Kaiser Permanente Insurance Reviews

Member services is perhaps (by far) the worst part about Kaiser as a phone call can take an average of 15 min (the average of my calls together, I kept track after the first year). I can get past the sheer amount of time that it takes to be on the phone with them but the miscommunication and unprofessionalism is so extreme that I dread calling them. It's not enough to just email. With Kaiser, the way you can contact them is limited and when you send an email message to the doctor's office it basically goes right to the doctor (I feel like I should be able to email front desk instead of medical records or a nurse not just the nurse advice line, etc.).

I understand lots of bureaucratic processes are a part of healthcare and as I work in healthcare I know how important documentation is but one would think again, having all of your healthcare together would limit how many forms and how many things you fill out. I know I literally just explained about the mental health services but right now I'm referring to the fact that I have to jump through one million hoops to get care. I would never in one million years choose this insurance again if I had the option (have to have it because of work because it's the cheapest option out there). Coverage is the only place Kaiser does well at and I have to say that's probably the most important aspect of insurance so I shouldn't complain too much.

However, I feel like I need to say something so someone, who is considering adding Kaiser to their company or someone looking for individual coverage knows the many, many MANY downsides to this insurance. I know it's cheaper than others and I really do like my providers and coverage but it is like pulling teeth to do ANYTHING and I am a person in good health who can't get the simple care I need. Also, be ready to go to the correct hospital if you do fall ill because you can receive huge charges if you don't pick the one they want you to.

I got worse and came back to urgent care on 11/7/16. I was told by the same receptionist that they have no appointment and that I would get a phone consult about 4 hours from that time. It was then that I asked "what if this is really serious, what options are you giving me." This is only when she suggested I go to Urgent Care. I saw Dr. David ** and explained how bad this could be and shared all my symptoms again. He claims I have Bronchitis to which I said "could it be Dengue fever since I told you guys that I just came from a tropical country and had mosquito bites." He also did not do anything extra but use his stethoscope. He said it's unlikely and was about to end our convo when I said that I would like to check so I need something done. He didn't do any extra tests to me either but thankfully he agreed to order blood work for me after MY suggestion.

After blood work, I was emailed by my actual primary physician, Dr. Richard **, on 11/10/16 and said that my antibody level for Dengue fever is elevated. Then he added that no specific treatment or follow-up is recommended per the people he consulted with. I emailed him back explaining how is this possible when people with Dengue fever had died! I demanded for a platelet count that evening via email. No one contacted me the next day so at 7:40 am, I called Kaiser and requested for blood work myself. The lab assistant was going to say no because my doctor didn't order it so I insisted that I at least have an email that can show them. Fortunately, she scheduled me at 9:40 am the same day. Before I got my blood drawn, Dr. ** finally emailed me saying he finally ordered what I recommended, as a patient, for myself.

I'm upset that I have been misdiagnosed two times. Been given antibiotics, then asked to continue this on another diagnosis that isn't supposed to take antibiotics and then after confirmation on MY OWN GUESS, was told that there is nothing that needs to be done. I could've died during the times both initially staff didn't take me seriously. This is not appropriate.

With that ER visit she had stayed over a period of 6 months in the hospital. With Kaiser racking up her medicare bill and taking $900 a month from her retiree allotment insurance. While being treated for the pressure wound, one doctor at Kaiser noticed that she had CHF which is why she stayed so long in the hospital. They ran test and said it's inoperable and she has 6 months to live! Placed her on hospice.

Joyce ** was placed on hospice March-September at a Kaiser facility called Coming Home. There she did not die and was discharged from hospice after 6 months! The family refused to pay for any nursing facility because of Kaiser negligence, so Kaiser hospice social worker Erica, place my aunt at AgeSong, assisted living for one month where she was rushed to the hospital ER for her blood pressure and low sugar! (She needed nursing 24 hr care not assisted living). While at ER the doctors couldn't understand why she was taken out of hospice and referred her back.

The In Home care nurse and hospice director rejected THAT referral and placed her back at AgeSong. While at AgeSong they didn't bathe her nor take care of her. She acquired pressure wounds severely deep and painful. Kaiser - Erica hospice social worker - told our family they were only paying for one month at AgeSong and that we needed to figure out where to put my aunt who were still dying from her conditions. So Social worker Ericka placed my aunt in Omare a boarding care facility.

When visiting my aunt I noticed she didn't have a bath nor did her dressings get changed from her pressure sores she acquired at AgeSong. She smelled like feces and dressings on her legs were leaking and dirty. She acquired bed sores that were painful. While at this boarding care facilities, In Home support from Kaiser had been overseeing the care of these facilities and allowing the progression to continue without mentioning.

Joyce was sent to the ER for the last time from the abuse and neglected care received from Omare. The In home nurse finally reported her conditions and they sent her to the ER. She had bed wounds so deep she was heavily sedated with ** for her pain. Kaiser then placed her back on HOSPICE care. Sunday November 6, 2016 I visited with my aunt and she was feeling better and the pain had subsided. Tuesday November 8, was my aunt discharge date and before her discharge she was given 10 mg of **.

I later learned Kaiser were administering 10 mg of ** per hour for my aunt's pressure sores. The family wasn't notified of these procedures and when my aunt returned to her home for hospice care she was almost brain dead from the overmedicated doses received from Kaiser! It is now November 11, 2016 and my aunt is still delusional and incoherent from the dosage of ** received from Kaiser South City campus.

The family was given the ** to continue the care at home but my aunt is unresponsive, blood pressure extremely low, and not eating! This huge turn around happened in three days of just going to the ER for pressure sores and wound care! Kaiser failed! They overmedicated her with ** which caused an allergic reaction and now she almost brain dead! She was coming home to receive hospice care with CHF and diseased body from diabetes. Now we're dealing with yet another problem Kaiser caused from their neglected care!

Our family has filed grievance with Livanta and member services. We get to get compensated for what my aunt had endured and is now still enduring. We have a great hospice team from Vitas helping us take care of my aunt now, and we're seeking legal help to prevent Kaiser from doing this to another family! Please refrain from picking Kaiser as your healthcare. They're heartless and are now an entity for profit!

Secondly, I had to go to urgent care for the right prescription while Kaiser was closed on the weekend and once again received horrible customer service by Tina ** in member services who didn't return my call the day I filed my complaint for the correct medicine and then treated me as if I didn't matter. When I told her how horrible my experiences were, and asked her how this was acceptable she had NOTHING to say. Even when I threatened to drop them as my insurance, they made NO attempt whatsoever to rectify the situation or keep me as a client. These two staff members should be at a minimum ashamed of themselves.

I called my job HR they are concern and they tried to make them provide me an explanation. I have to take a day off just to dedicate the clarification, but who pays me for that? Finally I was told that KAISER now becomes the second insurance and the primary is from my husband the Health Ins. is GEM another bad service with them. They said will mail the coordination of benefits in order to be completed by the employee beneficiary and have to be returned to them via classic mail, then they will verify the information and will follow up with KAISER. At the meantime the COLLECTION bill is against me and lower my credit score. They have power to damage credits but nobody put them a stop to pay a fee against themselves for doing this damage.

Please audit their business and besides KAISER keeps getting more people from different areas as customers, it's impossible now to get an appointment on the time wanted because they have more people and they use the same building. They charge more, they give collection bills without following the correct process and legal process.

When I went there for a pressure check, and inquire about having a cataract removed from my left eye, he examined me and began to tell me, "whoever put that tube in your left eye, you need to go back to that Dr., because I cannot do cataract surgery on your eye. You might lose your sight." I was shocked to hear what this person had to say, because he calls himself a physician. Then he told me, "you have a cataract on one eye, and according to the girl that gave you the vision test, you are half blind in the right eye." I told him this was not true. This was a nightmare that I needed to wake up from.

This man is a rude narcissist and unprofessional. Why this so called doctor was so rude to me, I do not know, but I chose not to return for a follow-up, and informed Kaiser. When I called in to see another Dr., I was told "we are going to put you on a waiting list, and when we have an opening, we will call you." I have never heard of being on a waiting list to see a Dr. Well this was not the worst.

Today I went to pick up a refill that a customer service rep. was suppose to call in for me. She did not. When I arrived at the pharmacy, I was told "your refill is not ready, and has not been called in." I was told to wait, and they would refill it. Well she comes back, and tells me "your ins. has been cancelled." I was shocked. "So, if you want this rx, you will have to pay $100." I called Kaiser, and was told "you have 2 coverages," which I do not. I changed my plan to another carrier eff 1/1/17, which is the way Medicare does things, and these people have cancelled my coverage before 12/31/16. I was the phone for 2 hours or more, trying to correct their mistake, because I have no coverage, and it is their fault.

My premium is paid to these people out of my SS check, but they have sent me numerous letters of cancellation because of non-payment. I was told it would be corrected, but I am doubtful. At this point, I do not know what to do. Have reported them to Medicare, but it takes about 30 days, and I need my medication. Kaiser has abused me, and I am thinking about seeking legal counsel.

I need work done and this first visit is going to be just someone peeking into my mouth and sending me home. So I call back and ask if they can schedule me for actual things I need and they tell me no, they won't schedule me for cleaning or other work until after someone peeks in my mouth. I know what I need. So I ask will it be another couple of months after the initial appointment and was told yes. 4 months to get a cleaning is nowhere near acceptable. Cannot cancel this crap insurance fast enough. Avoid.

Now when I saw the Doctor regarding my MRI... he wasn't even able to give me a professional opinion as to what it could be that's been giving me this tremendous dull pain. Nothing absolutely nothing was said on his part that made any sense... I wish I was more assertive as the patient to get better answers from him but that's my fault. Now what he recommended was an epidural shot which I was reluctant or I should say skeptical about it and so he said "you can try a cervical facet joint injection instead which can have less risks" and so I agreed to it. When I got my injection he told me to make a diary every day for a week and to call him if I see no progress and so I did.

The nurse calls me back instead of him and I gave her details as to the dull pain I've been having now worse in my shoulder and arm all the way to my fingers and asked her that I need pain meds to get through the day and so she told me she'll let me know and instead of calling me back she had a pharmacist call me which was NO help at all. I let them all know that this is unfair to let your patient who pays $425/month and going to this terrible pain and to leave me without any meds. Unbelievable!

Now I requested to have a second opinion on my MRI from another doctor which I'm waiting for a call to make the appointment. There is two sad and wrong things here... One is that a Doctor was unable to read or describe my MRI and leave his patient without medication. I do not recommend DR. Eric Kim to any patient especially for an MRI reading. I don't know how to explain all this better but it's coming out of my heart and experience so please believe me and my judgement about this Doctor. They always want the easy way out but cannot even determine what it is you have and yet they tell you you're a candidate for an injection which is not always the right way to go.

One of the male nurses hit him on the head. He has a lump... pressure bruises on forehead behind ear where he was hailed down. Said he couldn't breathe. He kept on telling them he has asthma. And a catheter was force in his penis - nurse told him to shut up before he sticks a bigger one and ridiculed his private. That's when the dr. came in. He was bleeding. I just get upset just thinking about this that I can't write anymore. What happen to the Drs and nurses that cared? The answer is they don't. One more thing. They told him that he had no ins but he didn't have his card with him. They said they needed the bed for patients with ins. How sad.

Anyhow I came back home with disappointment and as suspected, I came down with severe fever late at night. I had to rush to urgent care and since they would not take Kaiser so I had to pay doctor fee and Medicine payment (Walgreens) from pocket which was around $167.00 in total. The doctor at urgent care was very nice and he diagnosed me well and gave medicine and I was on my feet in 2 days. I wish Kaiser Dr had done her job to prevent the same and it would saved me money and more importantly the time. Now Kaiser is also asking me to pay a part of the bill ($110.00) for the visit. Seriously :( I would be paying the bill. But it seems though as if loss of 110 for nothing :( I would never recommend Kaiser to anyone.

A year ago my doctor demeanor changed, and he informed me that regulations in pain medication has changed. He starts asking me if I sell my pain medication or allow other people to use it. It was such a stupid question I started laughing. I was also drug tested, which I passed. I called him because my stomach was hurting badly. His reply was to make an appointment with my gastro doctor. That is fine if there was not a two or three month wait to obtain a appointment with her. The pain was so terrible, I ended up in the ER. I eventually was seen by a snotty nurse practitioner a week later that did diagnosis the problem. Though he was the type of health care professional you want to punch in the face.

My pain was under control, and all was well. Out of the blue my leg started to hurt. I tried to make a appointment with my doctor, but I could not get a appointment for two weeks! I ended up going to urgent care and finding out it is a pinched nerve. Sadly, this condition continued. I went to Urgent Care a second time to get a referral to physical medicine because once again, I could not get a appointment with my primary in a timely matter. I saw the physical medicine doctor who had me schedule a appointment with a physical therapist. When I saw the physical therapist she stated I needed to be on steroids so I would not be in so much pain. The amount of discomfort I was in, would not help me.

My doctor's nurse called out of the blue after six months and requested a doctor's visit. I agreed. It was the day after seeing the physical therapist, and I asked him for the steroids she mentioned. He did not seem happy about this and said I should have contacted my physical medicine doctor. Once again I was interrogated about the ** and what and when I use it or if I sell it. I felt it was a waste of a copy payment! He once again treated me like a drug addict. I left feeling violated and dirty.

Several days later I assume I had a bad reaction to the steroids. My back, side, stomach, and leg felt as if it was on fire and cramping also. I literally threw up until bile was all that was left. I ended up in the ER. I was told I was having a episode. They gave me **, and sent me home with nausea medicine and medication to stop the cramping. I emailed my doctor, called him, left three messages for him. He ignored them for four days. He let me suffer in agonizing pain. When he emailed me back, it was basically to call physical medicine. Mind you I was having STOMACH ISSUES. I switched doctors and was told she wanted me to be weaned off the **. I had no say in it. Period. I was re-drug tested.

I am done with Kaiser and their inhumane treatment. There is no excuse for the way I have been treated. I was left in pain, in so much pain I was throwing up and ignored. Treated like some junkie when my chronic pain is real. He is very aware if this. Then not to be given a choice if I want to stay on or off a pain medication. Should that not be my choice!? We are changing health plans. If this is the way people that just take a moderate pain medication are treated, I feel very bad for anyone that takes ** or other pain medication on a regular basis. I guess they do not care if you are in pain. Screw you Kaiser, especially you, Dr. **.

I called Dr. C back within 30 minutes of his voicemail and of course had to leave another message for the doctor. Meanwhile my son is in pain and is nervous about a potential surgery that Dr. C told him he would need, and asking me what is going on and what he should do. Because of the Dr. C's non-responsiveness and the level of my son's pain, we had to make a decision on what to do. WE NOW WENT OUT OF NETWORK SO THAT MY SON COULD HAVE HIS OPERATION. Since decided to make an appointment with Scripps, who saw my son within a week and were able to schedule a surgery within 2 weeks after seeing the doctor. Perhaps this is what an HMO wants, for members to go out of network.

I HAVE BEEN A STELLAR PATIENT. I passed the many urine tests they required me to take. I always take as directed and never called in early with an excuse to get extra medication. Can they do this? They are a insurance company and provider. They are using the guideline as an excuse to make money without any concern of the patient's needs. How can I fight this. Somebody please help me before I am unable to get out of bed, unable to walk and unable to dress myself. What can I do??? I am permanently disabled as it is. Would you take away insulin from a diabetic. They are using the guideline as a rule of law, yet the CDC even said that if your patient is suffering do not make changes.

At that very moment I felt swindled and taken advantage of. I paid for not one but two visits only to be referred to another specialist. Swindle because I got the impression that they must really think I have an unlimited number of financial resources and money just falls out of the sky. Well quite the contrary medical cost are high and they are careless of how they refer people. I never had this experience at other medical firms. If I was referred to a specialist that meant that the person I was seen by was the same person that would do the analysis refer to tests and make recommendations and if approved would perform the procedures (surgery etc). To be referred to a specialist with the same title within the same department gives me a lack of confidence and feels like a system that just kicks the can down the road.

A few days into it, not only did he still not want to nurse much because of his discomfort, but he also started to bleed. Getting a hold of a Kaiser Doctor right away is Near IMPOSSIBLE. You end up waiting on the phone for 30 plus minutes just trying to get a hold of a nurse and then they don't have any useful advice other than take them to the emergency if you're concerned. Kaiser in Colorado is a joke and if you can go with any other insurance, do it. They don't care about a patient's best interest.

As I'm about to have my 3rd son in Colorado still under Kaiser that we pay a boat load for each month, Kaiser will not cover the gomco procedure and talking to various nurses and our Doctor, no one will help us. The best part is, every doctor at Kaiser told me Kaiser would not cover gomco. Kaiser in California gives you the choice between both circumcisions, but in Colorado, the greedy pediatricians out here decided that they would fight to take over the circumcisions because DOCTORS DON'T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY. Right?

What other reasoning is there considering that OBGYNS have done circumcisions since the beginning of modern medicine and now these greedy Kaiser pediatricians fought to take over for their best interest and Kaiser was too CHEAP to train them in both methods, only one. Kaiser is a disgusting medical model and should be avoided at all costs because they only care about their money and the money their physicians receive.

After 1.5 hours on the phone, while trying to make me write a complaint to a department I know will ignore me, she finally recognizes her blunder and decides to submit a reinstatement on my behalf. This was in July and I just needed to pay for June! I called every week after this, for at least 30 min to 1 hr conversations, where I was told to wait one week, two weeks, oh actually, it's a one month processing time; Finally, I get a voicemail saying my coverage was terminated appropriately. I call in shock and ask to pay FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR. I can't live without healthcare. No responses, no callbacks from the manager as promised. Kaiser: never again. I bought my healthcare plan through the marketplace. These plans are given a 60 day window to "make good on your payments." See attachment. None of these procedures were followed.

Additionally, the member services' complaint/grievances form doesn't allow for any punctuation at all, and does not disclose this information before a customer begins writing. This is clearly attempting to deter customers from submitting their complaints/grievances. I drafted my letter and had to meticulously go through each section to remove any punctuation. Absurd and obviously unjust.

This is the email that my doctor sent me after I complained that my pain hasn't been helped not do they know what's causing it over 5 months later. I began leaking pus out of my ** btw and they won't run any tests except for obviously painful pelvic exams and ultrasounds. They told me that I don't have a bacterial infection...so their recommendation is to start physical therapy on Oct. 13th when my back hurts so bad that I can hardly get out of bed most days! I'm convinced at this point (since I've been bleeding for a year and a half since I had my son, they tell me it's normal) there's a possibility I could be infertile by now but all they're willing to do is switch up my birth control! And then this! So I'm supposed to just take pain pills and stay out of their office?! And then my doctor tells me to switch insurance companies. Maybe he's right because obviously you won't receive the care you pay for through Kaiser any more.

After a few days of daily briefing the infection was in submission and the fluids were dissipated... I wanted him discharged but the doctor wanted to try some other treatment for his lower legs. During the next week, under Kaiser 24 hrs care... he developed a large bed sore from their neglect to rotate him. He could not breathe on his own. Need oxygen. For the first time in his life... could not talk, swallow, or open his eye... Left eye 25% open. Kaiser was not forthcoming about his condition... just bits and pieces. Because of the family concerns about his treatment at Kaiser... he was brought home. As he requested a few years early... he had a hospital bed, 24 hrs nurse, oxygen... He died 13 hrs later... AUG 25 13:40 hrs.

The family was never update from Kaiser about his condition when he returned home... Only then the contract nurse stated my beloved father would be dead within 24 hrs. I strongly believe that under Kaiser care at the hospital there was extreme negligence on their part... without intent. My father was a asset to the United of America... worked at Hughes Aircraft on the satellite program till he retired... He deserved better treatment... Someone needs to be accountable.

Now is Friday and the doctor is not going to be in weekends and no prescription has been authorized. They have record of all this call, emails, etc, etc and still no one has called me and answer one simple answer "Is my medication authorized to be picked up on Saturday?" The pharmacy said that they are still waiting for the call to authorize the refill for this weekend. I have been asking for a supervisor or anyone in the doctor's floor and they just told me that "They'll call you." This medication I have been using for several years. They know I have always follow the rules. I never pick up the medication early.

Side Note: In just the past 5 years, they have somehow managed to overcharge me for my 1st pregnancy (had to jump through fiery hoops to get this fixed) and I developed a rash from the beds there (RWC location), they gave me an epidural with my 2nd pregnancy and it never worked when that was my only birth plan (!!), I had a previous incident of a customer service rep being rude for no reason. Another incident was my son's speech therapy being delayed due to miscommunication with doctors and membership services. Thankfully, after being evaluated by another doctor, I was told he didn't need it, but then I get a phone call from them asking me when to set up an appointment. (Did they not communicate this?!)

I had a cyst removed from my arm and now I have a huge scar. People see it and tell me that it should not look this way and that the doctor/surgeon did a terrible job - I have people telling me to get it checked out since it looks so bad. I'm over and done with you Kaiser, I should of have listened to the others telling me that Kaiser is the WORST!!

I understand that perhaps eye exams were not covered under our plan, but why were we not told this when we called for authorization? Or when we paid our deductible? (btw, doesn't a deductible imply that you have coverage? Otherwise wouldn't they just ask for the whole sum upfront). Anyway, now we are in for $596.90 for two eye exams. Any optometrist in town will do that procedure for half that price. We'd never have had those exams at Kaiser if we had any idea what they would try to charge. Absolute gouging! Dropped Kaiser and glad. Will be sharing this on Facebook, Yelp and Twitter too.

Finally after months of going to the hospital with even being admitted a few times did they not detected the deficiencies in zinc, iron and so much more. This baby already suffers from her vision and why put her through more. Now she is at roseville's hospital for almost a week maybe longer with a feeding tube. The nurses are so rude! We only dealt with a couple of nice ones. I can go on and on about the care kaiser provides and the pharmacy isn't any better. They prescribed the since on Aug 15th, when my daughter went to pick it up they said they didn't have it, it was something that was over the counter. No it wasn't! It took them 2 weeks to get it and compound it to the milligrams she needed. Dealing with kaiser has been a horrible experience, nightmare! We have to have it because that's what her father's carry.

Everyday was a fight when they came into the home. Doctor Rebecca ** was horrible Gretchen ** was horrible chaplain Sharon ** was horrible. Karen ** the list goes on. The day my father passed he was in so much pain the doctor refused to give him his meds. The nurse came and left in tears due to my father and his treatment. My father didn't even make it a month. To date Sept 1, 2016 I have gotten nothing but the run around. I just don't want anybody else to go through the horrible so called care my father did. No family or family member should go through this. I was told by Kaiser I had a bad team. Really in hospice there is a good and bad team. And if anybody has hospice and not happy you can switch. Never let them think you can't. You have that right to switch.

Then, after I called member services to complain about her and other doctors treatment, Dr. ** cancelled my already ready medication. Then when I called told pharmacy to call her supervisor, she called my meds into an out of town pharmacy. I almost died. Too bad for Dr. Sarah ** and Kaiser I didn't. Because I have the printed proof of her faked phone appointment with me, which they have since erased. Phony records to begin with, now have been erased... Thanks Kaiser, I'm still fighting for my life... They have not figured out the rest yet.

Her latest problem is a blood pressure (after a recent heart attack they didn't find) is low, low blood pressure. She has emailed her doctor and that is just a cylindrical file that goes directly to the trash. I looked at all of the medications she was receiving and about 3/4 of them she did not need. Who gives a person THREE blood pressure medications when they have low bp? Cholesterol for a 90 year old that has been scanned and has no plague. The list goes on. So I wrote the doctor and told him that on a certain date I was going to start weaning her off of medications. NO ANSWER.

I weaned her off. She has recently called... oh that is a good one... calling KAISER. EVERY SINGLE KAISER IN CA HAS THE SAME NUMBER THAT YOU DIAL. TWO MILLION PEOPLE CALLING ONE NUMBER... It's really fun. Of course, rarely does anyone answer. And no one answers the messages you leave. Mom's recent email about bp at 80 over 50 was very upsetting. No answer. So I went to a nurse and she told me to take her off of the blood pressure meds (I had already read up and taken her off of the extra one) and keep checking her bp until it starts to rise. So that is what I'm doing.

If she gets a heart attack or stroke I'm suing Kaiser to the hilt! Right now all I can do is warn all of you out there to NOT GO TO KAISER! Now that Obamacare has come into existence Kaiser sees another way to make money. All of the Welfare and Disability patients aren't enough for them... Now they want all of the Obamacare patients too. So, as a result, she NEVER gets to see her own doctor and he NEVER answers his emails and she can't get KP to answer the phone... much worse than it was before... if that is possible.

So I am telling you, people, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR KAISER. They say they need 10,000 more doctors to fill their quota (they is the Kaiser Doctors and Kaiser nurses). They don't have enough facilities to take care of the huge amount of people they have. Also, I was told by a Kaiser doctor... THIS IS THE BIG ONE, that they get paid bonuses by the amount of lab tests and procedures they DON'T DO. The less they do, the bigger their bonus. If they are bad and actually treat people, NO BONUS. I didn't just make this up. I was told this by a Kaiser Doctor! So, what do YOU think? Want to try Kaiser?

I am appalled by the customer service provided by the monopoly that is Apria Healthcare and Kaiser Permanente. I had to order TWO supplies only, and this took the span of approximately 2 hours, with a total of 4 phone calls required (1 to the Kaiser DME department at 877-317-6230, 3 to Apria Healthcare at 800-277-4288 with 3 of the calls leading to being placed on hold for ~30 minutes, and then somehow the line was transferred to the wrong location). This is from a physician who knew EXACTLY what supplies AND reference numbers/item numbers to utilize.

After this, it turned out that they did not order the correct supply and were going to charge me erroneously for the cost. I then contacted Apria/Kaiser the following day (Thursday), spent another 2 hours of time with them regarding the wrong order, and was told that I would not be charged the cost of the supplies. I then called the 3rd day (Friday) to verify the information because I did not believe in the competency of the staff after my first 2 days of interactions. I ultimately discovered that (1) the correct supplies/quantities were NOT ordered (there were only 2 of them needed!! Mind boggling.) and (2) I was billed the cost of the supplies that were sent incorrectly because they had already left the warehouse. This again took another 1.5-2 hours of my life. Ultimately, we added 2 more items on that day, but there was still a mistake in the quantity delivered.

My frustration is obviously for my time invested - in ordering just 2 supplies, mind you. I am also frustrated about being billed supplies that I did NOT request. More importantly, I am frustrated for the thousands of patients who have NO medical background and need to deal with Apria (and Kaiser) on a recurrent basis. The service department makes it so difficult to obtain the correct supplies, and more importantly have extensive "hold times" exceeding 30 minutes. They then transfer you to the incorrect locations without your confirmation when they specifically report this will not happen.

They do not call you back when they disconnect you from the line even though they verified specifically that they would call back in this situation, and also reconfirmed (my) telephone number for call-back. After my 2nd disconnected call, I started verifying that they had the contact information so I would not have to spend such a long time on "hold", but they did not provide the courtesy of returning a call.

During our interactions, I remained civil and professional, having to recurrently relay the issues with new staff members every time. It was very frustrating, however, to deal with the incompetency that exists with the staff in this specific aspect of healthcare. Medical supplies, partially for those within limited HMOs, are contracted to specific companies and thus exists the monopoly with Medicare and co-payments. To ameliorate the problem, I would have liked to bypass Kaiser all together, but this was not possible as it is his HMO provider.

I have placed a request for the reimbursement for the supplies that were delivered incorrectly, but was informed that (1) it will take over 1 month for my file to be reviewed by Kaiser and (2) they will most likely not provide a reimbursement even though it was their error. This is an abuse. I don't care if it's $3 or $300 out-of-pocket cost, it's still an abuse of a multi-billion dollar industry and should not be happening. How can we fix this? How can be make these people accountable? And how can I get reimbursed for the erroneous supplies AND my time? My telephone logs along will verify that I was on the phone with them for these extensive time periods.

I spend my own money and hire well known tech person who goes all over world, He check everything and finally he said there is nothing wrong from my side only it can be fixed from Kaiser side. Tech support cut the ticket to 2nd tier tech support. No one call me since 3 weeks. Even I tried to get director's phone number, but no one gave me phone number nor their e mail address, Kaiser has no system to resolve the tech problem. Directors are so isolated that they do not know what is going on. Why they do not have online contact info,

From the first day of July 2016 to the current day (4 August 2016) there is no record of any of this save of the initial visit to Urgent Care. So, they have tried to send me back to work injured; they've done relatively little to help me get treatment; they've stopped recording my visits, prescriptions, etc. BTW, they sent me back early from a sickness a few years ago. I pleaded with them for three more days, but they sent me back. I got injured the day I went back and was out for months due to injuries sustained.

Treatment at kaiser is a joke. I won't speak for everybody, but I can certainly speak by my experience. So much time is wasted between procedures. Their scheduling strategy is a danger to public health. You pretty much have to push your doctor around to get things done. The only way you'll actually get effective treatment is if you are literally dying in front of them. At least that's the way they make it sound and look. Example, Visit the urgent care department. They can't do much. You're advised to see your doctor. Well good luck. That's a month down the road, but come back to urgent care if you feel the same way again to be told the same thing and get nothing done again.

It doesn't add up. File a grievance? Good luck as well. Nothing much gain. Pretty much their own people. But worth a try. They make it sound like somebody's hand was slapped. Doctors are so passive, not proactive. It's like you have to go in there and tell them what you think you have in order for them to take action or else you'll be sent home with nothing done. And no,they're not the kind of doctors that follow up on your health. So yes, you need to be pushy. They rely so much on xrays and blood work. If nothing comes up with these basic tests, you are literally on your own. They have no expertise, to think beyond the scope of those tests to give you some insight of what's wrong with you. If that's what it takes to make money at kaiser. Then sign me up!!! I'll just sit here, and wait to see what the xray or blood work tells me to do for patients.

Forget patient testimony. What you have to share with them doesn't matter, if it wasn't picked up by an xray or lab. They're lost. "Go home. You're fine. You have anxiety." (Oh really?). Just tell me, you don't know what to do. I am paying monthly dues to have procedures done on me for the sake of my health not to hear doctors talk about why they refuse to order procedures that may hold the answer to my sickness. First chance I get, I'm switching.

If two different doctors tell me that there is something going on in my breast and they need another mammogram to find out what is going on I do not understand how someone who do not practice medical can go against what my doctors are saying. I also do not understand how Kaiser Permanente can have a million commercials about early detection and prevention and you would have someone like this person trying to discourage me and refusing to do the mammogram work for you.

My appointment was for Wed, July 20, 2016 at 2pm. I got there and was told that I was at the wrong location. They said that I could be seen but I would have to wait until 4:50pm. I wait almost 3hrs. I went back into the room, got undress, went into the room where the mammograms are do and that's when she start to tell me that my doctors don't know what they were talking about, I don't need to get another breast exam, I need to wait until August to get my breast exam again and if she does the mammogram then she would be in trouble with her supervisor. I pay almost $200 a month for this health insurance and for someone to refuse to do a mammogram that I do need to see if my the lumps are forming into cancerous cells - a person that never went to school for medicine is trying to convince me that the doctors don't know what they are talking about when it is her who do not know what she is talking about.

I pay too much money to go through what I went through. She was unprofessional and rude. You see all of these commercials for Kaiser Permanente about early detection for cancer and that is what I am trying to do but can't get the screening that I pay for. I think I will file a lawsuit in this matter because of the refuse of treatment when my the month that I pay covers mammograms. I will file a lawsuit. I have contact an lawyer right now as I speak. I want this person fired and any and everyone that had something to do with this. I have the right to get an mammogram - that is what I pay for every month and for you to or to have any staff advise someone not to get a mammogram when two different doctors suggest that I get one is crazy. I am a ** women and In women under 45, breast cancer is more common in ** women than ** women.

Overall, ** women are more likely to die of breast cancer. FIVE ** WOMEN DIE NEEDLESSLY PER DAY FROM BREAST CANCER IN THE UNITED STATES. I have made it my mission to find out who she is and who her supervisor is and all the people responsible for refuse me service. I pay my health insurance almost $200 every month and I can't even get an mammogram when my doctor told me that I need to get an second mammogram. I see that you are trying to save money but are you trying to save lives?

This company doesn't even live up to what they are stand for. Early detection, prevent care is what you show on the t.v commercials but not what I saw on Wed, July 20, 2016. I am in a lot of pain. My breast hurt and I am going to take legal matters. My health insurance pay so that I can get breast exam and for me to sit there while someone who never went to medical school, who is not a doctor tell me that my doctors are wrong and I don't need a mammogram is like insulting my intelligence. She need to be fired today!!! The fact that someone who does not have a degree in medicine, who never been to school for medicine could tell me that I do not need to get another mammogram and that my doctors do not know what they are talking about is outrageous.

To me a person like that should never be allowed to work in a hospital. She should be fire and anyone that had anything to do with it like her supervisor since she said that she would get in trouble with her supervisor she should be fired as well. If you do not practice medicine then you have no right to tell a paying customer that you advise them against getting a mammogram.

Is this how you "VALUE" your customers and how Kaiser Permanente take pride in the quality of the health care and the quality of the service they provide? Hiring people like her who refuse to even give me an mammogram that could help if I detect breast cancer, for Kaiser Permanente to have someone like that on their staff says a lot and if she did that to me how many more people is she doing the same thing to?

What is Kaiser Permanente? Are you trying to save money by limit the services that your customers are paying for? Are trying to cut corners on the behalf of your customer's lives? If you value your customers like your motto say then why would I be refuse service for a simple mammogram that can detect whether or not I have breast cancer? Is my life not important to you? Do my life even matter or just the money you receive from me the important part? Do you even care that I might have breast cancer? I care. It keeps me up at night sometimes wondering and praying. I want to tell all consumers not to ever have Kaiser Permanente as your health care. Find someone that really cares and not just say that they do.

I switched to a PPO plan with a different insurance carrier and now see a cardiologist (read one of my previous posts about my fight with them about my heart conditions) and a nutritionist in the cardiology department, and in one visit I have all the proper nutrition guidelines I need, and am on my way to a healthy weight and BMI. Do not go to Kaiser for help with nutrition, weight loss, heart problems - or anything. They won't help you, but they will be glad to take your premiums every month for what adds up to nothing.

Also when you see a doctor pay that co pay just wait. You will get a bill for more very soon! You never can call your Dr's office as you would. You have to call some 800 number and talk with someone that seems clueless most of the time. I made a big mistake. Now I must wait until October to sign back onto United Health Care and that will not take effect until Jan. So as of now I will avoid using KP and hope I can hold on until Jan without needing heath care. I have zero trust in KP. Be very aware before you make the same mistake as me!

For month of June they fixed the billing but remove my dependent (my wife) from my policy. Again I called, spend few hours with KP. They hang up on few times saying I have to call Marketplace as they send the change request. I called Marketplace, spent 45 min on phone. They confirmed no change on their side and they escalated the case for someone to look into this.

Please do not sign up with KP. They make unauthorized changes to your account and will hold you responsible for payments. They will not see you no matter how serious sick you are. In my case my wife is suffering like fish without water for lower stomach pain but these money hunger devil will not see her because her policy is deactivated when it should not be. I wish to move away from them as soon as open enrollment and trust me 50+ of my families and friends will do the same! Externally disappointing to see your loved one suffering and can't do much. :(

My husband had to go in to the same doctor for a knee injury. Not only did the doctor provide the wrong prognosis on what was wrong - he sent my husband to the X-ray office and marked the wrong leg for X-rays. When he got to the hospital they said they could not take him because the doctor needs to correct on paper that it was the wrong leg and my husband would have to come back when it is corrected. He was not allowed to just simply tell them that it was the other leg. Lastly when my husband was told by the Kaiser customer service representative on the phone to go to the Kaiser urgent care on Saturday. When we got there, and he had to painfully hobble to the counter, the lady behind it said, "Oh sorry, we can't accept you because our facility closed 5 mins ago. You will have to go to our affiliate hospital." Little did we know that we would have to pay $4K to go to that one. Kaiser really does SUCK!

Since her stroke and surgeries she has only been outside a nursing facility once and that did not go well. I would love to hear the reasoning behind Kaiser's decision to discharge her. I know that there is no way in the world that I can provide the level of care that my wife needs. I've been a member of Kaiser since 1974. I have always supported and spoke highly about Kaiser. I think that is coming to an abrupt end. I will be posting my feelings of my wife's treatment everywhere possible. With everything we've been dealing with, Kaiser's refusal to continue her treatment/rehab is something I never expected. Fool me once...

He was missing for over a week and had moved 2 times to new residences within that 2 weeks. He was very paranoid. Police had to help us locate him. Kaiser wanted to do psych eval and told us since he goes to AA, they would send a team to the AA meeting but we had to have police with us. We set that up, called Kaiser in the morning to tell them we were ready to do this. They then told us they don't do that. We eventually got him into the ER on Sept. 4/2015. He had stomach pain and called us to take him in. They were refusing to do the psych eval. Had a social worker talk to us, who seen nothing wrong with the accidents, fire, buying random people iPhones or giving random people his bank account numbers, etc.

I threatened to sue them. We were not leaving until they did the psych eval. They did the eval and determined he was not capable of being on his own and admitted him to the Jewish Home for the Aging which is hour drive one way from where we live. We were up to see him almost every day, when we weren't, we were cleaning his apartment out which was full of mold. We fought with that facility's social worker to be able to get him to sign POA to his son. I went above social worker's head and found out he was lying to us and cannot deny him legal representation which this social worker was also doing. Even his attorney friend got into it with this social worker. It took us over half of Sept. to get this signed.

We had to clean out his apt. and get his stuff into storage and the other apt. he had as well. He was diagnosed with dementia, psychosis with behavioral disturbances. He was released to our care on October 4th, 2015. It's been a constant fight with Kaiser. The stomach pain they said at first was two small hernias while he was in Reseda but they were not going to do anything about it. It was not, it was one big hernia that we had fixed after he came home with us, along with cataracts on both eyes. We had a cyst removed that he was pulling at and aggravating it. It was growing fast. We asked them to remove another one on his lower back he kept messing with but they refused, saying it would not cause issues.

It then became inflamed overnight with pustules on it. Called Kaiser to make appt. No call back as they said they would. Called Kaiser Urgent Care the next day as it was worse. Nurse wanted him in asap and said it was infected. Took him in, it was too infected to drain. Medication given. It broke open. Called Kaiser, no appt. Called Urgent Care, got him in, again. They cleaned and bandaged it. Gave us some supplies, changed medication to stronger medication and a pain med.

When it could be removed, finally got him into surgery. His health is going fast. He was complaining of back pain in his spine. We took him to Dr. several times and they said they didn't know what was causing it. He keeps leaning to the left and has gait ataxia really bad. Took him to chiropractor who said his spine was very out of alignment, adjusted it and it lasted for a week. Come to find out, he has arthritis in his spine and several disks that disintegrated and Kaiser had known this for 6 years! We found out he is supposed to see neurology once a year and missed last apt. in 2014.

Got him apt. Dr. was nice. Frontal lobe dementia was determined and were told most aggressive form. He has diffuse brain atrophy so the parts that control inhibition is damaged. He gets violent. Psychiatrist put him on medication for aggression. It made him sleep constantly to where you couldn't wake him at all. He wouldn't drink or eat during this. Kept telling them he was fecal hoarding, they said no. He's just manipulating. WHAT? We gave him stool softeners and laxatives they prescribed. It wasn't working. Had to call 911 for an intervention on 2 occasions as he got violent.

Second time, we get call from social worker at Kaiser the following day, who immediately told us on the phone that if we did not pick him up they were going to charge my fiance with abandonment. No one had said anything to her except, "hello," when we answered the call. That social worker was way out of line. We had been told that they were keeping him for a few days to run tests and IV for dehydration. We even called up there several times a day to check on him and his son visited him, taking him clothing, prior to that call from her.

They keep pressing us to put him in a home and keep saying they can monitor him 24/7. There is nothing a home can do that we can't do here at ours. This month, June 2016, we woke him up one morning and he had these marks on his skin and a huge water blister on his inside elbow. We thought maybe some kind of reaction to the medications caused the blister and we keep telling them he picks at his skin, saying there are strings in his skin or something crawling on him. I and the psych nurse thinks it's some kind of neuropathy. I have neuropathy, so I know it can feel like that. Kaiser had him go to Sunnyside nursing facility for rehab. He was in fact, fecal hoarding and required enemas and such several times a day. It was blocking his intestines, exactly like I had told them he was doing.

Just because I am not a doctor does not mean that I am an idiot either. I had even told them his pain was what was causing his aggression, time after time. We had a meeting with a social worker, doctor and nurse at Sunnyside. I reiterated my issues with Kaiser and no one seemed to be on the same page. The doctor at the meeting assured us if we put him in a home, they could keep him from falling. Her and I slightly argued about this. They also said that doctors told them that we wanted to put him in a home, which was never said by us. They would not tell us which doctor said this. They NEVER do. I inquired about a hospital bed because on one of the papers we got from Kaiser after an appt. clearly said under INSTRUCTIONS: Bed bound, wheelchair bound. She said that's not what that means.

How else can that be interpreted? We then met with the physical therapists who did not understand why they would have given him a cane or even do physical therapy because he cannot retain the information. He could only walk 30 feet with a walker and even then, there were 2 people holding him up to do it. I had inquired about a hospital bed in the meeting so it would be easier for him to get up when he could and such but we were told no, that there was no reason for that bed.

After we had left, we got a call from Sunnyside about an incident where he got up from his wheelchair and bolted after a non-existent child, fell and cut his eyebrow above his right eye and had other contusions. That blew the doctor's theory out of the water that they can prevent falls. We told them it was not their fault because he does exactly the same thing at home when he gets those hallucinations like that and we even told them in the meeting we just had. Upon his release, they were going to have a nurse come by our home and physical therapist.

The nurse was just here, June 28/16 and even she says it is clearly obvious he cannot walk and does not understand why they had given him a walker and that he does need a hospital bed but that physical therapist would have to request this. He was not coherent enough to even talk to the nurse. Kaiser had told us that the nurse would be here in the morning and the physical therapist in the afternoon. Nurse said that wasn't accurate, that the physical therapist would call us within 48 hours to schedule a time to come and if they don't, to call them.

The medication is making him like a zombie. He barely eats or drinks and is having issues with chewing and swallowing. He sleeps almost constantly. He yells if you try to lightly touch him, that it hurts. We think he hurt his shoulder when he fell at the facility, he is complaining of shoulder pain and cannot move that arm hardly at all. What blows our mind most of all, is the psychiatrist's view of this. First meeting with him, I think was October of 2015. He said to not say or do anything to create fear, talk softly to him. Then right after he said that, right in front of my fiance's father, like he isn't even there, he said... "He has dementia. He is going to die," and shrugged. WHO DOES THAT?

I looked at his father and he sunk down into the chair with this terrified look on his face. Now every time we have to see the psychiatrist, he fights us and cries, real tears. He begs us not to put him away in a home and thinks that is what we are planning when we tell him he has an appointment with the psychiatrist. Kaiser set us up with a wheelchair rental with Apria but every time we try to pay for it online, it won't go through. The first payment went through, fine. Then it won't work and it has locked my fiance out of it.

We didn't know it had not gone through the second time. It looked like it had gone through. We had Apria reset the pw for the account and still cannot access it. The bank says there were no requests for the payment to even be denied by the bank. My fiancé went in person to talk to the bank. Originally we had gotten the wheelchair delivered at the end of January but it was defective so it took them a couple weeks to give us a different one. It's a mess and hard to know what is even going on with that because you try to call them and you can never get through so you leave a message.

Not many people have my fiancé's cell number. We use his for medical things to do with his father and mine for other friends and such to call. We get calls from blocked numbers, usually it's Kaiser or people affiliated with Kaiser and when we answer the call, either the person doesn't say anything and hangs up or they talk to us in Spanish and we can't understand them and they hang up. We think that's what's happening with Apria. We think it's them calling us but really don't want to deal with the payment issues on that wheelchair.

I am now looking elsewhere to purchase one instead of this renting. We are frustrated by the misinformation, lack of information we don't get that is detrimental to this man's well being. The nurse that was here told us that the departments don't have the same access to the medical history and records, that they are on different systems, between doctors and departments and that it was worse when everything was on paper. Their issues within their hospital should not reflect on what we do or try to do. People there need to get on the same page between each other and us. We are thinking about calling his old employer to see if we can't get a different medical coverage because Kaiser is horrible.

There are a lot of wastage at Kaiser because the majority of their managers especially upper managers are so inexperienced and incompetent. Most of them got their degree from diploma mills like University of Phoenix. These folks wasted so much money in creating useless positions so others can do the work for them. They have layers and layers of bureaucracy. It is tough to get into Kaiser to work for them because their HR is retarded. They have so much staff in HR that they do not know what to do except going to meetings all day long. They do not take in experienced workers. Don't feel bad if you could not work for them. Consider yourself lucky.

Most of their union folks are conservative Republicans. What an oxymoron, right? They reap money for don't exactly nothing. They need to make more money so that they can waste more. They do this by ripping off their unsuspecting customers. Well, they finally struck the last nerve of this customer. If any attorneys want to contact me, please do. I post this in hoping to find more people like me who received fraudulent charges. We need to let them know that we are not their typical stupid consumers.

I was misdiagnosed, had serious problems go undiagnosed, had serious lab results go unchecked which landed me in the hospital, they continually try to push more drugs (pain pills, anti nausea pills and antidepressants) instead of actually curing the problem. I was told my low quality of life was the best they could do for me. I payed out of pocket to see a out of network Dr, and within two weeks of different medication and supplements after testing, I felt better than I had in years and have totally regained my life! I truly feel Kaiser would have just let me die rather than help me. Most Drs visits last only 5 minutes, the Drs refuse to listen to anything you say, and end with them trying to drug you up instead of running needed tests.

Billing - I had auto bill pay set up with Kaiser and multiple times a year they would over charge me by $200-$500. Trying to get the money back was always a nightmare and consisted of hours on the phone, multiple calls and over a month to be reimbursed.

Testing - Kaiser's policy is to not run certain tests. In my case they would never test my vitamin levels, full thyroid panels or hormones even though I had numerous symptoms of having these problems. (I had to go out out of network for both of these, and in both cases my levels for all were dramatically off, some simple meds and supplements were all I needed!)

Medication - Kaiser only prescribes certain brands and types of medications, (I assume the ones they make the most money on) and if those don't work for you, too bad.

All and all I feel like Kaiser almost killed me. My thyroid issues were so bad I was having heart problems, autonomic nerve dysfunction, my average body temp had dropped to 96.8, and I had pretty much completely lost all quality of life. Just a few visits to a different Dr have saved my life, and completely restored my health. I'm shocked I suffered so bad for over two years (had become almost completely bedridden) and the answer for me was SO SIMPLE. I'm now happy and healthy again and feel like my old self. It's criminal what Kaiser is doing to their patients. If anyone is having long term health problems and has Kaiser insurance, I urge you to cancel and see another Dr. It could save your life!

Don't you know she is a recovering drug addict and she could have relapsed due to your negligence and altogether lack of giving a crap?!? Like how in the hell do you mix up a sleeping pill and **? They look almost alike but the numbers and texture are not the same... How is it her fault because you can't label correctly? You are disgusting, making her feel like she is wasting away mentally, can't remember anything or make new memories because her brain is pretty much fried!! Can't produce serotonin now because you overdosed her on ** sleeping pills for like 8 months... Now her job is giving her ** because of the repercussions of the last few months and the side effects of taking this stuff... In that dose it's like a damn controlled substance!!! How stupid are you people...

You think I having been keeping everything now, all those emails and that visit to the ER which of course was through Kaiser, for you to pretty much tell her "oh it's ok to take 400+ mg of ** a day for 6-8 months... no you dumb-ass not like that and then tell me 600mg is the max... um no ** for an in-patient being monitored and giving a 50mg updose every 3-4 days for an extended period of time... Not to mention all the other medications that interact with that ** on such a high dose... I could seriously die inside because of what you have done to her and us and her relationship with her mother... Go to hell KAISER and take your POS Pharm techs with you.

Since I signed up online, it has been nothing but trouble. First of all billing: I signed up to have auto-pay via my credit card. The first payment went through fine then I got a new credit card (same #) with a new expiration date, and it didn't occur to me to update my record on Kaiser. So the next billing cycle, I got a letter saying my credit card was denied. After waiting 30 - THIRTY minutes on the phone to get to a customer service rep, they updated the expiration date, and took my payment over the phone to bring me up to date. I thought all was well. The next month I get another letter that I am past due, and the credit card was declined.

I call Kaiser again. I was on hold a LONG time. There was NO option like some agencies have where when they are experiencing high call volume, they will simply call you back later the same day. I had to wait and wait. Got another customer rep who saw the notes on my expiration date being fixed, confirmed everything was in the system correctly and told me it may just be that it sometimes takes 2 billing cycles for billing issues to resolve. She took my payment over the phone for the outstanding balance and assured me it should correct by the next billing cycle. It did not! Same thing happened AGAIN and now my outstanding balance has grown!

So I call again (another frustrating wait on hold), this time asking to speak with a manager. A manager came on the line and explained to me that clearly there was something wrong with my financial institution (Chase) and that I should call them to find out why they were declining the charge. After explaining to him that I use that credit card regularly, including for online vendors such as Amazon, and had never once had any problems with it, he considered this and concluded that maybe their billing system needed yet another cycle to "clear" whatever problem was happening. He took my payment over the phone for the outstanding balance, and assured me all would be well. This time of course my confidence was not good so I went online and saw that my payment was in "pending" status at Chase and I thought at LAST it is fixed! but it was NOT!

I need to close up this part of the problem by saying that in order to resolve this, I sent numerous emails via their internal system to their complaint/grievance department, I sent a certified letter to the address/person listed on my paper bill and "credit card declined" letters; and all I got back was emails and letters stating that a specialist would be in touch. Eventually someone determined that it was their own systems causing the problem. One system had me on auto pay via credit card, and another had me on paper billing. The paper billing system was overwriting the auto pay system so that's why the charge would show up on my bank as "pending" then disappear.

Their OWN system was the problem and it took 5 months of extensive time and work on my part to get it fixed. Someone did call me back after it all to ensure I was "completely satisfied" with the resolution and I said to her "if this is a known problem in your systems I would suggest you coordinate with the first line team who handles billing problems to let them know so they can resolve it on first call!" But I could see she didn't really want to do anything, just make her call, and wish me well. Dealing with Kaiser on this I felt like I was dealing with a corporation and employees who were doing whatever was required of them by Kaiser- key thing being to close out any phone call as quickly as possible.

As I considered this I wondered god forbid I should have an actual medical issue will they treat me as robotically and systematically as they did with billing? My next issue is medical. I had an issue going on and needed to see a dr. I picked whoever was "taking new patients" and made an appointment. Luckily though their online system I was able to see open times and kept checking and got lucky to get an appointment quickly due to a cancellation. This part of Kaiser worked extremely well. The issue I had is one I have had in the past - several years ago - and so I described what was going on, and what I had been prescribed in the short term that helped me.

One issue is that I had not been sleeping well for many months and it was taking its toll. I asked for ** as that has worked well for me in the past. She said "Kaiser doesn't like to prescribe that because of problems people have had, so let me give you this other drug." I told her I am sensitive to medications, I hardly ever take prescriptions (it's been over 2 years since I needed anything) and I would prefer to take something that I know has worked for me in the past. I had a very bad reaction to ** (another sleeping pill) and did not want to take chances trying new things. Not doing. For my other issues, same thing.

She would not prescribe me a medication that I know has worked well in the past, a very common medication that has been around for years and years. Instead she gave me a list of books to read, and a list of supplements to buy at Vitamin Cottage. She is an MD and acted like a naturopath. I love natural medicine. I have no problem with supplements. But for the issues I was having I needed basic medical prescriptions for an immediate issue short-term that she refused to provide. I tried the sleeping pill she recommended, and next day I was groggy, head fog, couldn't get out of bed and my stress levels further agitated. I was so angry. I felt like she didn't really listen to me, she had her own agenda, and stuck with it.

By email she finally agreed to give me the medication I had previously requested and that I told her has worked for me but only a very very small quantity and said she would not ever give me any more. She treated me terribly and made me feel horrible. I haven't been on any prescription meds for over 2 years and when I have been on them it's always been short term and I end up throwing out the leftovers. She apparently didn't believe me and treated me like a drug addict on the mission to get some **.

Needless to say I will never go back to her as a doctor and if I can I will drop Kaiser. I did hear from others that at Kaiser everything depends on your PCP. I am told there are good ones but those usually are not taking new patients. So for any of you seeking services bear this in mind. After these experiences I simply cannot trust that should I have a medical emergency or diagnoses of any kind that Kaiser will treat me as anything but a number with a list of symptoms for which there is a pre-defined path to follow. Might as well be seen by a Robot.

At this point I am getting concerned about the ability of Kaiser to result labs under the correct patient record. I call and talk to a Kaiser rep concerning my labs and I was directed to the closest Kaiser facility near my house. The following day, June 17th 2016 my check-in time for surgery was at 12:30. I check-in to pre-op on June 17th 2016, and get ready for surgery, (IV etc.). My nerves at this point are elevated waiting for the surgery to get underway. Surgery was scheduled for 14:00 and I waited until 16:15 at which my surgery was cancelled due to unforeseen reasons. I do not understand why no other surgeon was on call. I was told I would be a priority and that I would probably be contacted the next day to reschedule.

I was not contacted until Monday June 20th 2016, and they were calling me to see how my recovery was going. I could not believe it! The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing!!! I was told by the scheduler that the soonest they could get me in would be around the end of July 2016 due to my surgeon education/vacation time. I have lost ALL confidence in Kaiser's ability to perform the simplest tasks, like paperwork, pt record files etc. I am no longer going to patronize your so call medical facilities. I hope the corporation I work for pulls our account in the future, which I have issued a formal complaint to benefits. I feel like my rights have been violated and I am seeking my legal rights.

I explained that to her and she totally understood why I was declining. She never explained that I was to sign anything! My Mental State around Dec. & Jan. was really bad. My 15 yr marriage dissolved, lost my home and my medications were so screwed that I was hallucinating and could barely function, my memory and comprehension, balance were at the worst ever! I was not competent at this time to the point where my daughters were trying to have me committed. They had to fly in from LA and Phoenix to move me into a temporary residence. During this time I guess Kaiser says they were trying to reach me and it was my responsibility to let them know my new address? Why, I had gone to membership services. As far as I knew Kaiser and I were through. Apparently they had sent me some correspondence stating that I had to sign some form? I had already handled this at Kaiser Membership.

Several months later I started receiving letters that had the wrong address (Caymus Dr. Sacramento) I lived at **, Citrus Heights, Ca. I have no idea where Caymus is and why we're trying to contact there? I was starting to smell trouble so I called Kaiser Membership and they began to explain to me that I was delinquent on my Senior Advantage program which they put me on without my permission and I owed them $261.00 in back payments. I explained that I had declined that program months ago. They insisted that that I owed. My case was sent to a case mgr. Daniel @ **. We talked and she said she had to check things out and would get back to me soon. No reply after 1-1/2 weeks so I called her to see what's happening (this was Friday). She informed me she had a few more things to check out and she would let me know.

The next day (Saturday) a letter came from Daniel said it was legal to sign me up without my permission and they could dis-enroll me without the stated letter. From this point on I left 3 messages to Daniel, not only would she not call me back; it became obvious that she had caller ID; she would never pick up no matter what time I called, but it was clear I had no choice but to pay $261.00. I'm a senior citizen living on SSi disability and small VA disability and that's it. This leaves me about $400.00 discretionary income to live on, so you see if I pay $261.00 06/15/16 which doesn't leave me much. I don't want any problems so I paid it. I feel ripped off and I don't feel this was appropriate!

Kaiser states they care for their members. They do not. I have a friend who works for Kaiser and she does not like Kaiser. She does not even have their insurance even though it is free to her. Her husband pays for insurance. She says she only works there and sees that Kaiser will do ANYTHING not to pay any claims that are filed against them. I want to change Kaiser once open enrollment comes up. I have been with Kaiser since I was a kid over 25 years but this is no longer the Kaiser that I grew up with. Kaiser is just money hungry.

I live in Los Angeles. I had a friend pick me up and I went to stay at my friend's house in Las Vegas (for a week to allow some more time for healing and mobility). A week before my departure, I contacted my primary care doctor. I arranged for continued physical therapy and a follow up visit with an orthopedist. I also asked for a walker to be provided prior to discharge from Bishop Care Center, so I could ambulate. I had a phone appointment with my primary care doctor. He approved my requests. In a couple of days, I was contacted by both the orthopedist and physical therapy and I was able to schedule appointments for dates close to my return date to Los Angeles. I was contacted by APRIA, the durable goods provider for Kaiser about delivery of a walker to me in Bishop prior to the discharge date and was assured I would receive it by FedEx. The walker did not arrive as promised despite several follow up phone calls.

When I was discharged, my friend went and bought me crutches, so I could walk. We arrived in Las Vegas. APRIA was contacted repeatedly for a few days and they kept promising, but failed to deliver the walker. Out of frustration, I wrote to the CEOs of both APRIA and Kaiser. Never got a response from CEO of APRIA. But I got a response from Mr. Tyson, CEO of Kaiser within 10 minutes although it was Memorial Day. He assured me it would be resolved. Long story, but next morning at 9 am, I got a phone call from APRIA that the walker would be delivered that day. (Had been getting that promise for 5 days already, but no walker). I was given a Fed Ex tracking number and the personal cell phone number of the person calling me. By 2 pm, my walker was delivered. I received a phone call thereafter from Mr. Tyson's secretary wanting more detail about the problems with APRIA. Yesterday?

I received another nice email from Mr. Tyson making sure everything was ok. Most people write in with complaints. If they got what they expected, it's just taken for granted. I wanted to write a review expressing my appreciation to Kaiser for everything they have done to provide me with a worry free recovery. My care is still ongoing and I hope it will continue to go as smoothly as it has so far. Only word of warning is that APRIA is unreliable and don't believe their promises. Keep on top of them until they deliver.

Since the advent of electronic medical records, the PCP's just sit behind the computer and look at your tests. At most they will listen to your lungs. Even when you have a complaint, they only have 10 minutes and they just order a prescription or test. If that doesn't work, they give you another one to try. It seems like diagnosis by prescription trial. My PCP misdiagnosed a basal cell carcinoma on my nose until I cried for her to refer me to dermatology. I now have a scar that runs from between my eyebrows, down the bridge of my nose, and across to my cheek. The PCP's are the gatekeepers to the specialists. You can't see one on your own. Kaiser is mired in outdated medical practices. They will not use the cologuard stool test, which is 99% accurate because their standard is the outdated FIT test or a colonoscopy.

The doctors' areas are all behind locked doors. The patients sit in waiting rooms until someone lets them in. When I had surgery, my family was waiting for me in the surgery waiting room. The surgery ran into past midnight, but my family was told to leave the waiting room at 9 p.m. and it was locked. I have complained and complained throughout the Kaiser system and nothing gets changed. When open enrollment comes up I am going to change my plan.

Now, all of the sudden, there's an entry that states a condition that I do not have! I have never been seen for it, and none of the lousy doctors I have seen, practice that wing of medicine! So, now I am on the hunt to try and track down the creep who entered that into my medical records! I am pretty sure it was a female doctor at one of the Marin County, CA clinics who I complained about because she was extremely arrogant, and had a crazy glare in her eyes. I ended up seeing her when I went in because one of my legs was really painful, and it felt like it was going to explode. I told her I was afraid it might be a clot. Wow, she went off on me, and yelled that if I truly had a clot, my leg would be red, and swollen, and in pain! Well, it was in a lot of pain.

I argued back to this woman that she was wrong because my sister had gone to her private doctor to remove varicose veins in her legs. She's a body builder and wanted to look good. She had NO pain, OR symptoms. She purely went in for cosmetic reasons, yet her doctor found several clots in each leg! I told that arrogant woman that, and she got even more angry, and crazy! The story goes on, so when I got home I immediately sat down, in anger, and sleep deprived, because I work nights, and I wrote a long and very accurate complaint. So, now I have this illness on my med record, and it is a blatant falsehood!

So, my warning is this: I URGE ALL PATIENTS TO GET A COPY OF WHATEVER THE KAISER DOCTOR SAW YOU FOR, THAT VERY DAY. Then go back and periodically recheck your med records because they do make changes to them without your knowledge! They do it to protect themselves by altering, and adding verbiage so they can deny any wrong doing, and they will enter their "opinion" of you personally to be vindictive if you complain. So, when I get off work on Friday morning I'm going to have to travel 40+ miles to begin the painstaking ordeal of trying to find out who entered that illness into my records. I will have to waste gas, bridge fare, and time to deal with this but I am not going to stop. I will keep you posted!

A month later, my insurance was cancelled. I called customer service and they admitted fault by saying it was a computer error and that they would take care of it. Nothing was taken care of. They told me I had to file an appeal (which could take up to 6 weeks) to get my insurance reinstated. I told them I wasn't going to do that. I wanted a letter stating that they were at fault for cancelling. They said I would have to file a complaint. This was back in March.

Here we are, almost June, and they told me that they wouldn't take any responsibility for cancelling my insurance, which basically won't allow me to get insurance with anybody. I have an 8 yr old daughter, and I'm a single dad. They better believe I'm getting lawyers involved, because, at this rate, me and my daughter will be without insurance for almost a year. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I heard horror stories before I had their insurance and I disregarded it. Please don't make the same mistake I did.

I visit my doctor for TB screening for my work and I had chest x-ray about 10 month earlier. Again, doctor told me to do chest x-ray, multiple blood. I resist to do x-ray again within less than a year then Dr. negotiate I do blood work. Surprise when I done the blood work, lab technician give me a container for urine test. I told her for what reason I need for urine test, she said “I just follow Dr. order.” I refused to do urine test, I am not here for drug or alcohol test which I have never drink alcohol or take any drugs or used. Now, I am scare to visit KP doctors and I feel like I will visit a car dealer, I have to negotiate and go thru all the hassle.

Not once did anyone I spoke to actually try and provide a solution or come up with ANY care plan for my daughter. I was told by Alona, the MFT (!) to call the business office and try and get some help or that I would have to pay for any care my daughter gets out of my pocket. Following are the numbers I called on 5/10/2016: Customer Service 1-800-464-4000. They said they couldn't help me and sent me to. Nurse advice line. 1-866-454-8855. Person said she was a TSR, named Linda, said she couldn't help me and referred me to the nurse advice line. I call the nurse advice line and was informed that the person answering the call was a receptionist screening calls and that she couldn't help me, referred me to the mental health line.

Called the mental health line, 1-408-972-3095 and got another receptionist who said she would send a message to the on call therapist. Got a call from Alona, said she was an MFT, who stated she could not refer me to a therapist in Santa Cruz and could not help me. SHE REFERRED ME TO THE BUSINESS OFFICE. I didn't bother to call the business office? When you are paying $1,000/month for a family health plan and have a $12,000 out of pocket deductible how can Kaiser get away with this practice? How can this organization, which essentially has an extremely convoluted process, claim it has five star customer satisfaction ratings? These ratings cannot possibly be true or accurate.

Print, date, sign it, bring two copies, and staple one to the credit card receipt and keep it. Give the check-in lady the other copy. If she won't take it, just make a small video of your trying to give it to her. If they then try to charge you more than your written agreement to them, show the copy to the billing department. But do not pay the greater amount. Just what you agreed to. If (when) they start dunning, you file a complaint with the DHMC. If that doesn't work, file a small claims; the $30 you spend might be the most satisfying you'll ever pay.

Kaiser Permanente seems to be more concerned about reimbursement for services provided than providing much needed care to patients. My mother is elderly, has symptomatic chronic pancreatitis for almost a month, and as hard as we try we cannot get her treatment by admission to a hospital. They want to temporarily bandaid her symptoms with pain medicine and anti-nausea medicine even though they know that is not the standard of care for pancreatitis. Admit the patient, treat the symptoms, find the underlying cause. TREAT THE PATIENT. What a shameful disgrace of a healthcare provider and a real disappointment to the patients that depend on them.

On Saturday, he was running a 103 degrees fever. I called the nurse line and was told to bring him back because it might be an infection in the lymph nodes. I brought him in. The doctor spent two minutes sounding him up and told me the same thing and still no medicine. They charged me $70. Now I'm not saying they should treat what is not there, but why charge me again when you told me to bring him back and you did nothing to help him. I don't know how they feel comfortable stealing from hardworking people.

They don't give a flip about people. They only want that money. I'm a single, struggling mom and the last thing I need is for someone to take from me and my kids. Kaiser, I pray you go out of business for the fraudulent that you continue to commit. Don't tell me take many child in because you think it might be something else, you don't test for what you think it is but you charge me again. A bunch of thieves.

The ESI injections or Ablations have been the only thing that helped in past and I could walk a mile a day. Since not receiving them for the last 17 months year I am now an invalid. I am sorry I have to fight so hard and get angry but being in this level of pain everyday makes you mad when you can’t get the care you need so badly. And I have been fighting for over a year now and now I have to pay out of pocket and they say it’s a mood disorder - this kind of pain and rejection is what caused my mood disorder. Kaiser has made me an invalid. It may take several injections to get me back to where I was before going back to Kaiser and I cannot afford to pay out of pocket when on disability for my back problem. We are only talking 3-4 injections a year to keep me more active. And in less pain, I was receiving them prior, and I do not understand why they will not help me and have made my health decline so badly and to do nothing about it.

Yes it makes me mad. I also learned if you complain to Kaiser and do not wait the full 30 days for a call back and you complain about something even if not related again you get punished and have to wait another 30 days before they will call you about your complaint - it washes away all your prior complaints. Is that really fair? It just prolongs my pain and agony. I had denied every time I tried to see the pain clinic, finally I get into pain clinic and still receive no help unless I've paid for so much out of my own pocket it has cost me thousands of dollars. I really do not think it’s right for a disabled person to have to fight and get so much worse. Because of Kaiser's lack of care and trying to save money.

In the year I have had no care for my back except pain meds and have been to pay for myself due to a doctor coding. It was just back pain again because they won’t use my prior facet syndrome. It does not show on a scan and the tests had already been done but they don’t care. It’s their opinion only that counts not my past records and tests all so Kaiser does not have to pay. I feel it is neglect. If they would have listened to me and pulled my old tests and coded it right OHP and Health share say it would have been covered.

Being at an 8-10 pain level everyday is unbearable and Kaiser refuses to provide me the care I had in the past that worked and kept me mostly active. Yes I still had pain but a 5 pain level is so much better than a 10. I also did not have to fight to get care that puts so much stress on me I can’t stand it so yes I have a mood disorder due to pain that is not controlled by your doctor’s lack of care...

I’m pleading with you to please cover these ESI injections, or Ablations, so the fight can stop and I can listen to their patients on what works and look at their other records that have been provided. As I said try and get better. Physically and mentally. This level of pain is no way to live. Diagnosis. Because it keeps getting denied, now I pay for it myself so they don’t have to and they can’t even tell me what it is going to cost. Just sign here to take responsibility. With no amount I will have to pay. Now tell me that’s right. Just giving drugs does not help. I am really sorry your doctors will not.

I had to speak to a supervisor because I thought the woman who was on the line was incorrect, but she was not. You actually need to know where the doctors are located in order to make your appointment. You cannot use their website effectively if you are new to the area and don't know that only one place exists under Kaiser's insurance. The supervisor did not know the website well and wanted someone to call me and walk me through it when the problem was not using the website, rather, the information contained on the website! I now understand why so many people at my employee orientation who lived in Oregon went with other insurance providers!

I cannot pay what they are wanting out of pocket for what feels like a store rather than hospital. I had a different doctor it seems every day. When asked why they did not want to do the surgical procedure they said I needed the last time I was there but rejected, I got no answer which led me to believe they base my care on money etc. not me and I am forced to use them because I am poor.

Once Kaiser had my diagnosis, they gave all my personal information and medical records to a third party to ask me if someone else hurt me, if I was hurt at work, or if I was going to sue Kaiser. I made a complaint to Kaiser about waiting one month to get an MRI and giving my information to an unknown third party without my permission. Two months later Kaiser said it is not mandatory for anyone with a hurt knee to get an MRI. Now Kaiser is discontinuing my physical therapy. I was hurt at the end of December 2015. It is now April 2016. I can only walk very slow without a metal hinge brace I bought for myself. I can't stand for long periods of time, can't run or walk fast, can't walk down stairs without a brace and not bending my bad knee. I take 1500 MG of Tylenol a day.

I was told if I repeatedly re-injury my knee I will have to get surgery. Not to mention I can only afford the least expensive Kaiser plan, so I am on a payment plan for my copayments. The MRI alone was $750 and I can't afford to pay. Kaiser only allowed me to be on payment plan after I made a complaint. But now they have canceled my physical therapy. Kaiser is for profit corporation who only cares about getting as much money they can get out of you. They don't care about diagnosing or resolving your injury or sickness.

This insurance company is quite obviously schooled in the practice of frustrating people to the point where they give up trying to help people get the testing that they need. These people who pay their premiums and expect service are being robbed!!! The fact that this company so clearly has no respect for patients or providers and is not willing to help sick people is disgusting. This insurance company is the reason why healthcare is broken. The time we as providers have taken to get absolutely nowhere with this company has taken away from time that should have been spent with other sick patients. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone and would urge those that have this company as their insurance provider to cancel ASAP. In the event that one would need prompt urgent care, this company would rather mess around on the phone until someone dies waiting for them to figure out how to do their job.

That is only one of my problems with Kaiser. I disliked their system, so much, I switched to a different carrier for 2015. In 2016, I received a 1095 for my taxes that said Kaiser had been paid nearly $400 a month, for 4 months in 2015, on my behalf, by the Healthcare Marketplace. (I had cancelled Kaiser in December 2014.)

I called the Marketplace and Kaiser several times; mostly so I could get a corrected 1095 for my taxes, but to no avail. Each said it was the others responsibility to correct it. Nobody seems to care that Kaiser collected nearly $1600 in payments from the Marketplace that they shouldn't have. That's just 1 case. I am certain mine is not the only case. How many other people has Kaiser scammed the system for??? If Kaiser corrected the 1095, they would be admitting they collected money they were not owed.

How long does Kaiser get to keep ripping off the American taxpayer!!! The Marketplace funds belong to us all. We should all be outraged by the theft and waste!! What does it take to pin down a big company like this? Kaiser is a sorry excuse for a Healthcare entity. I guess causing more stress is a way of creating your own job security...

The Consumer Affairs Website has over 546 complaints about Kaiser and even when you call their patient affairs office to speak to someone you're on the phone for 45 mins then they come back and tell you there is no one to speak to. What's the purpose of a Patient Affairs? She has been without the medication for 3 months now, and Dr. Sunil ** has done nothing to accommodate this life threatening need! As a result she went to the ER, and unfortunately has now been transferred to Kaiser. When I say Kaiser Kills and not Heals, my mother's life is on the line! If you are with Kaiser and you can escape please do, as your life will depend on it!

At the end of January I call Kaiser to make an appointment. But as it turns out, I didn't have coverage. Apparently the Silver Plan was never sent to Kaiser. Which is not Kaisers fault. What is their fault is the process and how long its taking to get coverage. That day a Kaiser representative told me that I need to contact WA and have them send it over. Simple enough I thought. So the process began. I called. They sent. I waited 2 weeks, called Kaiser - still not a member, they are processing info. "Fair enough" I thought. 2 weeks is soon. I wait another 2 weeks. This time never mind, they never receive anything. Even though I have a ticket number to track it.

So I again I call WA (keep in mind the wait on hold is so long for both places. I once waited 1 hour 10mins). Again they said they are waiting - things didn't go through so they will send another ticket which was already 3/2/16. I give it a week to go through and call Kaiser again. They received it. "It's in process, give it 10 business days and it should go through." I waited until 3/30/16 because we were out of town and what do you know, I called and again it's being processed. The worst part is when I would ask about how long this should take each time they would get defensive and make it seem like it was my fault. I spoke to them so much and only once did I get someone helpful and willing to help and explain.

They will NOT go the extra mile for any kind of diagnosis or result. Instead they have used the excuse of having to see someone else and have sent me home time and time again with pain pills and empty promises on their "specialized" services, WHILE collecting fee after fee for each visit. Meanwhile, 2 doctors have REFUSED to write a doctor's note to excuse me from work. Did I mention, I CANNOT WALK?! THIS IS PATIENT NEGLECT. I will NEVER recommend this health care system or plan to anyone. I still have yet to have results for my knee and am forced to go outside of the Kaiser system.

First thing went to Minor Injury Clinic where I had been treated for a bug bite turn staph infection. This looked similar and staph can be deadly. I arrived before doors opened hoping maybe someone cancelled or they had an opening. The MA's know me, it is a small office in just a small medical facility. I was asked "You do know we are not a walk-in clinic. Did we not give you a card last time to call head of time?" I was there seeking help, not attitude - simple request.

Made the appt for 1:50 pm (it was 9:13 am). Left, too painful, sought an appt at the larger facility/hospital/ER/plastic surgery... Everything in another close by city. 11:05 am appt: The Dr. came in, shook my hand, sat a few feet away from me, asked what's wrong, how long going on etc. Explained, said possible bug bite from previous experience. Didn't even put on gloves or roll her chair closer, just sat there looking at me and said “Umm could be shingles. No, um wait, yes it is shingles.”

I said “this whole area of my face is solid/rock hard. Are you sure this is shingles and the boil like lump on my neck? Is this normal? This hard?” (No tiny blisters, just 2 big hole like shapes back of head - possible carbuncles and furuncles. 2 similar on front of face at temple.) She called the eye dept., inquired about shingles in the eye. “Come back if eye gets red. Are you allergic to any medications? Ok I will prescribe you 4 medications.” (None for pain.) I was crying, it hurt so bad.

Inquired about the "Medications I am going to prescribe you." 2 were for OTC items I could purchase at Walmart/Big Lots for under $7 for both! Motrin for $15? Neosporin for $15? Really? Guessing at what my injuries are, and then "up-sell me" for OTC items that DO NOT REQUIRE A PRESCRIPTION? Did not even touch me. Looked at a distance. Still painful today. If it goes into staph what then go to the ER for even more $$$. Upselling me to the ER. They are the Taco Bell of health care, sounds good at the time but then after... you regret it.

If I am not diagnosed properly, and have to go back and back and back again at $30 per visit to correct what they diagnosed wrong, who pays me for that? On 2 Rx's, 1 for Shingles, 1 for bacteria. Did get pain medication after asking. Guess I just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best? Looked online, does not resemble shingles. My face is so swollen, my hair line is "stretched" so far back from my normal facial line.

I look like a monster. I also have a HUGE event this Monday! This is not the first horrible experience I have had. They just sit and look at you and look at their computer to prescribe overpriced OTC, upsell, upsell, upsell. I have had a few experiences and finally my health, my job and my pocket book have had enough. Didn't know this site existed until I googled Bad Kaiser Experience.

I literally have dealt with this same rigmarole 3 times and each time I'm more shocked when I receive an email indicating that the problem was actually never resolved. It's been about 3 months now and I just found out again that the issue still ongoing despite my most patient and rationale effort to fix a seemingly simple issue. Uncertainty for months about whether I'm actually covered has been a completely unnecessary source of stress when the issue should have been resolved months ago. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

When I called to check, I was told all was up to date. I was refused my prescriptions from Oct. until the end of Dec., even under the "we believe" policy. Kaiser blames it on Covered CA and visa versa. They do not communicate with each other well at all. We thought that having to resign up in Jan. would straighten everything out. Didn't happen. The premium went up and we paid the bill in good faith. Once again, I was told I had been terminated. I went on Medicare in Feb. and waited until then to see the Dr. and get my prescriptions because of all the misinformation we had been getting. Thinking, of course, that it would straighten out when I went on Medicare. When I got my first prescription on Medicare, instead of the $20 it should have cost, they deducted $600 from my checking account from my debit card.

I called the bank and put in a claim. That was put back in my account by the bank. I've been told by "Resolutions" that that will be the end of it, but somehow "WE DON'T BELIEVE". We received a bill for over $3400 saying that the premiums had not been paid since Oct. -- for either me or my husband. Well, he didn't owe anything, because he was on Medicare! I had paid the bills I received and had not received, to try to keep up with them, in good faith. One payment they would not even accept, because they had said the balance was $0. We finally filed a grievance. We are now dealing with the incompetence of that system.

Customer Service is the epitome of an oxymoron. Both Covered California and Kaiser need to take equal blame in this horrendous mess (to put it politely). Everyone says they will get it straightened out, but it gets worse with each call.

We still have not gotten the bill for the $3400 straightened out and been told that if not paid our coverage for Oct thru Jan would be terminated and we would be responsible for any bills incurred. I recommend that anyone having problems with Kaiser Member Services, Plans or Premiums, file a grievance and put in a complaint with the insurance board.

Apparently in my area they have no facility within their network that offers an open MRI. I have been trying to get an open MRI for 6 months now. I even filed a complaint with the state insurance commission but there isn't much they can do to help me. My doctor's office has tried to resolve the issue but at this point there isn't much else they can do. I believe that the only thing left to do is to hire a lawyer to go after them. We cannot change insurance until June of 2016. We have our insurance through the state of Colorado (my husband's employer). If I were a dog I would have had the MRI and the surgery at least 5 months ago. I should know. I am a veterinarian. HMO's have destroyed medical care in this country. We are paying exorbitant fees for coverage and the medical care is truly abysmal.

Our Kaiser Permanente card arrived on the second week of January. On the end of January, I tried ordering my Nasal spray from Walmart. They said it is still so high and it is the same price. In month of February 2nd week I had to rush to CSHP because I was experience urinary tract infection. I was prescribed a medicine. We decided to send the prescription in Walgreens because they said it is a network pharmacy of Kaiser. I had two kinds of medicine--the antibiotic and some kind of a pain reliever. We picked up the medicine and they said we have to pay the full price. I didn't question it anymore as I needed it immediately.

Almost 2 weeks later, I received a letter from Kaiser telling me that the prescribed medicine was categorized as maintenance medication and they do not cover it in another network pharmacy. The letter also said that we have to call the current network pharmacy to transfer the prescription to Kaiser. They will not do it for you. You have to manually do it. Once you have requested the transfer you have to go back to their website and order the prescription from there. You have the option to go to their 3 branches in Southern Colorado, order refill by mail or through phone and pick it up. From January-February, I have spent for 3 medication without being able to use the insurance. I feel so drained. We are paying almost 400 USD but we could not even use it for our medicine.

I call them and they originally told me refunds take 8 weeks to process. WHAT?! I spoke to a supervisor and that person told me they processed the refund and it would be refunded in 3-5 business days. That was on March 1st. I also filed a complaint with the company so they could refund the overdraft charge. March 7th arrives and there still has been no refund. I call in (my wife has no money at this point) and they assure us it will come the next day. March 8th comes, and no refund. March 9th comes and I call in (I am beyond angry at this point) and get transferred around to several different departments and every time I have to reexplain what is going on. This goes on for a half an hour. Then I finally talk to someone who informs me that because the refund is to a checking account, that it will take up to 6 weeks to get a refund. WHAT?!

Angry, I ask to speak to a manager. Another 12 minutes of waiting goes by, and finally a lady answers named Sheila **. (I have started to write down the people I talk to now because this is escalating quickly and may come to litigation). She proceeds to lecture me that I should have read the fine print that I signed 2 years ago when I signed up for auto-draft. Apparently it can take up to 30 days to take off an account from auto-draft. Yet, I was assured that the account would not be charged again when I took it off the account.

Apparently I am supposed to read and remember fine print from 2 years ago, but the staff is not required to read it and understand it. Apparently it is okay for the staff to misquote information on multiple occasions and you are held responsible when you listen to them, trust them to know the policies, but really they have no idea what is going on. We were told incorrect information by no less than 5 people over the last 10 days. This company is terrible, and it is no wonder why they have had so many lawsuits. They stole money out of my wife's account without our permission and are not going to give it back for 6 weeks. Now I have to decide what makes the most sense in how I pursue this.

You have to have an appointment with a call center employee before you are allowed to use the Kaiser pharmacy. Yes, that's right. You also have to use their pharmacy, no more using what you're comfortable with, they don't give a **. They also don't have doctors listed online. I went online to find a doctor and all they listed were physician's assistants and nurse practitioners. I complained about this as well and you have to talk to a special department to find an actual doctor. Want information about the doctor? They have to send you every bio individually.

Additionally, after filing a complaint with Kaiser about their abhorrent practices, they contacted my employer to tell on me. My employer called me in to talk to me about my complaint. This is an extremely disgusting organization. RUN, RUN, RUN from Kaiser. As I received this "insurance" scam through my employer I am currently looking for another job so that I can once again have actual insurance. Do yourself a favor and vet every potential employer to ensure they do not use Kaiser.

In February 2016 I was sent to collections for the $190.99 bill I had paid in February. Ultimately I had to pay that amount AGAIN to the collection agency. The SAME DAY (February 15, 2016) I paid that bill to collections I was frustrated and called Kaiser and asked them exactly what I owed them. They told me $246.09. I said "I am sending you a payment for the balance." And I sent the payment via Bill Pay at my bank. The payment arrived at Kaiser on February 18, 2016.

The next month I get another call from Evergreen collections saying I owe them $246.09. I told them I already paid that balance but they can't do anything. I called Kaiser and they said it's too bad the account is already with collections and there is nothing they nor I can do. If I don't want my credit to get hit I have to pay collections another $246.09 and HOPE Kaiser sends me my money back, which they won't do until everything is processing on my account. (This according to a horrible man who basically tuned me out... I know because I'd get total silence on the phone and then a "what?").

I had a mammogram last week (as Kaiser reminded me I needed to do) but Mammogram is a preventative service and is FREE under my insurance. The same insurance I have had for 2 1/2 years! So I have no idea when I might get a credit. Apparently Kaiser is UNABLE to communicate with its collections company and tell them the bill was paid. And DESPITE the fact that I called and TOLD them I was sending payment the fault falls on ME to pay them TWICE. Going by the amount of time it took them to just bill me for the July 2015 surgery, this is probably going to be MONTHS. Kaiser's billing is a travesty. Apparently no one can fix any errors because "it's automated" (as I was continually told). No customer service errors count against them. EVERYTHING falls on the head of the patient and it is the patient who loses out.

On top of it I can't even start on the confusion that is hospital billing. There is no way on earth to prove if what I am paying is correct... no way at all for the patient to verify. Kaiser doesn't even understand its own billing practices! I was talking to customer service about my account and the lady (who claimed she had previously worked in billing) said my charges looked wrong and that it looked like some charges were charged as hospital fees when they should have been professional fees. Each billed at a different rate. She said she was going to send it in for re-evaluation. I never heard anything back. My calculations based on the 80% coverage I have on surgeries told me I should pay around $1400, but I have paid over $1500 at this point with no guarantee they won't come up with something else to bill me for.

My complaint is on two issues: how can Kaiser declare this an elective surgery? The alternative in both cases would be to become unable to walk. In both cases they are severely disabled due to the pain in their knee. This is not a condition that is elective, and the surgery to correct it is necessary to remain healthy, i.e., mobile. How can Kaiser tell their patients that necessary care after surgery must be paid for by the patient? Isn't that what we are already paying for when we buy Kaiser health insurance?

For 30 minutes we had to wade through a terrible call with a woman who spoke so rapidly and with such a horribly thick accent that I had to have her repeat nearly everything. I'm no stranger to a thick accent, as my husband is foreign, but this woman was beyond unintelligible. She wasn't remotely interested in my bleeding and instead spent 30 minutes arguing about my location, my insurance type, and my zip code. She kept telling me I had several local doctors and insisting I was wrong despite the solid FACT that I had called literally ALL of them. I was in tears worrying over my baby and she didn't care. At. All. I ended up hanging up on her. I think I'd rather have no insurance at all than this terrible garbage. We've put in an appeal with our local health plan to reverse us back to Blue Cross.

The doctor gives me 15 5 mg. codone pills for pain. Note that I can tolerate a fair amount of pain. When I need pain pills I'm nearly at the "I'm going to scream" level. Note also that I'm football player sized guy so 5 mg. is absorbed and have no effect. I had to double up the pills and take 4 Ibuprofen and take this combination every 4 hours to be where I could tolerate it, so they only lasted the evening and part of the next day. (Complaint 2: Inadequate pain management when I need it, which is very rare so long as I have my prescription for Prednisone available.)

Since I was already running out and had a very acute attack this time, I immediately scheduled for next-day appointment. This doctor prescribed some additional pain meds to help and an anti-inflammatory which helped a lot. However, for some reason he also prescribed Prednisone again but with no refills. This eliminated my refills! (Complaint 3: Why did this doctor screw up my refills?!) It has been some time and I used up that bottle of Prednisone. I tried to get a refill and discovered the re-written prescription eliminated the refills. So I call in to see if my regular doctor will get a refill so I can avoid an attack. Answer? Well I hear back several days later. It's a No. WHY? Why deny them when I had them and never got them? (Complaint 4: The doctor had previously prescribed 2 refills, and I only got 1 when the prior doctor re-wrote it. Why not let me get the 2nd refill?)

Oh well, I'll create a new appointment. Nope, there are none to be had anywhere near me. So now I'm wasting my Friday going to a very late appointment and driving an hour away for it. (Complaint 5: WHY ARE THERE NOT MORE AVAILABLE APPOINTMENT SLOTS?) I tried since 12 pm till 4 pm before I could get this appointment. Wasting 4 hrs. of my time just to be scheduled and wasting another at least 3 hrs. just to get a new prescription and having to pay the copay on top of that when it was their screw up!

My hope is that I can locate an attorney willing to file suit against them, and would like other members that have had to wait so long for an appointment to get involved as well. Please note: I find that it never just takes one appointment with them either, they prefer to get you on the Kaiser Merry-Go-Round to milk as much from you as possible. I would like to end and say that about half of the Kaiser doctors, dentists, and staff have been very professional and kind.

I waited till my new insurance kicked in. Boy what a mistake. I then had to nut up again for my referral. Well it didn't take long after that went to the doctor I was referred to and he then referred me to another MRI for nerve damage and again had to nut up the day before my MRI AND AGAIN THE MRI WAS PENDING. I AM SO FRUSTRATED with this insurance company. I've came to the conclusion that the doctors with Kaiser just don't give a ** about their patients, just their money. Oh and I scheduled a yearly exam in January, it is now February 9th and they have rescheduled 4 times because my primary is never in the office. So my advice to whomever goes to Kaiser good luck.

I got a bill from the L.A. Fire Dept. for $1225.00 for that ride. I called immediately and they said that Kaiser refused to pay. I had not been notified by Kaiser, and this invoice said it was PAST DUE! I was sent a letter from Kaiser explaining why THEY decided it wasn't an emergency. I couldn't drive because I couldn't use my hands or bend my fingers, and was on the 3rd day of pain killers. The PMs wrote symptoms of Carpal Tunnel and I told them to change it, that's not what I said, I know the difference. They did not change it. The wrote that I was sitting up and talking. Why not? My hands/fingers were throbbing with pain and I couldn't use them.

Then it said the ER Doc examined me, but he didn't. He referred to the 'carpal tunnel' report, did not take blood. No exam or tests. I thought it might be blood poisoning because it was spreading or an allergic reaction to something. So an incorrect PM report and no MD exam at Kaiser, BUT Kaiser decided it wasn't an emergency and they refused to pay. I followed the instructions for an appeal. The Fire Dept told me that Kaiser was supposed to tell them that it was being appealed, but they didn't, even after I then called and told them to advise the Fire Dept. I have been waiting for some kind of communication from Kaiser about this, a third party was supposed to decide if my appeal was rejected, but I never heard anything more.

Today I got another PAST DUE BILL from the Fire Dept. Kaiser isn't even doing their job with my appeal. I was unable to drive. I am on SSI and have the medi/medi plan. Senior/disabled/alone/impoverished. None of my neighbors drive so I had no choice but to call 911, it was late at night. If they want people to go to Urgent Care, they should provide transportation like many other plans do. If they do not pay this bill, how can I ever again feel comfortable calling 911 again?

I'm not the doctor. If I am reluctant to call and could die from my condition... THEN WHAT? I don't have money for an atty. I have excellent credit which is about to be ruined. This 'ride' cost was $300 more than my monthly income. If they don't pay it, I will simply switch my medi/medi plan over to Cedars who provides ALL of the Medical Benefits that I am entitled to, but after 3 1/2 years of begging at Kaiser, there are MANY procedures and services that they just refuse to get for me.

They push pills and vaccines. They don't have a licensed Psychologist. They have no weight loss plan. I qualify for the stomach sleeve thing and each of the 3 rejection letters had different reasons why I didn't qualify. When I only had Medical... I did qualify and I'm fatter now. Kaiser can't wait to make money hoping I get diabetes, heart attacks, a stroke and whatever else comes with being overweight. SHAME ON KAISER!!!

I am so upset that I have once again to take a day out of my life on the phone tomorrow, being transferred, hung up on, repeating the story, and nobody knows anything! Last time I tried to straighten it out I got a shooting pain up the side of my neck into my brain. Who knows what that was? I was so upset I had to take a tranquilizer. They are so much worse than Medicaid, they have NO SHAME. Pharmacies on nearly every floor. Plus they send you to locations as far away as 50 miles for some services that they don't have locally. I'm talking about the heart of Los Angeles. How could they not have these services? They want me to pay up to 39% of the total to The Los Angeles City Attorney's office.

On 12/26/2015, the RN on duty advised they were still checking the Surgery Center. She stated the Case Manager advised her, that personnel (who were working at the time) from the Surgery Center were being contacted, at home. The caseworker stated it is their responsibility for locking up any valuables items. These hearing aids cost approximately $3,000+ and not covered by insurance. This is an out-of-pocket expense. The notation, stated in caseworker's letter. The documentation also includes that your personal belongings, including your hearing aids, were given to a family member prior to you be taken to the Surgery Department is not true. We have asked for protocol of the complaint process and/or if legal action is necessary. Acting on behalf of patient is Alicia **, Trustee, and having Power of Attorney, for Mr. Alfonso **.

I have had my Kaiser Account terminated twice now, through NO ERROR OF MY OWN but due to incomplete bureaucratic process internal to Kaiser. Both times Kaiser claimed that they were back-logged with memberships thru Covered California and whatever the pathway of paperwork flows from Covered California and Kaiser... the channels were blocked thus I ended up without coverage. The first time was for over month until things caught up. They assured me things would get handled and I should go get Kaiser for treatment under their "Trust Me" policy with those of us in the purgatory of Covered California. I tried this and was turned away from a routine visit as it showed my medical coverage was cancelled.

Fortunately, I experienced no real medical emergencies during that time, but the terror of no medical coverage and the impending financial ruin of a large medical bill was almost too much to bear. I have experienced this twice through Kaiser in a 2 year period. I was on the phone daily for almost a week with Member Services the first time. Anyone that would listen, but each time it was new person that didn't know what the person the day before had said. Computer screen notes if the representative could locate them were insufficient to help. At the end of at least 5 different re-routes of Customer Service Reps, none knowing with the other was doing...the one after more apathetic than the previous.

Now, I'm sitting here facing this again. I'm on hold with Member Services (the 3rd department line I tried, 1 hour into explaining my story to 3 people). I am unable to logon to the website to reorder my prescriptions because they are telling me one policy was ending as a new was being loaded. This is the worst. Covered California people are those that need the coverage without protection and they are treated the worst.

If I order medication online, it asks for my credit card information and then proceeds to tell me that they can't tell me what the charge is (I would have to wait for my statement). I sent a message to that affect to www.kp.org and was told that they are unable to do that right now (which I already told her. duhhh!) and that after delivery they would send me a confirmation with the charge (THEY DON'T). DON'T CHOOSE KAISER!!!

The doctor that diagnosed me, told me that Kaiser physicians should have found the infection at my first visit, with a simple urine test. He was clearly angry, mostly due to the fact that NOT ONE OF THE KAISER DOCTORS I SAW, EVER FOLLOWED UP ON MY TREATMENT TO SEE IF I WAS GETTING BETTER. Not once. They gave me medicine for a "stomach ache" which turned out to be my infected bladder, and never asked if it helped. I also suffer horrible back pain, my back is trashed. I saw my "new" pcp about treatment or medication for relief from the pain. The first thing she does is order me to stop taking ibuprofen or other nsaids, saying she suspected an "autoimmune disorder" from taking too many. And also ups my thyroid medication by 50%.

Within a couple months I had lost over 40 pounds! I sweated constantly, from every pore in my body. My socks and underwear were soaked with sweat every day, all day. I was extremely irritable, and could not control my temper. I itched all over and scratched my face, neck, chest, legs and back raw with scabs and scars. When I brought this up to my pcp, she responded "let's not worry about that now." When I had lost almost 50 pounds, I self-diagnosed the fact that she had totally overdosed me on my thyroid me. AND LIKE THE KAISER DOCTORS BEFORE, NEVER FOLLOWED UP ON MY MEDICATION CHANGE, and then refused to discuss the problems I was having. And of course when I informed her of the fact I was being given way too much levothyroxine, she denied that the dose was too high!! And then cut the dose in half - without even telling me!

I've received absolutely no treatment for my back pain save for a cortisone injection in my lower back that caused almost as many problems as it eased. NOTHING for the severe pain my neck (probably caused by KP!), my middle back pain, or my right side sacroiliac pain. I've tried to keep up my level of physical activity, through PT and engaging in the activities which I love, hiking, camping and fishing. Several times this year I ran into severe trouble when my back seized up on me in the middle of a hike. What did my pcp tell me? "Quit hiking."

What's the biggest cause of the high rate of suicides of arthritis sufferers? Not the constant pain usually. It's the loss of mobility, the loss of being able to engage in things they love. My experience with KP doctors is, they don't care. Nor will they ever admit to wrongdoing, mis-prescribing medications, misdiagnosis, no mistakes at all. I guarantee you any physician who found themselves in the level of pain I have to put up with every day, would be on opiates, no question. Tough crap if you're a patient in the same boat. They will refuse to assist you.

If you have ANY REASONABLE ALTERNATIVE TO KAISER'S PCP PLAN, TAKE IT. Do not sign up with KAISER unless you have NO CHOICE. If you have anything but a cold, the sniffles or strep throat you will be out of luck. I've been forced to stick with this awful company due to circumstances beyond my control, or I'd have been out the door years ago!!

About 3 months later my medication ran out and using the brace daily I was still in pain. I made a follow up appointment with this doctor. During this appointment the doctor asked why I was still wearing the brace if my ankle was still hurting, I told him "Because you told me to wear the brace". His comment was "If it doesn't work then why do it". He then said that he wanted to try cortisone injections but he felt the shot would not work. We also talked about another option if the shot did not work and this was I needed to have my ankle fused. He told me that I would have to drive south to have this procedure done because no one here could perform this procedure.

After 4 weeks I sent a message saying I was still in pain. He wanted me to come in and talk about a follow up with another injection or consultation with orthopedist for surgery. After waiting hour the doctor came in and we started talking about my options. He then pulled up my x-rays again and said that my ankle did not look too bad, after telling me on my first visit that my ankle looked bad. It was at this time I noticed that he starting talking down to me and talking to me as if I were stupid.

He told me that I could make an appointment here with a doctor and see if they would perform the surgery but he did not think I would get the surgery, after telling me that no one here could perform the surgery and that I needed surgery. At this time I told him if he wasn't going to refer me to a doctor down south "Why did you want me to come in and talk about my options, surgery and injection". He also told me that the injection would not work. Because of the way this visit was going and the way he was talking to me I told him this visit was over.

UPDATED ON 05/19/2016: I currently live in California and have Kaiser Permanente. On 01/14 Kaiser sent me to and Orthopedic Surgeon, this surgeon recommended a total knee replacement so on 02/14/14 this doctor performed a total knee replacement. After 4 months and still in a great deal of pain this doctor said that he did not know why I was still in pain, walked with a limp, could not straighten my leg and could not bend my leg more than 90 degrees. Said, "I cannot do anything more for you and you need to get another opinion." I also have to add that this doctor delayed therapy for 3 weeks and stopped therapy twice.

When I did get a chance to see another Orthopedic Surgeon at Kaiser this time, he sent me to their Pain Management Department; they put me in a walker and pain meds. I have talked to other none Kaiser Orthopedic Surgeon and they said I need to have my knee done again. So on 09/01/2016 I will be put on Medicare because I am disabled and will get my knee fixed by a non-Kaiser Orthopedic Surgeon.

Rarely seeking a cause, Kaiser doctors rely on prescriptions. They do not make any dietary or any other kind of recommendation to help the patient improve his health. Prevention is rarely considered. I was not pleased to hear that Kaiser has merged with Merck Pharmaceuticals, patients are already given too many prescription drugs as opposed to trying to determine a cause. As for customer service, on far too many occasions, I found that the black receptionists and pharmacists are often rude and arrogant to white patients, yet go out of their way to smile and be kind to their black compatriots. This is not a very welcoming or comforting attitude in a medical facility. I finally left Kaiser to seek another provider and would not recommend them.

I am suppose to pay $550 per month with none of my doctors included in the Kaiser Plans. I called HealthCare.gov and nothing they can do. They said "We cannot verify if the plans, doctors or anything that is truly covered." I said, "Who oversees if the information provided by the health care providers is correct?" They did not know. I feel like I have been mislead by both Kaiser and HealthCare.gov. I just now called Kaiser looking for an explanation and they said. It appears Kaiser left out a step to choose a plan first. My health care plan I was choosing does not include my doctor. I am pissed and the Kaiser member services agreed with me the URL does not mirror what I used to select. Major issues.

To their surprise HEART WAS RACING AT 175 and rhythm was irregular. They immediately gave medication try to and bring down to normal. Gave a second pill 2 hours later again to try and regulate it and doctor said would call Cardiologist if that didn't work. It did and was sent home. Diagnosis Atrial Fibrillation (AF). ER doctor was the same doctor on both visits. He may have caught it then if EKG had been ordered. Follow up with Cardiologist was frustrating. She did not feel any test for the heart were necessary due to "age". This, she said "is seen in older patients not 20 year olds". Three months later we switched to Anthem Blue Cross. The convenience of having doctors, labs, x-rays, pharmacy all in one place maybe why people stay with Kaiser. We are currently very happy with our current provider and doctors and DO NOT recommend Kaiser.

Unfortunately, I had to enroll with Kaiser as my choices were VERY LIMITED. Here we are -- January 7, 2016 -- I have enrolled BEFORE December 15, 2015, PAID my first month's premium BEFORE Jan 1, 2016 (December 24, 2015 -- to be exact) and as of TODAY, I have absolutely no membership packet, no membership cards -- absolutely NOTHING to prove my membership with Kaiser. Fair?? I think not -- ESPECIALLY since this company has MY FULL MONTH'S PREMIUM, not a half month's premium. My effective date should have started on day one of my coverage.

Are they stealing my money?? Definitely. Have I reported this to the Office of Insurance in my state? Most Definitely. I urge other consumers to do the same. If Kaiser is also STEALING your premium and NOT COVERING you, either when they are supposed to -- beginning on DAY ONE of your EFFECTIVE COVERAGE DATE. I have NO MEMBERSHIP MATERIALS or MEMBERSHIP CARDS to prove that I am FULLY COVERED and am ENROLLED. Thanks a lot, Obamacare.... We're all unhappy and getting screwed.

I've been on hold 3x today, for more than 30 minutes each time (more than 45 minutes currently on hold). Most of us work full time jobs and don't have time for this - I simply want to change doctors and make an appointment - it should only take 5 minutes to complete this task. If any other business was run in this manner, it would be out of business. I'm now considering finding a job elsewhere so that I don't have to put up with Kaiser, and I'm very sorry my current employer decided to go with them for our health coverage in 2016. Avoid Kaiser at all costs.

Since then I've had two more back surgeries and I'm permanently disabled at the age of 46 and all Kaiser had to do was send me in for an MRI. Being part of their HMO I never saw the same Dr. so I don't even remember their names. So thank you so much Kaiser for my life of pain. It's greatly appreciated from a guy who worked out twice a day, weekend football, volleyball and teaching my nieces and nephew how to run track. Plus the rise in my company that I was doing at a ridiculous pace that my co-workers respected my performance and ethics all gone, but I guess T.V. is a sufficient substitute.

We as family decided to find a place where people get treated for PTSD and we found different places but the one focused on PTSD we found is in Florida. I called the Health Department, called Kaiser, called the Medical Board but at the end we were on our own and had to pay the treatment ourselves. It is sad how little financial help you get and the mental department is extremely bad. My daughter was in therapy, saw different psychiatrists and still was not feeling better because they were just prescribing meds and not treating the root of the problem. I called several lawyers trying to get help and was not able to get help, could not believe we were on our own after paying Kaiser for so many years. I tried to find a place for my daughter in California but they are focused on drugs and alcohol.

I can hardly wait to switch my insurance next July. It has been a nightmare, multiple phone calls to Kaiser Permanente and they declined any kind of help to my my family, I feel I am getting sick myself and my husband is not feeling well but just thinking about setting foot at Kaiser makes me get the chills. Hope I can switch to another insurance soon!!!

A different Kaiser doctor four years earlier, at the city hospital, also refused treatment of our mother, saying, "There's nothing more we can do for her. You better get the family together for end of life conference." This is our same mother. She is still alive today. Recently a friend of ours was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, after being told repeatedly that her illness was "in her head" and claiming blood tests were done when they weren't. Now she fighting for life. A needless oversight. A Kaiser nurse complained to Social Services that we were "hauling our mother all over town to get treatment". How's that a bad thing? Again, good thing we didn't listen, since our mother is yet living today, in spite of certain Kaiser doctors.

Again, our mother had a fractured femur. The Kaiser doctor examined the x-ray and said there was no break. But her pain continued after we brought her back home. As the pain did not go away we brought her back to the doctor and got a referral to specialist, who looked that very same x-ray the Kaiser doctor examined and said, "That is an obvious fracture." How does that inspire you? Kaiser is my provider now, and to be honest there are many good doctors and nurses at Kaiser, but these incidents, (and others), give me a great distrust that people who are not their own advocates will fail to get the care they pay for and deserve at Kaiser. What I really distrust is having doctors and the insurance under the same organization. It sure seems like a conflict of interest to me! I'm looking for an alternative.

Updated on 08/22/2016: I could write a horror novel-length list of grievances I have experienced in just 6 months of being insured through Kaiser. In summary: the physicians and staff are friendly and while the company is well intentioned and wants to find novel ways of streamlining their processes (mainly because they have too many customers), NOTHING WORKS. You will spend hours upon frustrating hours in voicemail mazes, getting a runaround, and are sure to be disappointed.

Examples: Got a voicemail from a nurse requesting you call them? Call the number back, there is a voicemail maze with no way to talk to a human. Total time wasted = 45 minutes. Need a form signed? You need to scan it, then print it when they email it back (how many retired people have a scanner and printer at home?) Catch 22: the pdf form is password protected so you can't print it! Time to call Adobe tech support. Total time wasted = 3 hours! You have an email from your doctor that needs to be read. Click on the "read me" link in the email and it doesn't take you to the right place, and when you finally find the doctors email there is no respond button allowing you to simply reply back to their question. Total time wasted = 20 minutes. "You need an X-ray. Oops we forgot to tell you it had to be made the same day as your doctor visit." Call that voicemail maze the next, get bounced to three departments and finally get an appointment. Total time wasted = 35 minutes.

** interrogated me like a deadbeat drug addict who had indiscriminate unprotected sex. He ordered dozens of blood tests at 2 different labs and everything came back negative except chikungunya and dengue. ** continued the tests for other problems even though I tested positive for the 2 viruses. I tried to tell her it's chikungunya and dengue that's the problem. She says since ** said I was a street addict so no more pain relief. Now you send me letter to go to a shrink. Me thinks you guys need the professional help. It turns out you're not as smart as the 3rd world doctors.

The problems of differing monthly premium billings continued and finally I got a month with a correct billing. WOW, fixed!!! NOT. The next month I received a billing for $20,000 for my premium. That's right twenty thousand dollars!!! I called with my head about to explode. The lady said (in a sarcastic tone) "well clearly it's a mistake. I will have to check and see what is wrong." I told her not to expect payment until a corrected billing was sent to me. I further asked her... What if I had auto payment? Her response... "We would have deducted $20K from your account." I laughed and told her, "good luck with that. I'm retired and don't have $20K." We both laughed and I have never been so happy I got out of their auto pay some months earlier. Well they sent a revise bill for my $500+ payment and it has been correct every month since, over a year now.

Her Kaiser ortho was great and knowledgeable and told us straight that if this had have been caught sooner bracing might have helped prevent progression of her curve. He sent her for more x-rays and looked at growth indicators and decided that she was not growing anymore so the curve would likely not get worse. That was the good news.

Sadly, it got worse for my daughter. A year later she started complaining of being really sore all the time, presented a fever, and swollen joints in her ankles and wrist. She is a musician and at first we thought joints was related to technique and the amount of time she rehearses. All the symptoms persisted. We took her to the doctors no less than 4 times.

Finally, one resident said "I think you might have an auto immune disease." It took two years for Kaiser to agree to test her for an auto-immune disease. We had been to the doctor every other month in that time with doctors looking puzzled and suggesting ludicrous causes each saying that the test would just come back positive and was not a good indicator of auto immune diseases. While at college she got sick and a nurse heard her story and pressured her doctor to test. She has Lupus. She suffered for 2 years. Needlessly, her senior year was a nightmare. Thankful, I believed her the whole time. But what if I had listened to the doctors that said she was ok. It has been a battle to get appointments or communicate with her doctors.

Now for my story: I have had 4 cesareans. The first one was an emergency performed at UCSF. The type of cesarean meant that a VBAC could never be attempted without risking internal bleeding. After my 4th cesarean I had a tubal ligation because doctors cautioned that I could no longer safely give birth. Since I had 3 living children I was ok with that. After my 4th I had to had a hernia repair. Then 10 years later a hysterectomy. However because of scar tissue I could not have a laparoscopic hysterectomy and had to have an abdominal hysterectomy. This is where the nightmare begins.

Two months after my hysterectomy I start to have a nagging burning and stinging in my hip, around the incision site and severe cramping and abdominal pain. I have to empty my bladder constantly and my stools while soft become progressively harder to pass. I make an appointment and report the symptoms. I am assured it is "nothing to worry about and will go away." I go back 4-5 times before insisting I get a CT scan suggesting maybe I have a hernia since at this point not one doctor has suggested anything. Of course, no hernia. Frustrated, I decided nothing is wrong and I suck it up for another 6 months.

Then one evening I am in this crippling pain, my stomach is bloated and I feel nauseated. In the emergency department I tell them my story and the doctor starts an IV and gives me pain meds. This helps a lot. She also suggested that I may have ovarian cysts. Since I feel better and she at least gave me an explanation to my problem I take her suggestion to go see my OBGYN.

After I have waited for 30 minutes, my OBGYN walks into the room, sits in her chair, looks over at me and my husband and says "Your 3 cm cysts is not causing you that much pain. Maybe you should lay off the big macs. As we get older our digestive systems can not handle our poor diets." I was floored. I am 5'6" 160 lbs. I could stand to lose weight to be at MY ideal weight but when people see me no one thinks, looks at the fast food junkie. Except for being a black woman I have no idea why "big macs" came to her mind as an explanation for my pain. Needless to say I left that appointment depressed as ever and without answers.

I was convinced Kaiser couldn't help and refused to make anymore appointments. However, I ended up in ED 4 more times. Eventually I figured out that the intense pain was tied to the number of days I had gone without a BM. I searched this symptom and came up with partial obstructions or impactions and I searched what might cause either. Adhesions. Finally I had something. I paid out of pocket to see a doctor out of network. Just the consult and testing was almost a $1000. He confirmed that in fact I was likely suffering from adhesions. Sadly, diagnosis and treatment would require an insanely expensive procedure and he was uncertain he was the doctor for my case since I have had 6 abdominal surgeries, my adhesions are likely severe.

While I was disheartened that I 1. could not afford the surgery and 2. that he could not perform the surgery, I was relieved and happy that I had a solid lead. I made an appointment with my GP at Kaiser. I didn't say that I had met with the doctor and just explained again that the symptoms persisted. She seemed to be very understanding and made an appointment with a GI doctor to run some test including a sigmoidoscopy. OK I had never heard of the procedure and was just relieved she did not shrug her shoulders at me. I should, you should always understand every single procedure that is suggested at Kaiser and why it has to be done. I did not think that the sigmoidoscopy would find the problem but I thought if I at least got through Kaiser hoops that we would eliminate all the other possible culprits. Then some doctor would say "adhesions, I can help you with that."

The sigmoidoscopy was unbelievably painful BUT the GI doctor did suggest adhesions. However, he said that there was nothing he could do and prescribed a mild laxative to take every day. I have since been to the ED several times. My symptoms have gotten worse and my doctor has refused to look into finding a surgeon to perform adhesiolysis. Not that I really want a Kaiser surgeon to touch me. However, I need a diagnosis if I am to get any help paying for the surgery. Along the way there are so many things that should have been done differently. On my part when the hysterectomy was needed I wish I knew about adhesions and adhesions barriers.

If you take nothing from this please, please, please before an operation find out if your doctor is aware of and trained to perform surgeries using techniques to reduce adhesions and will be using adhesion barriers. Not all scar tissue causes problems but if it does it is a nightmare to get a diagnoses and treatment. Finally, through my husband job we have medical coverage. We calculated over 50% of his hourly rate goes to our family's medical coverage. I mistakenly decided to stay because I was overwhelmed by the idea of finding all of us doctors for our multiple conditions. Basically, Kaiser is like free bobbleheads. Who needs them?

My PC would not do anything but send me for an X-ray and tell me he would not give me any more Vicodin. I didn't want pain meds, I wanted to know what was wrong. I dealt with the pain until I fell down a flight of stairs from my leg giving out on the top stair of my apartment and went to the ER. The ER Doc was the first to listen to me. He said I had all of the symptoms of Sciatica and he got me a prescription for Vicodin, a referral to Physical Medicine and an MRI.

At my physical med appointment the Dr. was great. He looked at the MRI himself and didn't pay much attention to the MRI Report. He told me that I had two bulging and one degenerated discs in my lumbar area and that was likely the cause of the Sciatica. He referred me to Kaisers Pain Mgt Program in 2002 which was a joke. I did have a great Pain Mgt Dr and he treated me for the pain with pain meds. Now their pain mgt program consisted of 4 night classes that were 4 hours long, three weekly physical therapy appointments, and two to three Dr appointments with the Pain Mgt. Dr. and Pain Psychologist. I had a full time job so this was really hard to keep the appointments but I did. I was there sometimes 5 days a week on weekdays only, up to 3 times a day.

The 4 hour classes were a joke for someone who was 24 years old since every other patient was in their 50s and up and were on disability. They had the time to go to these appointments and if you missed three classes you failed out of the program and didn't get treatment with pain meds or the Chronic Pain Patient. I remember one of the Dr. appointments with my Pain Mgt. Dr. and Pain Psychologist and I started crying, not from the pain but just like I told them it was the fact that everything in my life seemed to be over and I didn't want to be chained to a pill bottle. Both Dr's assured me that I was no different than a diabetic patient that needed insulin and I would not be addicted to the pain meds. I would be physically dependent on them to achieve some sort of functionality and quality of life.

I did 30+ epidurals, nothing seemed to work except for pain meds. I started to wake after 2 hours of sleep every night, my spine was on fire and was so stiff it hurt to move and breath. My Pain Mgt Dr kept me on until he finally diagnosed me with Ankylosing Spondylitis. He told me that over time my spine would fuse together at the vertebrae and I would start to have a hunched posture.

Fast forward to 2 years ago after 10 years on the pain meds I had been on and one day I get a call from my Pain Mgt Dr, I hadn't talked to him in 5 years and he told me I had to come in to see him. Ok, so I go in and he tells me that the I was taking for 5 years was not going to be covered and one day I would go to the Pharmacy and they would charge me full price, I was on 3 40 mg tablets 3 times daily, also 4 tablets of 30 mg Morphine for breakthrough. I told him that was fine and to switch me to a different med and he said that I was on too high of a dose.

What??? How can that be when I had been on the same dose for 5 years and didn't need more and was living a pretty good life with the occasional arthritis flare up that Prednisone would calm down after 2 days on them. I emailed him since he had emailed me to tell me that I was going to be tapered down to 1/10 of what I was on and switched to Morphine ER no more then 120 MG daily.

I emailed him back and asked if I could see him to discuss this as it was a huge change to the way he had treated me and I was not opposed to trying to taper down but at what point would my quality of life and pain be a factor. He told me that the new DEA and FDA Safe Prescribing guidelines were what they were going by now for all pain patients. I asked him how a one size fits all approach to pain mgt was acceptable and he gave me a dirty look and said that people have to live with some amount of pain, like he needed knee surgery. I said that's comparing apples to oranges and why was a guideline being treated as a law or regulation? He curtly said "this is how it is now and if you don't like it get different insurance."

It's taken two years to go from 9 tablets a day to 2 and I am back to where I started. I get a max of 3 hours of sleep. I call in sick to work all of the time and I am in pain 24/7. I don't know why my Pain Dr went to someone I could ask to call me and he would and I could joke. I even got him a discount at my new work for an RV Rental and I am the IT Manager. He knew I worked 60 hour work weeks or more and that this was going to impact my life in a terrible way.

I have prayed that something would change and all of us Chronic Pain Patients who follow the pain mgt contract to the letter are treated as Drug Seekers for asking. How they can just change their treatment of us as people and as patients. If this continues I will eventually commit suicide or go the route that my best friend did when he was abruptly cut off of his pain meds and started to get street heroin. I would never resort to heroin but we just buried him last month at the age of 37. It's been the hardest thing I have ever had to do, losing all of my friends because I cant walk and go out or on trips, work and do my job the way I used to. My girlfriend of three years just ended our relationship as she doesn't understand why when we were first together I was able to go on trips and do the things a normal 37 year old does and play with her 3 year old daughter.

My life has truly been taken from me and the coward Drs at Kaiser should pay for the mistreatment of their patients and be held responsible for the sub standard care they have been giving to Chronic Pain Patients. Everything else about Kaiser has gone down hill in the last three years. The time the Drs spend with a patient, they are rude and unprofessional and as far as them being a nonprofit, I don't believe that for a second. They make billions. It's one of the best places for a Dr to work as they pay the best and give the best bonuses. I have been told by other non Kaiser Drs that is the way they setup their new model of care and treatment since the affordable care act went into effect. It's tragic.

This is all a context for rating Kaiser. An HMO makes money by not treating people, while most private doctors make money by overtreating and overbilling. This is why non-HMO health insurance costs more. The issue with Kaiser is whether it treats "enough." I have been a Kaiser patient (again) for a year. I came to them with several chronic conditions, typical of a 60 something. The first thing they did was change all of my (needlessly) expensive medications to less expensive and less desirable alternatives.

Over the course of the year, I've gone to see the pertinent specialists and have gotten my previous drugs back, but, for example, I still pay an additional $50 per month for Zetia and some of the things I take are cheaper from Canadian pharmacies (for same manufacturer, not fakes). So I would say that with Kaiser, you get what you pay for if you pressure them. If you are passive, the so-called PCPs are trained to discourage access to specialists, and they themselves treat nothing (it seems). I had a good experience with my one visit to urgent care (for a bleeding diverticulum) and the cardiologist seemed sincere in promising that Kaiser would do appropriate surgical interventions like stents and bypasses. With any insurer, you find out how bad they really are when a crisis occurs.

I would recommend Kaiser (in Lancaster CA, anyway) if you want reasonably priced, adequate care and are willing to play their game. You have to know what specialist treats your specific problem and insist on seeing that specialist. For example, I am having BPH-related urinary decline, with less control by meds, and need to try something better than the lowest priced med they initially put me on. I feel like I have an adversary relationship with the PCP doctors (gatekeepers) but that the specialists know their fields. This may just be Lancaster, CA, but roughly 75% of the doctors are foreign medical graduates. I don't worry about deficiencies in their training, but I do think it signifies that there ought to be more accredited medical schools in the US.

Since the BIG... STOP ALL NORCO... I was downsized to 1/2 without my knowledge, next MD... Ordered me off of all NORCO, next MD was very disturbed with me but had some pity to take me off each month by 5 pills but he was still very condescending then he discovered the RT. Rotor Cuff/Scapula major dysfunction with 24 x 7 stabbing Pain... Plus the stabbing/burning 24 x 7 Head injury pain that I have had to live with since 1987. I married, had a child, worked and went through Graduate School then secure the BEST JOB I could ever ask for at the 7th TOP Hospital in the USA.

But because of LACK OF PROPER CARE from Northern Kaiser... Year after year after years despite my begging, crying and INSANE Pain Levels complaint... They give you PT, Needles into your body, Pain Management classes (which I could teach with me eyes closed) and of course I just can't NOT mention all the Anti-depressants they put me on too. Various Professional would contradict each other... Saying I had Pain coz I was just Depressed. A few others actually agreed with me and said... The Severe Pain caused the deepening Depression... But they did NOTHING either.

Now, here's the deal... 6 months ago I got sent to a Kaiser employed TMJ specialist Dentist DDS... and HOLY **! He told me that Kaiser near S.F. did the very surgery I needed for my Head Pain... And, they have been doing it for 15 years. NO NOT ONE MD or whoever EVER mentioned this surgery. I was LIVID!!! I drove over 5 hours to see one of the MD's that deal with serious PAIN ISSUES and she made all these... YEAH, we can HELP you... Not with the standard surgery... But the cheapest, to put a tiny TENS Unit under my scalp. Plus she agreed to handle my PAIN MEDS.

That was three weeks ago and both me and my Brand New WONDERFUL lady PCP can not got any communication with this Pain Specialist... She just totally FLAKED on me. I had NO NORCO. Call after call, emails and emails from me and my great PCP... So, my new PCP went ahead a wrote me a Triplicate Script which I had to dive 50 minutes to get... Then take it to my city's Kaiser Pharmacy... Which took over 3 hours to process it coz they said they needed to talk to the PCP... To check if it was real. Sickening isn't it. GOD SAVE US!!! So, to make a long story short... Kaiser did not/has not treated neither my HEAD and Rotor Cuff/Scapula pain. And what's this B.S. that the Pain Specialist just skipped town... What's up with that.

Then I discover that TARGET sells a hand-held TENS UNIT for $26.00... Why in the hell, didn't anybody ever tell me that??? Yea, Target $26.00... I haven't checked with Amazon or Ebay yet. Some years ago I was given a Tens Unit to use on my badly Sprained ankle and I tried it on my Head Pain Area... ZAP! The instructions said NOT to use on the HEAD or it could give you a seizure. DAMN IT... Just give me MORPHINE... Like they should have 2 decades ago. YES... I HATE THEM and I too am looking for a money-hungry BLOOD SUCKING sympathetic gang of ETHICAL... LAWYERS. And sue the **...

So, get the word out there... Lets get a huge class action Suit going... They have been jacking all of us around and it's getting worse everyday. Lets BAND TOGETHER... That's the only way we can voice our discontent and Anger with Kaiser. If we were in Russia in the 1600's I know what would happen. Let's Fight back the American Way... Dig into their pockets and Stand Up and throw all the TEA back in the Bay... Got it? Keep writing, our congress, our Representatives, the News Papers, Radio, Media of all kinds... But keep trying to find LAWYERS that will BUST Bad MD's BALLS! After that I will move to Alaska and go to a Medicine Man and live a long and HAPPY LIFE. I HATE KAISER **!!!

I found out about enzymes online. The treatment I have received since my surgery has been extremely poor. I tried to get help by filing a complaint/grievance and was declined. Seriously thinking of taking the other option for health insurance. I can't believe I pay a lot of money for people who aren't educated enough to know to look at someone's chart, help them deal with pain, etc. It's been an awful time. I can't tell you how many mistakes were made throughout the surgery ordeal. By the way, I also ended up with congestive heart failure after one of their doctors refused to believe I was still sick after giving me antibiotics. Strep traveled through from my lungs to my heart. He prescribed cough syrup.

So after month on 11/5 talked to Steven. I called the main number and he said that it takes some time, just wait few more days I just processed. Waited for another 10 days. On 11/16/15 I called again and I spend another 15 minutes to talk to rep who said for some reason card did not went out so she will send in the mail. And it will take another 5-7 business days. She gave me my number for the card. Which I repeated 3 times to make sure it is right. Then I starting to register online and could not register as the number she gave me was wrong.

And then I called again. Now Sam picked up the phone and he said, "Give me some time to see what is going on as you are not registered." Then after 15 minutes he figured out that the number I was given was wrong and then he gave me another number. I am on Medicare does not mean I do not have job. I spend hours and hours just to register and still waiting for the basic card. I am skeptical what will happen when I start to get treatment. Very very angry upset with this process.

Every time I've asked my doctors to run a test or make a referral, they have done it. Of course, I don't make unreasonable or frivolous requests. Lab tests are available online as soon as the lab has the results - sometimes less than 24 hours later. Had cataract surgery on both eyes (different dates) and am so well-pleased with the results, as well as the care before, during, and after. Choose this plan through Covered California and you will not be disappointed!

I don't ask for her sympathy but at least be sensitive. Or do they know that? I hope you won't get sick and when you ask help, that would be the only answer you get. Kaiser Permanente, I think you have to teach your representative the word "be polite and courteous" because they are dealing with the people that pay for them to have the job they have.

I have complained over and over and over to the Member Services dept. and the CEO's Facebook page and nothing, next year I'm dumping Kaiser Permanente after 26 years I've had it with them. I plan to retire next year and won't need an FMLA but you can't depend on Kaiser, they are disrespectful to the Members. Oh they'll kiss your butt at open enrollment to get you to lock in another year and then have nothing to do with you. Patients have know rights with them, IT'S A JOKE and believe me because I have 26 years experience.

Rest of the year, really for service not rendered? Also, I can't get any manager's manager's manager to press the override button and let me pay my premium. All bills - up to date. Letter of fair warning: NOPE nothing. Email of fair warning: NOPE nothing. Reason for termination: we're past due, on our October bill. I'm willing to drive over to KP's Denver office and give them the money in pennies, one dollar bills and whatever they want, but they won't let me.

Besides usually receiving substandard care, we only go in for flu shots and yearlys, we don't use them, but I do know that we need to have health care. Yet they SERIOUSLY won't take our money. This is unbelievable, unconcievable and the worst in healthcare. Our rights are being violated. I just want to pay my bill. Waiting on a phone call now to see if some benevolent person will allow me to make all my premium payments to the end of the year. Here's the thing: We're self-insured as we own our own businesses. KP is supposed to cater to 'our' type. And yet, they don't. They are evil. I mean if one of my or my hubby's clients want to pay their bill, we let them. We're lawyers. Now you might hate us. But I have a feeling KP is about to hate us more.

I was told that none of my regular visits to the doctor he had been seeing since birth would be covered because 'we' failed to notify them of his visits for pre-approval, despite not even knowing that our coverage had been switched by the state to Kaiser. Kaiser apparently never felt it was necessary to notify me of my son's new coverage, even though we had visits in the second week of January that went to their billing. This ended up costing me thousands, and Kaiser couldn't even be bothered to apologize for their mistake, let alone help.

I would not recommend Kaiser to anyone, not just because of their immense failure of paperwork, notification and red-tape, but also because of the rudeness and abruptness of their customer service. The fact that they had an infant in their system, who never visited their facilities, and was being billed at another facility, never raised any concerns for them, that is, until they got billed.

She said something about applying it to next month's premium, but I explained that next month, my company will begin paying for my healthcare, and it won't be with Kaiser. I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor, "Desiree **" at first stated that their system only showed 1 authorization, which went through, and 1/2 of a 2nd transaction. Supervisor Desiree ** said she would look into the situation, that it was too late to talk to the billing department, but she would speak to them and her supervisor and call me the next morning. She then wanted to know why I wasn't contacting my bank to dispute the charge (I had already contacted my bank to do that). I NEVER RECEIVED A RETURN CALL from DESIREE **.

That afternoon, I called customer service again and asked to speak to Desiree ** and was told she was unavailable and was put through to another supervisor, "Lis **" - Escalations supervisor - who apologized for no contact. Lis ** said it was too late to talk to the billing department (again!) but she would reach out to Desiree ** to find out if Desiree received any response or if not, she (Lis **) would take care of it. She said she would call first thing THIS MORNING. I NEVER RECEIVED A CALL FROM EITHER DESIREE ** or LIS **. I called the customer service number again today and asked to speak to billing. I asked to speak to a supervisor, but was put on hold for a LONG TIME, and then was told that NO Supervisor was available, that the double-billing has gone through, that it would take 6-8 weeks for a refund, and I could submit a complaint.

I submitted a complaint, requesting that in addition to a refund of the initial balance, that they pay me interest of 10% per year (you do the math to figure out the daily interest rate) from the date of charge until the refund is paid. This is ridiculous! While Kaiser has my money earning interest for the next 6-8 weeks, I am stuck paying interest on it until I receive a refund in 6-8 weeks, when Kaiser should just authorize a reversal of the charges (Kaiser seems to authorize taking UNAPPROVED charges on my credit card account easily enough)!!!

I took the class along with at least 12 other individuals (At Kaiser Van Buren office). Several of the individuals in the class were upset because of the treatment that Kaiser was NOT providing. The class was basically to tell us that we are too fat to have surgery and Kaiser will not provide access to a surgeon (appointment) until we lose weight. I understand there is a small risk involved with operating on overweight patients, but Kaiser has a FLAT line BMI and Age requirement. They do not consider circumstance, quality of life, or any other matter. I have since gone to see a reputable surgeon who told me that he could not believe that Kaiser was treating me the way that they are. He viewed my X-rays and my arthroscopic pictures. He stated that I need a total knee arthroscopy and he would be willing to do the surgery.

I recently changed my medical coverage from medicare to Kaiser care and that was the biggest mistake I've ever made. I thought they would take care of me like my previous doctors at UC Davis. That was a big mistake. They say they are a five-star medical facility and have the best prices for seniors. This is not true. When I saw the new GP she said there was no way she would prescribe such a high dose of narcotics. She also looked down at me as if I was a drug addict. I've never come up dirty on a drug test and adhere to drug testing to receive my medications. I also have fibromyalgia which causes me severe pain in many areas of my body. This new doctor at Kaiser went out of her way to make me feel stupid and dirty. She said she could put me on a low dose of Methadone. And I said I did not want to get addicted to more medications and all I want is to feel normal and then get off medications if possible.

Well, I left and said I would find another doctor. And then I went to see another of these corporate cloned doctors and he said the exact same thing to me. That was when I realized they are all the same and that I would get nowhere with any of these doctors. Also, I have been having severe pain in my neck from when a car hit my bike many years ago. A disc in my neck popped out and now a nerve is acting up. When I asked the doc at Kaiser if I could have this looked at by a specialist he said "let's get you some physical therapy." How can physical therapy help my broken disc?

I can't believe how cheap Kaiser is. Also, they must get perks for not giving out pain med prescriptions. I was so upset after two and half weeks of trying to find a doctor to take care of me that I was making myself sicker with stress and worry. I'm sixty years old. I have cleaned houses for a living and also worked in a garden center and lifted heavy trees and plants for years. I've ruined my body with hard work. I don't use recreational drugs. I'm just a normal person with pain issues and am being treated like I am a drug seeking addict. Even when I was spot checked by them for drugs I came up just fine. But they still said I needed to cut my pain pills to ninety pills per month or can go on methadone or morphine that is more addicting. I cannot walk any more than a block with my hip and now my pain is worse than ever and I have to go through this!!!

This is pure torture, not medicine. Also, if you change doctors to try and find the right fit, as they say for new patients to do, it's all the same as they are trained to say the same thing!!! I will do whatever it takes to get out of this Kaiser hell. Life is too short to have to be living like this. I advise anyone who is shopping for medical insurance to think hard on your decision. Is it worth the couple extra dollars to ruin your health and mental well-being to be treated like this?

So I went to a doctor I knew who was knee specialist and he agreed to see me as an emergency. Took x ray nothing was broken. Took MRI I had a torn meniscus. What should I do? I wrote to my Kaiser doctor and told her the news and sent her the doctor's report. I also sent the same info via email to Kaiser member services. The doctor agreed to do the surgery right away which would give me 4.5 weeks before Nationals and almost 7 weeks before Worlds. Close but maybe doable. I did not hear further from Kaiser. Assumed all was ok and I had the surgery on June 22nd.

All went well but two days later I could not breathe so I ended up in the emergency room. The folks at the emergency contacted Kaiser and they told them all was covered. After tests they cleared me for any clots. They discharged me and told me to come back if it got worse. My knee was OK, I was walking with just a slight limp. No pain and some swelling but at least now I could bend the knee about halfway. I could now sit, I walked with a cane and went to the Senior Games not as an athlete but as a certified Official and went to Nationals to give out the awards I needed to give out. 5 days later I was off to Lyon, France for Worlds. The knee was better but not 100%. Still walking with cane and still had swelling but I could bend the knee about 75% and no pain.

Meanwhile, Kaiser informs me that they are not paying for the surgery and my emergency room visit since it was not a life and death emergency. I told them that I was told when I signed up for senior advantage (since knowing I would be off competing in non Kaiser areas), I had asked this very scenario before I signed up with my medicare. I was told emphatically no problem, just let Kaiser know and bring all bills on return. Now they say no you are not covered. It was not a life and death emergency. Not even the fact that I was in the emergency room having difficulty breathing? I do not get it.

Why would Kaiser not pay for a surgery that I needed? I could not walk and in my mind I would think that the inability to walk would constitute an emergency. Now I am back on Maui, trying to get Kaiser to pay some of my bills and getting nowhere. I feel obliged to tell this story. If seniors who live in Hawaii and visit family on the mainland, they better not fall or get sick. Unless they are dying Kaiser will not pay their medical bills. If they will not pay then Medicare will not pay. Thank you for your time.

Mind you this pain is crippling to the point where my legs buckle. I finally had enough and filing a complaint with member services. Their response was unbelievable. They also denied the MRI. My symptoms are exactly the same as a herniated disc as noted in all kinds of documents on line by several specialists. They are simply refusing to help me in any way. I believe they are hoping for me to switch providers so they don't incur any cost related to my issue after years of paying them. Where are their morals? They do not care about people. Stay away from them. They also misdiagnosed my wife and her sister with gallstones.

Any suggestions from anyone? I've also have been begging for a podiatrist appointment then I can barely walk and I'm not getting anywhere with my position. When I go to Member Services Kaiser said to get a second opinion and I have to do so but it's my doctor's office who keeps calling. SMH. It's like because I'm only 29, 30 this year there's just no way I could have all of these problems. But everything documented through Kaiser considering I was born with them.

I was also told over and over by pain clinic staff, and primary care, there had been a "paradigm shift" in the way chronic pain was being treated. I was told I might have "opioid induced hyperalgesia", which is often confused with tolerance. I had not changed my dose in 12 years! Also, they mentioned again and again, "depressed respiration" during sleep, resulting in death. Come to find most of those were addicts and non chronic pain patients. Kaiser now has a blanket policy of 120 mg of morphine per day. When I was discharged from the pain clinic I was at 240. The absolute highest dose they will prescribe. But, half the dose I was on before. I lost my quality of life due to this med decrease. My pain is severe enough that I'm on disability, but I was able to have a simple quality of life. I cooked, cleaned, walked my dogs, gardened. All of that has been taken from me. I no longer do anything but lie in bed on a heating pad.

One thing you learn being a chronic pain patient is to advocate for yourself. So I kept going back, saying my pain was not being controlled. Finally last month I met with the head of the pain clinic, my last shot of getting someone to listen, to believe. She actually had the nerve to tell me the only way my pain was going to improve was to lessen my dose, or get off narcotics altogether. My next appt. with my PCP, she informs me she will be decreasing my dose again until I get down to the "safer" 120 mg per day. I kept fighting, and look what it got me. No one from Kaiser EVER said "Your pain is not being managed". No one said "Read these articles that show how lower doses control pain better". Or, "Let's try this or this to help your pain". I was mandated, against my will, with no say in my treatment.

How is this ethical? Is it possible that after 3 years of consistently complaining of uncontrolled pain, that I am right? That maybe, just maybe a higher dose is what's needed? That my pain is mine alone, and no one else knows how much it hurts, or how to make it better. I did everything by the book. I did everything they asked of me. And they took away my life. "For my own good???" I'm leaving Kaiser as soon as I can, but until then, they are going to reduce my meds again. And I can't say no. I have no power, no say. I hate them.

I came back and paid my $15 copayment to see my doctor. When my doctor saw me she was puzzled why I wasn't sent to X-ray first, because she wouldn't be able to see if anything had changed in my foot until then. Well took another half an hour, because they needed the referral. Spent $5 on X-ray. Doctor tells me my bone fracture has moved slightly since last X-ray 2 weeks prior and recommended a bone stimulator. Which is sold thru a 3rd party. After copay it is $337.

Well, I filed a claim with Kaiser which they denied. Denial was based on some false statements. First, that an officer at Kaiser came to the scene and saw the floor was dry. Supposedly before the security guard took the incident report. This never happened. Second, the nurse said I talked to her and continued without incident. Another lie, as I spent an additional hour to hour and a half time there for the doctor and X-ray. None of this was supposed to be part of my visit.

They told me I would have to file a complaint with the Dept of Health care. Well, Dept of Health Care denied me saying in the evidence of coverage members are responsible for their own copays. No attorney will take it because it is so small. So I have to pay out of pocket for something that is due to their negligence. Anybody who has an incidence due to their negligence cannot expect Kaiser to pay for it. However, if it is someone else's fault they will be the first one to ask you for the other party's info so they can get their money.

June 2015 The second DR. administered a cortisone shot that flared horribly. He told me, "I see you have a pain pill problem." WHAT? Um I went through a glass shower door.... yes, they gave me meds. Refused to give me anything. July 2015. Went to ER where they did not understand the doc's problem. 3rd doctor, gives me a cortisone shot which helped briefly and referred me to an orthopedist which turned out to be the nurse not even the Dr! No xrays, no MRIS. Saw the dr, made me feel stupid about wanting surgery.

Finally 3rd appointment, "approved for surgery" September 2015. Surgery scheduled for November 2015!! Had to file a grievance and ** my way to getting surgery in September. I will keep you posted about the surgery tomorrow. But Kaiser prolonged this stupid procedure and delayed but managed to prolong my healing, savings, sanity, frustrations and career.

I was in a car accident about 14 years ago that destroyed my back. Over time it's gotten significantly worse. Add to that they've now diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, which I'm pretty sure they think is not real. I was sent to chronic pain management, which took me 8 MONTHS to be seen! They put you through these classes once a week for 10 weeks, which you have to complete to be seen by the chronic pain docs. They teach you "coping skills", which I've already learned over the years, but they treat you like an idiot and don't listen so I played their game.

After another 8 months we finally got to a point where I was starting to feel a little bit better. And believe me, a little bit less pain, goes a long way! Because chronic pain has a huge influx of patients, they want you out asap. They said that my meds were stabilized so I needed to go back out to a primary care physician. I had moved so I picked a doc and saw her. She informed me that she "doesn't believe in prescribing pain meds". She promptly took me off my meds and hung me out to dry. I've since tried switching docs and gotten the same song and dance from 2 others!

Kaiser makes you feel completely useless, like you're banging your head against a wall. I've had one Dr say that maybe I should take the skills class again, ha! Don't you think I use every single thing I know to lessen the pain I feel!? It doesn't matter what you are going through or how much you hurt. They don't care about you. They all act like robots trained in the art of aversion and passivity.

I'm afraid my husband is going to die in the middle of the night!!! They are unconscionable. The same issue happened with my daughter when she moved away to college. She has asthma!! Very scary. Kept saying she could pick up her meds. She'd get there and they couldn't give her her inhaler!!! Terrible. Horrible. Very bad insurance.

Their customer service really don't care about customers, they just want to put you on hold for 20 minutes in at a time, and wait until you are tired out, and hang up the phone, they won't actually solve you anything, they just don't care. I still haven't got my premium back from them, and they told me it will take several month to investigate, which is unheard of. Why does it take several month for verified members in their own system? What is the reason for every time I call I get different informations like account didn't exist, or I need to wait for my online account to cancel to get my premium?

At the end they said if I didn't have coverage they will return all the premium that paid to them, but that is not going to happen either. They are just playing games to not give me my premium back. It is not a game design for only me, it is just a scamming system that designed to work that way. I have been so frustrated from calling Kaiser refund. I have spend at least 20 hours on phone with them in the last couple month with no result, and my time is just wasted like that, with no clue of how I can get my premium back.

I've gotten so fed up that today I took the last and contacted member services, this is the place you're supposed to contact when you have a concern or complaint. Instead of helping me the person on the phone interrupted me numerous times and was loud with me and unprofessional over the phone. I have completely had it with this company. I know for a fact that they have client that they give Vicodin or Norco to like clockwork monthly, but for somebody like me who really need the pain medicine they will fight with you about it. I'm assuming it's because they had a lawsuit before. But that is not my problem. I just want to be able to live my everyday life without pain and I wish they would help me like doctors are supposed to do.

I got denied AGAIN stating because my credit card statement was more than the claim stating I needed to submit a credit card statement showing payments being deducted from my account and receipt of payment for each of the medications purchased from Walgreens. WOW!!!! My cc total was 199.21, my claim was 168.96. Suzie from membership says that because the amount doesn't match I need a detail of the transaction! How much more detail can it get if I submitted the call slips of the amount of the medications, name of drug, and prescription number? If you add them up it matches the claim amount so it should not matter if the credit card amount is more, that's not the claim amount!

Claims tells me that they request if cash when and the amount you pulled out statement because of people committing fraud and people divorcing and trying to take the money. How does that apply to me? Kaiser takes money from patients and gives bad care and membership services has no idea how to help patients. They don't even know what your benefits cover. They say they are nonprofit? Well they do have medical financial help available for all the people who need it. They even give medical patients aid when they are not suppose to (they overlook certain people because they want to)... They give free money to all but the actual members who pay can't even get a reimbursement for services that they can't provide out of state.

Treatment was worse than diagnosis. He was only able to go through 3 sessions before pneumonia set in and he was hospitalized three times. We begged Oncologist for help because he was so sick and having problems breathing. Oncologist told us to take him to local Kaiser facility and ask for fluids! Oncologist did not lift finger to help him and my husband died shortly thereafter. The Oncologist had a cold bedside manner and treated us very poorly in my personal opinion.

I believe Oncologist should never have prescribed Chemo. I was livid that my husband of 46 years was killed by Chemo. His lungs gave out and he suffocated to death. He more than likely should not have had it. I have decided that if I should ever be diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer I will not let Kaiser Oncology in Riverside, Ca. touch me. I can't recommend Kaiser as a viable Health Care Provider.

I have read over 7 excuses drs at Kaiser told their patients. Reality is money. Imagine how many billions will be saved. Of course they'll get their co-pay. I would like anybody to email me if they are experiencing the same problem at ** with your story. I will be contacting attorneys and pain mgt doctors outside of Kaiser to say how well their patients do and prove that this is greed in the guise of public service. I am confident we can win this war and let Kaiser know that because they're so big they cannot do harm. Please help me help you.

On a side note. I know a young lady a old friend that complained of leg pain. She needed an MRI. Kaiser wouldn't approve it. It turned out to be cancer and unfortunately her leg was amputated. She received 28 million dollars. If my pain gets worse again and it will and I bedridden again and my pain is so bad I become depressed like suicidal, I will make sure they pay me or my family will not suffer because kaiser wants to save money. I will be contacting Kaiser ceo and board, over 100 pain doctors, JAMA and AMA. They will all testify that opioid pain manager works or they wouldn't teach it or allow it.

Kaiser either get off your high horse or be ready to be humiliated in court. Oh also there is only 1 pain dr at Kaiser from Fallbrook ca to corona ca. I think 4 or 5 facilities. And over 75 pain mgt specialists non kaiser in the same area. Hmm, I wonder if you just don't want to pay for more doctors too. Contact me at ** for all inquiries.

I am 33 now, my hysterectomy was 3/26/15; I feel very disturbed over the lack of medical care and would love to be able to do more about it! KP constantly advertises quality care, and that they thrive. Reality is they don't. They nearly killed me and did not do or offer the appropriate care! Their medical clinicians on 2/14/14 ran a series bowel tests and added that my gallbladder looks "unremarkable". Interestingly enough my gall bladder was removed 2/14/2006, in a different hospital because I did not have KP at the time! Please contact me to get more information! I have a ton of pictures and writing. The medical clinicians mocked me in my own medical chart, and again the medical care was absurd! Please contact me!

We then had to take our youngest daughter to care to the same center which I always dread going to for anything because it's this one cranky old black haired heavy nurse that is always mumbling to the other staff when she has to help us. She hasn't seen me in so long and she sees my belly and tries to be concerned but it's to be nosy so I just ignore her and deal with the nice nurse. Her behavior and demeanour towards me and my family make me not ever want to go in for anything. Judgmental people are horrible especially in the profession that they have. Something needs to change. Praying that my husband changes jobs so that we'll be done with Kaiser soon.

I am now 23 weeks pregnant and have been suffering from SEVERE constipation from being on a combination of anti-nausea medication, prenatal vitamins and iron supplements. Her advice was to take Miralax and Colace daily, which I have been doing for a total of 4 weeks now. Yesterday, after not having a bowel movement for 9 days, I attempted to have one and suffered extreme pain from an impacted stool. After crying for 30 minutes, my mom ended up having to help me manually remove it.

I emailed my doctor the following day about what had happened and how the treatment is not working. I waited all day for her response, and even called her office 3 times to express the urgency of the situation, and finally got an email back from her hours later. Her response to me was, "Drink more water and take Miralax, thanks." Miralax is the exact medication that she prescribed to me 4 weeks ago that I've BEEN TAKING! It's like she didn't even read my email. I'm so disappointed and frustrated with the treatment I have received with this doctor and with Kaiser in general.

So my insurance has been paid for 43 years and still no help. I cannot drive by myself, I'm a severe hypochondriac, and cannot be home alone... Social Security disability is willing to help me if a Dr. says that I need a caregiver, etc with taking meds and myself - they will not say that. So my mom retired and takes care of me. So I have double coverage but since Kaiser is my first no one else can help me. I just want to get better but they will only see me one time a month or six weeks. Even their own psychiatrist said I need daily care.

1 week later she apparently called (which is great). However, she didn't leave a message, nor did she try contacting me at another number or send an email or leave any messages anywhere. So I was completely unaware. Kaiser takes forever with most everything so I waited 3 weeks before contacting the DR. via email (because you certainly can't call and speak to them in any kind of timely fashion) to see what was going on. At that point I received an email back stating she was out of the office until the end of the week. In the meantime my knee has gotten so bad I can no longer put any weight on it and I desperately need crutches.

I called this morning and was told by a female at the appt line number that the Dr. had called on 7-23 and was unable to leave a message. I verified she had the right number and asked why she couldn't leave a message... Of course the girl didn't know why! She verified the radiologists reading that I have a lateral meniscus tear and I was approved for surgery. Again, why did no one attempt to contact me??!! I told her I needed crutches. Can I just swing by the Dr. office after work and pick up a pair because the knee brace she originally gave me (which by the way I had to ask for) is not cutting it anymore and I'm in a lot of pain.

I was told I would have to wait 24-72 hrs for a response from the Dr. about getting crutches. Are you kidding me??!! Plus I would have to either wait 2-4 days for them to be delivered or I could pick them up at their vendor's facility if I needed them sooner. This is NOT thriving and far from any type of acceptable patient care. This is a joke. They should be put out of business. I could probably write another 10 pages or more about other issues I've had with them prior to this one, but I'm just done with them. Completely unacceptable! I'm switching asap.

I let it go, until Sunday night when my other eye began getting red - I did want to trust my primary doctor - mistake. The ER attending nurse immediately diagnosed it as conjunctivitis and put me on antibiotic eye drops and asked me to follow up with them 24 hours later with a progress report. So, I was out 200.00 for the ER visit, when all it would have taken is a caring attentive primary doctor to properly diagnose this and provide me with a prescription. I have since changed to a different, non-Kaiser, PPO health plan. I wanted however to share this experience.

So I thought you give him to swallow...and that medicine was poisonous to swallow which I found out after I give him three times as my sister who is a doctor said, "You don't give this medicine like this," and I said, "That is what the doctor said." So basically the doctor didn't bother to tell me that this medicine is dangerous if swallowed. Can you imagine doing this to a 8-month kid? He was very bad and had side effect. I am going to call them but the point is the the worst care I got. I have never seen such doctors before ever. Stay away from them.

They spend time looking in your file but never really look at you. If you need pain meds, you serious have to go through a pain management class where you draw pictures of how you feel in order to continue receiving them. They want you to control your pain with breathing techniques. Horrible horrible place. They don't treat you with respect and they just plain DON'T CARE.

Now a friend of mine heard all my symptoms and said it sounded like oxygen deprivation like you're at high altitude. Which would mean something is wrong with my lungs. So I go get a very nice and accurate blood oxygen monitor and lo and behold my o2 is dropping below 90. And when on oxygen I can breath, the vise on my chest is gone. Mood improves. More alert.

Now the kicker in all this. Out of all the tests they did (some painful) they never thought to check my lungs. They mri'd my brain even. So 3 years and my friend figured out what they couldn't just by listening to what is going on with me. And after 3 years now I'm worse than if they could have caught it 3 years ago. All that money and time wasted cause they couldn't figure out it was my lungs and I had copd. I go into the doctor and tell him what I learned and all he goes is "yea, sounds like you might have it". Do an xray and a breathing test. Really now. Oh and the useless xray said I was clear and normal. No duh, it doesn't look at air sacks and bronchi.

Oh and it's been a week now and no call for appointment. Maybe just maybe if all the good doctors stayed around and they didn't have all these fresh out of school and training doctors. I mean come on majority of them haven't even received their damn medical number yet in the mail. All the experienced ones all left. To me that says something. And this is just the main complaint I have. I could write for a lot more poor diagnosis on the other issues I had.