Saturday, November 25, 2006

Kaiser, where the patients are treated like cattle

I recently heard someone refer to Kaiser as "treating patients like cattle", which seemed like an apt comparison, given that Kaiser docs see a different patient every 15 minutes. And we all know what happens to cattle... Read on for corporate cost saving resulting in death or injury.
http://www.kaiserpapers.org/californianews.html#corporate

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Ever wonder if your (Kaiser) doc has been sued for malpractice?

Here is how you check their license. Go to: http://www2.dca.ca.gov/pls/wllpub/wllqryna$lcev2.startup?p_qte_code=MDX&p_qte_pgm_code=6301

Kaiser rep misstates Consumer Reports' rating

A Kaiser sales rep intentionally misstated a CU report, saying that it had rated Kaiser Permanente as the best HMO, when in fact, it hadn't. Kaiser's HMO in the particular location didn't even have one factor which was rated best.
Read more at http://www.hmohardball.com/consumer_rumors_y2k.htm

9 out of 10 trying to buy health insurance failed

9 out of 10 Americans who tried to buy their own health insurance failed, either because the price was too high or because they were denied converage due to pre-existing conditions. Read about it at http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/14092006/6/n-usa-corrected-most-forgo-buying-own-u-s-health-insurance.html

Healthcare profitability

Healthcare companies are making profits. For example, the top 12 in Fortune 500 are all profitable, with HealthNet having a 439% profit increase.

See:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/industries/Health_Care_Insurance_Managed_Care/1.html

Grievance department at Kaiser? (Charged for services not rendered)

Has anyone tried to go through the grievance department at Kaiser?

I didn't even know there was one until I one day I looked at a receipt for an office visit and noticed that a test had supposedly been done when it hadn't. I contacted the doctor about it and it went through billing, and it must have been a big deal, because I got a lot of papers about it in the mail. Kaiser refused to refund my office visit payment, despite the fact that they had not provided the service as documented.

Problems with Kaiser (summary to date)

Problems I have experienced at Kaiser:
--Not getting help for my medical problems
--Getting locked into an expensive plan
--Kaiser docs making up illnesses which go on my medical record and prevent me from getting health insurance or changing said expensive plan
--Kaiser docs failing to do proper paperwork which resulted in false positives, preventing me from changing health insurance
--A horrible phone system which which can take about half an hour just to leave a message for your provider (there's no way to talk to them directly of course)
--False diagnoses
--Refusal to do the tests I need because Kaiser doesn't want to pay for them
--Being charged for things which were not done
--Kaiser doctors taking a long time to respond to messages
--Kaiser taking a long time to schedule tests (or any other procedure including office visits)

Kaiser cannot help patients using the system they have, which requires them to be both the doctor and the insurance company. They are not interested in paying money to help their patients, and so their patients are not helped. Being a patient with them has been a horrible experience, and if I could leave, I would.