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Our take
Cigna is a good health insurance provider for people who want access to a big provider network and strong integration with pharmacy benefits.
The company also scored extremely high for affordability and had a strong 3 out of 5 stars rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. NCQA evaluates healthcare plans on, among other things, member satisfaction.
Overall, it ranked No. 10 in Insure.com’s list of the Best Health Insurance Companies for 2023.
The tradeoffs of a big network and pharmacy-benefits integration seem to be that the company, one of the oldest and biggest health insurers in the country with about 17 million members, has a higher-than-average level of customer complaints and scores lower in some categories, such as policy offerings, than other companies on our list.
Pros and Cons
- Scores high for affordability
- Large provider network with some 1.5 million healthcare providers
- Strong integration with drug and dental with dental plans offered in all 50 states
- A big footprint, but its individual and family plans are limited to 16 states
- Above average number of customer complaints
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
How much does Cigna health insurance cost?
Customers rate Cigna high for affordability. It tied for second among the companies on our list. It also ranked in the top half for having low deductibles.
| Insurance company | Rank for price/affordability among Insure.com’s top 10 |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 2 (tie) |
| UnitedHealthcare | 2 (tie) |
| Aetna | 1 |
How Cigna scores for customer satisfaction
Cigna rates in the lower half of companies we ranked for customer satisfaction. Kaiser Permanente had the highest score in this category. A few companies also had higher average J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Study scores, which measure health plans for overall customer satisfaction.
| Insurance company | Percent of customers who are satisfied with the company overall | J.D. Power overall satisfaction score (out of 1,000) |
|---|---|---|
| Cigna | 77% | 715 |
| Kaiser Permanente | 93% | 766 |
| Anthem | 81% | 726 |
How Cigna scores for customer complaints
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) compares major providers on how many complaints are filed with state regulators. If a provider has a rate that is equal to its customer base, it receives a 1.0 score. If it has twice as many complaints as its share of business, it gets a 2.0. Cigna had a score of 4.08, meaning it had more than four times as many complaints filed compared to its market share.
| Insurance company | NAIC Complaint Index |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 4.08 |
How Cigna scores for policy offerings
Cigna does have a large portfolio of offerings, and three-fourths of customers rated it highly here. However, a number of companies scored higher in this category, which was led by Kaiser and Blue California.
| Insurance company | Percent of customers who score their insurance company highly for policy offerings |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 75% |
| Kaiser Permanente and Blue California | 91% |
| Anthem | 76% |
Would current customers recommend Cigna to others?
Yes, 80% of customers said they would recommend the company to others. But that was in the lower half among the companies we ranked. Kaiser led this category.
| Insurance company | Percent of customers who would recommend their health insurance company to others |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 80% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 96% |
| Humana | 91% |
How trustworthy is Cigna?
Most customers do trust Cigna. More than 70% of customers rated it as trustworthy, although that was in the bottom half of the companies we looked at. But this was a tough category. Eight of the 10 companies we ranked saw between 70-80% of their customers give them high marks for trust. Kaiser was the only company that had more than 80% of its customers give it high marks here.
| Insurance company | Percent of customers who say they trust their health insurance company |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 71% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 87% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 74% |
Do current Cigna customers plan to renew?
Most say yes. While satisfaction rates could be higher, Cigna’s large provider network meets customers’ needs. Anthem led this category.
| Insurance company | Percent of customers who plan to renew with their health insurance company |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 90% |
| Anthem | 95% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 93% |
How Cigna scores for low deductibles
Cigna scored fairly well for having low deductibles. Customers ranked it among the top providers in our survey.
| Insurance company | Survey score for low deductibles |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 68% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 66% |
| Aetna | 55% |
How Cigna scores for its provider network
The company says it has one of the biggest provider networks in the business, and customers seem to agree. It scored well in this category.
| Insurance company | Survey score for provider network |
|---|---|
| Cigna | 72% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 54% |
| Aetna | 60% |
Cigna health insurance coverage options
- Plans for individuals and families
- Medicare and Medicaid plans
- Plans for employers
- Government plans
- International plans
- Pharmacy plans
Additional Cigna services
- Dental
- Vision
- Savings and spending accounts
- Supplemental insurance
States where Cigna offers coverage
Company background
Cigna’s history dates back to the years following the American Revolution. In 1792, at a meeting in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, a group of prominent citizens formed the Insurance Company of North America (INA). INA was one of the first marine insurance companies formed in the United States.
It had an illustrious history, including playing a big role in helping survivors of the great Chicago fire rebuild their homes. Fast forward to 1982, when Cigna was formed with the merger of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company and INA. The name is a mix of the letters of the merged companies. Until 1997, Cigna was also a big player in the life insurance business, but it sold most of those operations to Lincoln National to focus on healthcare and dental insurance.
Today, Cigna offers individual and family health insurance plans in 16 states, Medicare in 26 states, and dental plans in all 50 states. Cigna also has a big dental insurance business, with plans offered in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. In 2018 Cigna acquired Express Scripts in a deal valued at $67 billion, bringing it in step with such competitors as CVS Health (Aetna) and UnitedHealthcare, by combining health insurance with drug plans.
