Universities considering Gallagher for health insurance should be advised that students often dont understand that health insurance providers are separate entities from the school, and that they will associate the poor customer service with your university. I recommend NOT using Gallagher.In addition to the numerous other reviews here describing their poor customer service and disorganization, I have my own experience to share.It was very difficult to get myself enrolled and it took a lot of effort and phone calls in order for them to process my enrollment. However, upon trying to enroll my newborn daughter, things got even worse. Ive recorded how difficult this process has been below:9/8 - Submitted enrollment request and received verification email but no payment link.9/13 - Called to check on status. Was told to wait until it had been 10 business days since the request.9/22 - Called to check on status. Was told the request was not received. Went through exact same enrollment process online step by step with customer service agent. Was told there were system issues, that this was being sent to escalations, and that I would be updated within 48 hours.9/24 - Did not receive update, so I emailed the customer service agent I spoke to on the 22nd. Did not get a response.9/27 - Called to check on status. Was told they were waiting on a response from the enrollment team and that I would be updated within 48 hours.9/30 - Have not received an update. Called to check on status again. Was told that they did not know why I didnt receive a payment link and that this would be sent to escalations. At this point I told them I might need to look into other options for health insurance because this was becoming ridiculous.I never would have thought that it would be this difficult to give a company my money. It is as if they actively dont want me as a customer. As a new mom this is extremely stressful as I need to get my daughter enrolled ASAP.So if you are reading these reviews wondering if Gallagher is really that bad - trust me, they are. I have been perfectly polite throughout this process, done my due diligence, and still my daughter is without health insurance because they are so disorganized and dont understand their own system.This is not the health insurance provider you want your students dealing with. Please go with another option.

This place is an awful scam, insane how predatory they are to students!! Staff lies and continually gives misinformation. I was not able to waive my insurance despite jumping through hoops and doing everything they said. I already have other insurance, they know it and are charging $4000 ransom because they automatically enrolled me and wont let me leave! Criminal!! Beware!!!

This is one of the poorest student health services I have encountered in my entire life! They waste your time when you call them, and are not very responsive. I was trying to waive my health insurance, but they just wouldnt take the time to do their job. I have submitted multiple documents to prove to them that I have a US based insurance, but they still decided not to waive my student health insurance. I provided all the information needed to make a reasonable decision (insurance ID, phone numbers, addresses etc) but they failed to verify my existing insurance. All they care about is making me pay twice for health insurance. On top of that, the guy I spoke with wasted my time for nothing. I called them twice and spent about an hour on the phone talking to people who just wouldnt do their job properly. This is not the first time I am waiving health insurance, and the process is always very smooth. However, Gallagher seems not to care about their clients. I am extremely disappointed in Gallagher Student Health.

This company is a stain on America. I implore the Claremont Colleges to stop doing business with this obvious front for money. Absolutely disgusted.

Dont know why anyone would rate this over ZERO stars. This company is just straight garbage. Arbitrarily decides your waiver gets declined despite LITERALLY being the same as previous years. Any attempt to contact customer service is met with automated responses or agents that are no better than an automated response. Takes 10 minutes to resolve issues on live chat even though it disconnects automatically after 5 minutes of inactivity. This is the most infuriating thing Ive ever had to deal with. The worst customer service in any company and nothing but a bunch of vultures hoping to rip students off for $1-2k EVERY SCHOOL YEAR. NO OPT OUT, AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED in their overpriced, garbage insurance. If you dont waive by their arbitrary deadline, you automatically get charged. There are very few things I hate more than Gallagher, I really hope they fail as a company.

I have never felt with such a frustrating and incompetent company every year. This is my third year verifying my personal insurance, and every year I am told it is invalid and have to go through an appeal process. Customer service is clueless, the website is difficult, and the whole process is frustrating. Every year I spend at least 3 hours trying avoid this scam company from trying to charge me for trash insurance.

I’ve had to use this service for college for the last 4 years, and coming into my senior year I, all of a sudden, had my health waivers denied and revoked due to “being out of state” even though official letters show I’m covered in the area. Never have I changed what I submit each year, and all of a sudden this year my waiver form isn’t going through which then causes Gallagher to give you a deadline to fix the situation other wise you are charged against your will for a service you don’t even need or want. When given a call, the representative spent 10 minutes circling around the one question we had been asking which was “why is this just happening now?” And blaming this on their parent data base company that they use for this process. And by the end of the call the question still hadn’t been answered and we were told to contact my college instead of them helping fix the issue. The fact that this company has 2.3 stars and my college uses it is a joke, and I’m glad I’m graduating and don’t have to deal with Gallagher again.

I had the WORST experience ever with this company. I implore Amherst College to discontinue service with this company. They make it virtually impossible to waive school insurance regardless of my child being fully insured. They gave me different answers, false dates are were downright rude and lazy. I was brought to tears after an entire day of trying to get this waiver. A representative told me to “stop crying- it’s not that deep”. Miss, $2600 for insurance I do not need, is THAT DEEP.

My application to waive University health insurance was rejected because Your insurance plan does not cover NON-EMERGENCY CARE COVERAGE. My supporting documents explicitly say my insurance plan does cover non-emergency care coverage. This is a problem every year.

Called three times on 8/31/2021. The guy, after hearing the question and, then, just my voice, hang up on me. Absolutely ridiculous... Next time just say - i am stupid and do not know the answer and transfer me elsewhere.

I bought student vision/dental insurance through them. Went half the year without dental before they finally verified coverage. Then I went 11 MONTHS without the vision insurance I bought. After calling every week for months, they finally got me 1 month of insurance and said the rest wasnt refundable. This company takes advantage of students.

I am extremely disappointed in Gallagher Student Health. I would not recommend. I have an account and have been paying high prices, but somehow they do not have an account for me on file (even though I am covered by insurance, I cannot access any of my information and none of the MANY customer service agents I have contacted have been able to help me with this). I have been trying to change my payment information for over a month now and have contacted them repeatedly with no help. I 10/10 would never use this company again.

I’ve tried to waive my insurance through school several times as I already have insurance. I’ve done it 2 times and both times they tell me that it’s rescinded only after 5 business days. Then I finally find the letter they want, I go and try to put it through their portal only to have a message that I can’t do so because the site is down. Then I wait 24 hours and call them, I’m on hold for an hour, I get off of hold but the call drops. I call another customer service number and it just tells me that nobody will answer my call because of technical difficulties and it hangs up.This is the deadline. It’s your fault it’s taken this long. I could have had this done weeks ago, but you decided to be nitpicky slow then when I finally met your standards you go out then you waste my time with customer service and won’t even let me speak to anyone.I’m going to end up being charged $2500 for insurance I don’t need because of you.There’s a special place in hell for you.I’d give you negative stars if I could,Update: They did give me an extension, and allowed me to put my insurance in. So they get one additional star, though it’s a lousy lousy insurance company that caused me way too much stress.

I have attempted to contact Gallagher multiple ways for well over a week now, and have currently been on hold on the phone for more than 30 minutes, all because I want to know how my waiver was rescinded and what they can do to remedy the situation because I DO have health insurance and do not need insurance through my school.E-mails have gone un-returned (despite the assurance I will receive a response within two business days), attempts to use the live chat feature on the website are useless, as they get dumped into e-mail, and at over 30 minutes on hold, Id say nobody is there to answer the phone either.I sincerely hope, and will look into what needs to be done, Gallagher will not be my schools insurance broker next year.

For two years in a row, processing of my insurance enrollment has been delayed for weeks and I lost insurance coverage. I was forced to pay out of pocket and apply for reimbursement despite enrolling and paying for my plan on time. This is the worst insurance company I have ever used in my life. The customer service agents I spoke to were friendly but it is not worth the stress, chaos, and frustration of the coverage. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE.

THEY FORCED ME TO HIRED THEIR INSURANCE

They keep rejecting my proof of insurance for school. Had to make a million phone calls to have it finally go through

Ive been trying to reach them for the past month, but havent even received an auto-reply. ive tried everything, but there seems to be no living human being on the other end of the line. has anyone ever successfully reached them??

I have been trying to waive my insurance as I am a remote student in Canada. I have called Gallagher twice and was assured that my problem would be forwarded to a higher up and that if I uploaded my medicare card it would be resolved. I never received a call back and my scans were met with more requests for documents that simply dont exist in the Canadian healthcare system. This business is an outright scam and frankly I am disgusted that my university would farm out their healthcare services to such a dubious company.

I had to make an account just to review how terrible this company is. They denied my waiver several times and I have insurance. I provided proof in all different types, but it never is enough. The previous reviews pretty much sum it up. They are great for horrendous customer service, greed, untrained staff and deceit all packaged into one middle man for insurance. Absolutely terrible. Cannot help but make mention to the majority of positive reviews that are probably the same people responding to the negative ones working within the company. Also to the same by the book automated responses to the negative ones that do not even address the issues mentioned. When a person leaving the review replies back with better points, they just stop replying knowing that they are backed into a corner. A team of soulless non-empathizing people. I cannot help, but wonder what kind of incentives were given to acquire these college accounts because they present as very under qualified.

After adding my partner to my student plan, the amount was not prorated even if he was added on June 1st, and I was charged for a full semester of health insurance for him. I first reached out to Gallagher regarding this issue on June 26th, after our contact at MIT Medical was unable to make any headway with Gallagher, and was told that my complaint would be escalated and I should get a response within 48 business hours. On July 3rd, we paid the charge on my student bill, to avoid late fees and we have been trying to get the excess payment refunded ever since. After hearing nothing for two weeks, I called against last Friday, July 10th, and was told there was a record that my complaint had been escalated and nothing had happened after that. I was given an email address for finance to which I sent three emails since then, without any answer. This is completely unacceptable and malicious behavior from an insurance company, and a financial burden of multiple hundreds of dollars on a graduate student stipend.

Never had a problem waiving student insurance until my school started using this service.

Absolutely awful. Customer service does not respond when I have log in issues. Ive also used LiveChat, but the waiting time stayed consistently at 10 min for 20 minutes. A blue cross representative was able to get a hold of them for me. Otherwise, I was screwed. Ive been to three different schools, so I had to find out myself how to log in. You have to choose your school under the drop down on the forgot your password page, or else you cannot log in. This must be the same school you created your account with. This is not an option when creating your account, you have to navigate to choose your school. They say I have active coverage, but it does not update on the website. I cannot download my coverage verification letter, if I dont have coverage listed. They said they would send in an emergency update request, which I hope updates soon. This is delaying my appointment, which I need urgently.

Gallagher Student Health is one of the most dreadful companies I have ever had to deal with. I have no idea why someone would ever engage with such a horrific, malicious organization. I have full-scale health insurance provided by a Fortune 50 company and Gallagher, collaborating with a university, tried to force me into buying duplicate health insurance for four consecutive years. I simply do not understand why someone would have to go through an unbelievably frustrating waiver process only to tell a company you want nothing to do with their service. This is a company that literally preys on college students through their ridiculous processes and bureaucracy on a borderline extortion basis in an attempt to force them into purchasing their good-for-nothing product. What a pathetic organization.

It is really frustrating! I keep waiving my student insurance because I have insurance and it is good for a student. I can go to any specialist and ER and get MRI, X-Rays etc. However, they keep pushing that I need another health insurance and I am not going to pay two health insurances!

Wow the worst company to deal with!!! How are these major universities working with this abysmal organization???

Definitely should read these comments before making any business deal is what this place they dont even deserve one star. I advise any college student to stay away from this business as they treat their customers extremely poorly with no call backs rude and extremely sarcastic ton of voice while on the phone. Will literally try and make you pay out of pocket as they do their best to forget about you

Gallagher Student Health has malicious intent to force me to buy their insurance plan even though I provided them plenty of proof that I already have health insurance. Gallagher kept saying my doctors are out of the area. In truth, my primary care doctor is 5 minutes away. I provided all kind of proof that my doctors are in my area, but Gallagher pretends not to see so they can make money by selling me an unneeded insurance plan. I even offer their staff to go to see my doctor with me to prove it. I called them several times, and their incompetent representatives just repeat what they see on the screen like robots. They refused to let me talk to their manager. I asked them to call my insurance plan to verify. They refused to do that, too. I filed a formal complaint against Gallagher with my school at Marymount University. I was forced to pay Gallagher because my school blocks me from registering for new classes. I want Gallagher to cancel my plan and refund my money. I will not stop until that happens.

They wait weeks and weeks to process information to insurance companies so that you can’t use coverage you’re paying for and every time you call it’s 30+ minutes of hold time. A complete scam that you have no option but to use because it’s all your school offers.I call Gallagher at least three times a week and asked to put in an urgent request. I was told Id hear back within 24 hours and did not. Also, I asked for a name or phone number of a supervisor to be able to follow up and was told no number was available and was only given a first name of someone.Also, you answered this to review within 24 hours so why cant I get a response on actual insurance issues that fast?

I needed my enrollment expedited due to a school trip I was taking. The rep at Gallagher was very professional and took care of the issue quickly. Very professional service!

I would not recommend engaging with Gallagher in any capacity. When contacted by phone you can expect to encounter curt customer service representatives who ensure you are abundantly aware that they feel burdened by your call and your questions (I had the pleasure of speaking with Kelly!). Furthermore, while their business practices may be legal, they are hardly ethical. If you must engage with Gallagher due to student requirements, I highly recommend bringing grievances to the attention of the administration of your institution.If you are attempting to submit a health insurance waiver, know they will not validate it with your insurance company directly, so expect an initial denial. It would appear the company has a vested interest in making the approval process arduous.

The customer service representative I called was polite, but she didnt have enough information to be helpful to me. Obviously, I dont blame HER, but I certainly blame the company itself. Shes doing her job, Gallagher is NOT doing theirs. They dont respond and make it impossible for me to reach anyone who can directly help me with waiving my health insurance for college.

I purchased a spouse insurance for my wife. It has been passed the valid date for many days. She still doesnt get the insurance ID card. And there is no information about her. She has pregnant, we have to cancel many of her maternity check. Gallagher the entire company disappeared like been attacked by walking dead. No response from their customer service for many days. If there is something to my unborn child..

No response from customer service about my issues. Purchased both vision and dental coverage but Humana told me they have no proof of ever knowing I was to have vision benefits. After almost one week of calling about this issue, I have still not received a resolution.

Great comedy. Loved the smashing watermelons routine!!

Really bad customer service. Very slow to follow-up. How do they have all these accounts with big universities?

EDIT TO OWNERS REPLY [OWNER DELETED MOST OF COMMENTS ON THEIR REVIEWS SINCE RESPONDING]: The purpose for my review is not to gain attention from your company because besides a refund for the full amount of money I was forced to hand over (which I am well aware would never happen) there is nothing that could be done to fix my situation. So no I will choose not to provide my name or any other information. The purpose of my review and I am sure many others that you are trying to justify is to WARN FUTURE CUSTOMERS of your poor customer service and customer first mentality. There was no clear definition as to why my waiver was denied the first time and no one within the company was willing to give me a clear explanation. At which point I was told that I had to now prove that I did in fact have the insurance I had listed on the waiver with a letter written from my insurance company through Medicaid. I provided a letter of cancellation through fax and a written statement through the Medicaid insurance company for proof of coverage (Before they canceled it for having a private insurance now listed), but it wasnt even acknowledged on your end for about a month. This conveniently fell right outside your date for cancellation (Not trying to assume this was intentional but if nothing else it is evidence that customer service is problematic). It is the exact same insurance I listed on the waiver at the time and that wouldve been considered sufficient as I have later found out because you have accepted the EXACT SAME INSURANCE in subsequent years. In my situation, the unneeded cost almost kept me from attending school that year for financial reasons. There is a reason I qualify for free insurance. To impose unneeded cost without providing the follow-up customer care to reconcile any problems (even if they are the fault of the consumer) to help in a timely manner is the reason why many find the practices unethical.ORIGINAL: Their insurance operation is borderline criminal. It is insane how they get away with exploiting college students through the force enrollment policy when their waiver process has to take place through themselves. They denied me my waiver for unexplained reasoning, which forced me out of my free Medicaid insurance and into their paid plan. Trying to argue the point, I could not reach a competent representative and it was clear that they were just trying to exploit me for monetary gain. Medicaid would no longer deal me in insurance because this private plan had forcibly showed me as a client. So I was left with a $2,000+ premium on top of my already pricey student bills to have coverage that was far worse in comparison to my already enrolled free Medicaid plan (Co-Pay on every bill ever received that year, 0 help in eyeglass coverage and useless dental). It was not until threatening legal action in subsequent years that the company was able to show me to a more understanding representative that all of a sudden began recognizing my Medicaid insurance as sufficient. By far one of the shadiest, and capitalistic insurance brokers should be recognized as an everlasting stain on the health care system. STAY FAR AWAY! I wish Universities would look out for the students more in these instances because in my situation and I am sure many like it, the university assumes 0 responsibility without any helpful advice. I wish you a better experience than me if you have had the displeasure of being enrolled through their insurance plan.

The only reason I am giving 1 star, is because 0 is not an option. I have been contacting the “representatives” at Gallagher student health for about two months now. I was finally able to obtain insurance for myself due to a qualifying event. Once I was enrolled, I began trying to obtain insurance for my toddler as well. They have delayed this, do not respond to the many emails I have sent, answer the phone with “send an email to...” which clearly does not get through to anyone. I have been told I can’t speak to a supervisor, I can’t leave a message for anyone, and I can even have the customer service rep’s name to reference the call in the future.I have done everything I can think of, short of begging them to send me a valid form with which to enroll my daughter (their online form does not work, though they told me it would), and now the deadline for enrolling her is fast approaching and I still have not received an intelligible response. I have a three year old with no health insurance. I have disclosed this to multiple people over and over AND OVER, and no one has the integrity to even respond via email. This company is undoubtedly crooked—but the general lack of simple human decency is appalling—they have now cheated my toddler out of having decent health insurance.

Currently not able to fill my prescriptions because they signed me up for a plan, and sent no info, no card to me, Even after I waived it. If I have a seizure because I didnt get my meds, I will hold this company responsible.

Easily one of the most corrupt organizations I have had the considerable displeasure to associate with. I was charged $2300 due to a THREE WEEK lapse in insurance coverage BEFORE MY FALL SEMESTER BEGAN!!!!! They are forcing me to pay for their coverage, even though I have proved to them I have coverage from 9/1/19-9-1-20 simply because of that three week period.I spoke with several customer service agents who stubbornly refused to speak with me to resolve the issue. I asked to speak with a supervisor, and was told no, they wont tell you any different. I persisted for 25 minutes, and was finally transferred to a supervisor of customer care, who refused to identify herself or her position within the company. I was then dropped into Jonathan Lamoureaux voicemail box, to which I never heard back from.I called back explaining my desire to speak with someone in charge of claims, and was refused again. I asked for the names of the reps I spoke with previously, and was refused again, being told there is no reason to name collect. I asked for the rep I was currently speaking tos name, and was promptly hung up on.All I wanted was to speak to someone who could negotiate with me, who had the authority to discuss such a possibility. I was instead treated as an inconvenience and refused adequate service. This company clearly believes more in lining their pockets than helping students. They prioritize taking money from students over providing them with a service. They WILL take your money and force you to use their service regardless of your needs or wants. AVOID UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!EDIT TO OWNERS REPLY:You are missing the point, lackey. Its not about the rejection, its about the complete inability of your company to work with their customers, and their deplorable tactics to ensure they exploit college students for every dollar they can. If you are going to respond to a negative review, at least address the concerns raised within the review, instead of making a strawman argument.

I enrolled my husband as a dependent (who gave up his existing coverage) using your dependent enrollment form and paid $4,441 on 9/15. On 10/7 I received my insurance information and we could find no information regarding his coverage.We called on 10/8 to inquire and were told you were escalating it. We called again on 10/11 and were told wed hear back by today (and nothing).Its now been a week since we first called - you have our $4,441 and meanwhile my husband has no insurance because of some unknown processing error on your end. Please resolve this immediately.

Terrible service, absolutely no customer care at all. Tries to take money from students by force, puts you on hold for an hour at a time. Absolutely ridiculous!

Absolutely the worst experience with any company I have ever had. This is actually the first time I have taken time from my day to write any review, as I would like to save other people time and money. I’m almost about to file a fraud claim, as I’ve been paying for health insurance since September 1st. It is now September 26th and I STILL have no health insurance. This company is nothing but fraudulent. I have had to cancel several doctors appointments as my insurance has not yet been activated (I cannot fathom an acceptable reason as to why- they of course have my money.) I was told to “pay out of pocket,” and then claim for reimbursement. Is this some kind of joke?! If it has taken this much time and energy, and my insurance STILL has not been activated, then I dread to think of the hassle it takes to make a claim. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. If you are a student, find alternative healthcare and submit a waiver - it will be a lot less hassle, trust me.*UPDATE* - I first posted on September 26th. It is now October 2nd and I still have no health insurance and not one single person has reached out to me. I am drained and exhausted from this (still) unresolved process. This company should be ashamed.

One of the worst insurance companies Ive had to deal with. They will throw up as many road blocks as possible to get you to pay more. There are many better insurances, dont use Gallagher.

Was having issues with my health insurance waiver but after connecting with a representative, they have been extremely helpful and helped me get my insurance waived.

Universities subcontract to this business out of laziness and an intent to limit administrational costs BUT this company is absolutely useless and borderline CRIMINAL. It does not even contact the actual health insurance companies before denying pre-insured students waivers. I have spoken to my insurance company year after year after Gallagher inevitably denies my waiver for no reason they can point to. They say the same thing every time. That there has been no attempt to check for active coverage apart from by myself. Why do students have to submit very personal information that is purportedly used to check insurance status, when Gallagher is NOT using the member IDs or any of the information given to them to actually check with the insurance companies?

Typical college business exploiting students carelessly. I submitted waivers, spoke with plenty representative and was lead on to believe things that weren’t true just so that these people can make a coin or too. Any college student seeing this, change your insurances before the semester starts because these people are SHARKS and will give you hell and the run around when you are trying to waive it even within the dates to do so. Despicable. This is the only BAD experience I have had with my University, I hope they change this insurance.

Awful customer service, extremely bureaucratic. Stay clear, unless your pushed their way, then get ready for frustration.

This company is a total scam. I really wonder how they are still in business. Our education and insurance system are so broken that schools collude with such scam company and STEAL our hard earned money.

This company is like a criminal enterprise. They will do whatever they can to charge you and keep you in their fake health insurance, that you dont need and want. They collude with universities to carry out this scam by giving students misleading information, and keep them as cash cow.

They never processed my information. When I called them to get it waived all they said was that it was going to be fixed by an IT guy...... and have heard from absolutely no one. VERY poor customer service, VERY slow response time. Anyone but these guys.

My graduate student wife has had basically the same experience as everyone else reviewing here with the misfortune of giving their money to this crooked business. Sadly typical of the overall backward healthcare model in the US.

I wish I could post it with zero starsOverpriced, badly serviced and awful customer service for a crappy insurance that students across the country are, most of the time, forced to have. I enrolled my dependent (wife) for $2000 for 7 months of coverage. We found another better insurance we want to enroll but we cannot cancel her policy....and you call it the freedom land...

This company is a total scam, I provided proof on insurance three times and they kept on rejecting it. Apparently they want to charge me again.

Absolute scam as others have pointed out. Its a shame, had difficulties with my waiver last year, submitted mine for this year almost a month ago, no action whatsoever. Impossible to get in contact with, exploitation of poor students by a greedy company. Screw them

Super poor customer service. Delays in instituting insurance, leaving students hanging. Renewals are the month student returns to school when they are catching up on Dr. appointments but Gallagher has not followed up with the insurance companies to show the student has enrollment. Student is forced to delay medical care or pay out of pocket. Total BS

Great office location in addition to having a great team of people!

Avoid it like the plague. This company is terrible from top to bottom.

You can only describe this company in two words, absolute trash

Dealing with this insurance company is the most frustrating and stressful thing. Awful customer service, the worst Ive ever seen. Ive been trying to get in contact with a representative for weeks through email, phone, live chat, and no one answers.

I was in an emergency and they wouldn’t answer my calls. In this, they were also multiple days late in renewing my insurance and refused to help me.

I wanted to give zero star but that was not an option. I cannot reach the customer service at all.

Great company to work for!

Took my name said I wanted their services would not unroll me,threatened me and made fun of my medications, bad people

I dont see how its ethical to charge people $2000 that dont want to be charged $2000 for a service they dont needIf I could give it zero stars I would.

TRASH!

SCAM