Kaiser Permanente Insurance Reviews

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.

Over the last two years I have requested 5 minor things that are covered by Medicare but Kaiser will not cover even though I am on a Medicare Advantage Program. These were minor things such as hyaluronic acid for knee joints. I had these injections about 10 years ago and they worked great for me but Kaiser would not offer it. Their reply is always the same. "Our experience is that (whatever you ask for) does not work well so we are not dealing with it". When open enrollment comes in October, I am out of there.

Seven months later it's still broken and we can't use a lot of the services we are paying for. I've had lots of blame thrown at Covered California for this one. They were confused at the beginning too, but every time I talk to them they have the correct ONE account with the correct information. They've had that fixed since March. This is beyond ridiculous as I continue to fight this battle, wondering if it will ever end. Will I receive an enormous bill soon? Will it be so big that my credit is ruined? Will I have a big tax problem at the end of the year? Anything's possible with the accounting system at Kaiser. We will be changing our care next year, if we survive that long.

I was also expected to drive 70 miles round trip at night to go to their classes after taking pain meds all day. They didn't care just like they don't care now and never have. Pain management did an MRI of my back which showed more degeneration but it was "not that bad". In December 2014 went to empty my garbage and felt like a knife go into my back that felt 10 inches long. Doctor gave me 7 days off work and nothing for pain. A week later have phone conversation with doctor to tell him how bad the pain was and he laughed at me when I told him generic medications do not work on me.

Long story short, I have been dealing with excruciating pain, can hardly walk, can't sit, only able to lay on the couch on heating pad crying in pain. Had appointment with back surgeon. He MRI waist up, nothing he could do. Complained to member services got the rest of back MRI and now I have 6 bulging discs and a fracture tailbone. Still in excruciating unbearable pain, still no pain meds, and now no answer from doctor about what can be done about this. If you get Kaiser insurance dump them! If you are stuck with no other options have the doctors you see take off their shoes and check for webbed feet cuz they are definitely a bunch of quacks who don't care anything at all about you except taking your money every month and doing absolutely nothing for you!

Now I almost wish I didn't get it checked because the lab fees were ridiculous. A shoddy "physical" and lab work I had to ask for do not make for good health care. I am sure this experience with Kaiser is nothing compared to other people's experiences. I feel discouraged from going back to my doctor due to the cost and the lack of skill she exhibited. I can take care of my own health better than Kaiser can. Furthermore, their system is so convoluted with phone trees, and has an online presence that promotes impersonal care. I definitely will be opting out of Kaiser for 2016.

As a nurse they mistreated both my parents. I caught them using nurses who not speak English in the ICU unit who were on triple and double shifts! Tell me what level of care those critical patients received! As soon as I can I am switching out of Kaiser. Mediocre, style over substance.... and they are so not non profit! Hahaha. They are style over substance. I have had better medical care in Tijuana Mexico!

Second **. I stressed how I was in extreme pain. ** said I sprained my shoulder. I disagreed and requested an MRI. ** said he wasn't going to request. There was no need for one and that he sees this all the time and I am siding with ** and put me on modified duty again. SEVEN months later I left Kaiser and went to see a real ** who requested an MRI. MRI came back with torn rotator cuff, slap tear, a water pocket that shouldn't be there with tendonitis, bursitis, bone spur and torn bicep. I went in for emergency surgery two weeks later at Sutter Gould. But because of Kaiser's neglect I had to have another shoulder surgery a year and a half later. Kaiser should be fined and shut down for neglecting their patients. The only thing they are good at is taking your co pay and giving out ibuprofen!

Then their medication formulary. A medication has to be proven for a decade before Kaiser will consider putting it on their formulary. So if you are blessed having any other healthcare than Kaiser and your doctor puts you on a newer medication and it works for you then your company switched to Kaiser. You are forced to go back to what didn't work for you and go through a series of steps (remember it's all about steps) for them only to find out that your previous doctor did know what they were doing but now you are going to pay an inflated price because the medication isn't on their formulary. I could go on and on but hopefully you get the idea.

Later I had to have a marrow biopsy (which was negative, so I am thinking I NEVER really needed it in the first place). The lab costs to culture the cells and determine if I am to live or die? $1500. Yep. It costs the same amount of money to use all that fancy lab gear and staff and cultivate cancer cells as it does to remove three tiny warts in 5 minutes in the dermatologist's office. That is suspicious.

I researched on the computer and I should have had an MRI in the beginning. I suffered with this for so long, and my Dr. sent me to a orthopedic Dr. (I live alone and have no one do take me places so I had to drive). He was about a 22 mile round trip. I see him and he says: "I think it is the hamstring... go to therapy and lose weight"... huh! I wasn't about to do any kind of therapy until I knew exactly what was causing the pain. I saw my Dr. and again asked for an MRI (it is very obvious they do everything to avoid an expensive test like that). Well, finally after suffering for 8 months, I got the MRI. All this time I had TWO torn meniscus and a baker's cyst! If I had had the MRI at the onset and had simple out-patient surgery, I would not have had 9 months of pain. By this time it had rather healed on it's own... I still have pain when trying to sleep.

I have never been treated so poorly in my life. I joined Kaiser two years ago upon the rating in my Consumer Report magazine. Needless to say, I tried to protest the $150.00 charge for the overdue MRI, but of course it was almost immediately denied. It was like closing the barn door after the horses got out. I tried to send a written complaint to Kaiser... what a joke! It was assigned to some person, who never contacted me, ever after nearly six weeks and three phone messages I left for him. Needless to say I am leaving Kaiser as soon as I possibly can.

My advice to any member, who has a problem with their primary doctor and can't breath, go straight to the E.R. Thanks for taking the time if you have read this review! I should add that to all the people who complain about Kaiser just taking their money... I was in an accident in 2007, taken and treated at a non Kaiser hospital. I was there for ten days. Kaiser paid the whole bill and I didn't have to spend a penny!!! Yes they can be generous!

My new doctor sent me to a heart specialist. I called my doctor to let them know my Ulcerative Colitis flared up and she just told me to take more pills. I told her it wasn't working and I was told to take more. Finally I was sent for a colonoscopy and was admitted in the hospital the same day and spent a week in the hospital. I thought I was getting the best care and I praised Kaiser until I left them and found a new doctor. Also I had to fight tooth and nail for them to complete paperwork for me that they half did or made it seem like my illness was going to go away. One illness I've been having for 37 years and I'm always in and out the hospital. One time my Colitis flared up I went to emergency. I couldn't eat or drink. I felt like I was dying and they sent me home. I went back a week later. I was getting worse. I was sent home. Finally the third time I was admitted and I was told I had C-Diff and I was contagious.

No complaints about my Dr he was the best but he doesn't have a support team to back him up. In general, you wait weeks and months to get any appts or procedures with KP. In the last year, they have gone from the best medical carrier to the bottom of the list. In general, they have taken on so many new members, that they can't begin to get good service and it is not fault of DR's. When you do get it all is great. I had eye appt and they were so busy, none of equipment where you put chin and forehead were not sterilized before or after use neither was other eye equipment. Employee not wearing ID, so hard to tell if she worked there. There was ceiling tile where water or liquid had leaked thru and looked like black mold forming. Good company, too many patients.

Two years later, it seems all the doctors are basically clueless as to what his "balance disorder" is caused by, or how to treat it. He is having to go outside Kaiser in order to receive the right kind of diagnosis and treatment he needs. After being subjected to the "royal runaround"... he is fatigued, depressed and cutting back on every single activity in his life. This is NOT "thriving" as Kaiser claims to allow its members to do... it is the "downward spiral" and reflects patients "falling through the cracks" and not receiving the specialized care he/she needs when Kaiser refutes the needs for specialized diagnoses/treatment.

My own experience was very similar; when I needed ENT treatment for asthma, I was told to discontinue the meds an outside specialist had prescribed because Kaiser didn't trust that someone outside their network could prescribe the right stuff, or else such was too expensive for their drug protocol. No appropriate substitute was given.

Also in the 1990's I had external hemorrhoids, which could easily be surgically removed; Kaiser claimed not to know of any such procedure and told me "I would have to adjust to living with them". As soon as I dropped Kaiser, I was able to go to an outside specialist who immediately did the surgical removal process for hemorrhoids; it was easy to tolerate, painless and totally resolved the problem at hand. My observations reflect upon a corporate culture of "cost-saving" ideology vs. "quality of care" commitment; unfortunately, if you are a patient at this Kaiser, you will likely pay more out of pocket when your needs require seeing outside specialists (not covered by Kaiser)... than if you carried your own PPO plan to begin with.

Updated on 10/24/2015: I recently requested the right to a referral for a "Second Opinion" Consultation outside of Kaiser on behalf of my father. The Denial letter I got back in return was a joke! Their "circular argument" was that I don't need to go outside Kaiser because they have a "qualified specialist" (despite the fact that the Internal Medicine primary care M.D. did not think so) available; and because one has a right to see a "Non-Plan" provider, despite the fact that this will never be granted to the patient, there is no grievance! Go figure! What they're saying is we won't grant you the right to an External opinion; we want to keep you tied up in the loop, so we don't have to pay for a 2nd opinion Exam elsewhere. So keep appealing and we will use the same argument against you each time, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

From the start they can't get prescriptions correct in dosage etc. The Dr. blames the pharmacy (Kaiser) and the pharmacy says it's the Dr. sending the wrong prescriptions... The online communications will break down as you need important lab results (failure in the IT department) in a timely manner. You will be told to wait 5-7 days to get a new password in the mail. Hello! We have a patient needing to see her Oncologist!

Luckily we need have Blue Shield & Blue Cross and never dropped the policy. Saw her Dr. under them had a CT the same day and the following Sat. a consultation with a Stanford Oncologist! The problem is that Kaiser will not release her medicare. My fault for not understanding the healthcare world. Kaiser is still sending test out via her primary with over sight by a floating Oncologist. Told a neighbor of this problem. She is a career nurse, works for Kaiser and has had cancer herself. She told me the labs at Kaiser are not as good and agreed with me about the lack of Dr's from upper ranked schools and many from far flung parts of the world with very low rankings. It is all on the cheapest cheap. She paid out of pocket for consultation and does continues this as follow ups with a Stanford Oncologist. There's a school you won't see in Kaiser's Oncology!

The Kaiser system as I observed is as my mature nurse neighbor told me is good for colds, flus, child birth and ordinary medical practices. This was my thought. It's like a free clinic on a huge scale and the patient is lost in the "system". They have many employees and "this is the procedure"... the red tape and barrier between getting care and seeing the specialist you need is unfathomable! INFERIOR LAB TESTING! Get her is an added bonus. I can't get her medicare back until 5 months during a change period. I guess I've killed my mother because I put her with KAISER! I'm now working on ways of crossing out of their system and have the referral of the Stanford Oncologist as to a couple Oncologists that are in the Kaiser system. He also recommended tests. One Kaiser will not do. Plus all their tests go to the inferior Kaiser labs... the testing matters... I've known this for years... pap tests vary as to the kit used and the lab. Angry and frustrated.

After my first appointment my GP would not prescribe anything for my pain, stating "we don't do that here". To which I said "so you don't help people?" Maybe a bad start on my behalf but I was floored. It wasn't until they finally figured out they could actually look at my charts from my previous docs that they noticed I had a REALLY MESSED UP BACK! Two herniated discs. And that's when they decided to give me a few pain meds and when I say a few I mean 20 for the entire month. Mind you they took two in a half months to give me anything and what they did give me did not really help manage my pain levels. Still no complaints from me, I made do. Then I finally got my appointment with the spine specialist, I was elated. I'm actually going to see someone who understands, someone who will help me out. NOPE. Just another doctor who was hell bent on telling me meds will not fix me, they will just hurt me long term.

Do they really think a person with 9 months of pt, 5 steroid/cortisone/epidural shots and a surgery thinks the long term fix is drugs! My 4 year old knows that is not the answer to my problems. But what it is, is the humane way to help a 8/10 constant pain level patient to get through the day. What it is, is a form of treatment while finding what other types of treatments to conduct. It is a way to keep a person from totally giving up on life.

I wish I would not need to have something like that to make me feel a little better, to help me get through a 10 hour physical labored occupation shift. I wish I would be able to just "suck it up" like they told to do a few weeks ago. But the truth is the way they have treated me, "sucking it up" is exactly what I have been doing! I could go on for hours about all the horrible things I have been through in my less that half a year stint. But I will save that for another day I need to vent. As I know more horrific malpractice has been done to many more unfortunate patients.

Lastly I would just like to say to whoever might read this, Kaiser has been the center of the worst 6 months of my life. I blame them for my thoughts and feelings I have had and currently have right now. I know I am not alone in this and these type of forums help confirm that to me. I will not let them make me do what I feel. I am stronger than that. I have 4 beautiful children and the best wife so I push through all the bs for them. And I encourage those of you who might be at the end of your rope to reach out to a loved one who cares or do what I'm doing right now and just get it out there. Because although this doesn't fix my problems, it has helped me to temporarily keep them from becoming someone else's problems. I Just hope my formal grievance gets me somewhere.

Yes, and there was also a section explaining to us that smoking is bad - explain the programs available to help her quit smoking. (Smoking? What the heck? She is 3 year old...) So I take this printout as a sign of disrespect to my time, and lack of individual attention to my child. What if my daughter actually has something to pay attention to? Will they also give me the same generic garbage in response?

Today, I call because I have an UTI, very painful. The first appointment is 2 days away in the late afternoon, right in Atlanta traffic. I ask for a morning appointment, I get one, on Monday. So I get to wait 5 days for an appointment because this is not an emergency and they can't accommodate me. I have called to complain but I don't get any helpful feedback. I don't even know the benefit of having insurance with them when they will never see me within a reasonable time. Their customer service is HORRIBLE. People are rude and not sympathetic to my obvious frustrations.

After 5 months he said that he could no longer help me and said that I needed to get another opinion. I was then seen by a Kaiser Orthopedic Doctor, this doctor sent me to Kaiser Orthopedic Doctor now in Los Angeles, this doctor said he could do nothing, then I was sent to Cedar Sinai Orthopedic Doctor, this doctor ordered two test. After 6 phone calls by me and two forms requesting medical records, to both, Cedar Sinai Orthopedic Doctor and Kaiser Orthopedic Doctor, the request was sent to Kaiser. I did have one of the tests, at Kaiser Orthopedic and this doctor wanted to research MRI or CAT scan, he wanted to see which would be better.

This Kaiser Orthopedic said that this was the last visit, he said he could no longer help me, but he was there if I needed him. The other thing I noticed is that it is taking longer to get in to see my primary doctor, use to take 1 to 2 weeks, now it is taking 4 to 6 weeks and the wait time is taking longer. I no longer feel that personal touch at Kaiser, it could be because of all the issues I have had with me knee.

The EMT transported her to Sentara Hospital (formerly Potomac Hospital) in Woodbridge, Va., located just 15 minutes from our home. During the ensuing two-week period, Sentara medical personnel provided excellent recovery treatment and preliminary occupational and physical rehabilitation services, after which we were informed that within days my wife would be discharged, to be brought home for more rehab, presumably under Kaiser's aegis.

During this entire period, however, we were informed that Kaiser had been pressuring Sentara to discharge my wife at once (!) so that Kaiser could transport her to Virginia Hospital Center Arlington (VHCA) for treatment. This seemed to us to be a ploy by Kaiser, possibly to save costs, since Kaiser has a working agreement with VHCA. So, fourteen days after her excellent stay at Sentara, and much to our disappointment, Kaiser ordered and dispatched an EMT contractor to truck my ailing wife to VHCA in North Arlington, Va., which is no less than a white-knuckle, traffic-ridden hour-and-a-half drive from our Woodbridge home. When a VHCA doctor first visited my wife, she asked, "Why did they [Kaiser] bring you here?"

My family and I have subsequently heard from other Kaiser members that Kaiser's first duty and consideration as a for-profit business is to save medical costs incurred by its members, with treatment possibly secondary to cost avoidance. Now, with my wife still at VHCA, to visit her we face long, difficult and dangerous drives from Woodbridge to VHCA, in addition to fees for parking and confusing and time-consuming treks from the parking areas to my wife's room. VHCA, housed in several crazy-quilt, architecturally-substandard buildings, seems to us way behind Sentara in patient satisfaction, not to mention convenience for grieving family members. For my family, this is all "thanks" to Kaiser Permanente.

Apparently, their drug counselor and addiction specialists who saw her for 1/2 hr are more qualified than her family who has lived through her addiction for twenty years to determine what is an emergency... with a history of driving under the influence and ambulance transport to emergency room for seizures, which were life threatening, we are far more qualified to know what constitutes an emergency. If maintenance care is all you will ever need, they are adequate. Should you ever need immediate urgent or critical care, GOOD LUCK... will never happen with their bureaucratic **. They have in house reviews for your appeals. They are great at declining the purpose of their employment. Stay away from Kaiser... they are a maintenance health care facility.

I checked with Medicare and I am covered. I am high risk because my mother had colon cancer and because of my previous polyps. However, my last 3 colonoscopies were completely clear (no polyps). There is no mention in the Kaiser documentation that having prior polyps disqualified me from coverage (Medicare pays anyway). So I cancelled the procedure due to the cost and will find another health insurer during the next open enrollment. Until then I am stuck. I did file a complaint with Medicare.

At the very least I think Kaiser did a bait and switch by promising something in their documentation that they did not provide and I enrolled based on that documentation. This happened to me before when they denied a claim for podiatrist injections for my plantar fasciitis saying it was not an emergency. In that case, the Summary of Benefits also claimed to cover URGENT care. I appealed and won but they did not willing provide what their documentation stated. I clearly cannot trust what is printed in their documentation.

Time ticks by and the young girl cannot see out of her left eye. In my mind, she should have been taken in by ER right away! It is the eye, for gosh sakes. I kept wondering, in urgent care- why are they keeping this girl waiting? Should have been taken in right away even though there were many people in the waiting room. The girl and her mother waiting for a long time in the urgent care waiting room. I saw them wait. They sat next to me. I hope the girl was able to get well, despite the wait.

Here I am 6 weeks, not 6 days injury and initial hospital visit and still have another week to wait before I can have an MRI and another week after that before I receive the results. I'm in pain and on complete disability due to my injury, and all Kaiser can say is: "We begin with the least intrusive interventions first". **! What I don't get is that they hound you for a flu shot and when you're overdue for check ups, yet they are neglectful in treating acute injuries.

It seems that unless my knee was detached from my tibia, they don't give a ** about you as long as they continue to collect their monthly premiums. Oh, and the grievance process... it's a joke as it takes 30 days minimum to hear back from the caseworker who says that it's just Kaiser protocol. Had I gone anywhere else, I'd be a few weeks post surgery with PT by now. I don't even have physical therapy yet.

By June 2005, (when she could hardly breath or stand up) my sister and I took our mother into the Emergency Room at Kaiser and told them we were not going to leave without a proper diagnosis. That is when we learned she had cancer, which besides being in her breasts, had now spread to her colon and more importantly to her lungs. She died three and a half weeks later of lung cancer. I seriously considered trying to sue them, but as it's well known, it's super hard to sue Kaiser. But I did subpoena all of her medical records as well as the CD which contained her three mammograms.

What I found interesting is that for each time she saw her doctor during those 6 months (for other stuff), the doctors notes were removed from the medical file. Because my mother kept incredible notes (on everything) we know exactly which days she visited the doctors and what the outcome of each visit was. There was NO mention of lumps or even of the "technical issues" on her THREE mammograms. Plus, she also always paid her co-pay with her credit card, so I even have proof of the visits with her doctors, which again, her doctor felt the need to have removed from her official medical records from Kaiser.

If the doctor didn't feel like she did anything wrong, then WHY WERE HER NOTES REMOVED from official records??? FYI - I'm about to write another review, as now they are doing something equally horrible to my husband. Advice - the next time your company has open enrollment - switch to non-Kaiser health care. Especially if you are close to retirement age - you might need proper care one day.

1. Misdiagnosis -- said I didn't have any health problems when, in fact, I had prostatitis.

2. Kidney stones. Did no follow through after first attack and stone surgery. After second surgery, a nephrologist said I had stage III kidney disease and couldn't take nsaids, along with many other restrictions. My kidney surgeon disagreed and said high readings were normal immediately after stone surgery. No one addressed my complaint. (How could I take their kidney docs seriously, anyway? The kidney transplant dept had been scandalously shut down by the State not long before.)

3. Related to #2, above -- Examined for leg and back pain. Misdiagnosed the problem as L5-6 related. Completely missed a "red flag" I reported every time I saw the doctor that would have established the problem was need for hip replacement. Eventual hip replacement magically cured my back and leg pain!

4. Related to #s 2 & 3 -- It took 5 years for them to figure out the correct diagnosis. Because they wouldn't let me take nsaids, my only pain relief option was opiates. They put me on all different kinds and I eventually became dependent. It took me more than another year, maybe 2, to fully kick the dope and get it out of my system.

5. Sometime during those 5 years, I must have developed peripheral neuropathy because after I kicked the habit and could walk without my "back" pain, I realized I had no surface feeling on my foot and ankles, and great internal pain from dying nerves and the fasciitis (or so they said). I might have known earlier and in time to treat had I not been on narcotic medications.

6. Podiatrist did not X-ray feet and just assumed Rx of peripheral neuropathy and fasciitis. Second opinion recently found bone cysts, gout and arthritis in both feet. Earlier treatment would have been nice.

7. Dropped off a prescription to be filled at 2 pm. Returned 3 pm to pick it up. 12 people ahead of me in line. It took more than 1 hour to get to a clerk. During that time my feet were in excruciating pain. The pharmacists themselves were beside themselves because pharm management apparently is incompetent!

8. I complained about the incident and got a boilerplate reply from a claim manager's assistant that clearly did not make any attempt to understand my complaint. Claim mgr left message to call her back, on a Saturday when I was out of town. I did and left message. She never called back before determination was made.

9. Now they just terminated my family policy WITHOUT NOTICE, even though we're paid in full and up-to-date. Have to wait 30 days for reinstatement. Meantime, I need labs every 2 weeks for my kidneys and blood sugar, and medications for other things. Nobody there gives a poop.

10. I also complained about a similar incident in Dec. 2014 that they never responded to. They claim they never received it.

You may be thinking I'm the responsible party for staying with them after the first or second gaffe. If so, you're probably right. Fact remains, though, KP doesn't even deserve 1 star.

At about the same time I began having trouble getting or ordering my medications. My page on the website has been unusable since and many calls to the pharmacy itself for meds have had varying results. Repeated attempts with customer services, pharmacy staff and IT staff have resulted in promises to fix things but no results. At one point they said there was a problem with my patient number following the installation of a new system. I asked them to give me a new one to end the issue. They refused.

At a later time, IT swore they would get it straightened out and they have been either too unconcerned or embarrassed to call me back since it didn't get fixed. This latest irritation was over a medication prescribed by a physician on an emergency visit who told me what she was ordering but not to pick it up until after I picked up and completed a sample collection kit. Three days later the kit was completed and when I tried to get the meds the pharmacy could not find an order. I discussed which doctor they should contact and suggested my regular physician since the emergency visit doc had not been able to get me the meds. We also went over having the meds sent and what credit card to use. Sometime after my visit to the pharmacy they left a number to call and when I called it, no one knew who called or why.

It is now 6 days later, I do not have my meds and a 3 transfer call to Kaiser did not yet produce someone who knew what had happened about my meds or the results of the kit I returned. I am at a loss as to how to contact someone who not only hears my complaints but who can and will do something to fix the issues. Kaiser puts these poor, hand-patting, apologizing people to deal with us and the golden group sits in their offices patting themselves on the back about how good Kaiser Healthcare is. Kaiser HealthCARE does not exist. Kaiser insurance does. There is a big difference. I'm tired of being the complaining lady. I want things fixed. My hand can be patted by someone who is not paid to care for my health.

I gave up and relented to this horrible experience and the unfortunate outcome. I called KP and asked to prepare a payment plan to make monthly payment. I received a letter advising me that my payment plan would start on March 15th with a monthly payment of ** amount that must be paid on the 15th of each month. I made my first payment on 3/10/2015 for the stated required.

Today, I called to make my 2nd payment, and I was told that my account was sent to collection. I asked why, they told me that someone at Kaiser processed my 1st payment incorrectly, and caused some delay, and my payment was posted on 3/16 causing my account to go to collection. The Customer service representative advised me that they would recall it and I provided her with my credit card for the 2nd payment. I am just fed up with this incompetence of this healthcare provider. This is a multibillion $ company and it seems that no one takes responsibility for their incompetence. Why such a huge health care provider is so incompetent and inefficient. Why the medical board doesn't hold them accountable for their blatant incompetence and abusive behaviors. I am not a healthcare care insurance expert, and I rely on KP to provide me with accurate information. This doesn't seem to be the case.

On 3/10/2015 (1:21 PM MDT), I followed up with the NP and was told that she could not go over the results with and told me that OBGYN would not go over them either. She referred me to the fertility group (50% out of pocket expense for fertility group care). On 4/8/2015, I made an appointment to see a therapist because of all of the stress I'm dealing with trying to navigate thru KP, and when I showed up to the appointment, I was met by a student therapist who appeared to maybe be 26 years old. What I should have done was got up and walked out but I proceeded to allow KP to waste more of my time and money. I have a appointment with the fertility group on 4/15/15 and I'm certain that the appointment is going to be a complete bust, but I need to try. If your options are KP or anyone else… choose ANYONE ELSE!!!

I was approved by the state for Medicaid in Oct 14 and was told by the state exchange CSR I spoke with that that information had been forwarded to KP. I have spent the last 5 months dealing with KP's refusal to stop billing me. I have called after receiving every bill and documented those conversations. Every conversation ended with some form of, "We are so sorry for the mix up, we'll get it taken care of ASAP" always to be followed a month later by my receiving a bill forwarded from my previous address.

Finally in Feb 2015 I was told by KP that I would have to participate in a 3-way call with KP and the exchange to "prove" that I really was allowed to cancel my KP membership and force them to negate all bills/late fee's since Oct 14. I was then assured by the KP rep that cancellation/address change was confirmed and that a revised bill would be issued immediately. I was given a confirmation #.

Today, 3/27/15 I received a bill (again originally sent to the wrong address) demanding full payment on threat of my membership being canceled and my account being sent to collections. I called KP this morning and was told that no action had ever been taken and no case had ever been opened. I was assured that THIS time they would take action and was given a case #. No doubt in another month I'll be repeating this process, only with a collection agency added to the mix. At this point I "owe" them over $1000 because of this. A big chunk of change, but it would be more expensive to hire a lawyer to deal with it, something I'm sure KP counts on. To anyone considering KP, I know their network is large and may be very convenient, but their billing department seems DESIGNED to screw people.

Secondly, Kaiser relies heavily on nurse practitioners. In fact, I have never seen a licensed doctor at one of their facilities. They are not up-front with this when scheduling appointments. I have had several miscarriages and been struggling through fertility testing. When (finally) referred to the fertility specialists (whom I had to drive 45 minutes to see), it turns out I was scheduled with a nurse practitioner instead of the doctor. Nurse practitioners can be great and are very knowledgeable, but when you are dealing with something as sensitive as your fertility (and paying a fortune out of pocket), you want the most educated person to do the job. I was put through a battery of highly invasive tests (for which I had to travel alone to yet another facility to be examined by strangers). I received an e-mail that all tests came back normal and received absolutely no follow-up, not a phone call or an e-mail, even after reaching out to the clinic.

Now, after suffering another miscarriage and complications, I tried to schedule a follow-up appointment with my regular nurse practitioner, and there were no appointments available through June. I called the hotline only to find out that my NP is moving facilities. Thanks for notifying patients! I now have to go through the whole process again with another provider. Kaiser is fine if you need a quick visit and know what is wrong with you, but don't count on them to diagnose anything. Kaisers employees have been consistently rude and unprofessional throughout all of my visits. It is a cold, unfeeling, corporation that has no business in health care.

When you move, there is no one - or even four or five places to whom you must give your new address. No one tells anyone else so every time one talks to a different face, one must start at the beginning and update all records. OMG! Member Service employees are not informed of the rules governing different areas so they make it up. I cannot tell you how many times member service personnel told me no, it cannot be done. Once I figured out what department I should be talking with- voila, it was done (quickly and easily, I might add). Get this- member service is saying no, it can't be done. If you have a choice and are in California, join California Health Net. Good medical care without the administrative nightmare.

I also went in several times a week for shots That would only subside the pain and then make it worse. I was so furious I seeked help outside of kaiser paying out my own pocket. I told that doctor outside of Kaiser my problem and he said it was related to a tear in my meniscus. So he wrote me a referral. I brought it in and she wouldn't even look at it. I told her "I feel like you don't care about my health and that I feel as though I'm getting pushed around." My injury happen on the first week of Dec, I didn't receive a mri until mid-February. I was told I'd know my results in a week nothing and now it's march 17th. I'm so angry I called 5 times. Still nothing.

Today I even called while in their waiting room. I had to call the actual hospital where it was done at and apparently kaiser workers overheard my phone conversation. They began to discuss how they never experienced anything bad with kaiser and how people shouldn't let one bad experience ruin their thoughts about kaiser. Also overheard that people shouldn't be talking bad about kaiser in front of kaiser patients, seemed like they were trying to justify what I was currently going through. The funny thing is that's not the worse part. So another exam I had back in Dec maybe early January was a pap done by that same doctor.

So when I went in I asked her to check for my iud, apparently the dumb lady didn't. She said everything was fine but I received something in the mail in March 3 months later saying I have inflammation. Well what the stupid doctors didn't realize is that the inflammation was due to my iud missing and it being stuck inside my vaginal walls. So she obviously didn't check if it was in place and just assumed something else was wrong. How did I find out? Discomfort caused me to finally want it removed too. I schedule a appointment, it was a different doctor this time and she told me it was missing. So ultrasound found it and I was scheduled to meet for surgery but in that time I became pregnant. So as you can see I'm really going through it.

I asked to switch doctors and my new doctor is nicer. I hope I get the right help I need because now I am pregnant, still trying to get my damn mri results also hoping no radiation will affect my unborn child. This is just some of the problems I spent so much money on doctor's visits and medication and for what to be back in the office again in a few days later. I strongly hope you don't have to go through anything like this. Maybe just don't go with kaiser and if you end with kaiser or if you already have it make sure you speak up and not take no for an answer. They took so much more from me than just my time and money. Now I'm in state of panic and stressed out more than ever. This is sad that a hard working mom with two jobs is just being pushed to the side!

Then I came back to kaiser due to abnormal periods - I had a period for 14 days combined with abdominal pain. I was told it was due to stress and no exam was performed. After changing insurance in August I went to an OB/GYN for a check up. I told her all my symptoms - bleeding, pain, nausea, constipation. She told me that it was not stress and did an additional ultrasound and found several tumors. I have been sick and suffering for 3 years as kaiser refused to accept there was anything wrong with me, sent me for psychiatric care and from Doctors' responses to me labeled me as med/treatment seeking. Now I'm waiting for the biopsy to come back and hoping the surgery will finally fix all of this. If Kaiser had acted then they could have prevented this from getting as bad as it did, and they could have alleviated 3 years of pain and suffering.

My appointment was at 2:14, after arguing about my copay I was given Membership Services phone to number to call about this $45.00 I had to pay for someone else. When I looked up to see what time it was the clock on the wall showed 2:55 pm. And when I came for my appointment in February this clock was not on the wall. I looked at my receipt & it wasn't even my receipt it was another member's receipt-- his copay was $20.00.

Here it is 2:55 pm, I'm the only one in the office waiting room, did not get to see the doctor, paid two different copays, get another members "Reprinted Receipt" with his medical information. And when I told the receptionist I wanted MY RECEIPT I get a "Reprinted Receipt". Kaiser could not give me the Original, they have no idea who got it. I kept all the paperwork along with the white copy attached on the front of the "Reprinted Receipt". I told her next time you might want to pay attention to the member about what their copay is & is not. I filed a complaint with The OCR & The DMHC they just slapped Kaiser on the hand apparently they had done nothing wrong deliberately. My complaint & my appeals went NOWHERE & these were closed.

I called up this year 2015 in February & I also emailed my doctor in "Orthopedics" that I needed my records from the 19th of January & February of 2012. He emailed me & told me to call his office. When I called his office the receptionist stated that there were two (2) scheduled appointments on January 2012 for two (2) different doctors Dr. ** Orthopedics & a Dr. ** in the "Critical Care Department & both had been canceled & both were in Fremont. She did have February's visit on 2012 but not January of 2012. This was where I sat around waiting to see a doctor who wasn't there along with all these different copays. She also told me there was no explanation of why these two appointments both in Fremont Kaiser California had been canceled.

So where did this all start? I have NO IDEA when the Hippa Violations happened or where they started from. I have sent emails to membership services complaints department asking where are the two emails of 2012 for January & February are that I filed about the Hippa Violation's. I have never deleted any emails since I signed up in January of 2012.

There will be several documents uploaded to this attached post. These are actual letters from Kaiser & The OCR & The DMHC. You can thank them for this "Kaos" which continues to this day. The latest answer I received from Kaiser about these appointments being canceled you will not believe what they wrote. Here you can look at all the documents & make up your own mind "FYI".

The letter that membership services sent to me about these appointments states That on January 19, 2012 I had two appointments one in Fremont Kaiser with Dr. ** & the other in Hayward Orthopedics Dr. **. This Chief at Kaiser also could not tell me why these two appointments were canceled but she also told me I had one in Fremont on the same day. I have "NEVER" seen either of these two doctors not Dr. ** in the Critical Care Department Fremont nor this Dr. ** in Orthopedics in Hayward California.

Please read these you will not be disappointed about just how "CORRUPTED KAISER" is & has become. Just read the answers, it's a total "RIOT". And at the rate Kaiser lies & continues to lie we will all suffocate to death because there will be no trees left at the rate Kaiser lies. I like to refer these two government agencies as The OCR which is "Off Customers Rights" the name I have given to The DMHC is "The Demented Mangled Hell Care".

They are severely understaffed when it comes to pediatricians and psychiatric doctors. You have to be "assigned" a doctor and if your assigned doctor isn't available when you're sick, you can't schedule an appointment. You just have to call the next day and see if they can squeeze you in. This happened to me with my 11 year old a couple weeks ago. He was sick and they wouldn't give me an appointment. Crazy. I pay them $1700 month and I can't get an appointment for my 11 year old. I would cancel them now but because of the healthcare "reform" laws, I can't do anything until October/November enrollment period allows me to change plans. Who does this benefit? It benefits Kaiser and any other Insurance Agency that can get away with crappy service and not lose customers because those customers are captive. Obama Care was absolutely great for Insurance Agencies and I'm pretty sure that's who benefits most.

I then contacted Kaiser to inform them of the information I received. The Kaiser representative was very helpful and assured me that the bill will be paid. The Kaiser representative went on to tell me how to access the claims forms which I need to submit with the bills once I receive them, so Kaiser can pay it. I submitted the completed claim forms along with supporting documents back in January.

Yesterday, I received a call from Canada Interior Health stating the bill is still outstanding and it is scheduled to be forwarded for collection. I contacted Kaiser this morning and was unfortunate to be assisted by a non-sympathetic ** who told me that I was supposed to pay the bill first, then file a claim for reimbursement. She also went on to say that she assume I read the claim form since I signed it. I told her yes, I read the form and on the top of page one bulleted item #4 stated that most payments are remitted to the provider unless a proof of payment from the patients or the provider is attached.

She stated that it does not apply to foreign claims and referred me to page two of the claim form regarding required items for foreign claims, she emphasized that the required items included the proof of payment. I told her that there is no proof of payment since the bill has not been paid yet. I told her that the required list of items are require if it applies.

At this point, ** has become agitated with my frustration and her demeanor changed to a condescending tone. Since I told her that I have no way of paying a bill that over a thousand, I request that they paid the Provider directly. She then proceeded to tell me to consider using a credit card or ask family members or friends to charge the bill on their credit card. She also condescendingly stated that it is tax season and I should use my income tax refund to pay for the bill or ask family members to see if they would loan me money from their income tax refund.

At this point, I almost forgot I was talking to a Kaiser Representative. ** sounded more like a bill collector instead of being a helpful Kaiser Permanente Employee. I have since filed a grievance requesting Kaiser to pay my submitted claims to the health care provider for the services I received and I also filed a separate complaint against ** for her unacceptable and unprofessional demeanor. I am not sure if Kaiser will do anything about it anyway.

In addition, after speaking with a representative from the Department of Health in Canada; apparently Kaiser Permanente is blacklisted in Canada as one of the Top Worst Insurance Companies to receive payment from. That is a sad story, given that I have been with Kaiser for more than 25 yrs and has never had this happened to me before. When one of my family member was injured in a car accident more than ten yrs ago and was treated at a non Kaiser Facility, the bill we received were forwarded to Kaiser and was paid by Kaiser without any problem.

I’m glad to know even after paying thousands of dollars over the years to this organization to insure i will be taken care of in case of need. But no, since i moved out of area code I'm not looked out for or cared for. This is why we have so many drug addicts and suffering veterans, because no matter the need or desire for help, if you don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars no one cares. Someday maybe this country will care about its veterans and humanity as a whole. And maybe we can, as a whole raise awareness against rich bureaucrats who care about nothing except lining their pockets with poor peoples’ money.

I felt worse so again began repeatedly asking for MRI. Told no degenerative disc disease/arthritis shown on x-rays. Finally a new doc gets the MRI. I am called immediately to schedule surgery as disc fragments broke loose and area resting on spinal cord. Told to be very careful with movement until surgery. So had surgery - threat was gone however need more surgery. Only approved for the urgently removal of disc fragments unless something major found at same time. That was in late 2010.

Now I am left with chronic pain. The government has changed rules. Patients' conditions have not. I was working on a plan with my last doctor to reduce morphine. I was finally down to 1 30-mg morphine per day and 6 Norco. When my next appt came up I learned this doc had left so I saw a new doc who heard nothing I said reduced my Norco to 5 pills after I clearly told her no. I dropped a 30 mg morphine. I am working at reducing the other to keep Norco. Her reason is too much Tylenol. However 4,000 is federal limit - 6 Norco equal 1,950 tylenol. No matter how much I explained I have seriously low iron, need to take pills, cannot handle the constipation and basically the spastic colon I get from morphine. I didn't like it but was going to try after all I was down on morphine. However when I picked up my next refill she reduced to 4 per day without consulting me in anyway.

I have filed grievance - ask for her help to restore to 5-6 Norco per day and 1 morphine as member services advised me to do. Naturally she refuses - states no one can do this with out seeing me (however she just did it twice without seeing me). No appointments are available until 13 days after. I will run out of meds. As you can see I can go on & on - no way to write how many ways this is wrong on so many levels. Each person/department you speak to directs you to another person as each can only offer so much help. Every single one states they are sorry cannot help me they this... they are the only ones who can help me. This whole Kaiser set up is a mess - some of the "departments" make no sense.

I tried to call the number from Southern California, some 500 miles south, but they had me on hold for 45 min. and never answered. The BBB told me that the zip code they provided was invalid. Their "address" was the word "FILE." I emailed my dr., and all she said was she had no idea about prices, and maybe I had the wrong insurance. (Kaiser insurance is the wrong insurance for Kaiser??) I tried to respond to my dr's email, and got a no reply response. Xfinity/Comcast would be proud. If you ask me, no company deserves a 60 Minutes investigation more than Kaiser health insurance.

1) 07/10/2014 - Checkcard Kaiser Dues -201.81... 2) 07/11/2014 - Checkcard Kaiser Dues -415.00.... 3) 09/02/2014 Checkcard Kaiser Dues -403.62.... Now let's jump ahead to an issue more recently. 1) 12/01/2014 Checkcard Kaiser Dues -201.81.... 2) 01/02/2015 Checkcard Kaiser Dues -398.19.... 3) 03/01/2015 Checkcard 03/01 Kaiser Dues -392.76.... So as you can see, the payments are doubling. I am looking into another provider today.

In mid-February I suffered a laceration to my hand which I could plainly see required stitches. Prior to seeking treatment I called Kaiser and explained that I was injured, and needed them to provide my membership ID# so that I could get treatment. Kaiser had me play phone-tag (as I actively bled) through multiple representatives (each asking anew for me to spell out my name, address, etc.), before the final representative said 'I checked our database, and you are not a supported member. Kaiser cannot do anything for you. Do you know it is 8pm? Call back another day.' Needless to say, I paid out of pocket at a local urgent care facility to have my injury treated. The next day I contacted my employers HR department, who confirmed that registration information and insurance premiums were sent to Kaiser Permanente.

Now, today at the end of February, I called Kaiser today and the representative acknowledged that I am listed in their database. However, the representative claimed I was mistaken and had been a member since January. When I asked about filing a claim for the treatment at the urgent care facility, the Kaiser representative said that Kaiser was not responsible since I did not obtain an authorized referral from Kaiser prior to receiving treatment. Kaiser still, however, has not provided me with an insurance card or a membership ID#. I will be filing a formal complaint against Kaiser Permanente, and escalating the issue as necessary for their unethical business practices.

Conclusion: With Kaiser, it is best to calmly persist and insist on proper care in a timely fashion. Invest an hour or two. Apparently, if you don't cave in, Kaiser will eventually deliver proper care in a timely fashion. If you cave in, they will delay and delay and give inadequate care.

I was a Kaiser patient from 2011 until 2014. For the most part I thought Kaiser was the best. The bad came at the end of 2013. At that time Drs ** and ** strongly recommended and in fact bullied me saying that I would end up in the ICU if I didn't do it quickly that I have my sternum removed to treat a staph infection in the bone. Their recommended treatment was extremely aggressive, dangerous for me, and, as it turns out, wrong. That should go in their record. I include a brief summary of my medical history since 2012 Kaiser has detailed records until 2014 and I will give you access to my records since then if you want them. 07/12 coronary bypass operation, ** is the surgeon. 09/12 staph infection ** takes charge and does debridement (good for him I think).

** becomes the infectious disease doctor. Nafcillin treatment for 8 weeks. My C reactive protein (CRP) which seemed to be her only measure drops from 8 or 9 to 1 after four weeks. And stays at 1 for the next four weeks. I feel awful for the entire time, but attribute it to the infection (it turns out I'm allergic to Nafcillin). ** says the CRP must be below 0.5. I respond in an email that Nafcillin isn't working and demand a change. ** responds with, "What would you suggest?" She changes to an oral antibiotic and my CRP almost immediately drops to 0.01 and stays there. 01/13 I stop antibiotics and ** and I assume the infection is cured.

Skip forward until 12/12/13 you have the records. I still have a small infection that won't heal. ** removes the wires from the coronary bypass because they can hide bugs. He stitches me up and by 12/24/13 I have a raging infection in my chest. 12/25/13 Christmas Day ** comes to the hospital and declares that it is osteomyelitis which it was. And she declares with no supporting evidence (CT-scan and chest Xrays show nothing). The treatment is to remove my sternum. Kaiser starts me on IV antibiotics.

12/31/13 I met ** in his office where he opened the wound (which btw he stitched up on 12/13/13 with the infection inside) to let it drain. He says The treatment is to remove my sternum. I asked for second opinions from UCSF. He agrees and says, "Let me know who you want." (** wanted me to get second opinions within Kaiser.) 01/24/14 I meet with Drs Richard ** (infectious disease) and Scott ** (cardiac surgery) for a second opinion. Both are famous in the medical community. Scott ** is listed as one of the top cardiac surgeons in San Francisco Magazine January 2015. Nominated by peers and selected by Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd. They thought probably osteomyelitis but said wait to see if the antibiotic kills it. If not maybe a partial debridement (nothing like a sternum removal).

01/30/14 I meet with ** and ** and they tell me again The treatment is to remove my sternum. And they try to bully me by saying if I delay very long I'll end up in the ICU. The UCSF docs, ** and **, saw no urgency. ** and ** either didn't look at the second opinions--sloppy--or ignored them--arrogant. 01/31/14 I switched to Blue Shield and the UCSF docs. 07/28/14 Merrick does a partial debridement and removes an infected bone the size of a fingernail. 01/29/15 Today the wound healed in October and there is no sign of infection. Bottom line: ** and **'s treatment opinion was extremely aggressive, dangerous for me, and turned out to be totally WRONG. This should go in their permanent file.

Addendum: I sent ** and ** a letter requesting a meeting on 12/24/14. If they had responded I wouldn't be sending this to you. Paraphrasing George Santayana "Those that don't learn from their mistakes (or worse fail to recognize their mistakes) are bound to repeat them."