Kaiser Permanente Experiences

Many employer offer some choices. Mine offers two providers and two plans for each. One is for profit (UHC) and the other is non-profit (Kaiser). The consensus is that Kaiser rations healthcare and makes referrals difficult, but procedures are always covered. UHC let's people direct their own care, but reimbursement is less certain.

I've had slightly better experience with the Kaiser Permanente hospitals as the insurer and hospital/doctors are all part of one system and most of the costs are fixed. Even still there are incorrect billing issues at times that can take a month or two to correct. And the copay on specialty drugs can still be huge.

Definitely not a fan of Kaiser. They're really restrictive and extremely good at avoiding proper treatment from what I've seen. With most normal HMOs you can at least see a variety of somewhat-independent doctors and some quite-independent specialists. It's easy to move around. I hate to recommend any insurance company but Blue Shield of California did okay for me.

Which company was it? Your experience with health insurance sounds nuts.

United Healthcare... no surprised!

try Kaiser permanentecheaper and the model is more efficient. yes you give up some choice but there's a reason it is cheaperbefore you poo poo it I would give it a try with an open mind

Kaiser tends to get ranked FAR ahead of all other health insurance / health provider companies in the consumer surveys I've seen - and their rates tend to be very competitive. Your broker may not quote Kaiser rates, though - you might have to inquire directly.

Kaiser Permanente is a counterexample to "it wouldn't work in the US".

I had them for a couple years through my last employer ("AHF POS II" policy in California, FWIW), with some moderate medical expenses, and I have no complaints.When I had to buy insurance on my own I ended up with KP after similar online research, scared off by the stories too, but there seem to be horror stories about all the providers; as far as I can tell, at best you can only choose a lower probability of them.

Kaiser is the only non-broken part of the U.S healthcare system. They have never sent me a bill for a surprise out of network anything. Out of network doctors don't work there. All doctors are on salary. You get one bill from one company. No wonder they have been growing like crazy in California.