We may not know which California Health Insurance Provider is the best but we do know which one gets the least complaints …and the most! The Department of Managed Health Care runs a 24-hour hot line that takes consumer complaints in any languages and post their results annually. The group also keeps track of health insurance profit margins and offers a HMO reportcard.

"We're out here kind of inventing programs," such as the mobile information center that visited 300 sites last year, said the office's acting director, Ed Mendoza.

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And the results are in!
Percentage of Health care revenue that is profit

Aetna of California 4.7%
Blue Cross of California 7.3%
Blue Shield of California 1.4%
Cigna Healthcare of California -0.3%
Health Net of California 3.6%
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan 1.4%
PacifiCare of California 1.0%


Health care complaints


Consumer complaint rate per 10,000 customers

Aetna of California 2.80
Blue Cross of California 1.42
Blue Shield of California 3.12
Cigna Healthcare of California 1.53
Health Net of California 3.01
Kaiser Permanente 1.00
PacifiCare of California 3.20

Source: California Department of Managed Health Care