Let me start by saying: I am beyond grateful to even have health insurance in the first place. I want that to be absolutely clear.
However.
I am absolutely frustrated with Kaiser Permanente. First this, while trying to schedule an appointment yesterday:
Customer Service Rep: It looks like you still haven’t chosen a primary care provider.
Me: Yeah, well, that’s because you guys don’t have enough doctors.
Rep: Well, we have enough doctors. We just don’t have any that are accepting new patients.
Me: Oh! Great! I’m so glad I pay $350 a month for that.
Then this: I go in for my 8:20 am appointment. I get in line in what feels like Grand Central Station to check in. After ten minutes, I am called to the desk. We go through the usual rigmarole: “Do you still live at…?” (you’d think the 3 times I’d verified my address yesterday would’ve taken care of this.) “Are you being seen for a worker’s comp or third-party claim?” (again, with such “advanced” computer systems, you’d think the fact that I answered no to this yesterday would be recorded somewhere.)
“Oh—you’re in the wrong place. You need to go to the primary care clinic.”
I am somewhat shocked. “Are you sure? Last time I saw this nurse it was in this building.”
“Well, he moved. He’s in the South building now.”
“OK, well that’s good to know. Do I need to check in over there?” I’m starting to get a little worried. I’d been running late as it was, then with the 10-minute wait, now this… they only allow so much of a grace period before they turn you away altogether.
“No, you can check in here, just go have a seat in the primary care waiting room.”
So she gets me all set and assures me everything will be fine. I head to the South building to scout out the primary care clinic. When I get there, I go to the triage nurse’s desk (primary care is in the same spot as urgent care) to confirm.
“I just want to make sure I’m in the right place. I’m here to see Gary Giovanni.”
The triage nurse gives me a funny look. “Hmm. He’s not supposed to be in this clinic today. He should be over in Central.” Okay, what the hell? I was just in Central. I inform her of his move.
“Oh, no, he didn’t move. He rotates back and forth between the two clinics.”
I’m so glad we’re all on the same page.
She takes my ID card and looks me up. “You’re not seeing Gary, you’re seeing Dr. George. So, you’re in the right place.” So many G’s I can’t take it. But this doesn’t seem right—I made the appointment with the first guy because he was the nurse who referred me to physical therapy. My physical therapist wanted me to go see him again for a referral to a surgeon. So why would I have made an appointment with a doctor I’d never heard of? I explain the situation to her, and she offers me a later appointment with the first guy. This doesn’t seem worth it. I’m already here. I’m already going to be late to work. Let’s just get this shit over with.
I meet with the doctor. She’s very nice and everything goes well—so well, in fact, that she frowns at the idea of shoulder surgery! This is great news, because surgery wasn’t exactly high on my to-do list for 2009. She refers me to a sports medicine doc instead.
Anyway, I leave and go into to the office. My work phone is all lit up and flashing about the fact that I have a voicemail, a rare occurrence for me. It was left at 8 o’clock this morning. And guess what?! It’s from my friends at Kaiser:
“Hi, this is Kaiser Permanente calling to let you know there’s been a change to your appointment. You’ll be seeing Dr. George at 8:30 in the Central building.”
AWESOME! So! Let’s recap: I HADN’T erroneously scheduled an appointment with Dr. G. Instead, twenty minutes before my appointment with Nurse G, Kaiser called my WORK PHONE (not my cell phone, which they obviously have on record since I have to confirm it every single time I call or come in for an appointment, and which would’ve been the logical choice, especially given the hour and the fact that land lines are redundant) to announce that they were changing the a) health care provider b) time and c) location of my appointment. Is it just me, or is that a little ridiculous?
So, this is what my monthly paycheck deduction pays for: no regular primary care provider and one ridiculously inefficient communication system. I would probably be better off buying my own damn insurance. Then, at least, I’d have someone who I could call “my doctor.” And someone at “my doctor’s office” who I could specifically call to set up appointments. And someone—maybe even the same someone!—who would call me, on my cell phone, extremely apologetically, on the incredibly rare occasion that “my doctor” had to make a last-minute shift in her schedule.
But, still, I need to remember that I am lucky I have health insurance at all.
12 responses so far ↓
1 kpthrive // Feb 19, 2009 at 8:57 pm
The good news: just because Kaiser Permanente’s PR hacks say it’s a model for something doesn’t make it so.
2 careytann // Feb 20, 2009 at 7:17 am
Damn, $350/month is a lot! You can probably get cheaper insurance on your own. Pre-existing conditions can be problematic though.
3 mydogischelsea // Feb 20, 2009 at 8:07 am
Well, that includes dental insurance, but yeah—you’re right, it’s a lot! I’ve looked into buying my own insurance (and opting out of the paycheck deduction) and I’ve found comparably priced plans. It’s hard to tell if I’d be getting the same amount of coverage though. Kaiser has a way of making your specific plan details incredibly difficult to understand. I figure, I’ll stick with KP until this shoulder injury is taken care of…
4 Teague // Feb 20, 2009 at 8:10 am
That’s sucks! At least if you have surgery or something, on Kaiser it is usually really well covered. We had it when we were kids and despite the terrible wait times for urgent care, all our accidents were very cheap. My parents switched off of them when my mom had to have a surgery that also involved some cosmetic work. She wanted to pick her doctor and they don’t really let you do that.
5 Jane // Feb 20, 2009 at 10:41 am
Kaiser’s “system” can be mind-numbingly frustrating when it breaks down: a few years ago I was being prepped for breast surgery when they realized that somehow I hadn’t had the essential pre-operative locating marker placed earlier in the day. I had to wait another two nerve-wracking weeks for the new surgery date.
On the plus side, my husband just had his second hip replaced at Kaiser, and felt the whole process went much more smoothly and positively than at OHSU where he had his first hip done.
There are good health care providers at Kaiser. It’s a matter of finding them, and, frankly, expecting to wade through the occasional communication issue. As my mum would say, “You pays your money and you takes your choice.” Our out-of-pocket cost was less than $50 for both our surgeries, so it’s a deal we’re willing to make, so far.
A good Kaiser physical therapist is Anne Ripley at Central Interstate. She knows her stuff.
6 mydogischelsea // Feb 20, 2009 at 10:48 am
Thanks, Jane. I actually really like my physical therapist–Jan. She’s also at Central Interstate. I’ve certainly found care providers there that I do really like–it’s just wading through the Kaiser bureaucracy that I don’t like. That, and the fact that I can’t have a regular care provider that I like because they don’t have enough on staff!
7 Truly // Feb 22, 2009 at 10:11 am
Sounds like you have an HMO. I wanted to do the HMO thing, becuase I figured that if navigating the National Healthcare System in Scotland was easy enough then I could handle an HMO. But it turned out to be impossible because there seemed to be virtually NO doctors accepting new HMO patients in Chicago. I’d have to magically have a car and drive myself to Skokie to see anyone. Annoying! I ended up paying a butt-load extra to have PPO and be able to choose a health care provider that is actually accessible to me.
8 Cara // Feb 23, 2009 at 10:34 am
Oh man, don’t even get me started about how much I hate Kaiser. There are a few good things about their system, but not enough to outweigh the bad. I’m so glad to be off that plan!
Good luck! And I’m glad you found a good PT. Mine for my knee was at Central and was terrible.
9 michael5000 // Feb 24, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I had Kaiser for a while, and didn’t like having to leave it…. until I used Providence a few times, which has been medical nirvana for me.
I have a friend who grew up in the U.S.S.R. who claims, with a very straight face, that she really likes going to Kaiser because it reminds her of what health care was like when she was a kid. By which she means, overscaled, impersonal, machine-like, and fairly effective.
10 Kathryn // Feb 26, 2009 at 9:08 am
one more reason I am glad I live in Canada - it isn’t perfect, but it isn’t $350 per month for frustration, either
($85 per month, dental included)
11 ChefBliss // Mar 4, 2009 at 10:14 am
I remember when I had Kaiser — I called to make an appt. and the soonest they had was 9 months ahead. I think I asked the lady if I should just go ahead and schedule the delivery room (bad joke, not pregnant!) but I was frustrated. Can’t say I miss them.
12 Todd from the Team Todd (TfTT) // Mar 8, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hi Laura,
It’s Todd from Dirty 30 and I used to work at Kaiser and hear ya. Kaiser tries to keep staff really low by automating everything with home grown, jerry rigged, duct taped IT systems. So the computer stuff doesn’t work great and there’s not enough people to do anything. There was also a period where Kaiser couldn’t figure out how to send anyone a medical bill for about a year. . . .
Kaiser’s plans are difficult to compare to other plans because they are set up differently but actually tend to cover a lot of things that other plans don’t always cover.
I never went to the doctor but miss the dental side because I really trusted my Kaiser dentist. The way the dentists are paid incents them to do the right thing and not drill up your mouth because they can bill you.