the Market.
Allwell has a pretty good footprint, but UnitedHealthcare is nearly everywhere. UnitedHealthcare wins over better quality, at least by the average CMS Star Ratings: 808 v Centene’s 773 on the J.D. Power 2022 Medicare Advantage Study.
While these plans vary, they will all have lower average costs (than ‘exact duplicates’) and while Allwell offers choices with the lowest amount, it has only Medicare Advantage available. UnitedHealthcare wins because it is more comprehensive in terms of variety, reach, and quality.
| Allwell | UnitedHealthcare | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of States Available | 18 | 47 |
| Customer Service Options | Telephone, online, or request a call back via online form | Telephone, online, in person, chat |
| AM Best Rating | Not rated | A (Excellent) |
| Average CMS Star Rating | 3.36 | 3.78 |
Final Verdict
Allwell is the brand name of a large Medicare Advantage insurer owned by Centene, an increasingly dominant corporate family of plans that’s present in practically every part of the country. Allwell features some of the least expensive plans currently offering Medicare Advantage coverage, which could make it a conventional option that actually helps Medicare Advantage cost break into the realm of affordability. However, while there are a few Allwell plans rated by one or both of the two key quality-rating organisations for these plans – NCQA and the American Medical Group Association, or AMGA – the bulk of the Allwell offerings aren’t rated by NCQA, the entity whose expert-referenced standards set the standards for quality ratings by health plans. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the plans are bad, but it does mean that Centene/Allwell isn’t currently submitting data that reflects the work and rigour demanded to receive a positive score from NCQA.
Methodology
And a Medicare health plan that has a national presence operates differently from community to community in terms of its participation; its costs; the quality of its medical care and services; and its customer service and satisfaction – and the results.To assess most of the Medicare plans, we included ratings from the health insurance industry published by the NCQA, the nation’s largest accrediting organisation for health plans; the Medicare Star Ratings from CMS, the regulatory agency that administrates the Medicare programme; the number of complaints filed against the company with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; and AM Best’s financial stability ratings. We requested information directly from the companies about the programmes and how the company plans and positions itself.