Kaiser Permanente Insurance

In January, during the weekend, I was suffering from headache and fever, so Monday, I got an appointment to go see the doctor at the Panola facility. Dr. ** was my doctor for that day. She asked me a few questions, and test me for flu and lab test, then she told me I have to go to the ER. I was sacred as I was thinking I might have flu, or some normal infection, but she told me I have meningitis, when I had no sign of having meningitis, and she told me those tests are done only at the hospital. When I got to the hospital, they have admitted me with 2 IVs on my both arms, and I was so shocked, but I think they do this to all the patients, who have high deductibles, then finally I asked the doctor at the hospital, if I have any signs of meningitis.

The first doctor who checked me said he doesn't think I have meningitis, and he had asked to do more tests like CT scan, sonography, and lab. After that, he canceled my lumbar puncher test. The next doctor also came and said the same thing, that he also doesn't think I have meningitis, but he insisted to do lumbar puncher, as it was required by the clinic doctor, but I was also very sure I have no such thing. I didn't want to go with that test. I thank God I have not done it, but I think doctors at this facility don't care about their patients. If they see their chart, they just send patients to ER, to get rid of them. I am sure I will have a big bill for just going to see the doctor for my headache and mild fever.

The doctor requires a face to face to give me my thyroid medication when she has my file, knows that I had my thyroid taken out completely and that I have given her a recent blood test to check my levels. The nurse indicated to me that her license would be on the line if she wrote me a prescription because she has not seen me. The doctor is a GP where as before I have only seen specialists. How can she refuse to give me a medication that my body needs to function when I could go into their pharmacy and get up to 3 pills. I don't understand. I get very ill without them and almost unable to function.

My Mother had Keiser Permanente as her Health Plan through her work (she was put on it when my father passed away, to have Mom covered after insurance through Dad was no longer available to her). When the Keiser insurance ran out, Mom was not notified by Keiser.

The day after her insurance was no longer valid, she had a regular health appointment (no emergencies) scheduled. When she came for her appointment, nobody let her know that she did not have a valid insurance with Keiser anymore. Since it was not an emergency visit and at the time she was processing her paperwork for Medicare, she would've canceled her appointment and waited another month to get her regular doctors visit. She was only notified that she got no insurance anymore when the next day she went to a pharmacy to fill in her prescription.

My Mothers is not very proficient in English, so I called and filed a complaint with Keiser, asking them to reduce the fees since Mom would've never gone to the appointment if they had notified her that her insurance was no longer valid. At first Keiser only suggested to create a payment plan and only after talking to the representatives twice I learned of an option to file a complaint.

After we filed a complaint we received a notification that Keiser was not responsible for notifying my Mother about her lack of insurance, and that they do not refuse services to patients even if they do come without insurance.

My Mom is 69, has a part-time job at this time and is retiring in several months. Her wages are too small to pay this enormous bill. I find this situation very frustrating and frankly do not know how to proceed about it (my Mom is obviously not in a position to pay this bill).

In an effort to pay a large Kaiser bill due, someone in the Kaiser billing department put me on a payment plan. I have 2 bills, a hospital and a physician's bill. Well, I've been making my payments on both, on either the phone with a representative or mailing the credit card information. My bill dated 11/13/10 came in saying I owed only $87. I knew it should have been more. But the amount due said $153, which was the agreed upon payment amount made many months ago when I was first put on the plan.

Then I get a letter dated 12/1/2010 from a collection agency for $480 plus $33.27 interest. I was quite confused because I was paying my bills. So I called Kaiser and after going through a few people, I finally find out that I paid my bill 3 months late in a row. I was floored to say the least. I had been paying my bill either on or very close to the "Due Date" that was on the bills. So I "opened a Case" to have my collection removed from collection.

Oh, my God, what a cans of worms! First of all, and this is the part where you guys can really help out, nobody at any time in setting up this paying plan discussed how the plan works, what might put me in default, sent me a contract of any kind to sign, e-mailed me the parameters, nothing. There is nothing on the bill saying "must be paid by the due to avoid collections". Nothing. This is what it says, "You have established a payment plan on (date) for $?? per month. Please be advised that if you default on your agreed payment plan, your delinquent balance will be assigned to a professional collection agency with authorization to pursue."

So I'm plugging away making my payments completely uninformed (and unknowingly) out of a supposed agreement. Then you would not believe the process of getting this pulled from collections. This is where the cost of health care has gone out the window! There are the case managers, meeting to discuss peoples cases, numerous letters, denials, re-openings of cases. I would love to show you. Of the 3 months that I was supposedly late, "due by the 11th", my last letter said I paid my bill on the phone with a Kaiser representative on the 10th! Then their letter said we should "be sending his payment 5-10 days before due date every month."

One of the 3 supposed late payments was mailed on Nov 1st. to Los Angeles and was not processed until the 15th! I am paying my bill, and it is stuck in collection. And not a single person can just look at the facts and pull it, without committees and "Team Specialist" spending enormous amounts of time and money. I told the last person who now has my case, Senior Case manager Williette **, that this process is ridiculous and someone like me would not be in this situation had the people setting us (the consumer and customer) on the payment plans been more informative.

I hope something comes of this complaint. It is probably costing Kaiser $1000 to collect $480 from me, someone who pays their bills, not to mention the heartache and disbelief in people these days.

I went to emergency services in November 2010 and was provided services that included a CT Scan code, 74176. There is a charge to me for this procedure of $100.00. I was not informed about the charge at the time, and I would have chosen to not receive the CT Scan. I received a bill in January 2011 for $100.00. I called and have spoken to several Kaiser representatives. All are friendly but cannot or will not help.

Is this legal? Can I be made to pay for a service that I didn't know had a fee? Can Kaiser or any other HMO charge for services provided when the member could have elected not to have the service but wasn't given the opportunity? Thanks.

I was admitted to Kaiser in the middle of the night over a year and a half ago. I had a seizure in my sleep after being sick with the flu for about a week or so. My seizures were not diagnosed. Two months later after I was told to stop taking Dilantin by my NP. I had two more seizures, one again in the middle of the night and one an hour after I was sent home from ER upon coming around. Again, no diagnosis. I forgot to mention that after my first seizure I was told to have a follow-up visit but needed to be assigned to a doctor. They gave me Ms. O. I was devastated and depressed and dumbstruck. She told me upon arrival that she had no time to read my file and had only 20 minutes in the room with me.

She proceeded to give me a breast exam because that was what was due. I was in the office crying in the fetal position, devastated and in disbelief by the outright lack of concern and was obviously in severe distress. Thank god I had my 18-year old daughter with me for support! On my way out she said maybe she should refer me to a neurologist, which she did. He then ran all tests like CT scan, MRI, some kind of seizure test where they try to induce a seizure and multiple blood tests. Still no diagnosis but at least he acted like he cared and ran many tests.

Since then I have continually had bouts of the flu off and on and my eyes have grown extremely sensitive to light. I made a new appointment with my new internist. This time Ms. P., another new one. Wen I arrived I had written a list of my issues so I would be efficient at my appointment and wanted answers. I have begun to think I have Lyme disease because of the unexplained seizures, the recurrent flu symptoms and joint and bone pain issues and severe light sensitivity. When she came in the office she immediately began questioning about my driving.

I told her I hadn't driven for almost a year and I barely drive now. She became very volatile with me when I told her I had never been contacted by DMV and she was very hostile. I answered her questions but she would not even listen to me regarding my symptoms and the fact that I was feeling so sick. I really needed to talk to her about my symptoms and the fact that I think I have Lyme disease but she offered me a pelvic exam. That is what I am next due for but have not made and appointment for yet and I was in her office suffering from extreme pain. She basically threw me out of her office for demanding a Lyme disease test.

I was so distraught I went to member services to try to see another doctor. None were available for hours, so I begged her to call my neurologist and asked for him to see me for just a few minutes. My neurologist agreed to see me. I told him what had happened and how she had treated me. I was devastated. He ordered several blood tests for me and another MRI and also a neck x-ray for my stiff neck which never seems to go away. I have an appointment next Monday but am scared to death to put my health in the hands of these doctors. I have had 6 doctors at Kaiser and 3 were horrible, uncaring, unprofessional and incompetent. The doctor who threw me out for requesting tests seemed to enjoy the power of being able to decide if I was fit to receive. It is horrifying and stressful! Now I am waiting for my neurologist to let me know the results of all the blood tests I had. I'm very stressed and sad.

In the past three months, I went to Kaiser ER due to very simple and silly pains. Even though I paid my deductible up front, now after 2 months, they sent me 2 different bills saying that I owe them $1600.00. Please help me.

Apparently Kaiser accepts no responsibility for a completely unauthorized DNR placed upon my records. Their claim that they do not know who placed it defies all logic especially given the fact of today's electronic record keeping and their allusion to the investigation by the Novato California department head and my own stated conviction as to the name of the Novato primary care physician who recited to me the Kaiser verbiage apparently directed at Kaiser patients who have suffered a heart attack to persuade them to reject any resuscitation should their breathing cease, resulting in a success rate of 25%.

I filed a complaint around early October 2011 and despite repeated assurances that I would receive a letter of confirmation that such a DNR directive has been removed from my records, such a letter has not arrived, resulting in my trepidation to seek any medical care at all from Kaiser. Kaiser's well documented "delaying tactics" are obviously in play here and surely beg for Congressional investigation. I have suffered very real anxiety and apprehension because of finding this DNR on my medical records which took me over two years to obtain and even the attorney whose aid I obtained to get them was subjected to delays and denials. Thrive applies to the continued profits of this greedy HMO, certainly not to its senior advantage members

Wow. Some guy lost his nut because the doctor mistakenly thought he had testicular cancer? What's that got to be worth? Can you imagine? The doctor is probably giggling and slobbering all over himself while he fiddles with his ding dong under his desktop. My own problem with der Kaiser relates to a woman who worked in the dermatology department. She claimed that the solution that she was going to use on my face was mild. After she applied it for a gentle skin peel, it began to sting. Did this bother the woman? Not in the least. She pulled out something quite abrasive and began to scrub, arguing as I winced in pain that little old ladies go through the process without any pain. Well, when I left my skin was oozing all over from the damage done. A day or two later and it looked as if I had skied down Mt. Everest without a face mask.

When I looked at my medical record, I was surprised to find that she had used a solution which was twice as strong as she had claimed. I guess she had to accurately account for the medical stock. When I read up on the procedure I learned that they are not supposed to use any kind of abrasive pad during the process. She seemed like a hateful person and she was. I've also experienced nurses and physicians who will actively seek to minimize your medical complaints because they are seeking what you might call compliance. If you accept their minimization, then they can feel comfortable in denying you adequate medical attention.

After all, why should they worry about your problems when you aren't that concerned? I once walked into a Kaiser emergency room reception area after being rear ended in a car accident. The woman who took my information have me an unfriendly look, behaved as if everything I told her was doubtful and she asked me to sit down. I was as stiff as Frankenstein and in major pain. I had been sitting for about 5 minutes when two young girls came in laughing and giggling and poking one another in the ribs. The same receptionist asked them what they were in for. They smilingly told her that they were involved in a car accident. The receptionist leapt out of her seat in alarm and began addressing them, "Oh, my! Do you girls need a wheelchair?" I hate Kaiser.

Kaiser has rigged the Arbitration system that they set up to make members have to go through if members want to sue them for their incompetent, gross negligent physicians. I strongly believe that these so called Arbitrators are also bought off by Kaiser.

My late mom was a Kaiser cancer delay misdiagnosed for 14 months and yet, the Arbitrator ruling said there was no gross negligence took place. We suspected she had cancer as after our late father was colon cancer misdiagnosis a year ago and passed just a month prior. Instead, Kaiser Dr. Khanh Xuan **, Dr. Thu Tam **, Dr. Farah **, Dr. Villicana ** refused to offer her a CT-scan. We transfer my late mother to a proper Cancer Center and treated her properly.

The Arbitrator said my experts can't give out opinions that they are not specialized in but yet, those above doctors are not specialized in Internal Medicine but through out the course of cancer treatment, Dr. Thu Tam prescribed drugs to my late mom that only Internist can do. Dr. Khanh Xuan is a DO, not an internal medicine certified doctor but treat patients as he has licensed for Internal Medicine. The Arbitrator rather used a double talking instead. Those doctors at Kaiser should be trialed for Criminal Negligence as they don't have the proper licenses to practice and to prescribe the drugs but did it anyway.

The forced arbitration needs to be shut down from Kaiser. The forced arbitration should also cover for the patients' lawyer's fee too to be fair, not just to cover the physicians' lawyer's fee. The arbitrators should not be paid, in order to be non-biased giving out rulings in Medical Malpractice Arbitration cases. The arbitrator should be the patient's choice to choose from the present Judical system, not the retirees that bought off from Kaiser.

The CAP limit should be banned for such Cancer Medical Malpractice cases without any causation as everyone knows the early detection has a better survival rate to a patient and if the patients suspect they have cancer symptoms, the doctors should offer those cancer screening as it costs cheaper to treat the patients at stage 1 than in stage 4 (that even a kid knows that better). Those screening tests cost a lot less than the later chemo drugs, surgeries, the pain sufferings and the like at the end. The blood marker tests, the CT-scan are cost less than 300 bucks, so stop being cheap on members and place your greedy profits on top of people lives.

After finding a totally unauthorized DNR on my Kaiser medical records, I was repeatedly assured by a representative in patient relations that such had been removed from my records. However, two subsequent letters from Kaiser Resolution Center stated that such is not the case. It is asserted that it is illegal to remove information from medical records (no mention of the illegality of placing such an order there in the first place). I received no apology for what has caused much worry and concern, just a casual suggestion that I pick up some form when next at Kaiser to amend it.

I take complete care of myself, house, gardens and pets. In over 20 years, I have only had two overnight hospital stays. I last saw a doctor 7 months ago. I am not incontinent and only learned of the DNR which had been placed on my records after almost two years of attempting to obtain my medical records. A Kaiser doctor told me that I had two ticking time bombs and proceeded to recite Kaiser format about my "duty to die" and the horrors of being in ICU hooked up to tubes, etc. Tests showed that his statement as to two ticking time bombs was inaccurate. Kaiser admits no wrongdoing, issues no apology for very real stress and concern.

I can only wonder how many other Kaiser patients have had unauthorized DNRs placed on their medical records. There are many abuses about Kaiser Permanente. How long will they be allowed to continue? It appears that they have little fear of repercussions. Their policy of mandatory arbitration is a charade with arbitration personnel stationed within Kaiser walls and retired judges who receive monetary reward for rendering decisions which favor Kaiser.

Nine days ago, a Scott **, I assume from the San Rafael Dept. of Complaint Resolutions, called me. His tone was somewhat adversarial. He asked me what I wanted. I replied that I wanted concrete assurance that the unauthorized DNR had been removed from my records and that the records of all other patients of a doctor C. be examined for similar unauthorized additions. He thrice told me that I would receive a letter stating that the DNR had been removed from my records. Such a letter has never come. To add to my confusion, I then received a call from a Leslie **, from Sacramento, California Department of Kaiser, who told me that it was indeed correct that information could not be legally removed from a patient's records, but that in certain cases She added nothing to this. I have received no further communications, leaving me still in a limbo as far as medical care is concerned and still quite concerned as to the DNR on my records.

Having done rather extensive Google searches as to complaints about Kaiser Permanente, I realize that the delaying tactic is probably typical procedure, working to Kaiser's advantage and to the detriment of a harmed patient. I have left complete instructions and an advance directive with my family as to my wishes should I stop breathing or be quite incapacitated. The decision is for them to make, not some profit motivated HMO. It is my understanding that there is also some financial gain to be had by a physician who persuades a patient to sign a directive indicating a desire for a DNR. I definitely did not sign any such and Kaiser admits that they do not have any such document from me.

I found the following under on the Internet; it is indicative of the fact that records can be corrected. Referenced medical record pages are found in accompanying binder. Unauthorized DNR Notations. The very first physicians order form lists my father as DNR, something that was not even discussed with me until the following day. He was never DNR at any time during his hospitalization, and although this was corrected in the records, it returns. On March 16, 2003, an unauthorized DNR form was written by Dr. B., which in any case would have expired upon my father's transfer out of the ICU. DNR was never requested or desired by my father or me, his surrogate. Given that the level of care tends to decrease in patients designated as DNR, I can't help but wonder if this was not the fatal mistake. Holy Cross Hospital had no safeguards in place to prevent an authorized DNR form from being written, or for noting an expired or defective form.

Kaiser could easily be fined $5 billion retroactively for failing to live up to its tax free requirements, like having a community hospital open to physician applications from the community, spending 5% on the poor rather than this year branching into political funding of ballot issues, like being controlled by a for profit steering committee rather than a board, like talking 25% of heart attack victims into Do Not Resuscitate options by painting ICU as a torture chamber with tubes in the throat, etc.

They are insisting on billing my two-year-old for my four-year-old's care. My two-year-old is going to be hounded by collection agencies, because I'm not paying until they fix this.

Dropping of coverage by forcing me to use outside part Medicare plus, refused to fill my Kaiser doctor prescriptions at their pharmacy. Know not paying for services pertaining to a surgery before being dropped.

I visited ER recently with KP and they send me a bill for thousands for nothing. If I am not agreeing to the bill, they are asking me to file Grievance form. Can anyone guide? Is this the right thing to do?

My mother is severely ill! Let me start off by stating what's wrong with her! She's severely depressed because of her pain. The pain she has comes from her shoulders, legs, and back. She has two fractured shoulder blades. I don't really know what's wrong with her legs but I know that she always fell on them, and she's had her vertebrae fractured so many times. The reason why she has fractured shoulder blades is because she fell at Disneyland and has always fallen because she's old and doesn't have well balance. Her legs, I'm not sure what's wrong with her legs ,but her legs hurt her all the time and can't keep her balanced; she can't even walk one step, and her vertebrae has been fractured because she was in a car accident when she was a baby and fell on train tracks on her back.

I'm getting to my point in just a bit. She used to work for Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills as a phlebotomist in the Lab. She retired when I was born and my father worked full time for the City of Los Angeles as a heavy equipment operator. My mother was a stay home mom while my father worked his ** off to support his family. He recently retired at age 57 or 56 like 5 years ago. So it's been harder on us to live. With Kaiser, they haven't done anything to help my mother.

My mother's always been in pain, but not as much pain as she's in now since my teen years. She always goes to the doctors, urgent care, ERs, etc. They always tell her they can't do anything because of her age and the nature of her condition. Because of her condition, they feel that it's going be worse on her if she gets any more surgeries. So all my mother gets is medicine for her pain but that doesn't help one bit. She's taken all types of pain medications. They're running out of options because they have nothing else to assist her with.

So what she does is sleep all day all hours of the day. She never wakes up until my father or I wake her up. It's a depressing thing to see my mother and my father's wife to be in pain. We are getting tired of it because she cries hysterically because she's in pain; she's ill and she's old. All they do is make up excuses all the time. I know it's not the end of the world, but to her it is because all she wants to do is just die because what's the point of living with her pain. She doesn't deserve all this when she's been a great mother and great wife. She has been taking care of me all of my life even when I've had my ups and downs.

It's time for me to take initiative and be the co-captain of this family while my father is captain because my mother is really really ill! Please if anyone understands what my mother is going through all she wants to feel is no pain. I want her to see me graduate from college and from the Police Academy. I don't want my mother to go just yet! I want her to see me get married too!! Please! I pray to God because that's all we can do!

Kaiser's billing is so messed up that I have been fighting for them to account for a $170.00 payment that I made with a credit card back in July. Since this is not taken care of I told them that I would not make any more payments until I knew actually how much is owed, with the payment taken care of. Last week I found out that they had sent me to a collection agency twice both on November 22nd of this year. One for the amount of $33.00 and the other for the amount of $37.00 and they did this without the decency of telling me that if the $70.00 wasn't paid they were going to send these to collections. I and my wife have both held an 800+ credit score for at least the last 15 years and this was very discomforting for me. All of our bills are always paid on time if not early and now I have both of these on our record.

None of these doctors know how to help you. They just take your money and talk to you for like 10 minutes. I'm getting sick of it. They keep giving me the run around and I am pissed at Dr. ** in South Sacramento location.

Also, they lost my records for being checked in the E.R. How do you do that? They said that I was never seen. You got to be joking. And they ask for information at your visit that they know you're not going to have. Kaiser sucks! I've never seen such a money-hungry facility.

After finding a totally unauthorized DNR on my Kaiser medical records, I was repeatedly assured by a representative in Patient Relations that such had been removed from my records. However, two subsequent letters from Kaiser Resolution Center stated that such is not the case. It states that it is illegal to remove information from medical records (no mention of the illegality of placing such an order there in the first place). I received no apology for what has caused much worry and concern, just a casual suggestion that I pick up some form when next at Kaiser to amend it.

I have seen 4 doctors at Kaiser ENT about headaches and sinus pain, even the department head. All said there was no problem and they would not look at my MRI. Every doctor that looks at the MRI gets it dismissed. MRI clearly shows a problem.

The Kaiser urologist told me I had testicle cancer, my testicle had to be removed. After removal they found no cancer and a perfectly healthy testicle. For the next 6 months, the pain from surgery got progressively worse. The urologist did not know why I was in so much pain. Twelve months after surgery, the chief of the surgery department operated again to find the trouble, intentionally cut nerves to that area so I wouldn't feel the pain. Eleven months after that operation and the pain is back. I am no longer a Kaiser member, so they refuse to see me. I had none of this pain prior to their operations.

When are the State of California and the federal government going to look into how Kaiser misuses Medicare funds? They pocket the money, and then set up huge obstacles for the patients to receive the medical care they need. Our family has a litany of experiences where Kaiser has repeatedly neglected and endangered my mother's life by withholding medical care and operating just on the edge of abandonment. If the state or federal government won't take action, there needs to be a class action suit against this company.

Your insurance takes out a premium before we even get our checks. Then there's a 15- dollar co-pay and then, an additional cost if the doctor touches you in anyway. What's the point of having your insurance?

To top that off, when you see a doctor, you tell them of your pain and what you've done in the past or the prescriptions that had been given to you before for this pain. They give you anti-depressants for pain. Put you through all these referrals, all these test, but nothing for what you asked for to help with your pain. They have absolutely no concept of pain. Even after you see a specialist, they want to run you through all these test you've already done in the past and more. You just want something for the pain. That's all!

As you know, Kaiser Permanente has denied care to my mother (Carol **) for over a year. As you also know, I have been trying to get information to her doctor for months. Your office has refused to act on information concerning a life-threatening condition. Your delay could potentially cost my mother her life. I previously informed Kaiser of a regrowth of a Merkel cell skin cancer over my mother's throat. On October 20, 2011, the family noted additional growths on the left side of my mother's neck under her collar. These growths are - in diameter, pale yellow color and slightly raised. They are identical to the Merkel cell cancer that was removed in 2009.

Merkel cell patients should be examined regularly for any recurrence of cancer. Obviously, those exams did not occur and the cancer has grown unchecked. I trust that Dr. Duncan ** is comfortable with having abandoned my mother, not only to ongoing elder abuse but also to unchecked cancer growth. I trust that you are also comfortable with your role in delaying treatment, a delay that could cost my mother her life.

As I requested in my October 21 and October 24 phone calls, I would like a letter from you stating your reasons for failing to act on crucial medical information. I also request your justification for denying care since October 8, 2010. I request your justification for refusing to accept the two grievances that I filed. Your signed Statement of Authorized Representative is enclosed. I drove from San Jose to Yucaipa, a 14-hour round trip, to deliver the document to my mother. Mom signed as best as she could manage. She is nearly blind due to cataracts that Kaiser never removed, so she could not see the signature line on the paper. She has no feeling in her extremities and her fingers are nearly immobile. Peripheral neuropathy is a result of decades on methotrexate, which was prescribed and dispensed by Kaiser. I enclosed a photo of my mother struggling to sign the document that you require before you will consider the possibility of providing care.

I expect that you will use my mother's inability to sign legibly as yet another reason to deny care. I now understand the meaning of managed care. You collect monthly fees from Medicare, while denying services to debilitated elders who cannot advocate for themselves. You then refuse to act on crucial information provided by family members who attempt to advocate for your managed care victims. Your job pays the same, whether my mom receives care or not.

Kaiser is horrible! My mother went in for an infection associated with MRSA. She had issues with MRSA in the past and wanted it handled before it got out of control. Of course, no cultures were taken when she first went in. The MD she saw put her on some lame antibiotic that did nothing! She went back the next day. And again, no cultures of wounds were taken (by this time, a second had appeared in a different part of her body). This time, the MD changed her to another antibiotic that did nothing. A day later, she was back again. She saw a nurse this time and nothing was done to help her! Today, Friday (the following day), she has 4 wounds. The urgent care MD refuses Vanco without cultures and will not hospitalize her. She has gone from bad to worse with Kaiser's help. Oh, and she never saw the same MD twice!

For over a year, Kaiser primary care physicians refused to order CT scans for multiple systems. They stated that, at my age, the tests are not given. I then went to an out of network physician, who ordered the scan, and advance Stage III cancer was discovered. Kaiser doctors then sought to deny a nationally recognized treatment. The urologist and the surgeon advised doing nothing, and to allow the cancer to spread. I insisted on surgical removal of the cancerous right kidney and lymph node, which was eventually done. Then, the standard post surgery treatment was denied. Instead of ordering blood tests and CT scans, the oncologist refused to order the universally recognized post-nephrectomy treatments. It consists of blood tests and CT scans. Dr. ** said that nothing would be done until signs of the spreading cancer appears. By that time the cancer drugs would not be effective, and the cancer has spread throughout the body, along with the pain that accompanies that condition. By that time, it will be too late.

It is bad enough to have preventable advance stage III plus kidney cancer, requiring surgery and post-surgery treatment, and then to be told by your plan urologist to do nothing and letting the cancer metastasize throughout your body, with the pain and early death to follow. It is bad enough to have preventable advance Stage III kidney cancer and have the plan's surgeon repeatedly urging the patient to do nothing, letting the cancer spread. It is bad enough when the surgeon delays surgery for eight weeks, allowing the cancer to spread from a possible curable stage III to an incurable stage IV when the cancer has spread beyond the kidney lymph node. It is bad enough when the post-surgery oncology refused to conduct the standard periodic CT scans and blood test, using the excuse that anyone with only one kidney is at too great a risk from the contrast media, and to instead wait until the spreading cancer produces strong enough symptoms.

The initial refusal to conduct medically recognized CT scan enabled the probable early curable stage I or II of the kidney cancer to go into the incurable stage III plus condition. Then, when surgery was finally done, the standard tests and treatment are being denied.

After attempting for two years to obtain my medical records from Kaiser Permanente, I obtained assistance from Legal Aid which agency also encountered resistance. When I finally received copies of my records, I found that on the first page was "do not resuscitate". I had never given such an order. Kaiser has no record of my having done so. There are no hospital records indicating any such and Kaiser, so far, has been unable to give me any explanation as to how, when and why such a directive is on my medical records.

My experience with Kaiser is a complete nightmare. I had about 6 doctor visits. I only once received a call back about results. The bills are insane. They split it in two usually, one for visit, one for service. Emergency visit for my husband's earache was 2 minutes. It cost us 362 dollars after insurance. All the doctor did was repeat the last antibiotics from our patient history. A lot of doctors are not knowledgeable and once even forgot to file the prescription to pharmacy. I'm not talking about waiting time in the doctor's office. The last visit I resisted to do scheduled necessary ultrasound, just because I didn't have so much money. I wish they could warn you up front how much it would cost, not just send you double bills later. Now if I have pain, I prefer to go to a nearest pharmacy. It comes cheaper and more efficient. Also, they billed me for a visit that I paid already 11 months ago. I have a receipt. And they sent me confirmation on $15 refund that I haven't received for 5 months already.

I have recently been diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm and I have been seeing a neurologist, who was referred to me by my primary doctor at Kaiser after a series of MRIs, CT scans, and MRAs. I have been begging for a catheter angiography and treatment to stop my migraines, as well as a medication to help me be a little more useful.

I have been dodged by my neurologist as he said that his schedule was booked and he had little time for appointments. My contact with him was limited and we only communicated through email and a few phone calls. He felt that the aneurysm was something that was not a big deal, although I have a family history of them as well as migraines that get worse. His recommendations were to increase my medications, but he didn't give an increased dosage. He didn't give any form of limitations or anything that I should or shouldn't do so I was left uncertain. The call center and Kaiser numbers did not have any information on what I could do to get any information about the doctor. He was trying to do a procedure that I was told was risky by a team of neurosurgeons at Johns Hopkins.

At the present time, I am not suffering monetary damages to a great extent other than the loss of pay. Should anything happen to me or if I am in any way harmed by the way that Kaiser Permanente is handling my care, I am going to keep a pretty extensive paper trail.

I was almost murdered; during the attack, my retina was detached. I went to Kaiser ER, and they sent me home. For the next seventeen years, I spent all my time in the ER, and going to medical appointments because of passing out and getting dizzy and sick. I was constantly seeing black crows flying at me, and Kaiser said for seventeen years that it was all in my head. Then, they referred me to psychiatry. When I finally left Kaiser, and got real medical insurance. They said I had a detached retina, and it was bad. I am on my fifth surgery, and because I waited so long (thanks for Kaiser's misdiagnosis), I am virtually blind in my left eye. Thank you Kaiser, for nothing!

I have gotten the runaround now from five different nurses. I've sat on hold for far too long, and I am trying to get hold of my primary doctor. Every nurse who has called me told me something different and I am minutes away from canceling my membership with Kaiser. The last nurse I spoke with hung-up on me, after I expressed frustration with Kaiser's lack of help. I have tried to get in touch with two of my doctors, my primary doctor and my obstetrecian/gynocologist (OB/GYN), and rather hearing from them, nurses who don't have a clue about my record kept calling me instead. A nurse hung-up on me, another nurse had no recollection of me even being on antibiotics that I am currently taking (that were prescribed), another nurse questioned why I was requesting another visit with my doctor (after my doctor specifically told me that I will need to come back), another nurse told me to stop taking antibiotics, while the other questioned why I stopped taking the medication. I have tried emailing my OB/GYN doctor, and I haven't heard back. No one has even scheduled a needed appointment for me, and I still don't know when or where I am supposed to pick up yet another prescription. If you can tell, I have heard way too many conflicting stories, and I am so fed-up with Kaiser. I will do all that I can to make it known to other members.

I do not want to bash Kaiser. Kaiser has been very good to us. One way to deal with Kaiser if not giving you insurance is to apply as a business account. You need only 2 people (not your kids under 18). If one needs to be canceled later, you may remain on with only 1 employee.

They accept all pre-existing conditions under these plans. We have had Kaiser for over 20 years. We have had multiple surgeries including a big surgery on my back that required 4 neurosurgeons. There is no health screening.

We have also had friends that applied individual plans and denied, then in 4 days applied under their business and were accepted. Another friend we told about Kaiser applied for her and her husband. She was accepted, who was a diabetic with renal disease. She had been denied the past 10 years by all insurance plans. She applied and had coverage 10 days later. Then in 1 month, was placed on dialysis. She has had wonderful care with not a threat of canceling. So apply under small business!

In April I received a letter informing me my coverage had been terminated effective February 1st. After numerous calls and emails I never got a clear explanation why this happened. Eventually someone told me I could reinstate coverage if I filled out some forms and sent them in - but this would take 2-3 weeks. I was very angry and worried since I have never been without coverage. They were extremely unhelpful and did not answer my questions. One lady finally was empathetic and at least listened for 5-10 minutes to my situation and explained my options.

They need to let their customers know beforehand if they are in danger of being terminated. Receiving a letter in the mail 2 months after the effective date is extremely stressful and wrong.

Well my husband has been diagnosed with cancer, and we are glad they found it. But it seems to be that they don't have the care for patients with this type of diagnosis. We were first told that they were going to start chemotherapy and shrink the tumor down and then do surgery, which we then found out was nothing but a lie. On the next therapy visit, we were told the truth that there would not be any surgery done to the type of cancer.

Why would you tell someone whose surgery would take place once the tumor becomes shrunken, if all the time you knew it was impossible. And another thing, my husband had therapy scheduled, and then, we were notified that it was cancelled due to white blood cells being low, which was understandable. But then when you have scheduled injection for the low white blood cells and don't order the injection through the pharmacy for hours later and expect for his wife to run around the hospital looking for the injection is so uncalled for.

And let me share some of my thoughts on what has happened to my self. I had my son in 2001, and my blood pressure was so high, something like 220over 170. They never treated me with a blood pressure medicine. Instead, they sent me home to find my self going through congestive heart failure. I returned to the facility about 3 times, explaining my feeling, and all they continued doing was prescribing me gas medication stating that I have gas. Finally, my brother-in-law took me to a hospital, and that's where I almost died because of their misdiagnosis.

I didn't have gas. My heart was failing. And just recently, I went to see my doctor for lower pain. He explained to me that I had no cervix and asked when I had surgery. I told him that I had never had surgery. Then he diagnosed me on a summary visitation sheet that I had cervical cancer. Then I went to have ultrasound to find out that I do have a cervix, and I don't have cervical cancer.

I'm really ashamed of Kaiser. My dad always tells me that Kaiser is going to kill me and my family, just so they don't have to put money out to treat us.

My Family has been with Kaiser since 1989. My husband received a letter from Cobra on April 1,2011 stating our payment for medical coverage is now $717.00 per month. On April 6, 2011, I spoke with Rachel at Kaiser Member Services and was told that the lowest plan was an individual plan coverage. The conversion plan was more expensive. So, I had Rachel mail the application forms.

On April 29, 2011, we receive another letter from Cobra and our payment had increased to $1,076.00 per month for medical coverage. We completed the forms and faxed them to Kaiser on May 2, 2011. On May 9, 2011 we received a termination letter from Kaiser. On May 12, 2011, we were denied coverage by Kaiser. After 22 years, the reasons that they gave were because of the "serious medications" that they prescribed to us and "hospitalization and/or outpatient or skilled nursing care within the last 12 months". Where were we supposed to go for outpatient service? Where do we go now for medical coverage? Should we send the appeal letter and be denied again?

I have been a Psy patient, of work related injury since late Jan. 2011. I had been referred by Dr. ** to Dr. ** for psychological treatments. I saw her a few times since Feb. 2011 thru mid Apr. 2011.

On or around 04/11/2011, I had an appointment with her, for follow up of psychiatric related illness. I talked with her very meekly, while asking for time off from work, due to extreme stress, causing lack of concentration, muscle tension, sleeplessness, anxiety and related symptoms. She refused to write any additional time off, as it was not be legal to write time off for an employee, she added. However, I had been unable to work in such a stressful condition. She had been extremely mad at me, and she spoke to me with anger.

I requested her not to be mad and please try to understand my condition, situation, and circumstances. Alternatively, she ordered me to leave her office at once. She didn't hear me at all. She told me that she had been so frustrated by me, while I asked her the reason for kicking me out of the office. And she warned me not to visit her office in the future.

Also, she mentioned in the medical record that the patient had been asking for time off, for the purpose of receiving disability benefits, which wasn't true. I had been mentally injured by the supervisor's wrong doings as described, while filing worker's compensation on 01/25/2011. I have been off from work since 01/25/2011 to current, being under mental illness treatment.

The therapist's conduct and bahavior had not been appropriate for a doctor. If she had been frustrated how can she treat a patient? She is ignoring her responsibility and duties as a doctor or therapist. Her behavior made me more stressful for the rest of my treatment. I have still been following up treatments with Dr. **.

For fourteen years, I had paid for my so-called health care insurance on good faith and with due diligence each month. This was the non-profit health care foundation HMO Kaiser Permanente, for the record. Shortly after my college graduation in 1992, I was diagnosed with a severe and chronic (and expensive) illness. Immediately, Kaiser Permanente denied all coverage for this illness, simply stating that they exclude "those types of illnesses. " I was denied any and all coverage. Well, the prescription medications alone did cost and still do cost over $3,000.00 per month; my doctor at Kaiser put me on state disability and, further, I had to become technically indigent in order to qualify for Medi-Cal (Medicaid) to receive the insanely expensive medications and the necessary medical treatment.

Today, twenty long years later, I remain on stuck on Medi-Cal and on permanent disability. I have been denied not only the opportunity to work and pay taxes, but I've also been denied the option to engage fully in a meaningful profession. My total income for 2010 was a staggering $6,200.00. The poverty line in California is around $23,000.00 per year. You see, if I make over $1,000.00 per month, I will lose my eligibility for Medi-Cal thus losing all my health care benefits. And no health "insurance" company has been willing to cover my chronic condition at a reasonably affordable rate.

Finally, just to make things perfectly clear, I got my degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in Political Science with an emphasis on International Relations, specifically between US-USSR-China. I lived on mainland China for over one year teaching as a university professor. I speak English, French and Mandarin Chinese. And I am stuck as an indigent on permanent disability in order to survive my chronic but treatable illness. This is utterly outrageous, backwards and blasphemous. I look at what this country, America, has become over the last thirty years (starting with Reagan) and I do indeed think that what I see is an utter travesty.

My name is Christina ** and I had been a paying member of the Southern California HMO, Kaiser Permanente. Shortly after my college graduation in 1992, I was diagnosed with severe Manic Depression, also known as Bipolar Disorder. Kaiser Permanente in the Los Angeles area of California refused to treat my serious and crippling disease in any way.

In the midst of my illness, I embarked, along with my father, on a letter writing campaign in an attempt to get the health care that I so desperately needed. We filed a grievance with Kaiser, I wrote letters to the Department of Corporations, and any other entity that would find this appalling. Apparently, none of them did, as I got absolutely no where.

I want to fight for not only myself, but all those who have been denied coverage for having a mental illness. I will stand up against anyone or anything that is so intrinsically wrong and unjust, and I will not stop until I make them see the (illegal and discriminatory) errors of their ways.

I have been paying for medical coverage for my spouse and myself since September 2010 because my husband lost his job. I have made numerous phone calls between the company I work for (Omnicare) and Kaiser trying to see why he has no coverage.

The two companies blame it on one another. I also signed up again in December 2010 for coverage for 2011 as my spouse and myself. My coverage was finally corrected by Kaiser in December and I received my card in January 2011. But as of Friday, February 25,2011 I am still being told that my husband has no coverage. I would just like a full refund for the amount of money that I have been charged for my husbands coverage since September 2010 thru December 31, 2010. I was told by Omnicare that we should not make any doctor's appointments until this issue has been corrected. Therefore I do not think it would be fair to us for them to just make his coverage retro for that time frame.

I have had Kaiser Permanente for 6 years under my company coverage/cobra. I have had asthma since I was a child, but it was controlled as an adult. I am 29 and I have not had an asthma attack in years and have not been hospitalized for asthma in over 15 years. I take a daily medication which "controls" my asthma. Though I'm really not sure I need it or how much help it provides, it was recommended by my Kaiser ENT specialist. Every time I have been in to see my ENT they have had me blow into their little machine and been very happy with my lung capacity. They are also very impressed with my blood oxygen level which is always 98% or 99%, even when I had a cold.

I am 6 feet tall and 141 pounds. I have actually approached my Kaiser primary care doctor about gaining weight, just out of self-consciousness, and he told me that I had nothing to worry about. He was not going to help me gaining weight because I was completely within acceptable weight limits, and he added that people on the thin side of the spectrum live longer anyway. So, I should be happy.

Kaiser has strung me along for well over a month through their "10-day" approval process for coverage now that my coverage will be ending at the end of the month. I have been denied coverage. Why?

I'm too thin and I have a history of chronic asthma. I'm an otherwise healthy 29 year old male. Oh, yeah, I have allergies and take Zyrtec, I don't want to leave anything out (though they didn't list that as a reason). I'm really having a hard time understanding who they are willing to cover if not me? I have been paying nearly $400 a month for Kaiser for years and really not getting any sort of services. I would think they would see me as a gold mine, but I think I will just keep that money in a savings account if they are too stupid to want it. Good luck if you are considering Kaiser!

I need a copy of my medical record on CD. I was told to go online but the form does not exist. The woman on the phone is a liar to say what she is unsure of. I spent over 3 hours trying to talk to the medical records department on three occasions. The average wait time is over one ** hour! What kind of business cares about the patient but then has you wait over an hour! The "Live Well and Thrive" message is garbage.

I have had nothing but issues since my kids ended up with Kaiser, but I will only explain my recent incident. It all started back in Nov when my daughter's wisdom teeth were bothering her. They did the x-ray and recommended she have them out, so I set up the consultation around the middle of Dec. The dentist's office called that morning to cancel cause the dentist didn't come in. So I re-scheduled for Dec 23rd to late to have the surgery over Christmas break, since that was my goal. In the mean time I had asked four different people if I will be able to make payments since our insurance only covered half, everyone's response was "of course". Then when the time to set up payment arrangements came, the lady was rude and gave me only one option that would not work, so I spoke with the office manager and got that taken care of.

So the day of her surgery, I woke her up at 6:30am to give her the sedation pill only to be contacted by the office 30 minutes later for the appointment to be canceled again. I called the manager again and never got a call back. I finally called her 7 hours later and she proceeded to tell me that she was sorry as she was doing payroll and she didn't think my message was very urgent. My thoughts were, "I have a complaint and you couldn't take 5 minutes out of your busy day to give a crap".

I guess my frustration comes from the fact that Kaiser gets away with everything with no consequences. If I forget or do not cancel an appointment 24 hours in advance, they charge me $25 but they can call me 1 hour prior to the surgery and not do a thing, not even call me back which was also a problem during this whole ordeal, no return phone calls. Why do people have to pay a premium for such terrible service?

The Kaiser billing department is super triple horrible. I was thinking about this is the way they looking for money. When my son born, he supposedly was under my coverage for the first 30 days. We went to have doctor visit for him when he just 6 days old. 2 months later I received a bill from Kaiser regarding my son's bill, it was $340 for that doctor visit because they automatically created a different account for him and it does not go under my account. I called them and they filed a case for me. Now my son is 8 months old and they still sending me that bill and also send my $340 to a collection agency, I just worry about it will make me a bad credit. This is just one of the things I mad with Kaiser.

Kaiser Eye Doctor didn't diagnose retina problem in my left eye in June 2008. The retina detached in August 2008 and I had 3 surgeries in the left eye. I have only about 20% vision in the left eye and it is not good for driving or reading.

When I filed complaint with Kaiser in June 2009, they denied any responsibility and informed me that it is over 6 months and they won't do anything about it. I filed a complaint with the Dept. of Managed Care in California and they received the same response from Kaiser denying any responsibility. The Dept. of Managed Care advised me to file A complaint to the medical board of CA against the responsible doctor, which I did in October-November of 2009.

The board of optometry has recently informed me that they found Dr. Leland ** guilty of gross negligence, incompetence etc., after a detailed investigation. The board is going to remove the license of Dr. *** or suspend it by case filed through the Attorney General of CA. I haven't found any attorney who is willing to sue Kaiser or Dr. ** for the problem they have caused me. Can any attorney help me in this matter? I have very little vision in my left eye and I can't read or drive with my left eye only. When this problem happened, I had to quit my job and I haven't found a full time job since that time.

When I arrived for my appointment, Dr Abyari rushed thru our visit. I was not able to ask her questions. I didn't get a chance to inform her why I made the appointment. I still had a sore throat, the pain has become worse, have stiff neck and a severe headache. I pay $479.00 a month for health insurance and $20.00 co-payment. This was not the first time getting poor Kaiser Doctors.

I am not a Kaiser member, never would be. My son is a member through his stepfather and my deceased mom was as well. For years, my son has been going to both Kaiser in CA and WA. Kaiser is constantly losing his records, both in CA and WA. Always claiming that the other Kaiser has the records, but "they" never did. It was only resolved when I got someone to actually do a little work and find where the records are. Then it is as if nothing was ever missing, till we went back for medical help and they claimed my son is not a member and has never been there, again. Latest mess, son is student at University of Washington, got sick before Thanksgiving break and no Kaiser medical centers in Seattle area. So I went to Cascade park center again to find out where he needs to go in Seattle. No one will help me.

The clerk at member's service desk finally started telling me of places to go, but writing down just the first letter of each place on a post it. I asked if she could please write down the entire name as I could not remember what the "letter" represented. She then crumpled up the post it and handed me a pamphlet, circling a phone number, told me to go as she needed the space in front of her desk free for the next member (I was the only person there!). I called the number, as expected, as has happened before, robo operator would not let me get to any real person that could help. I went back to her window/desk and told her this number is of no use. I can't even get to a person to inquire. She then smiled at me and said "well, I'm sorry but I can't help you".

Out of helpless frustration I said, "you can help me but you won't help me. Why won't you help me?" She then smiled and got up from her chair and walked to the back room. Knowing what she was up to, as I'd seen this game played before at another Kaiser center in town, I walked straight out the main door. The game, and it appears to occur with enough frequency and a deliberate structure, organized response, is to label someone as threatening a Kaiser doctor or staff member, something I have never done, and have the security staff escort the said person off the premises. Followed by threatening letters. To bear false witness is a crime, isn't it?

Such an event occurred involving my mom. An appointment with the doctor resulted in a test needed to check out a fast growing pain. The doctor said he would have someone in to schedule an urgent test. The nurse came in, said doctor told her to make a normal scheduled appointment, about three weeks out. I told her that was not correct, the doctor said to schedule asap. She argued. I asked to please check with doctor, she said no. Further, she said that if we needed to talk with the doctor again, we would need to make another appointment. I then told her, "I'm not asking, I'm telling you this is a mistake, get the doctor back in here". She then smiled and said "okay" and left. Five minutes passed, the door slammed open and a security guard and department supervisor rushed in claiming that I had threatened "to get the doctor" and they were there to protect my poor 80-year old mother from me!

I was told that I would be receiving further action in the mail and was escorted off the property. Immediately saw my attorney who told me to send her any letters that Kaiser may send to me. Kaiser never sent me a single letter. My 80-year old mom did receive letters from Kaiser, several, threatening to take action if I ever come to Kaiser with her again. Mom was so upset and afraid for me, that she hid the letters from me. I found them after she died several years later. By the way, she died of advanced colon cancer that Kaiser failed to identify even though she had been back to Kaiser many times through the year with stomach pains leading up to the final diagnosis when she finally had an intestinal block from the advancing cancer.

Since I became a member, I was poorly treated by my primary doctor. So I made a complaint but they denied my request for a second opinion. I changed my primary doctor and even though he was kind, my biggest health problem was ignored. Years passed and my symptoms got worst, so he finally gave a referral to a specialist. That doctor told me that I had greasy liver and a hiatal hernia but did not give any more follow up. When I went back with my primary doctor he told me that it was just stress and that I needed to exercise what I did.

On July 4, I almost died from a pulmonary embolism. When I finished the treatment, I changed again my primary doctor because I was feeling really bad with the same symptoms that I had before but whoever I saw, it was the same diagnostic: stress. Then I stared having a knee problem. So, I stopped exercising. I was feeling miserable and I started looking for another kind of attention because I started believing that it was stress.

I went to a clinic (Practicing Restorative Yoga for the metabolic Syndrome) at La Joya that was offering yoga classes and before I could start they did some labs. Well, they found out that I had my triglycerides at 981 and the cholesterol was 245. I just finished the treatment but my cholesterol is the same even though I have been taking medication. Right now, after years of suffering pain, I am waiting for a surgery on my knee because I cannot walk anymore, at least not without a cane. I still have the acid reflux, pain in all my abdomen, and a wheezing that does not go away with any medication they give me.

I do not have a life any more. My husband is desperate with me; my children are neglected because of my illnesses. My performance in my job is poor. I have spent a lot of money traveling around Kaiser Permanente San Diego trying to find a doctor that finally treated me like a human being and not just like a number.

I have a left hand injury. I always go to see a Dr. **** at Kaiser Occupational Health to examine and pain killers. My work company insurance is paying all expenses. The day before I sent an email to Dr. Vijendra *** to get some medicine because I have an appointment with on November 12.

I received an answer from Dr. Zhong **** saying that, "Is Naproxen okay for yo?" I said no because I had very bad reaction with that. He answered me, "so okay, call on this number **** to make an appointment to see." I did that. On October 27.2010 at 2.15 pm, he came in with a person and sat down and started saying that, "Your hand is okay. Your MRI is fine. I do not know why you keep coming and see Dr. ***. I think you want to take something from us to prove something. There is nothing wrong with your hand. So we cannot do anything."

He was aggressive mad and his tone was high while talking to me. I was surprised and nervous from this sudden attack. I told him, "Doctor, I sent email to my doctor but you wanted to see me, so I came in. Please, if possible, prescribe something, if not, let me go. He said, "Yeah, but your injury is too old and you are just trying to prove your case." I was so embarrassed in front of that stranger. I told him, "Doctor, I was under qualified medical evaluation few weeks ago. That doctor has 55 years experience and he found my hand had strength loss and pain." So he said, "Okay, go to him for medicine. At Kaiser, we cannot do nothing. All medication is gonna react on you and you may die." I ask him, "Can I have my medical record or the sentences you said or your opinion in written?" He showed me the exit and on report he wrote that I was examined.

He did not ask me a single question he did examine my hand. He did not listen to my complain. All he did was embarrassing me in front of a stranger. He did not even ask me that can he bring somebody while coming to see me. He was yelling at me for no reason. I think he has some kind of race problem with me or looked like he is intoxicated or under some kind of medication.

I did filed a complaint at member service. But I am 100% sure nothing is gonna happen because long time ago, I filed two complaints about the pharmacy, nothing happened. I do not understand that if my work company is paying for my medication, what was burning in that doctor's **. Why he invited me in his office and disrespect me. I would say Kaiser should not hire ignorant doctor who has only medical degree but no manners and who does not know that in America manners and professionalism is very important.

Kaplan-CHI Institute in Broomall rips off low income minority students. Kaplan takes Title IV money from the tax payers. Students take out large student loans based on the Title IV funds and then cannot graduate.

Kaiser lied about my credentialing, tried to stuff it under the rug and brought me back to work uncredentialed and then terminated my affiliation.They failed to notify JCAH of their error and mishandled that my name was sent to a national computer bank stating my being a bad doctor.

I was investigated and completely exonerated by the Medical Board of California and their psychiatric specialist. I was unable to work at a Sutterhelath hosptial in Oakland because of this which is still in litigation.

My daughter has been under their care for a long time now. She cannot hold any food on her stomach and is vomiting blood constantly. She has lost over 60 lbs. and continues to be sick and weaker. She received a letter that said she had stage 0-2 stomach cancer. Kaiser refuses to let her go to an oncologist saying they do not know where the diagnosis came from. They continue to tell her she has a virus. I am not a doctor, but I believe she is getting improper care and she is very depressed that they have not done anything to help her except give her drugs galore. Some of the pain meds they gave her would kill a horse and they make her go unconscious and when she wakes up she does not even know what day it is.

Please help us find a way to get her proper medical help as this is not a virus. We must get her help before she gets too weak to overcome whatever it is. My daughter is a college student, worked full time and has a 13 year old daughter that she has always spent a lot of time with. She can no longer work, has had to drop out of school, and is very depressed that she can no longer enjoy time with her daughter because she is always sick. I believe that Kaiser is killing her with a lack of proper treatment so that they can save the insurance company money. We need help immediately.

I have a 2005 Mini Cooper and had the same problem with the power steering. It started this past Saturday night with a noise that didn't want to stop. So, my boyfriend took out the battery. We were worried that it was going to drain the battery. So the next day, we reset it by detaching both of the poles of the battery. That's what the internet said to do when we did a research of the problem. I didn't work. The noise was still there.

I live in Moorpark and have to drive to Pasadena everyday so I need my car. My boyfriend called his mechanic and took it to him. That is exactly what he told us, that the power steering was having problems because it slows down the fan or something like that. I know that when power steering fails, sometimes you can't control your car. That is why I took care of the problem right away. I'm going to pick up my car today but it is going to cost me $1300.00 just to fix it. So, I was wondering if this is a recall, now knowing that so many people have the same problems. Maintenance is not cheap. So if we can get back something, it will help us.

While working at Gladstone convalescent home in Glendora, San Dimas, I have know fact she was stealing pain meds from patients who died. Back room, some meds were locked but a lot thrown in trash. Filipino woman steal meds and send back to country while this individual would take meds for friends and family.

Please do not contact me. Her BD is 12-29-60. Social, **. Would also take Z pack antibiotics, soma, vicodine, and more. Had problems in LV as well. I will not come forward with this info. Just FYI.

August 2008 I had a cyst removed from my tailbone. I paid $1000 on that day (they wanted more but I refused) and had it done, never saw where the $1000 went. In May 2009, we sent a letter to the billing dept. regarding a bill that I had received. Kaiser is billing me for services from months prior that they had not previously billed me for (like a year) I never received a reply about my complaint.

This past year 2009, I had to have Lithotripsy surgery for stones., I called member services to find out what it was going to cost me because if it was too much I would not do it. I was told the entire bill would be about $5000 so I knew that I only have to pay $3500 out of pocket so I did it. Mistake number1, I paid on the day of surgery $1000. To make a long story short, I received numerous bills which my husband and myself called member services to complain to no avail; was never given a straight answer for anything I asked about.

This year 2010, I had to have another Lithotripsy so as I was paying for these procedures with the $2000. His work gives us Kaiser was paying for the prior bill that I was questioning. July 2010, I received a letter from a collections office that I not only owed $1200 to Kaiser but that I owed the collections office another $1600.

I contacted member services and they told me too bad that I should have been paying it all along and that I had 2 separate bills, one for the doctor and one for the hospital. How crazy is that? Well, I went to Vandeaver Medical center. Member services told me I could go there and find out about my bill. Well, they couldn't help me. They have noting to do with billing. I received a letter from a Mr. William *** and it said that they were filing a complaint to see if the $1600 bill could be recalled so I could make payments directly to Kaiser.

Well, I was immediately denied. Mr. *** told me to write a letter and any evidence that I had to back up my story such as a copy of the letter dated May 2009 and any bills that I was disputing then fax them to him at his fax number. Well, I did everything I was asked to do. I wasn't trying to get out of paying the bill. I just wanted it off my credit report as a bad debt. Well, yesterday I received the exact same form letter and was denied. The worst part is that not one thing that I submitted was mentioned in this letter so it's obvious to me that nothing was ever done. They do this to everyone. It's a bunch of b***t. Supposedly a Kaiser Permanente Deductible Product Service Team went over everything. They didn't.

I have been trying to get my thyroid prescription refilled for the past 4 weeks and have been getting a run around. I begged literally the other day and said that will pay out of pocket but refill my Rx and they kept giving me different excuses. I am done with these schysters. I am switching to another health plan next year. I can't get out of this plan this year because of the contract. Stay away from these guys. By the way I work for the Federal government and I oversee and supervise Health plans for quality. My thyroid levels are all screwed up and this is affecting my heart and my entire system.

I am being treated under a workers compensation claim. I get pain management services via Kaiser. However, I am getting some bills for the services. Not all visits were billed to me. Some were correctly sent to the claim adjuster. I paid for others accidentally, thinking I had to. Now, I have a $20 bill for pain management services to Kaiser, and they are threatening to assign this debt to collections.

I have written them once, providing them with all of the billing information, and the claim adjuster. My attorney has also written them, informing them that it is unlawful for them to collect from me, under California Civil Code 1788, but, they are again billing me, and are now threatening to assign this debt to a collection agency, and cause harm to my credit report. At a time, when I am already suffering physically from my injury, and emotionally from the significant starian this injury has caused me, both financially and emotionally, I wish they would simply fix their mistake. I have paid for services that were not related to my workers compensation injury, but they do not appear to read, or acknowledge my letters.

I paid fifteen dollars to sit in urgent care for a little over an hour, all while feeling weak. You see, as far as urgent care goes, the more severe the problem, the quicker the nurse will tend to your needs. I was at Kaiser yesterday because half of my face was swollen, green pus oozes out every now and then, and my body temperature is off and on cold. Eventually, the nurse took my temperature and blood pressure. I asked, "Is my temperature good? " and she says, "Yes, yes it is. " I was a bit irritated due to the fact that I felt feverish. I then asked, "Oh, what's my temperature? " She said, "101.7" and I say with sarcasm in my voice, "Oh! That's a good thing? " She then looked at me and said, "No, you have a fever, dear. " I knew then that I would not receive the help that I needed. After she looked at my face, she walked into the hallway. She shouted to the doctor, "Her face is swollen real bad, will she need a possible draining? " He responded with a "no" before he even took a look at my face.

This bothered me for my face is swollen pretty badly and filled with dark green pus. I knew the fever was provoked by the infection. The doctor came in and joked around a whole lot and at one point said, "You were so pretty, look what you did to your face. " I responded angrily, "Normally when I pop a pimple this doesn't happen. I am in a lot of pain, mister. Can you pop this? " He responded with a "No" and explained it could not happen because the pus has spread all over the left side of my face. He told me the swelling must all be at one spot in order for draining to be performed effectively. He also informed me that face swelling is very dangerous and it could worsen in extreme ways if I do not care for it immediately. He said it is a good thing I came in that night and I must come in on Saturday for a draining. My hour-long wait in the urgent care was justified, right? Also, if this can potentially turn into something worse then why was this visit so unprofessional?

Even though he is informed of how rapid the pace of this swelling is, he would not let a draining happen. I told him that I can only hear with my left ear so if the pus spreads to my ear, I will be miserable. He still refused for a draining to take place. I described how fluid is dripping into the back of my throat and asked if it is the pus. He did not look into that and said, "It is probably just your glands. " Now, if it is green pus draining into my lungs, a hefty bill will be the least of my problems. He prescribed me Cephalexin, told me to put ice on the swelling, and told me to come back on Saturday for a draining. I informed him I already tried hot and cold compresses, none of them made the swelling go down. He did not find another solution, I felt hopeless.

Well, it is Friday and the infection is worse than it was before. My temperature is 102 and I have difficulty eating for the left side of my face is in a lot of pain. My left eye is sealed shut by puffing skin, the swelling now conquered the entire left side of my face, my throat hurts a lot more than it did yesterday, and my ear is starting is hurt. I am scheduled to go to urgent care tomorrow for the drainage but I would not be surprised if they refuse to drain it. The swelling is more spread out than it was before and the doctor did say the pus needs to be in all one spot. I cannot believe he allowed me to stumble away in the condition I was in, with a fever and a face filled green pus.

I spent $15 for nothing to be done at urgent care, paid $15 for medication that is not affecting me, and I will pay $15 tomorrow when I go to urgent care tomorrow in worse conditions than before. Who knows, I might be charged separately for the draining and may be prescribed more antibiotics.

On July 13, 2010, I took my son into Kaiser's ER in Irvine California, for "change in mentation". He exhibited anxiety and knocked over a shelf in a store. He was crying and told me he didn't know what was wrong. This was not our first visit to Kaiser's ER, but this was worst than we were treated before, and all I'm going to tolerate. What happened was they took his vitals and his BP which was 62/42. This was done on an electrical BP monitor. Then I asked the nurse to take it again to see if the BP monitor was correct. She implied that it was normal and told me that my son had to have a blood test done for street drugs, etc. She also informed me that I had no choice as a parent.

Then she took us into a room and about 45 min later, a nurse came in and took my sons BP again on an electrical monitor. Again it was 59/43, still too low. I asked the nurse to take it again, he did and it was still the same. I finally asked if they would take his BP with a manual BP cuff (one that's not electric), the nurse replied,"we do not have manual cuffs here."

Next thing I knew, they were hanging an IV of Normal saline. I asked why and they told me his creatine was off. I asked to see the lab results. They were actually within norm enough that a bolus of NS wasn't going to do what they set out to do. I asked if a doctor was going to come in and soon after a Dr. Boris came through the door with an attitude you wouldn't believe! He wouldn't make eye contact with me as I was asking questions about my son. I tried to tell him that my son has a neuro history and is also a client of the regional center. However, he wouldn't give me the time of day to listen!

After the IV went in, I had to stop it from air going into the line and go to get a nurse again. He took the BP and it was 60/43 still too low. Next, they sent a psychiatric nurse in and she was telling my son that she could send him to juvenile facility and that I wouldn't be able to stop it at that point. When she walked out to the desk and was calling to make arrangements, I went out to her and asked what about my son's neurologist? Has she been contacted? The nurse said that the ER doctor, Dr. Boris ** never mentioned anything about a neuro history. So she got on the computer and said she could only see that he had visited a neurologist but, couldn't see anything else. She was actually the only decent human on staff that night in the ER. I informed her that my son has a cyst 2X2X4 cm on the left hemisphere and recently diagnosed with central sleep apnea. In addition, he's a client of the regional center since 2001 for then dysphasic and issues with speech, receptive and processing and also sensory integration issues all secondary to this inoperatable arachnoid cyst. Finally, after 5 hours of being detained, we were released.

Later, I went to get a copy of records of my son, and Kaiser wouldn't release them. So they sent me a form and told me that since my son was over the age of 12 that I needed his signature to release his medical records to me. Yes, new law? Finally, when I received the records, the ER room did not report the truth about the events that occurred that night. The BP was reported by the Dr. Boris was 115/57 in which he never took a BP to begin with. He never even did neuro-checks on my son. By the way, they were going to send my son to psychiatry, but we actually ended up with a social worker, who asked why we were sent to her. Then, I called to see if there was any other referral, and there wasn't. So, it was just dropped off the edge. I called and insisted to have my son seen again by the neurologist, when we went in, she said that the only thing they could do is take another MRI. But, I asked about the seizures that they remarked he had which are "not the treating kind" and she replied that there's no proof of seizures. They also refused to take the overnight EEG which was recommended by my son's previous neurologist and sleep apnea neurologist under our EPO insurance. That Swartznazi, I discontinued last July '09.

I became a member with Kaiser after a friend recommended them for her pregnancy. I am currently pregnant with my first baby. Thus far, I have had nothing but problems with billing. I was in my first trimester visiting my family in Miami, FL. During my trip, I started to have minor spotting/passing blood clots. I called my doctor at Kaiser who recommended I go to the emergency room in Florida. Immediately after that, I called member services to find out exactly how much the cost would be for me to go to an emergency room in Florida. The incompetent employee at member services told me it would only be a $150 copay. Okay, I thought, I can swing that.

Fast forward to my second trimester and I come home one tough day to a bill for $640. Apparently, the employee "forgot" to tell me I would have to pay the full amount to meet my deductible. Awesome! I currently have a claim going with this bill. Oh, but that's not all! Fast forward to a few days ago when I received a bill from the ER hospital I visited in Florida for $4,170. Yes, you read those numbers correctly! The bill from the Florida hospital read "Your insurance company has informed us the amount due is your responsibility." You can only begin to imagine my frustration. I currently have a complaint filed about the charge and am working with some more incompetent types in member services to help me with this. Let me tell you, this is really the stress I need during my pregnancy.

***Speaking of the ER visit, on 5/11/2010, I called to make an appointment for that same day for our daughter and was told that there were no appointments for her, so she could not be seen that evening. We had no choice but to go to the ER; I receive my Explanation of Benefits and the statement shows Kaiser is only covering $143.56 out of a $3,477.00 bill. Are you kidding me? We met our deductible of $500 (for the family, which a Member Services Rep told us was the deductible and I specifically asked, "Is the $500 deductible for each member or the family?).

3. Why does Kaiser hire people who have English as their second language? I do not want to speak to someone who cannot speak English!!!
4. I was told that the Benefits department hours are: Sat-Sun 8-2pm and M-F 8-9am. I wanted to speak to someone regarding the above ER visit and when I called I had to ask three or four times to be transferred to someone regarding "Explanation of Benefits" and I was disconnected. Then I call back with a different number (404.261.2825) and got a recording that stated to call back during 'normal business hours'...so how about change the recording to actually inform Members of the freakin 'normal business hours'.

Had our daughter not been denied seeing a Kaiser facility physician, we would not have had to go to the ER!!

We will NOT be renewing this insurance policy come November 2010. Kaiser is a scam; poor customer service; terrible doctors; impossible to get through to a person. I compare this company to one which once you place an order from them, you are screwed should you need help or have a question about something (and you know exactly what I am talking about).

How do you people sleep at night knowing that Members are NOT being serviced they way Kaiser claims? Did you know this called LYING!!

I really can't believe the situation I'm in. I have been a member of Kaiser for 10yrs. The hospital is 1 1/2 blocks away. It seemed logical at the time. I was rarely sick. A year and 1/2 ago I had to go to the emergency room. I received a statement from Deductible products itemizing what I paid and what the insurance paid. Amount due $0.00. My problems started in May of 09 when I received a bill for $6000 that I had to pay immediately or they were going to cancel my policy. Which they did.Their claim: I had not paid my Premiums in 9 months! After having my bank send them a years worth of proof (3 times!) that I had paid regularly and timely.

After months of threats and collection agency calls they figured out that they had been applying my premiums to my deductible! Which they said was my fault because I had sent it to the wrong address. (The one on my bill! Hello!!) If I had paid the doctor in cash it would have only come to a little over $400 according to the insurance statement I receive back in '08. When I asked how they could have cashed $6000 for service that didn't total anything close to that amount. They sarcastically said"ma'am it's a computer not a person" Silly me! I didn't know how to respond to that.

After many hours, days and massive stress, it was "supposedly" resolved. I am now receiving threatening calls from a collection agent saying I owe over $500 for an emergency visit a year and 1/2 ago! Yes, the same emergency room visit mentioned before. Here I go back into the same loop. Today I got a call from the deductible department saying they had removed it from collection, how would I like to pay today! I just lost it. I said I would send them the statement they sent me 2 1/2 years ago stating I owed 0! Like a puppet she just kept repeating how would you like to pay! I feel like I'm in a nightmare. What do I do? Contact a lawyer? Call the newspaper? I really need help. I can no longer be objective.

On Monday April 19 2010, my mother was admitted to Kaiser Hospital in Baldwin Park California, with a possible heart attack. As soon as she was admitted and in a room, the finance person came to my mother to announce she had a $400 per day co-pay. Now my mother who makes limited money anyway, had not even been diagnosed with anything, at that time. Now here is a woman who finally, after 3 days, was finally diagnosed with a confirmed heart attack and she is being hounded about money, over the well being of the patient. Then, after her blood pressure dropped severely during her angiogram and stayed low all that night, they kicked her out only once her BP rose to 103/70-something.

On Sunday April 25, her BP dropped very low at home and I had to call 911 because I thought she was going to pass out. She had double vision, couldn't stand steady and her BP was 84/63. The entire time she was in Kaiser the week before, they never got her up and moving and monitor her heart rate or BP with movement. Once she was stable at the local ER, they transported her back to Baldwin Park Kaiser, at 7:15 AM. As I stepped out to get some fresh air and coffee, I had been up for over 24 hours, the finance people came in to hound her for the $100 ER co-pay. Then they wanted to admit her for another $400 a day co-pay, just to monitor her BP. Now excuse me, shouldn't they have done that before they sent her home on the 22nd? So what happened, my mom's BP shot up to 169/107 because she was so upset and worried over money, she signed herself out. What kind of crappy health care is that? Aren't hospitals and doctors supposed to care about the patients before the money? Shouldn't financing be done at discharge and a person is stable?

Thanks to my coming out from Chicago, I was able to monitor my mom and get her BP back up and she is stable. She looks better, color is back in her face and lips, and she feels more like herself. No flipping thanks to Kaiser Permanente and their ** poor health care.

Kaiser authorized Rady Children's Hospital to perform a surgery by placing a stent in my son's kidney because Kaiser told us that his left kidney was not draining properly and might fail. We paid the $500 co-pay required. Rady's doctor told us that there will be a couple of post surgery visits and that the $500 co-pay was all we needed to pay. Kaiser is now charging us another $200 to remove the stent which is part of the post surgery visits. They said that this procedure is not a part of the original surgery.

Billed for hospital and office visits from Kaiser--2008/2009. Filed for Chapter 13 protection Oct. 2008. Received Kaiser bills for 2008/2009 totaling $577 and $367 (two statements with all charges). Believe they intentional waited until after I filed Chapter 13 in Oct. 2008. In 2009, it was turned over to collection company again. Two statements totaling $577 and #367, plus interest. Here in 2010, I called and was told that collection consultants has received 4 bills in addition to the $577 bill and now. Each office visit, lab, x-ray is being sent to the collection agency separately and interest is accruing separately on each amount separately vs. the total amount.

Something is wrong with this picture. Further, for most of the visits I had in 2008/2009, I was given medications that did not correct the problem and/or was told to purchase special shoes (at $200+) for bunions and given pain pills. On one of the visits, I was transported to emergency due to an allergic reaction to sulfa and I have to pay for that as well, at the cost of Kaiser's mistake. They have prescribed meds for diagnosis that have been "guessed" at, and then with a follow-up to my reg. doctor and blood tests, I am told that that is not the correct diagnosis. Now I have to pay?

Financial detriment. Payment for medications and refills at the time of service not needed. Hospital visit that could have been avoided. And their avoidance to send bills out in a timely manner-- billing me in 2009 for early 2008 charges. I strongly think they are trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. Just isn't right. So many follow-up visits for this/that. You pay out at each visit and then they charge you more money in a bad economy. I am now having to file for further protection since I do not have the money to pay and no health insurance either.

My wife, Loretta, had been fighting breast cancer for about eleven years. Her oncologist, Dr. **, requested a transfer to Kaiser Walnut Creek. I don't know why, but her care, that should have continued, stopped at Kaiser Vallejo, where Dr. ** was her oncologist, until out of the blue, and I consider it for lack of following up with her, she came up with tumors in her uterus and liver. After this, she chose an oncologist at Vallejo Kaiser, that really scared both of us to the extent that we preferred to go to Walnut Creek to her old and loved Dr. **. From here on, things started to go down with her, with the culmination of her forgetting to take the correct doses of chemotherapy medication, a fast response to start intravenous by ** was the straw that broke the camel's back. This was supplied to her without ** seeing her, since November of 2009. My comments to the nurse, that her condition may not take the intravenous, did not stop the process, but at this point in the progress of her liver cancer, not giving it to her, it would have only extended her life by maybe one or two weeks.

The other side of her ordeal was ending up with a nephrostomy and stint procedures, in her single right kidney from birth, that failed, and a nephrostomy had to be repeated, with a new procedure and entry point. She died with this procedure in her. In addition to this, having to go to ER and wait for almost seven hours, go home giving up, returning the following day and wait five hours. Returning a week later, for more waiting, this completely broke her and my good opinions about Kaiser care. At the end, she refused to go to ER, at the request from the oncology pharmacist at WC. The only person who, at this point, cared enough to start the care that she deserved, only second to the nurse at Urology, nurse Golden. She cried, asking to please not take her to the ER. The pharmacist had to convince her, but from this point on, it was a countdown by the days.

I will now use the Kaiser way to rate pain from 1 to 10, only this time to rate what I feel about the care that she got from Kaiser, during the months of Jan. and Feb. of 2010: 1. Oncology Vallejo and W.C.- 6 points: 2. Urology Vallejo, all three doctors, 0 points: 3. Urology, nurse Golden, 10 points (she seems to be the only person who cared along with the receptionist): 4 Vallejo E.R. 0- points: 5. Hospice Care 100+ points. I am still a Kaiser member, and plan to stay, but please tell me, is this what one have to expect, once one needs a higher degree of care from the Kaiser doctors and ER? Is it that Hospice Care is the closest to heaven care, that Kaiser can offer, just so the ones having to stay behind, have at least that care to look forward to? Kaiser doctors closed their doors to her, after speeding up her death by carelessness.

I love Kaiser for their medical part I haven't any issues on that part. But the psychology and drug addiction program is awful. I live in Simi Valley and we don't have the psychology dept and my son is in need of a therapist but I am now waiting for a referral. I have been asking for over two months and now they have in for review since they denied it. They said transportation isn't a reason not to drive him all the way to the valley for an appointment even though it shows 10 miles. It takes 45 minutes to drive there by fwy and side streets.

He is also addicted to drugs and they won't put him in a facility until he detox which means he is home where all the problems are. He has been approved to go in patient today but when they tested him, surprise, surprise, he came up dirty and isn't that the reason he needed to be rehab so they are now trying to send him home to detox. I don't know what to do. I pay my insurance payments. They have approved him to go in patient. They need a better way.

I served American people as a Registered Nurse since 1993. I am a naturalized citizen and was working for Kaiser Permanente since 2001.

I got critically ill on 1/6/2008 and was misdiagnosed by the providers in Kaiser San Francisco. Up to this date, they did not know the cause of my polyneuropathy. However, my urine lab test in 1/2009 showed high level of arsenic which Kaiser failed to test me on 1/2008 when I was acutely ill.

My experiences at Kaiser Permanente are horrible. I did not only suffer delayed care, and delayed diagnosis but I also suffer the following:

(1) Fraud. On 1/30/08, Dr. Sarah L documented that my 24 urine collections showed negative arsenic level. Had I not find out that my arsenic level on 1/2009 was 108, I wouldn't have reviewed my own chart and find out that a Kaiser physician committed a fraud in documentation of my medical record. The truth is 24 urine collections for arsenic were never done during my acute care hospitalization in Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center. During my acute stage, nobody ever asked me of a suspected foul play.

(2) Pain and Agony. On 2/5/2008, a Kaiser Surgeon had informed me that there is an order for nerve biopsy also aside from muscle biopsy. The Kaiser Surgeon Dr. Bruce B. refused to take me to the Operating Room to do the procedures. It took 3 painful hours for the nerve and muscle biopsy to be done. I was fully conscious and not being able to move due to paralysis when Dr. Bruce B. cut me open and cut my nerve. Only to find out that the nerve biopsy was insufficient for diagnosis.

(3) Negative Result after the nerve biopsy. I am now suffering with right foot drop, pain on my right leg and no sensation on my toes as a result of the nerve biopsy. Kaiser surgeon Dr. Bruce B. failed to use modified nerve biopsy to minimize the complications. There are peer review literature that support how to minimize morbidity using modified nerve biopsy technique. Yet, Dr. Bruce B. never followed the right procedure.

(4) Poor Tracheostomy Care Management. My tracheostomy tube was never changed before I went to Orange Hills sub-acute which caused tissue adherence. Kaiser Permanente staff should have changed it every month per RT at New Orange Hills sub-acute. The tissue adherence in my tracheostomy tube site left me with an ugly scar in my neck.

(5) Unprofessionalism and deceit. All along, I thought I had GBS but when I came back to the Bay Area, I was informed by a physical therapist named Mary ** (Kaiser SF out-patient PT) that my diagnosis was not GBS but severe axonal polyneuropathy. Kaiser doctors, particularly the neurologist, Dr. Kenneth F, did not tell me the truth.

(6) Denial of extension of COBRA. Kaiser COBRA courier denied me of extension of COBRA. By federal law, I am supposed to have a COBRA extension to 36 months since I am on Social Security Disability. Last February 13, 2010, I got denied of COBRA Extension from Ceridian. Ceridian told me that I did not submit my permanent disability within 60 days after the SSA award (I got an award letter from the SSA on 4/ 2009).

When I applied for COBRA via phone in July 2008, I still had a tracheostomy tube and a ventilator that breath for me on and off. The Ceridian staff on the phone could hardly understand and hear me and only limited the conversation of how much I should pay, not the rules of COBRA.

I used to work for Kaiser Advocacy Appeals and deny patients medical coverage via phone and in writing. I never knew how patients feel about their care until I personally experienced it. There are other things I experienced within Kaiser. All Kaiser Employment discrimination experiences after my disability are going to be handled legally.

Was referred to Kaiser sleep facility in Penderbrooke VA for sleep apnea issues. Kaiser was aware of age (85 years old) and Medicare benefits. Met with Greg **. sometime around Sept 2009, and a sleep study was issued. Overnight sleep study was performed at 3rd party facility (Sleep Med / Digitrace). Results required a second sleep study, which was performed in 11-2009 at different facility around Washington DC beltway. Results required a 3rd sleep study, performed again around beltway.

Test report was read by Dr. ** at Kaiser, who composed conclusions of test and sleep aid machine was ordered. That was Dec. 7th during this adventure (late Oct.), employer switched insurance for 2010 from Kaiser Permanente to CareFirst BC/BS effective 1-1-10. In checking status of order later in Dec, the games began.

Machine was first ordered from wrong company. Then machine was ordered from a company that actually could provide it. While trying to confirm order, and status, Krista **, Clinical Coordinator for Kaiser at their Penderbrooke Va assured me that Kaiser had already authorized this referral for a sleep aid machine, and it really didn't matter at that point when the machine was ordered, before or after Jan 1. I explained my concern was if the correct machine was ordered before Jan 1, then there should be no issues. She reiterated that Jan 1 meant nothing.

After not receiving anything, I found out the order was cancelled Jan 7th, as Kaiser ordered incorrect machine. We were told machine ordered required 50% of apnea to be central apnea, yet results show zero % of apnea is central. Requirement is a Medicare requirement that Kaiser should have been aware of. I have no idea of the hows and whys regarding why the machine was cancelled, but if a mistake was made, no big deal, as I am not above making a mistake. What does concern me is the Clinical Coordinator, Krista ** and Kaiser's response and attitude after Jan 1, 2010. I called Krista ** and left messages every day for a week. No response. Upon continuing to call her, I caught her at her desk one day, and she answered her phone. She was rude and short, claiming she was busy, and did not have any time to talk to me. I mentioned I had left many messages, none of which were returned. She said she did not have time for me, and after Jan 1st there was nothing she could do, and would have to hang up.

I believe that is a text book definition of two face liar. How she ever progressed to her management position is a mystery to me. My biggest regret was that my phone conversation with her in December were not witnessed or recorded. The only thing worse than my experience would be to have to work for her I guess. This is my main concern/complaint. People like her have no business in a management position.

My second concern or complaint is Kaiser's lack of response. I called members services several times, called a Tina ** (complaint investigator with Kaiser) several times, leaving messages, but never heard from her. It is now 6 weeks into 2010, and we have nothing to fix the sleep apnea issue. No machine, no test reports for another doctor to interpret, only conclusions that are confusing to me and the new pulmonary doctor.

So, as I had expected, 2009 came and went with Medicare paying for 3 overnight sleep studies, countless hours wasted driving to and from studies, and we have nothing to show for it. No machine, no test reports to pass on to new doctor. What a complete waste of time, money, and resources. Again, sleep aid machine was ordered Dec 7th, and we have nothing as of Feb. 16th. Plus repeated request to get sleep studies reports have resulted in nothing. I feel Kaiser should reimburse Medicare for whatever they were charged for the sleep studies, as that time and data was a waste.

My point in taking the time to generate this complaint is this: 1) To obtain test reports of 3 sleep studies, so new physician can determine his own conclusion. 2) To bring to light the need for Krista **r to be retrained, and progress monitored. 3) To alert other consumers of the Kaiser incompetence in this case, and waste of Medicare money, as new physician will require new sleep study so he can finally get the test data and reports, so he can make his own conclusion, and hopefully order a machine. Medicare waste and fraud, and a complete waste of my time and resources.

I received a letter dated Jan. 11, 2010 informing me that on Dec. 1, 2009, an external electronic data storage device used by a Kaiser Permanente employee to store copies of work files was stolen from the employee's car at the employee's home. However, the theft was not reported to authorities or Kaiser until Dec. 8, 2009. The employee is no longer working at Kaiser. On January 15th, 2010, I called Kaiser 8776080050 and they told me at first that I was not one of the members that had my information taken, but then I explained that I received this letter and wanted them to double check. I was then put on hold for approximately 3 minutes and was told that in fact, I am one of the members that had my information taken. They said that it was my first and last name, DOB, Kaiser member number. They reassured me that my SS number was not on the device.

I then asked why and what type of information did this person download to their personal laptop. They said that this former employee worked in the Palliative Care Department and it had something to do with "in-home care that I had received in the past" and/or "general information relating to the care and treatment of your chronic health condition". I then explained to the operator that I've never had any in-home care for myself or immediate family nor did I have a "chronic condition" that I am aware of (I hope Kaiser is not keeping health info from me).

I continued to ask "if you know that my ID was one of the members, then I demanded to know what other protected health information (PHI) was taken". They said that they are investigating. Again, they know what was downloaded and I want to know what it was. I never received in-home care so there must be another reason that my information was used. Oh and if any update information is obtained from this investigation, Kaiser would send me a letter explaining this.

I was then told that I needed to go to the Kaiser website to be sure no one would use the information to try to get any type of medical help. I told them that they need to contact me if there is any appointment made and that I don't have time to check a couple of times a day to see if someone is using my medical number. I want to know exactly what PHI was used and downloaded and why did it take Kaiser over one month to contact me. Again, I feel that if this former employee didn't report it for a week after the theft, then there is something wrong here. If this was done for work, then why hide the fact that it was stolen? Kaiser said that they have no indication to believe that the information is being used for fraud or other criminal activity and believes it a low-risk for me. I don't believe this statement because if that was the case, then why have me check my Kaiser appointments and medical updates daily? For some reason or another, this is really bothering me.

I've been calling Kaiser Customer Service (866-238-2808) almost everyday for a week now to cancel my mom's insurance policy, and it's been a real pain. First of all, most customer service reps are not that helpful. The representative I spoke today (10:01 ET, 01/04/10) was the worst of them; she tried to ignore all my questions and attempted to hang up on me. She was very rude.

It was also especially hard to send a fax to them. I faxed the cancellation notice almost everyday, and they have 2 days to verify if the fax went through. I've faxed my docs at home and through outside fax service, but when I try to verify later, they were not able to receive it.

My issue with Kaiser is not the amounts charged necessarily, but how the amounts change from time to time. For example, just when I thought I had cleared a bill, the same old items would show up again with different amounts on the next bill. I have called the billing department 2-3 times over the year since our insurance changed to high-deductible, but none of the times the explanation made any sense to me.

For example, when I returned from an extended trip this fall, I had two monthly invoices that showed exactly the same items over the same period of time. But the later invoice would have $10 more than the previous one...and it was not late fee or anything like that. I called in the attempt to understand what the $10 was, and all I got was "...that's right, that's what it should be...". Needless to say I paid the earlier amount which I understood, and attached an explanation with my payment. (I am sure I am charged interest now on this $10 by the collection agency)

At my most recent visit to Kaiser (Nov. 09), I was told and paid my share of $75 to the receptionist. When I received the invoice statement later, another $10 was added to this visit...with no clear explanation what this another $10 was for.

I have in front of me now, to go through again, several pieces of invoices for visits, invoices for prescriptions, letters to Kaiser, letters to the collection agency, from over the year since the insurance changed to high-deductible. I cannot tell you how turned off I am by Kaiser's billing practice. We no longer visit Kaiser unless there is absolutely no other choice, and we certainly don't follow any procedures just because the M.D. has suggested it...no way! I learned that the hard way...$1200 MRI at the end of last year...

We love the M.Ds., but the billing methodology sucks and the billing department personnel can use more training in explaining the amounts.

I purchased individual insurance online and was subsequently approved by Kaiser. I was required to submit my debit card number online where monthly payments will be deducted. On 25th August, I called Kaiser's member services and talked to Latasha about cancelling the insurance. She assured me that my first payment was due to go through on the 5th and so if I sent a fax stating that I withdraw my application, she will see to it that i was not charged. However I did get charged on the 5th. i called her again and she claimed she never got the fax. I sent it again and again but never could get hold of her.I am told by the different associates that I talk to that Latasha never entered my request and I don't think I should pay for her negligence. Even left voice messages on her phone. I have been charged $657 for a service I had cancelled even before it was supposed to start. I have sent 5 faxes so far and still every time i call, i am stonewalled. I am told my case is "pending". I have asked for a refund but nobody is calling me back and i am fustrated. I am wondering if i could take this to court and what recourse i should take. I have proof..dates and times and then the fax reports.

For over a year Kaiser Hospital has called our home on their automated service for appointment for Jose G.. We've called them over and over to tell them our number has no Jose G. at this number. They CONTINUE TO CALL US FOR HIS APPOINTMENTS! IT IS VERY DISTURBING TO CONTINUE TO GET THEIR CALLS AFTER WE HAVE TRIED AND TRIED TO GET THEM TO STOP

I would like to know why a HMO can bill three years back for services?We never really know what the final bill will be! My flex plan only allows for the submission of claims to 15 months! If we go over or under the amount we have allotted we lose. Also billings are inaccurrant and they combine different years on the billings. How is this legal?

Went in for Pap, got bad results a week later saying I need biopsy. Had an appointment for 3 weeks later. Day before my appointment, Kaiser called me to cancel my appointment because Doctor was not going to be there. ANOTHER appointment was made and I had to now wait ANOTHER 3 weeks. A few days passed when I realized that I would be on my period and you can't be on your period for a biopsy on your cervix. First time my appointment was made the Kaiser operator informed me about my period, when Kaiser called to reschedule, the operator forgot to inform me about my period and I'm just thinking about getting the next available appointment. When I called back a few days later to let Kaiser know that I will be on my period and if they can make it for a week later, they told me they had nothing available and that I would now be waiting a total of OVER 2 months for my biopsy. Come on! I might have cancer and Kaiser wants me to wait 2 months to find out for sure.

I put in a complaint, cried to everyone with no luck, they would not even give me a refferal. I'm going crazy wondering what the heck is wrong with me and they are making me wait that long to find out?! That is soooooo EVIL.

At approximate August 4, 2009, I phoned the Kaiser Permanente Hospital operator and asked the operator how much costs me to see a doctor to write a letter for my new employer. The operator did not tell me how much it cost. I then made an appointment on Thursday afternoon, August 19.

On Thursday afternoon, August 19, 2009, I went to the Kaiser Permanente hospital to see my doctor. First, I paid one hundred dollars bill for registration fee. A nurse checked my temperature, high and weight. In addition, the nurse told me to give me a free immunization Shot.

Later, I met with Doctor Ms. Greer at her office. Ms. Greer asked me health questions. I then told her that I am a normal person and I had no health problem at all. Today I just wanted [her] to write a letter for my new employer. After Doctor Ms. Greer routine checked my eyes, ears and body, she told me to take a urine and blood test before she could write a letter for me. And I did.

Yesterday, I received three hundred and thirty dollars bill from the Kaiser Permanente. I was frustrated and upset. It is only cost $85.00 dollars at any clinic to see a doctor to write a letter. There was no prescription, no operation and no medication for me. There were same of procedures unnecessary for me when I saw the doctor. Why did the Kaiser Permanente hospital charge me $430.00?

Today, I then called several Kaiser Permanente hospital phone numbers regarding overcharge on my bill. This morning, I spoke with Ms. Tanisinus. She said that the bill was correct. She could not help me to fix the bill problem. I totally believe that it was a scam and the Kaiser Permanente hospital overcharged me.

Taking time off worker for different matters, comes a point that you too need to also take care of your health conditions, so for about the past 2 weeks I have been experiencing numness on my left hand but just last night I felt them on both, I work with the Sheriff's Department and yes, I type all day every day but it doesn't mean otherwise, I was told that I had to be put on the list to see my primary doctor but I requested to see any other doctor available,

but I was given an attitude by one of the unknown clerks, then transfered to another clerk and then a supervisor for an appointment, I was told they had an available appt. on the same day, can't drop everything and just leave I have been taking off for other serious matters,

all I needed was enough time to give my supervisor a notice just like everyone else in other company's. I love kaiser services but I hope that I don't run across this problem ever again with Kaiser. Again, I am sorry but my health comes first and they are their to serve. I don't need to have anyone else stress me when I'm going through a tremendous family crisis.

June 01 because of previous billing experience with Kaiser, Perry called in to ask how much would the procedure be in exact amount (that meant the entire charge of the service). The person took the phone call was not able to answer by reading the computer. The she asked somebody else, and that person told her how to check and then she told Perry the charge would be $30 (she did not mention that was co-pay only). She did not mention there was laboratory fees involved. (this is the first malpractice: not enough information conveyed to patient) That $30 she said would be an oral contract for charges on the service provided to me. No addition fees should be charged.

June 02 I went to Kaiser at Walnut Creek to complete the procedure. When I left, the cashier wanted to charge $40. I told her my husband said it should be $30. Then she conceded; I paid $30. (this is the second malpractice: staff was not clear on the charges). June 28 I received a bill dated June 24, 2009 of the amount $585.

June 30 My husband logged a complaint in Kaiser's website. July 2 My husband received a phone call from Kaiser asking for detail information. During the conversation, my husband complained that the $585 was outrageous and the $30 was not a reasonable estimate of the service charge. Then the woman responded that we should call another phone number for a better estimate. We were never informed that there was such a phone number we could call. (this is the third malpractice: information hidden from patients)

Jul 08 I received another bill dated June 25, 2009 of the amount $217. July 10 Signed statement of Authorized representative, faxed to Kaiser. July 31 I received a letter dated July 28, 2009 saying the complaint was rejected.

My complaint concerns the billing of $802. That $30 the staff said would be an oral contract for charges on the service provided to me. No addition fees should be charged. To solve the problem, I would like you to waive the charges because of your inaccurate estimate on your services and unprofessional management as a reputed health service provider. If you would tell me it cost $802 before the procedure, I would not even come to receive it.

In addition, when the procedure was completed and I paid $30, the entire transaction was considered over. Kaiser should not assume I have extra $802 to spare. The $30 estimate that my husband was told was far from a good estimate. In my opinion, Kaiser, under a very unprofessional management, caused all this trouble and should be responsible for its own mistakes.

I am writing this because I think everyone should know how horrible Kaiser is. My daughter fractured her ankle on July 1st. We had to take her to a kaiser contracted hospital, they set her in a splint and said for us to follow up with kaiser for an ortho appointment. I took her to a ped. doctor the next day, they said that they would put in a referral to ortho and that it would take at least 8 days to get in. That night we had to take her back to urgent care they xrayed her again and failed to tell us where her fracture was located. I called friday the 3rd and again on July 5th to see if they can get her in sooner. They told us no because of the swelling. I told them that the swelling was down. They said go to the ER. So once again we went back to the ER. They advised me that her ankle was fractured on both sides and that ortho will be calling me with a sooner appointment. Which they did not. Mind you I have filed a complaint with them and was advised that someone would call me that day to discuss my complaint. What a shock they didn't. Meanwhile she might need surgery to set it right. All this trouble because they FAIL at everything.

I had an appontment for 4:40 P.M. today and I was 10 mintues late and I could'nt in I had blood work done and stool work done to. I've a lot of and the Doctor was late. Now I have to wait until August to get another appointment, I can't take off from work because I have to pay bills and happy that I have a JOB but I am very dissapointed.

I went to my ob/gyn complaining about ongoing irratibility, anxiety, and depression. The doctor asked me if I wanted a birth control prescribed to me each time I went and I told him "no" that I wanted medication to treat anxiety and depression not birth control. He seemed baffled as to why I would be coming to him with my problem and asked me this. I got a referral to see Pauline Chan, which I believed was a psychiatrist. She was not a psychiatrist but a social worker and this appointment was supposed to be an assessment and this made me very upset and I became anxious and had to leave. I was never referred to anyone. A few months later I had such a bad episode with my anxiety and the depression grew that the only recourse I had was to go to the emergency room. The emergency doctor prescribed two medications, which I used in good faith for a few months but noticed no significant change. I wrote my MD stating the lack of effects of the medication and she told me that both of those meds were supposed to be a temporary fix and that I would probably need something more.

I was told to call Kaiser Psych and when I did I was told that I would have to have a triage nurse call me back to assess the situation. No one called me back that day so I called back and they told me that I had to go through Pauline Chan again. So I left a message with her to no avail. The next day a triage nurse called me and told me that I was to talk with her. I was confused and told her that was not what they told me yesterday but that I was talk with Pauline Chan.

I feel like this company/insurance does not care at all about the mental well being of their patients. I have been seeking help for 10 months from my insurer with no response. I am making an appointment to see someone else outside of my insurance as I have no faith that I will ever get to see someone within this insurance company.

Is there anything I can do for all these problems with Kaiser?

dr jennings met with me a month ago to review paperwork to complete disability forms. he has failed to respond to phone calls, emails or faxes i have sent to him. This could result in loss of my ability to access state disability payments that could prevent the loss of my home.

First and foremost I would like to caution anyone who is considering choosing Kaiser for their health insurance. I have experienced continual negligence and incompetence. The few Kaiser physicians I have encountered who are of a higher caliber seem to be leaving. I have had several instances:

-I was having bloodwork done for potentially serious issues. However to my dismay when I got the reults back I found they tested for NOTHING the doctor had ordered, but they did manage to test for my blood type...despite already being entirely aware I am type A positive. The person drawing my blood at the time it was taken had a pretty poor attitude and said with exasperation "great, no veins!" as if I'd intentionally made it difficult for them to draw my blood. And despite the countless times I've had blood drawn I've NEVER experienced bruising like this time. Eventually they got it right though.

- I've been having pain in my lower abdomen, going on five months now and no one is helping me. They keep telling me it is just a muscle even while I'm protesting I feel the presence of SOMETHING on my side. One of the good docs I met with referred me to have pelvic and abdominal ultrasounds. She made it a point to tell me to ensure they do the abdominal ((inference there is that she's fully aware her orders are often not followed)). Well I made sure they physically did the abdominal and received test results for both as negative. Two months later and the doc I'm seeing this time tells me they never even did the abdominal ultrasound, despite me getting negative test results back! Upon finally realizing they didn't do what was asked ((yet again)) the doc had me get an MRI done. I've yet to receive the results. The day it was done the technician performing my MRI gave me a picture CD of the procedure. She then advised me that, "your Kaiser doctor doesn't necessarily need to see these, but just keep them for your records in the future." So we'll see if the MRI was also futile as I don't expect anything fruitful to come of this either--much less expect a test result ((and forget about it being accurate!))

I could go on to talk about how rude and dismissive some of these doctors have been, or the countless others' horror stories I've heard from others. Even my eye doctor who is now in private practice was once employed by Kaiser and even she was speaking of how lousy they are. I am not one to complain BUT your health is priceless. So you'd expect those you entrust with it know ((or even care)) what they're doing. I am praying whatever my mystery ailment is doesn't get worse before open enrollment, as I am undoubtedly switching insurance companies asap!!

For the safety and peace of mind for your loved ones and yourself DO NOT CHOOSE KAISER PERMANENTE if you have any other options. It may end up saving your life.

Well, my story goes as following:I was a vising researcher for an university.I had Kaiser Permanente(means king for allways-maybe it refers to the doctors there).I had my last echocardiogram control(results were perfect) scheduled on 8 octomber, but my contract ended as I found later on 30 september.Nobody told me then they will charge me any money, so they did like one month after the exam:860$ for 15 min of consultation.It is outrageous.When I called them to complain they hang on on me.I mean seriously these guys are all for money it seems.I paid them and hopefuly I will never hear they name again.

860$ for a regular exam. No treatment and no advise.Still have the heart palpitaions, only now I feel like a moron.Shame on me.

On November 22, 2008 I was attacked by an armed burglar while in my home. He beat me while I tried to escape. After talking to the police I decided to go to the nearest Emergency Room to be seen just to make sure I was alright. I went to the ER at Kaiser in Richmond, CA because my husband had insurance with kaiser through his employer. Upon registering I was told that the cost of the visit was $180. I began crying because I felt I should not have to pay so much after paying monthly dues and being the victim of a crime. The woman at the front desk told me that I did not have to pay the amount right then if I didn't want to (but she told me not to mention that she had informed me of this right). I thanked her and asked to be billed.

I waited to be seen in the waiting room, I was called in by the nurse, told to wait for the doctor, I waited about 5 min., and the doctor came in. He asked me what had happened and then examined me for about 10-15min. after which he decided I was fine, but that my neck and face might begin to hurt later since I was still in shock. He prescribed me vicotin and ibuprofen and I paid for these at the pharmacy. I never received a bill until January 2009 and I am now being billed in the amount of $720 ($530 being paid by insurance). This makes the total for my 15 minute check-up $1250! (and I cried when I thought I had to pay $180).

I called in January regarding the first bill, and was told that there had been a huge billing error on services rendered between November 18-30, 2008. I was told that a supervisor would contact me or my mother (since I had moved abroad in December). No one ever called and this week my mother informed me that the same bill arrived again. I called today and spoke with Marie at the 800 number I gave above. Marie explained that it was no mistake, that the cost of my visit to the ER that day was $1250, of which I am responsible for $720. She said there is a $180 deposit for being seen and that the rest is for the cost of lab tests, x-rays, etc.

I told her this was excessive and ridiculous, especially since I am insured, am the victim of a crime, and I never received any lab tests, xrays, bood transfusions, IVs, nothing, just 15 minutes with a doctor. She told me she would file a complaint on my behalf stating that I thought the charges are excessive for the services I actually used that day in 15 minutes. I have no idea how to confront this situation, but I feel I am being robbed. I left the U.S. and moved to Spain in order to avoid this sort of health insurance fiasco. The irony is that one month before leaving I was attacked, and as the victim of crime I have no right to emergency room services even after having paid for health insurance.

I have been very stressed and concerned regarding this matter and I am scared that I will lose this battle and the amount due will remain the same. I am unemployed because I cannot legally work in Spain and my husband and I do not have this money.

I did the online quit smoking plan and then requested a rx for patches & gum from Dr. C. Her office called me last week saying the rx was @ Davis pharmacy but I had to bring in my 'certificate' that I took the class. I took it in yesterday and Joel told me there was no rx from the dr. like they called and told me there was, but I showed him my 9 page plan from online anyway.

Today, I called again to the dr. for the rx that should've been there as stated, now they are telling me I need to go back into the pharmacy with my 'certificate'. I called and they even talked to Joel who still says they need to see it again. I have spent a total of 5 phone calls and 1.5 hrs on the phone & gas & time in the rain to drive there once. They need to mail me my rx as I have requested.

Why doesn't Kaiser know that I took THEIR class on THEIR website and why don't they have the rx there when THEY called me to say they do? And why should I have to go back when I already went and waited in a LONG line yesterday and due to THEIR mistake, I am supposed to continue being PUT OUT? And why do they all keep telling me to bring in my 'certificate' which is confusing to a patient, when they should call it the 'multiple page quit smoking plan?' All of this is a HUGE inconvenience of my day and time and A LOT of UNDUE stress by the very crew that should be my support. I don't want some lame response telling me to go in again. I want my rx mailed to me now for all I have been through and for doing my part ALREADY! It is time for KAISER to do their part!

Undue stress, loss of time from work, loss of money on gas, spent time in the rain, long lines, etc.

I write to file a complaint on Kaiser Permanente's billing service. I enrolled in Kaiser's health care plan until the end of September 2008. Here are all the incidents I complain on their service. I have enrolled in Kaiser's health care service since Jan 2008. Then my husband covers us (me and my son) under his employer's insurance starting October 2008. In August 2008, I called Kaiser and told them to terminate my service in October 2008 and they said they would do that. But then after October 2008, I received bills for October 2008 and then also other statements to collect the fee. I sent them letters. None was processed.

In June, my son received medical service in Swedish Family Medicine (SFM) located in Seattle. Then I was billed by Kaiser the amount of $165 because SFM charged Kaiser $165. I sent a check to Kaiser. But then even after a few months, SFM billed me. Obviosuly Kaiser did not pay SFM. Then months after June, Kaiser sent me a letter saying I only have to pay $143 because $22 is covered by my medical plan. So Kaiser owed me $22.

I sent 2 letters to Kaiser customer service to settle this. I got no reply but bills. I still get a bill from SFM dated Jan 18. 2009; and a bill from USCB (a collecting agent) for a balance of $24. I am not sure how $24 comes up but I consider this is a harassment that Kaiser initiates. I condemn Kaiser for all its irresponsible doing and harassment to me, and disclosing my personal information to collecting agent.

In February i received a letter from Kaiser saying the case is followed up by some representative from kaiser. Then I corresponded with him , trying to resolve the matter. He went back to me saying Swedish Family got my money and said this case could be closed. Then I called Swedish, they said Kaiser still keep the money. Then I faxed the guy in Kaiser asking him not to close the case, and also my money back. He had never responded after that.

$22. Private information disclosed.

Went to see Orthopedics about two tears I had felt in the shoulder, December 2006. Since x-rays did not reveal a tear the doctor insisted I did not have a tear, gave me a shot and sent me on my way. (Did not think that getting an MRI was possible with Kaiser.) Went to 4 sessions of physical therapy, but on my 4th session they would not treat me because of swelling. Managed to get the pain to a managable level, thanks to the exercises I had been shown.

February 2008 found out that an MRI was available, which I got for the left shoulder. Went back into physical therapy for the left shoulder, but the exercises caused the right shoulder to act up again. Requested MRI for right shoulder, June 2008, and HUGE tear was noticed. Doctor stated it could not be repaired. Received extensive physical therapy. The exercises take me 3 hours to do every night. Shall always wonder if the tear could have been repaired, had not the doctor refused to believe there was a tear.

Was not told the REASON(s) for the daily exercises, and slacked off when I came down with a sinus infection. When I went back to the exercises, my right arm/shoulder had started freezing up, and I had horrible pain in the bicipitual muscles. Went to see another specialist, and was told the shoulder tear was pulling on the other muscles in my arm, which has extended down into my elbow, wrist, hand, and lower arm. Life will never be the same as I once knew it. I'll never be able to take another plane trip because of being unable to handle luggage, I also have to ice for an hour in the evening and another hour in the morning. Thank you.

Member Services has stated this would be looked into, but have mostly just been ignoring what has happened. The tear was not bad enough to need a shoulder replacement, but the pain is enough to make me miserable (have to use stinky pain creams several times a day). Occasionally I manage to get some pain relief though a TENS unit, which the first doctor did prescribe for me. I plan on switching to Blue Cross during the next Open Season (allowed to do this as a Government employee), which of course will cost more money. Just wish that doctors would take more time to listen to their patients.

When I was eight years old, I was diagnosed with the neurological disorder, Tourette's Syndrome. Kaiser set me up to have regular vists with a psychiatrist who did not listen to a word I said but perscribed me with an adult's dosage of Resperidal. Go ahead and research this drug. It is known to cause obesity and diabetes. Needless to say because of this drug, I was sleeping 3/4 of my life away and I gained over 150 pounds. So now, as I am 21 years old and I've refused to take any more medications that Kaiser wants to shove down my throat, I go to my primary doctor, I tell her ""What the hell am I supposed to do now that I'm 4'11"" and I'm 260 pounds?"" This was her honest answer, ""diet and exercise"" Oh really? It's THAT easy? You WOULD say that, seeing as how you weigh 110 pounds at the most. I said ""There HAS to be another way, is there anything I can do?"" ""We could perscribe you diet pills"" I said ""Okay..well I have Tourette's, I can take any uppers"" ...

So she sends me to a dietician. I go. I spend more money to commute 30 miles to Kaiser and the dietician tells me ""eat more vegetables"" ...Seriously? So then I go to a meeting to discuss weight loss surgery. I sat in that meeting for three hours and then at the end I had to fill out an application and then I waited for three weeks to receive something in the mail.. The letter said that my BMI isn't high enough for the surgery. So I call and ask them if there's anything else I can do as a last resort. They sent me to yet another meeting and a 60 mile commute to yet another two hour meeting called ""Options"". DO NOT GO TO THIS MEETING UNLESS YOU HAVE ATLEAST $4,000 TO SPEND ON THIS, IT WOULD COME OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET. $4,000 for soup, protein shakes, and apple sauce. four months later, her I sit...weighing 260 pounds and a medical provider who I'm paying big money to every month...for what? I am getting nothing from them but morbid obesity. Thankyou Kaiser.

When I was eight years old, I was diagnosed with the neurological disorder, Tourette's Syndrome. Kaiser set me up to have regular vists with a psychiatrist who did not listen to a word I said but perscribed me with an adult's dosage of Resperidal. Go ahead and research this drug. It is known to cause obesity and diabetes. Needless to say because of this drug, I was sleeping 3/4 of my life away and I gained over 150 pounds.

So now, as I am 21 years old and I've refused to take any more medications that Kaiser wants to shove down my throat, I go to my primary doctor, I tell her What the hell am I supposed to do now that I'm 4'11 and I'm 260 pounds? This was her honest answer, diet and exercise Oh really? It's THAT easy? You WOULD say that, seeing as how you weigh 110 pounds at the most. I said There HAS to be another way, is there anything I can do? We could perscribe you diet pills I said Okay..well I have Tourette's, I can take any uppers. So she sends me to a dietician. I go. I spend more money to commute 30 miles to Kaiser and the dietician tells me eat more vegetables. So then I go to a meeting to discuss weight loss surgery. I sat in that meeting for three hours and then at the end I had to fill out an application and then I waited for three weeks to receive something in the mail. The letter said that my BMI isn't high enough for the surgery.

So I call and ask them if there's anything else I can do as a last resort. They sent me to yet another meeting and a 60 mile commute to yet another two hour meeting called Options. DO NOT GO TO THIS MEETING UNLESS YOU HAVE ATLEAST $4,000 TO SPEND ON THIS, IT WOULD COME OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET. $4,000 for soup, protein shakes, and apple sauce. four months later, her I sit...weighing 260 pounds and a medical provider who I'm paying big money to every month...for what? I am getting nothing from them but morbid obesity.

This staff member was abusive, rude and unhelpful when I presented myself for assistance with psychiatric concerns and need for disability paperwork to be signed.

I have to pay for my Kaiser health plan through my retirement funds and have $10.00 co-pays each time I visit. I have paid for 7 visits since November and 3 prescriptions but none of my doctors or therapists have been able to help me with necessary paperwork for state disability. I was assigned to Fouzia Aftab as primary provider and when I emailed her for help she deferred and told me to take the forms to a psychiatrist. I have not been assigned to a psychiatrist. None of themhave been able to help me complete disability forms.

Canceled policy on 2-1-09.As of 3-10-09 I stil have not received my refund of $319.00. I have made several phone calls and still nothing has been resolved.I would like interest on my money they have kept.

I went in with severe lower back pain and was given Vicodin which worked very well. The pain got worse and finaly was was given a MRI which showeed I had 2 torn disks on my lower back. I was finaly seen by Dr. Tin and thats when the nightmare began. Everytime I would have a visit with him, he would prescribe a different med which wouldn't work. I must have taken 8 different meds. He had taken me off of the vicodin and told him that nothing else was working! Everytime he was gonna look up a different med, he said he had to ask his collegues! Everytime I had a question for him, he would go ask his collegues! He had me sign this pain agreement which said that if I didn't take the meds he'd give me, he would cancel my insurance. Thank GOD he got transfered to O.C., then I got Dr. Diana, and she said she didn't know me and didn't know if I was selling my meds on the streets. I was offended but didn't say anything to her. I told her I was frustrated and she said not much I can do for you buddy, you're on Methadone which by the way works well for withdrawls but does absolutely nothing for the pain.

This pain is interfearing with my daily life, work and has caused many arguements with my wife and I. Now my Lft thigh is getting severly knumb and they tell me not to worry about it! I can't get going in the morning and by the afternoon, my back feels like it's gonna break in two. Im paying so much every month just to get the runaround from these people. It's a joke!!!

Please allow me to vent my anger and frustration over my recent visit to the Kaiser Lakewood (CO) offices with my son. On Feb. 20, 2009, I made an appt for my son, age 15, to have something done to relieve the pain of his ingrown toenail, which has bothered him since an injury during Soccer practice several years ago.

He saw a Dr Karen B. Wilson at 3:20 PM. She peered distastefully at the offending digit never touched or turned the foot, spoke to us as though we were ignorant and told my son and myself that he should soak his toe.. Then gave us a little booklet on toe care. and when asked about cutting the nail replied. We are instructed not to cut the nail, thats surgery and we have no means of doing that here.?

Geeze! This is the very reason why we were here in the first place, to have the bloody toenail cut! I have had my own toenail cut in the very offices we are discussing! We have been soaking the toe for many months! I did not need a little booklet to tell me how to do it. I did not need to drive 40 miles to get advice, which could have been given over the phone, from some namby pamby Doctor with a holier than thou attitude and I damn sure dont need to be billed for an office visit where nothing, absolutely NOTHING was done!

I am almost positive that I can get better service from my local veterinarian. At least they have the tools at hand to clip a nail!

Billed $120 for office visit

Every thing started when I called Kaiser Permanente in Mountain View, CA to get proof that I was immune to Hepatits B (for work purposes). When I received the bill in the mail, I was charged for 4 additional tests that I never asked for. The total bill was $690. I filed a grievance with Kaiser Permanente and it was denied because they claimed I asked for these tests. When I asked, Who said I asked for these tests? The doctor said, There was a note on my desk and it wasn't signed.

I ask them to search the phone records, and they said they found nothing. What it boils down to is they have no record of me asking for these tests and they are taking the doctor's word against mine. Please help! I don't want to pay for tests that I never asked for in the first place.

I immediately drafted a letter dated and sent out on 9/24/08 advising them of this. I also expressed concern over credit balances apparently 'due' to me that were never reimbursed or even given notification of until then.

Then suddenly, I recieved a statement where my $180 payment was reflected but now the ER visit charges were suddenly increased by roughly the same amount they were trying to collect prior to applying the $180.

This really confused me because now I am receiving conflicting charges for the same visit without explanation. I had sent letters responding to each statement as I recieved them in an effort to resolve the issue ASAP. However, I never recieved a response or reply to any of those letters.

When the statement came in with the increased charges I sent yet another letter, recapping previous info and advising of my concern for the accuracy and proper handling of my medical billing due to the discrepencies; I requested a written response explaining the discrepency and validating the correct charges. I also requested a complete audit of my medical billing at this point. And further advised my frustration at the utter lack of response and apparent lack of concern for customer service.

Let it be known that I made it clear I would pay whatever charges were due as soon as the discrepencies were explained and the charges were validated.

My last letter sent was dated 11/22/08 and was in response to yet another statement - this one dated 11/16/08 - in which the ER charges now reflected the original charge and my $180 payment again missing. In this final letter sent directly to the billing dept from which all statements had been received - I again recapped the entire scenario, again provided copies and documentation and advised that with the complete lack of response and acknowledgement to my several attempts to resolve the issue I would now seek to file a formal complaint for mis-management of my medical billing, bad business practices and complete lack of customer service or concern. And would pursue a formal audit of Kaiser's Medical Billing - at minimum - my own billing at the very least.

Since that letter was sent - I've received another barrage of inconcistent statements and just received notice that I've been turned over to a Collection Agency - as they sent me a letter and bill dated 1/21/09. After which, I received two additional statements from Kaiser for the same thing - again each statement inconcistent with the other.

I am also sending a copy of my letter to Kaiser outlining the issue to Consumer Affairs & the Federal Trade Commission. And finally, I will be sending a letter of complaint to the FTC directly.

I want a resolution to this - I want an official audit of at minimum - my medical billing account, if not a random sampling of others because I can't imagine I'm the only member dealing with this type of situation. I want someone to sit down with me now - in person - to go over all of these statements and inconcistent information and explain them. I want a validation of 'accurate' charges for the ER visit. And I want to insure my credit record and name are not damaged by this whatsoever!! I need help in getting this done.

I went to the Emergency room with a hurt knee. I was assesed when I got there and sent to xray, I noticed on the form that it had to xray might right knee. I had told them it was the left that had been hurt. When I brought it the attention of the xray dept she just told me to have a seat and wait for the tech. When he called me in he prepared to xray the wrong leg. I told him it was the right leg no the left that had been injured. After I got into see the doctor he gave me a splint for my leg and said I problably just pulled some muscle. I asked him what the xray showed and he said he had not looked at it.

Keep in mind he was getting ready to send me home without seeing the xray. After he looked at it he came back and said I fractured my tibia. I was refered to Orthapedics and had to wait another 3 days to get into that dept. I was just told to stay off of my knee. When I was seen in orthapedics they told me that the Emergency room had given me the wrong brace and gave me another one.

I am having to pay for all of this as well. I have also had numerous billing problems with Kaiser and was chared over 400 just to see the doctor for less than 10 minutes.
My husbands work is very slow and he is self employeed and I feel like I am being over charged by the insurance company. All of my money is paying for medical.

We applied for insurance in Sep 2008 but received a letter stating that we need to get a pregnancy test before we are approved. The letter clearly stated the Kaiser Permanente facility to visit and that the test would be at no cost to us. Few months after the test (which was requested by Kaiser and not by us) we received a bill for the test.

On informing Kaiser they realized that the bill was sent in error and asked us to ignore the bill. Few weeks later we again received the bill. Even when we filled an official grievance with Kaiser our request was denied. We still have the letter that clearly states that the test would be at no cost to us and yet Kaiser won't stop from harassing us with bill we don't owe. In short, if you are buying insurance with Kaiser be prepared for harassment.

patient room. I was dizzy and in pain.

Then a
Physician's Assitnant came in named Joy. She
did not ask any questions about the fall, my head, my
shouldler, and the most painfull of all, my knee. 1100
lbs had fallen directly on my knee and hyperextnded
it, I told her. The PA began grabbing my knee and forcefully
trying to extend my leg. I screamed out in pain twice
begging her to stop. She left the room and did not say
anything. I was then met by a nurse assistant who put

me in a wheelchair and sent me to x-ray.

No Xrays or any attention to
my shoulder or head were taken. It was like they
dismissed my other injuries and did not want to pay
for the extra film. My x-ray technicain, after she was
done, wheeled me to the x-ray waiting room and just
left me there in the public. I was feeling faint, in

pain and left there to fend for myself.

I had to call
for my husband (who was taking care of my 20 month
old) to bring me back to the PA's office. Once back in
Joy's office, I waited another 30 minutes,
when I finally hopped out and asked what was going on?
I was told to get back in the room and someone will be
with me shortly. Then a nurse's assitant came in about
15 minutes later with a brace and demanded that I
straighten my knee. I told her that the pain was too
intense and straightening my knee was an impossiblity.

She left the room without saying anything.

I waited
another 15 minutes until I open doored and asked what
was going on? I ran into Joy who then yelled
out in the doctor's office that if I couldn't

straighten my leg, that I couldn't be helped.

I hopped out of the doctor's office without being given
crutches, no examination of my head, no examination of
my shouldler. I repeatly told the PA that my horse had
fallen on me. She did not care and in mid sentence,

told she knew that!

I tried contacting Kaiser to see a specialist for my
knee. I was then blown off and told that the next
appointment was in 10 days. Here I sit with massive
injuries to my knee, a concussion, and a bruised and
maybe dislocated shoulder and no matter what I said to
the nurse or the PA, they would not listen or treat my
injuries. I need help and I don't know how to get

Kaiser's attention.

I pay Kaiser every month, they should give proper

medical care to someone with injuries.

Hello, I recently Jan 1, 2009 was riding my horse when it slipped and fell on me causing massive injuries to my left knee, a head injury, and shoulder injury. Kaiser was only open in the after hours clinic. I had my husband carry me to the car and bring me there. Anyway, I hopped into the clinic and had to wait for about 20 minutes, I was then made to hop over to the patient room. I was dizzy and in pain. Then a Physician's Assitnant came in named Joy G. She did not ask any questions about the fall, my head, my shouldler, and the most painfull of all, my knee. 1100 lbs had fallen directly on my knee and hyperextnded it, I told her.

The PA began grabbing my knee and forcefully trying to extend my leg. I screamed out in pain twice begging her to stop. She left the room and did not say anything. I was then met by a nurse assistant who put me in a wheelchair and sent me to x-ray. No Xrays or any attention to my shoulder or head were taken. It was like they dismissed my other injuries and did not want to pay for the extra film. My x-ray technicain, after she was done, wheeled me to the x-ray waiting room and just left me there in the public. I was feeling faint, in pain and left there to fend for myself. I had to call for my husband (who was taking care of my 20 month old) to bring me back to the PA's office.

Once back in Joy's office, I waited another 30 minutes, when I finally hopped out and asked what was going on? I was told to get back in the room and someone will be with me shortly. Then a nurse's assitant came in about 15 minutes later with a brace and demanded that I straighten my knee. I told her that the pain was too intense and straightening my knee was an impossiblity. She left the room without saying anything. I waited another 15 minutes until I open doored and asked what was going on? I ran into Joy who then yelled out in the doctor's office that if I couldn't straighten my leg, that I couldn't be helped I hopped out of the doctor's office with being given crutches, no examination of my head, no examination of my shouldler.

I repeatly told the PA that my horse had fallen on me. She did not care and in mid sentence, told she knew that! I tried contacting Kaiser to see a specialist for my knee. I was then blown off and told that the next appointment was in 10 days. Here I sit with massive injuries to my knee, a concusion, and a bruised and maybe dislocated shoulder and no matter what I said to the nurse or the PA, they would not listen or treat my injuries. I need help and I don't know how to get Kaiser's attention. I pay Kaiser every month, they should give proper medical care to someone with injuries.

I had to pay $50 co-pay to get no medical care only to be abused and neglected by Joy and her staff. Then I'm forced to wait with massive injuries to see a specilaist. I would like someone to help me with getting Kaiser's attention about physical injuries I suffered from an 1100 lb horse falling on me. I want Kaiser to listen and get me the care I deserve in a appropriate and TIMELY matter. I have headaches now and am in so much pain, that I can't move. I ride and train horses for a living, my mobility is my livelyhood.

I told them the problem that I have and for what I was reading on the consumer report website a lot of people have. looks like the bulb burned and I need to replace them. they told me that this tv is 2 years old and that it was out of warranty and that there was nothing they could do.

It is very unreasonable that a company this big and with the product as expensive as they are they sell product that they know has to go wrong every 2 years. this is not right and something should be done about this.

I paid almost $1500.00 for this tv and now I have to spend almos $500 to fix it and just knowing that I have to do the same in two years makes me sick. I don't have the money to fix it now and I have to use a small 19" tv that I had for about 20 years because I can't afford to repair this TV

I had talked to an advice nurse and was instructed that if my condition, severe abdominal pain, did not improve that i should go to the ER. I waited it out that night, but i couldn't bear the pain or keep anything down. So i went to the nearest ER which happened to be Northbay. I was seen there and treated for my pain. I never thought that my visit would end up costing me $10,000+. Kaiser denied my claim stating it was emergency basis. I fought it stating that i was instructed to go to the ER if i did not improve. But no such luck.

I am now stuck with $10,000+ in medical bills, that i don't believe i should pay. It has caused damage to my credit and it's even hard for me to get cable!

I went to Kaiser Occ Med because of a pinched nervethat burned across my right buttock and down my right leg. I was directed to dr. where he got frustrated with my injury and proceeded to treat me as a fraud and came short of calling me a junkie and a drug dealer because the meds i was given didnt work.

I felt so degraded and uncomfortable with him I sought treatment else where and spent money on other treatments. He keep using leading questions to get me to say things not true.

I came in with an early miscarriage. As you can imagine, it was a fairly unpleasant experience in itself. However, wonderful professionals at the lab for aiding in the stress of my ordeal.

Apparently these individuals were too busy sharing stories to regard the doctor's orders to have me tested for the pregnancy hormone--my main reason for coming in. I can credit them with remembering run the test which determines what blood type I have. As helpful as it was for them to tell me something I already knew--that I am blood type A--I am more than slightly upset. As I laid there having blood drawn I could hear the other associates' loud personal conversations. I don't normally care about places being professional, but when you're having anything medically related done, you would like to feel some level of competency and professionalism.

I did, however, receive an extremely sore arm for the next two days. My arm now has a nice quater-sized bruise with two ugly marks where blood has come to the surface. I've had blood drawn and given blood several times. Yet I have NEVER had any type of mark like this. So in conclusion, I have to come back today and hope the talent working tonight can muster up the cognitive ability to test for WHATS ON THE PAPER RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM...and likely bruise my OTHER arm in the process.

They also have asked me to come in--due to this error--again in two days. My guess is that they will have to draw blood on my hand by then. So maybe this weekend I'll look like a convincing junkie, with nasty marks all over. I think it should also be mentioned that on my lunch break at work today I drove past a Kaiser facility with a man holding a sign saying Kaiser won't cover my child's special needs.

Since we have Kaiser, nothing is going smooth anymore. At the beginning I had Depo (Birth-Controll) We just switched to Kaiser when I went to get my Shot. I had to run to different places, incl. a pregnancy test, before 1 day and endless visits to previous doctors, phonecalls. I could not believe it.

Then came June 2006. My Colitis started to hurt. I knew it is infected again. I went to the nurse treatment. The lady start yelling at me that I have to call and make an appointment. There is nothing they can do right now. I said I am in pain and want help right now. She repeated I should have called. Which I know by now, when you call you have luck to get a call back the same day! At least a Doctor Mrs. Wendy M. W. came by. She did not listen to what I told her. She insisted I have STD. I can't remember how many times I told her that can't be. At the end she got really mad, because she is the doctor and knows everything better. I wrote several letters and had endless calls with KP Member service. I never heard back.

March 2007. Because of previous problems with Endomitrioses my OB-GYN refered to a Labrarscopy. We had this done at Interstate KP. 3 days later my husband brought me to Emergency KP at Sunnyside. I had the biggest problems breathing. I had many Labrarscopies done before and never any problems. From this time on, for over 1 year I could not smell or taste. It was like my Nasalstreets got turned off. I saw a ENT Specialist, but they couldn't find anything. Lots of problems with copay for this one. After 3 letters they finally accepted the reg. $20.00.

May 2008. We just moved. Middle of April I got a cold. That is what I thought. After 3 weeks it still was there. I called KP at Sunset. I got an appointment for 1 week later. Big problems, because I used to go to Beaverton. Now where we live in Hillsboro I want to go to the nearest one.

Dr. Brian R. visited with me for about 3 minutes. I told me that is typically Allergies. He prescribed me a few things and I should be up and running. Over the weekend it got worse. I called back on Monday and got in for Tuesdays. I saw Dr. Jeffrey S.. Also a 4 minute visit and he said I have a bronchitis. He prescribed Predneson. But even that did not do it. I was frustrated and thought it may be go away by itself. I even researched Indoor Air testing, in believe it has some to do with the new house.

August 2008. On August 4th I saw Dr S. again for another reason and told him I still have the cough and snut. He gave me Atrovent 4x 2 puffs a day. Maybe an X-Ray in about 4 weeks. On August 12th I called for an appointment the same day to get a Antibiotics. I was coughing all night long. I got a 1.50pm appointment with Dr. G. All of a sudden I had difficulties breathing. The right side around my chest hurt. I thought from last nights coughing I might have pulled a muscle or so. But it got so bad, that breathing was very difficult. I got the chills and drove around 12.30pm to KP Sunset. There I finally got Blood tested and an X-Ray from my chest. The result? Pneumonia.

Not one of the doctors before looked in my throat, even so I mentioned plenty of times my throat feels dry, scratchy and irritated. My voice is horse. Does the patient have to tell the doctors there every little step like with a little kid? They call themselves professionals? I want to see that. Most of them can't understand English. Why can they not listen to their patients? For one thing many appointments and every time the copay. To me and others it seems like the money is more important then the patients health.

How can they stay in this world? Other companies with misleading treatment would be long time ago kicked out from this society. Why not KP? Look online and you find nothing but complaints, mistreatment, death etc. about Kaiser. What else does it take? Where is the Board?

I am sicker then ever in my life. Emotional Stress, no trust against any doctor,

Nurse practioner allowing a diabetic patient to live with a HbA1c >9 and refusing to call in an endocrinologist, or following the recommendations of clinical pharmacist.

This will increase the chance for the patient to suffer sequela that could be lessened or delayed.

Dr. W advised me (via e-mail) to come in for bloodwork, and to schedule a Health Assessment Exam. My plan provides preventive care services with no co-pay. I went for bloodwork, then called and scheduled a Health Assessment Exam. I showed up for my Health Assessment Exam -- consisting of a review of my medical history, checking my ears and throat, listening to my heart/lungs, poked/prodded, prostate exam, review of my medications, and discussing miscellaneous medical concerns. Also a reeview of my lab results. Everything one would expect from a Health Assessment Exam.

However, since my bloodwork results were reviewed, the doctor classified this visit as a 'Follow-Up' (which just so happens to require a co-pay.) Grievance was filed with Kaiser, and denied. Complaint filed with the Insurance Administration was also denied, due to a review of the doctor's notes, which conveniently excluded information other than a review of the bloodwork and current medical conditions. The fact that the doctor advised me, in clear black and white, to schedule a HEALTH ASSESSMENT EXAM was considered irrelevant by Kaiser.

I was prescribed an antibiotic by a nurse for a bladder infection and started it on a Friday. By Monday I had a fever, chills, and a pounding headache that could not be relieved by any type of pain reliever (advil, tylenol). I call the clinic and my nurse practitioner just tells me to keep taking the antibiotic. Tuesday-went to ER, given different antibiotic although tests showed my infection were already gone.

Wednesday- conditions worsening, I had fever, chills, pounding headache, shaking. I'm told to continue with the antibiotic. Thursday- Hives along with all the other conditions. Eventually a different nurse practitioner finally told me to come in and see her after days in hell. They did a test to see if I had meningitis. And one doctor finally could see that gee- I was having an allergic reaction to the medication that my nurse practitioner had kept telling me to keep taking. I was in tears on the phone when the nurse would tell me this. This was one of the most horrible experiences of my life!

I ended up in the Kaiser hospital and a $600 bill. Along with 2 weeks missed from work and a recovery time of several months. I switched to Providence Health Plan as soon as I was able too. Also my supervisor at the time wanted me to call an hour before my shift (5am) to call in sick and I couldn't even crawl out of bed!

Kaiser has been consistently slow in booking appointments for me to see a doctor, to continue my medication. They essentially fail at every aspect of medical care that you can think of. the only thing they do do is to send a bag to me each year and ask for a stool sample when I have never had any related problems there.

I pay close to ten thousand a year thru my employer for kaiser coverage and I can't believe I can only get a bag for a stool sample for that.

My complaint is Cardiologiest of Kaiser Permenante in Hawaii and San Bernardino. Dr. Paul of Kaiser-Hawaii ignored my condition. A speculations Rhuematic Fever when I was young has caused my heart's Mitral Valve to malfuntion on 08/25/2005. An operation (11/08/2005) of replacement with machanical valve was done with a Maze procedure to help decrease Atrial Fibulation was prescribed by Dr. Paul. After the operation, Dr. failed to monitor my medications and assigned a nurse practioner to take over my condition and medication only to be accuessed of Non complient of Medication by the nurse practioner which was not true.

I continued to take medication that was prescribed to me after my operation without a Cardiologist monitoring my heart medications. My condition continued to deterrate I am still unable to hold a sustainable employment. I moved to California and suffered repeated Emergency Room visits with Chest Pains and difficultly breathing, Request of medical records from Dr. left the Doctors in California wondering why I was in the Emergency Room. I felt black balled Another incident in California, I did not mention Dr....in fear of another black balled incident.

And I was admitted to the hospital and an Ultrasound test, EKG, X-ray, and another test was done with me laying down and a lot of banging noises. Test results stated that I had Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension due to an enlarged left side of my heart and two valves are leaking, one valve leakes more than the other. The mechanical Mitral valve however works great. I finally understood my condition. This is why I start to cough liquid when I walk fast or walk far distance or doing any kind of hard physical activities.

The Cardiologist of St. Bernadine Medical Center in San Bernardino, California, that night monitoring my condition explained in detail what was going on with my condition. Until, the follow-up visit, with the same cardiology doctor. He stated that there is nothing wrong with me...and that the Mitral valve that was fixed is fixed and I have no other problems. I asked about his statement to me in the hospital of the leaking valves and the enlarged left side of my heart. He stated that there is nothing wrong with my heart. It is my lungs, that I have pulmonary hypertension. He refered me to a pulmonary specialist and this pulmonary doctor said that the reason for back flow of liquid into the lungs is because of the Aitral Fibulation and the leaking valves of the heart, cause the fluids to back-up into the lungs.

I believe that Dr. Paul and the cardiologist doctor spoke about my condition thus changing his comments of test results. I asked for test results and from what I could read and understand, increased size and leaking valves. I don't know any more, but I feel something is diffenently wrong.

I am in Hawaii again and requested another doctor besides Dr Paul. The doctor I got with Kaiser Medical Center a Cardiologist Dr. S., said I don't have Congestive Heart Failure and I don't have Pulmonary Hypertension with out looking through my medical records...He even attempted to stop my Coreg a major heart medication. I mentioned to him that I have Atrial Fibulation and that the Coreg helps to control my heart rate. Only then he goes to the computer and scrolls a while to read my history. He leaves the room without a proper medical exam. I am confused and litteraly very sick.

Please, my question is, could it be my medical plan on Med-Quest / Welfare Medical that such crappy services and treatment to a very sick mother of 10 children and age 42 when diagnosed of Mitral Valve replacement...Now I am 44 with a birthday on Mothers Day, I will be 45 years old. I am blessed to live long enough to know I have a grandson, my first grandchild. I have yet to hold and hear him cry. I respect the medical profession, I hate to point out other peoples problems but, When I am sick...I go to the doctor with trust and my undivided attention to do what ever they say to help me get better. Even to live just a little bit longer.

I continue to suffer from chest pains, coughing up liquids, difficulty breathing at times, I have not been able to go back to work with efforts of SSI/SSDI denials, I would be more than happy to return to work. Only to be taken to the hospital with a minor stroke and or chest pains. I have just gotten notice of the State of Hawaii Medical Examiner officially approved my case as Disabled. I finally have a Circut Judge Court date for Social Security on May 21, 2008. My condition continues to be unmonitored by a qualified Cardiologist.

I have been trying for over a year to get Kaiser in Bakersfield, CA to find out what is wrong with my back. All that has been done is an x-ray which showed arthrtis. I begged my primary doctor to find out what is wrong and she is not going to do it. She todl me yesterday that it was nouthing and told me she would not give me anymore medication for it, to take tylenol. It is all I can do to function with the medication so will probally end up out of work. She is also unwilling to put me on disability.

Now I also have something wrong with my hands/wrists. They are very painful and swollen for over a month. Arthritis in my back, swollen painful hands and wrists, low grade fever, fatigue. I am not a doctor but it would seem to me that she (the doctor) would be trying to find out what is wrong. I am being treated like there is nouthing wrong with me and my life is falling apart.

Kaiser is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. The only reason I am there at all is because I can't afford to pay cash for a doctor since I am broke from missing work, due to them not treating me in the first place.

I am in alot of pain, have no diagnosis, and am going to have to file bankruptcy due to missing work.

Where do I start??? Since my husband and I HAD to use Kaiser (because that is all the insurance his employer carries) we have had major problems. #1. I was mis-diagnosed by a doctor who did not speak english and who took no time to find out what was wrong with me. #2. I was told I should not be disabled because ALL the other patients with Psoriatic Arthritis are not disabled. #3.

I was told I could make an appointment to get a second opinion and did that, but was told they could not see me because I was the other DR's patient after I waited 1 hour for my appointment. That is just the start. I have more cases but it will take to long to list them. Not ONE visit or experience with Kaiser has been a pleasant or typical visit.

I have filed two complaints with member services and have not received a proper outcome. I feel that unless I do something drastic and go outside their world and file a complaint, nothing is going to get done! I will be filing this complaint anywhere and everywhere I can. Then maybe someone will listen and make the changes necessary to properly care for patients. I believe I have a case against Kaiser,

Extreme stress and phyical and emotional pain. Crying for 2 hours during each complaint i filed with member services. High blood pressure, and pain I had to endure for 2 weeks when I was not diagnosed properly.

My family (excluding my son) has had helth insurance with Kaiser permanente for over 3 years. Recently, I submitted and aplication for my son to be covered as well and he was denied due to migraines and seizures (he's 6 years old). Naturally we had to look for a family plan that would cover him. we are covered with United Healthcare as of 3/1/2008 and we had already paid our premium (541.00) for the month of March.

I was told that if I faxed proof to Kaiser that we were covered with United healthcare as of 3/1/2008 we would be refunded our premium for the moth of March. Today I called to check on the status of our refund only to be told that our policy will not be cancelled until 3/31/2008. In other words, we are not getting our money back. I think this is robbery.

We are paying 1200.00 this month in insurance premiums. Thats a lot for a family of 4 with only one full time worker in the house.

Email sent to Kaiser [48 hrs., still haven't heard from them]:

For many years now we've been paying a small fortune for our Kaiser health care. We probably have enough money invested in it by this time, that we should own the west wing of the Salem Lancaster facility [$829.00 a mo., $750.00 deductible]. I've had Systemic Lupus most of my life, and have not bothered them with any health care issues in more years than I can possibly remember. Last week I began having severe symptoms to the point that I couldn't get up and walk. I waited until I could before calling to make an appointment, which I attempted to do yesterday, March 4th. Long story short; I was told by the appointment desk that the nurse would be calling me back. Over 24 hrs. later, I'm still waiting for that call. In the meantime, I've grown so angry that I refuse to call back. Had I been an elderly person suffering from chest pains, I'd probably have been dead by this time. I was *never* asked what my symptoms were.

In my opinion, there is no room for mistakes like this in the health care business. If it were possible, I'd use the portion of Kaiser that I should own by now, to terminate whoever was responsible for not returning calls yesterday. My daughter-in-law is on the Oregon Health Care plan and she receives far better health care than Kaiser demonstrated to me. You might consider removing your Values webpage, because it certainly does not apply.

I wnat to know where/to whom I can write to complain about the outrageous fees I am being charged for Kaiser Medical Insurance. Every year,it seems to go up an extraordinary 121.5%. I am 55 years old with a 45 yr old husband and we are paying $729/mo for our medical insurance with Kaiser. We are healthy and go only for maintenance or occasional issues. Where can I complain?

The monthly insurance premium for Kaiser insurance is killing us - it comes out to $8748.00/ year. HELP!

Kaiser has refused to provide, prescribe or cover effective medications. I have asked repeatedly over the last month to be placed back on my Allegra D-24 as I was on for 18+ months while covered under Aetna. Since this medication is not on Kaiser's formulary, they won't provide it to me even though it's the only medication that is effective for me.

As a result of their refusal to effectively treat, prescribe or cover the only medication that works for me, I am now faced with severe post-nasal drip leading to intense constant nausea, excruciatingly painful sore throats that impede swallowing and sometimes breathing, low-grade fevers and headaches. As a result of the symptoms, I am not sleeping very well at all. Combining the lack of restful sleep with the low grade fevers--I am barely able to stay focused on my work at the office. Because of the congestion and sore throats and nausea, I'm barely able to make it through a 20-minute call with a client without putting them on hold to attend to my medical issues, let alone the nearly 15 hour-long instruction calls I provide each week.

As a result, my work product and productivity are suffering. At home, the symptoms are adversely impacting my ability to enjoy marital relationship with my husband - a fact that is starting to seriously upset him off. The resurgence of the symptoms (directly the result of Kaiser's refusal to prescribe, provide or cover the only effective treatment shown to work for me),Kaiser Permanente is in direct violation of the basic Hippocratic oath as I am being harmed by their intentional injustice.

I canceled my medical insurance with Kaiser on 12/31/07 and on 01/07/08 was charged again for services. I canceled my medical insurance because I was not working at the time and needed to save money for other expenses. The $254 that was debited caused my bank account to become overdrawn, for which I was fined $30-$35 for every payment that bounced. I had a tight budget on my bank account, and now because of this, it has sent my funds into an upheaval. I contacted Kaiser services twice by phone and tried to correct this but was told there was nothing they can do regarding the overdrawn fees; however the second rep said they will refund my payment immediately.

When I asked to speak with a manager I was put in touch with Laura Inzunza. She was very rude and cut me off several times as I was trying to explain the situation; however, again I was told that I would receive an immediate refund for the Kaiser services but not for the bank fees. I waited 10 days without receiving a refund, then contacted member services once more only to be told by a rep (Rudy Osti) that I would now have to wait up to a month or more before they would be able to refund my money. At this point my bank account has been in the red for over 2 weeks, and my overdrawn funds keep adding up, totaling $255 at this point. I have not received any services even though Kaiser has kept my money, and now I have a substantial problem with bank fees as well. I had been a loyal customer with Kaiser, with uninterrupted coverage for over 10 years prior to this incident.

The $254 I was mischarged resulted in overdrawn bank fees totaling $255. That makes a total out of pocket expense of $509. Obviously the amount of stress regarding something like this is very high. I have excellent credit so I do my best to maintain it. A situation like this puts my credit in jeopardy as well as an immense stress on the rest of my life. Because of my negative funds, I may now have to move out of our existing apartment and find other housing.

I was on a $1,500.00 deductible plan which covered an annual preventative care physical for which I was supposed to provide a copay at time of service. I went to my annual physical and received care and while in the doctor's office, I was told by the doctor it would be covered. I also asked at the payment desk whether the labs and other care I was about to receive at the visit would be part of the covered preventative services and was told by all Kaiser employees who I asked that it would be covered. A few months later, I got a bill for $130. This bill was for labs and services (regular stuff like charges for having blood drawn, lipids, thyroid test etc.) that I had been assured when I was at the appointment would be free. I called to dispute the charges but it is really no use with Kaiser. They say that I have to pay it even though I was told that it would be free. The exact same thing happened to 2 friends of mine who are also Kaiser members. They both were advised by their doctor at the time of the appointment to have a service and when they asked how much it would be they were told it would be free. Then they received bills later. One friend was also charged for services/care that she did not even receive and only after a few hours on the phone did she get them to take that off her bill. I do not recommend Kaiser health insurance.

My dad started complaining that his feet were numb. In addition, he developed a phlegmy cough that would not go away. He went to several people telling him that he just needed to lose weight, exercise, etc. His feet became, and are to this day, a brilliant shade of purple and he can no longer feel them. His coughing became worse, and he often produced sputum or threw up without warning. The tests ordered were always the usually EKG, and then Sorry, nothing is wrong go home and that was that, no heart problem, no followups. He went to podiatrists, specialists, and they tested him for things like leprosy and a interesting array of tests that yielded, not suprisingly, no results.

One day, my dad's coughing just got so bad, he went in and the doctor told him that he was just a hypochondriac. I'm dealing with real sick and dying people, you're just overweight and need to lose weight. However, my mom insisted that an x-ray be taken. Hesitantly and annoyed, the doctor consented at last just to have my parents leave. When the doctor came back in the room after looking at the x-ray, his tone and mannerisms had changed. Then he broke the news that my dad had congestive heart failure.

My dad has probably had this for years, and not one person caught it. The coughing, the poor circulation... no one linked it as an obvious heart problem. Congestive heart failure is not reversible, what is done is done, and there is not a day that doesn't go by where don't I curse them from taking away from me what could be precious years with my dad. The result of the doctor was to mumble the results, and my mom angrily began to make calls to change my dad's doctor. To her surprise, the representative told her We've already changed his doctor, something that my dad had tried to do before, but now was done automatically. If that isn't citing fault, I don't know what is. If only someone had helped us, listened, took more interest sooner. If only someone had cared.

My husband needed a minor surgical procedure performed in his doctor's office. The doctor's office called for pre-certification but were told it was not required. However, Kaiser penalized us because a pre-cert. was not obtained. My husband required the same procedure two months and six months later. In those instances, my husband witnessed the doctor's staff attempting to obtain a pre-cert. In each instance, they were again told a pre-cert. was not required. However, again, we were penalized because a pre-cert. was not obtained. I contacted Kaiser several times in this regard with no remedy at hand.

This has been going on for about 10 months. Kaiser has requested evidence that the doctor's office has called even though twice I have spoken to reps. who have recognized that there was evidence that a Kaiser staff member had given incorrect information because of confusion due to the method used by Kaiser to determine if a procedure needs to be pre-certified or not.

This has resulted in unnecessary and high co-pays that are Kaiser's responsibility. They are averaging payment of approximately 10-15%.

My daughter misses school and must wait a month for appointments. The drive takes 2 hours because of traffic and sometimes she gets carsick. When I need to talk to the doctor about her injectible medication, I sometimes have to wait 2 days. I have also been told that she may need back surgery and that there is only one doctor qualified to do it. A quick check on him shows that he had a malpractice case filed and awarded against him.

I'd had two miscarriages, and two Kaiser Permanente doctors didn't treat as high risk pregnancy at 37 years of age. One doctor told me I could get hit by a bus tomorrow along with the rest of my family, when I had a concern about the cord being wrapped around my baby's neck at 7 and a 1/2 months pregnant. I finally had a c-section after my water broke but no delivery after 24 hours.

After a day I got cellulitis; nobody told me what it was until a nurse slipped and told me. My legs and stomach became so huge and a large amount of pain caused me to cry for three days, and theyonly gave me 1 to 2 Vicodin for pain. After 3 days they gave me antibiotics interveniously, tried several ones; then 2 together got rid of most of it. After 1 week I was sent home with different antibiotics and vicodin; these other antibiotics did not work, and I got it again and had to go to the ER, costing more money. They put me 6 different antibiotics, and this after I kept telling them the whole time, what worked in the hospital. Spent over $300 in doctor fees and antibiotics that did not work. Have blood in stomach from c-section that still hurts, and they won't prescribe any more pain med, saying I will get addicted.

They have cut me off all together. Now I'm getting severe headaches, and the headache clinic has not even contacted me. I have been falling down having chest pains and not being able to see properly. I cry just coming out of the appt. because they tell me to leave, and they say my pain should be done with. The doctor tried to prescribe something else, but I have no more money to pay for something that might not work. I take vicodin for migranes already and never got addicted; it's in my records. I would go to a different place but my husband's work only is limited to certain plans, and the only other one didn't pan out.

If you have cancer, do NOT go to Kaiser. I'm stuck with Kaiser because of insurance. My oncologist does NOT follow up with me with my questions unless they receive several calls from me. She is more reactive than proactive with my case (good thing I am in the medical field so I can suggests things that she could do for me, rather than wait for her to do it). She started me on my chemotherapy without letting me know (the plan was to hold chemotherapy, next thing you know, I receive this phone call from them that I'm starting chemotherapy in 2 days!!). I called her up, but she had gone on vacation for 2 weeks!!

Avoid Kaiser as much as you can! I had surgery 4 months ago and was hospitalized, and they collected the fees for that. Last month, I had another ourpatient surgery and was charged regular fees because apparently we have not yet met our deductible! We called member services to ask why my payment 4 months ago has not been reflected yet, and they said it takes a while for them to code the charges and submit the payments!! It's been months but their records still do not reflect that I've already met my deductible and should not be charged anymore!!

It is ridiculous because they take our money at the time of the service, yet for them to keep their system updated, it takes forever! In the meantime, patients are continued to be charged unnecessarily (even though they have already met their deductible), because of Kaiser's SLOWNESS!! I mean, what about those patients who do not have any extra money and use their credit cards to pay for services and accrue interests unecessarily (because they were charged unnecessarily!

We had Kaiser through his job. Well, after 39 year's of service, Albertson's closed there warehouse, and took away our medical. Well, I applied for Kaiser, and they denied us because we have high blood pressure, which is under control, and we had it when we had kaiser already.

While enrolling in employer provided healthcare coverage, I mistakenly answered one of the questions on the form incorrect. The question asked whether I, or any of my dependents, had taken prescription drugs in the last twelve (12) months. To the best of my ability, I answered the question "No."

Ten (10) months later, the insurance company discovers the mistake and informs me that not only are they dropping my coverage, but will be billing me for the costs incurred by the plan.

My wife Maria needed to talk to a Psychologist on Dec 31, 2005., and was sent to KMHC as a "voluntary" patient so she could have some therapy sessions and professional help as well. Unfotunately, after a great start in Unit 3, following rules and being nice she was given drugs to treat her "Depression" and everything has been downhill since then. Now she is being held as an "involuntary" patient in Unit 2.

My son went to the Emergency Room for care. Kaiser paid the hospital minus our $50 deductable, however, Kaiser felt the physician only deserved $44 out of the $253 billed amount.

Imagine an emergency room doctor being paid only $44 for an emergency visit!

I went to the doctor for what was diagnosed as a viral infection of the throat, causing laryngitis. I also went in because I have a bunion on my left foot and am having difficulty functioning and walking.

The doctor acted as if she was afraid to touch me. She stood back, looked at my foot, and prescribed some Motrin for my throat. She stated that it was nothing and that I will be able to speak within the next day or two.

Well, that wasn't the case. I still had laryngitis and she insisted that I go back to work in customer service knowing that I could not speak.

I put in a complaint with Kaiser administrative office and they said they will document the concern. I immediately switched to another doctor but Kaiser basically told me there was nothing they could do.

So they gave the ok for me to go back to work limping and not being able to talk.

Kaiser scheduled an appointment for us to receive a letter to assist my daughter in switching high schools. They instructed my wife to use my daughter's membership card and pay the $20 co-pay for the appointment. They had my wife watch a 10-minute video and then told her that they couldn't give her the letter!

After the terrible service they have given my family, my wife cancelled our coverage with Kaiser. They starting billing us for nonpayment and said they would go back and date our cancellation to before the appointment. They are now trying to charge us $638 for non-member services and have sent the charge to a collection agency that harasses us day and night and is ruining our credit.