Kaiser Permanente Insurance Reviews

Kaiser member resolutions teams are of no use. They will listen to your complaint and offers you a candy-coated apology. They send you a letter with boiler plate language and thank you for bringing the issue to their attention. They include a form in the event you are not satisfied so that you can escalate the issue to a government agency dependent on your state of residence. Kaiser is not a preferred provider. They are at the bottom of the list. Their practice is managed by a flow chart which limits tests and treatment. Individual care is not practiced.

So I have the test he ordered for me a month ago done today, and this evening I have a kind of snarky email from him on the kp.org health manager that I need to quit smoking that was determined from my test results from earlier today. Thank God it’s open enrollment time at my job. I am dropping Kaiser. Hindsight I could have saved myself time and co-pays and not gotten insulted had I just visited my local veterinarian. I have worked 35 and yes am overweight and smoke cigarettes. Kaiser is too much about prevention and they discriminate against the heavy and the smokers.

The same thing happens when you try to contact the advice nurse. It's almost impossible to get through to anyone. I have complained to member services both in person and via email and via phone to no avail. The latest response was that the problems exist because of the "affordable health care act". I asked for contact information for their corporate offices and they said they didn't have any. I asked if my complaint was going to get to anyone that could do anything and I was advised, "No, unfortunately not." Though the representatives are courteous, the lack of availability and service makes Kaiser a complete failure at providing the quality of care that they so proudly advertise. I would not recommend Kaiser to anyone.

As a Medicare Beneficiary on the Kaiser Senior Advantage Plan, Kaiser is legally required to provide me with AT LEAST the same minimal services that I am eligible for under standard Medicare. Medicare confirmed this fact to me. Yet, Kaiser still refuses to provide weekly therapy. And, as if that isn't bad enough, I must wait, on average, four weeks for a semi-emergency mental health appointment.

Kaiser treats mental health patients as second-class citizens. And - get this - if you complain about the mental health department, they add 'Personality Disorder' to your diagnoses!

They want me to take antidepressants which I cannot take, have totally dropped me as far as my diabetes goes. I thought it was me. I have a bladder infection, it's 4th of July weekend, they said they would have a doctor call me. They did but she said there was no evidence that I'd ever had a bladder infection in the past and would not approve antibiotics. I was told to wait until Monday to see a doctor in the emergency dept. They are so antagonistic and mean. I'm appalled at the way I've been spoken to. Like I'm a pain in their A## and to just go away. I can't wait until I'm totally off of my pain pills so that I can leave this Health insurance plan. All the rates keep going higher and higher and their service is horrible. If you are looking for a Medicare supplement stay away from Kaiser. They don't care. I wish I could write down all of my stories but this is long enough. BEWARE of KAISER!!!

Anyways he said to see a support group through Kaiser. I was like well can't I at least have a MRI just to be sure nothing is goin on. He finally said I guess. So finally he agreed to the test. Now may I add I had the test around March/2014 now it's almost July and still I'm in the dark about what the MRI READ. Very weird. I'm still having jerking inside my stomach when I eat.

KP has sent this to collections. I have had a very good credit rating to this point and am considering just riding out the seven years since the one ding is not that big an issue. However, it irritates me that an organization that provides good health care service, seems to completely lose focus on the financial side of things. I am trading letters with the collection agency but that will not do me any real good since the collection agency didn't create the problem. Their only role is to maintain the level of poor financial service Kaiser offers.

It is a shame that we as citizens pay so much for health care but we cannot get the proper care needed. However they have no problem deducting the fees for their poor service monthly. I will use caution on my next open enrollment period with Kaiser. All members of Kaiser should be aware. We received a call today from Kaiser indicating that the next appointment is in July. I work in a customer service environment and this would never occur with our customers.

After the first bill of over $5,000, which was above the deductible and the maximum, I called and was told I had selected a high deductible plan and I would owe over $10,000 before Kaiser would pay for coverages. At no point did any representative, website, or written material from Kaiser say anything about a high deductible plan. You would think, when you have it in writing from Kaiser, you have your answer. Not the case!!!! BEWARE!!! I also inquired about my spouses ability to continue coverage with a Kaiser preferred provider and was assured that she could. This turned out to be a total lie as we just had an appointment with the Kaiser people and they flat out said they would not refer us to another doctor and even if they did the referral would be rejected by the review committee.

My wife has MS and has very specific treatment that keeps her alive, thank god. She has seen and been successfully treated for over 3 years by a renowned Neurologist and its on site facility which we chose initially not only for its leading edge treatment but its location of 2 miles from our home. Kaiser has now told us we "must see there doctors in their facilities or how would they be in business?" They are forcing us to drive over an hour to be seen by doctors who are booked 3 months in advance and are less familiar with the life saving procedures my wife requires. The Kaiser doctor we met with told us the company is "bursting at the seams and cannot handle the amount of work that they have with the people they have hired." This is the exact opposite of what their representatives, literature and website state as fact.

In summation, I would recommend not using Kaiser Permanente, ever. Please do not make the same mistake I have. I have never written a complaint in my life about any company or person. If this review lets someone be more aware of this companies bait and switch tactics, then the time and tears rolling down my cheeks are worth it.

In my case, they lured me into a fake surgery and welcome their Graduate Medical Education Program criminal doctors to do to my body whatever medical procedure they needed to become board certified. Please Have a look at this very short (2:02) but highly educational video. I have made 82 videos about Kaiser Permanente's Crimes. Please Google: Kaiser Permanente Criminal Doctors - Graduate Medical Education Program. You will not believe the crimes committed to my body, without medical need, without my knowledge or permission, as I slept under general anesthetic. PLEASE, educate yourselves about this criminal medical business. Thank you.

I was given different amounts, all of them, it turns out, incorrect. I now have a bill for $1,566.00 for physical therapy which I was told was covered. I now owe a large back payment because I was under-charged for medical supplies. (Believe me - I asked about those charges before giving them a credit card for monthly payments.) I have gotten 3 different answers to questions about my deductible AND recently received a new bill that bears no relationship to anything I was told. I haven’t had one doctor remain with me for more than 2 appointments, usually I see them only once and they disappear, quit, let go, were only substitutes in the first place, et cetera.

Their phone system was designed in hell. It uses in the first paragraph - which can't be bypassed - over 73 words when 4 would be plenty. Then come the interminable "options" - the least important of which come first, and all of which use at least double the amount of necessary words - before you get put on hold and enter the lottery to speak to an actual human. The holds are between 10 (if you're really lucky) and 43 minutes. THEN after the insult of interminable robot voices, you have to go through your information - Kaiser number (after you've already entered it into the phone), phone number, address, e-mail address, birth date and name with complete spelling. Then you absolutely will be transferred and forced through the entire process again INCLUDING A REPEAT OF ALL THE RECORDED BLATHER.

Once I gave my information 12 times. I was on the phone from 8 am until 2 pm trying to get a one word answer to a simple but vital medical question. Six hours to answer a one word question about a serious medical condition is not tenable or safe. Medicine is a human endeavor. Every circumstance is different. It requires human beings who actually think and care. Using technology to shield those people from the ones they are paid to help is insane unless health care itself is not the first priority. For Kaiser ADMINISTRATION, trumps care. Computers rule. Their caregivers tend to be nice, humane, personable and competent. But you can't get to them without going through a gauntlet of roboticism. It's insane.

We don't need that kind of "administration" in any case - No other country uses middle met to deliver health care. It's considered a right and provided as such. Not here. MONEY RULES and TECHNOLOGY RULES ABOVE ALL. Technology in care is fine - in communication, it is not. I'm not a digital entity.

The psychiatrist who deemed him incapacitated just so happens to work for Kaiser. The 1 doctor who was about to release my grandfather, deem him competent, and take him off the psych meds no longer works there suddenly!! This is a nightmare!!!! I thought this was only in the movies. This is a real life conspiracy that may end in death if I don't get help but no one can be trusted....especially Kaiser!!

The physician did not apologize because of her lack of trust re: my brother's complaint of pain and explaining that he had a bug in his ear. Then when they left to check out at the front desk, there was the lady who was in charge of making sure co-payment was paid for and three women sitting at the front desk about 21:20- one included a blond women in black scrubs (didn't know if she was a nurse, tech, secretary). Because of the rush out the front door, his mom forgot her wallet for the co-payment and my wallet was at there home.

As soon as she said that, the staff at the front desk, in particular the blond person stared us down- I have never felt so disgusted by the looks they gave us. I am a Nurse Manager at a major organization and I have never been treated like this in my entirety nor do I expect my own staff to ever treat ANY of my patients/family members this way. They were completely disgusted, the looks on their face, them looking at each other, even an occasional eye roll. This is beyond professionalism. And I know of several individuals that work at kaiser, administrators as well that work at surrounding kaisers, and they would not expect this type of treatment as well.

And as I was sitting in the waiting room, a husband and his wife walked in, she was constantly vomiting, you could tell she could hardly stand up. All the staff did was just look at her, they did not offer him or her any assistance and you could tell she was suffering. There was only one other patient in the waiting room. This type of behavior is an embarrassment and a disappointment of what the culture is in that Emergency room.

Mind you that Kaiser takes all MediCare for this Senior advantage plan. I looked at my Kaiser website and saw a figure of $11,900 that they charge MediCare for this plan, but oh no that’s not enough money for them. They need more and it seems very greedy. I sent them a complaint but have not heard back yet. It seems dumb on their part to lose my MediCare payment of $11,900 yearly just so they can make extra bucks for these bloated copays. I have too many expenses during the month to also be being gouged by Kaiser, so I told them if they do not give me a break on this I will go get coverage elsewhere. I am very unhappy and my health is suffering badly.

My right eye went totally black. I was blind, they got scared and the Neurologist that had just examined me 2 years prior ran a test and found out all these years I had a disease called Devic. You have to take meds or you will go blind or become paralyzed or worse die. It's too late for my left eye and the right eye is compromised. Now they want to send me to San Francisco to see a specialist. I'm upset because my life will never be the same because of my vision. If they would of ran extensive test they could have treated me for the Devic. I will have to retire early. All these years I have suffered. Finally in 2012 the Neurologist said, "I know what you have. I need to run test." He did and I do have Devic.

1. You DO NOT have to take any of their crap! Call Members Services and tell them you want to make a complaint!

2. The Dr's office (building) you go to has a Manager.. CALL HIM/ HER and complain about Dr's and/or Nurses!

3. With Kaiser you CAN (and I do) change Dr's "anytime" you see fit! And you can go on their website and most ALL the Dr's post their education.. I suggest choosing a UCLA etc trained Dr.. If not possible chose one that DID NOT do their training and internship with Kaiser (they are brainwashed).. Pick one that has trained in a University "outside" of Kaiser then came to work for Kaiser.. These Dr's are able to think out of the box!

4. You can (and I do all the time) email your Dr daily! (that includes a specialist). Yes, you'll get his/her Nurse... and they may send the reply. IF you do not like the reply OR you feel the Nurse should not be making this decision, REPLY back to the Nurse (or send a new email) and say this "I prefer my Dr reading my Emails and replying to it with his/her decision." Maybe then your Dr will read your email! And you can always call the Appt center and they will type up a note to your Dr. too!!

5. SPEAK UP and do not GIVE UP!! YOU are in control! I read another person saying "Kaiser makes you sign over your rights?" I've NEVER signed over my rights! I am 100% involved in my Healthcare at Kaiser!! Maybe because I have worked for Dr's, I don't see them as "GODS" like others do!! They are HUMAN BEINGS that can make mistakes. And some of them are just plain jerks.. WEED THEM OUT AND MOVE ON TO ANOTHER DR UNTIL YOU FIND THE ONE YOU LOVE!! Do not feel obligated to them, THEY ARE OBLIGATED TO YOU! You pay and you "employed" them for their services!! Always remember that!!!

My husband and I were referred (by a friend) to a UCLA trained Dr that works for Kaiser.. So far, we love him! And he saved my friend's life!!!! Whereas her "other" Kaiser Dr was killing her, and was suspended due to my friend being "smart enough" to see another Dr and turn the stupid one in to the AMA and to Kaiser higher Ups!!!!

All Drs and ALL Health Ins companies have problems! BUT in all cases, we now have to be in charge of our own Healthcare as in I mean staying involved, speaking up and even (yes) going on the Internet and getting smart about your condition! But MOST OF ALL.... Never consider your Dr a "GOD" and that they know all! They do not!!! Always be on guard! Come in with a ready-made LIST of questions and don't leave ‘til they are ALL answered! As for me and my husband, we are staying with Kaiser! I see them improving overall! And I know and I will Speak up!! Best of luck to everyone!!! God Bless!!

PS: As for "co pays," if you cannot afford the co pay that day.. tell the receptionist this "I talked with Member Services and they said I can pay $10.00 today and be billed for the balance." They cannot turn you away! Just pay something!!! My husband and I have done this a gillion times! We just didn't have the $25 or $40 co pay on that particular day! ALSO... You DO NOT have to fill your RXs at Kaiser! Sometimes COSTCO is cheaper than your CO PAY so just pay CASH to COSTCO... Call COSTCO first and ask them "how much will this RX cost me - cash" if it's cheaper than your Co pay to Kaiser then you can have the Dr "print out" your RX rather than sending it directly to THEIR PHARMACY!! As to medications in or not in their "Formulary" (I HATE THAT WORD) if they give you "their" Meds and you are allergic or you try 3 or 4 of their "formulary meds" and you just for whatever reason cannot take it THEY ARE OBLIGATED TO GO OUTSIDE THEIR BOX (of their formulary meds) AND GET YOU WHATEVER YOU NEED!!! Again SPEAK UP!! :)

That's not medicine, KP, that's just apology. Given that you have to spend an hour at one of KP's over-the-counter pharmacies to get a single rx filled and given the fact that I have a constant need of 12 prescription medications, it's obvious that I should NEVER have selected KP as my medical provider. I just hope that I can make it through to October so I can change insurance providers because right now I'm stuck with a system that makes me go 6 miles to see my primary physician and get a prescription filled and go 17 miles to San Marcos for every test, pt, specialist and medical procedure!

They then said they could fit me in today (Wednesday 5/28/2014 at 3:00) but I would have to travel to Otay Mesa from Escondido 60 to 70 miles. I agreed. They then called back a short time later and said come down now - so I did. They told me to go to building 1. Made the 1 hour drive only to find out all the buildings are lettered not numbered. Of course, this is a big corporate sized building. Finally found my way to Radiology/Xray/MRI. After a 45 minute wait in line and a 50.00 copay, I was greeted by friendly guy who said he was going to Xray my left leg. Yes, Xray my left leg again. I said no, I was told to drive 1 hour from Escondido to have an MRI done on my left leg.

At his clear confusion, he promptly asked that I wait in a different waiting room. As I was escorted to the new waiting room, the door was closed behind me and the gentleman who led me there stayed behind. I was then confronted by another woman, a KP receptionist, who asked if she could help me. I gave her my KP card and number at which point she said I was to have an appointment with a orthopedic surgeon and that was going to be 30.00. At which point I lost it. I told her to refund the 50.00 I was already charged for and Xray/MRI I never received. At this point she told me to go back to the original receptionist for a refund. Needless to say, this was a wasted half day/Gas thanks to Kaiser Permanente!! 4 days later still haven't received a refund...

The situation that led me to post this was after making a preventative care appointment to meet my new doctor. They billed me for an office visit. I tried to discuss...was finally told that because the doctor discussed my medical history it was an office visit. Really? Was I not suppose to tell her my health history? I now will refuse to make any additional appointments including lab work unless an emergency. Ridiculous company, absolutely zero customer service. Cannot wait to get out of this system next year and go back to my previous doctor who will actually take a phone call from me.

As I began taking the medicine my sleep got worst. I didn't feel well about it so I read up on the medicine which stated major depression, suicidal, hypnosis and other risk/behavior not wanted, desired nor accepted by me, therefore I contacted her very concerned with her reasoning and diagnosis. She said it was only for sleeping. I informed her that I was no longer taking the medicine, and I did not fit the criteria I read about. I also told her I felt that was a bad call and requested that she remove the statement that I was taking them anymore and offered to bring the remainder back to her. I was informed by her that she would remove it as active from the record. I believed her until towards the end of the year when into medical secretaries to get a copy of an xray of my right knee that I was informed I needed surgery on. At this time I saw where there was some fabrication about the conversation during that visit. On that date I went to the notary public and notarized a notice that I did not and do not take this medication. Other info between.

Also on 4/9/2014 I went in for a knee replacement surgery about 10-10:30 am, later that evening the dr came to see me in the hospital room. He told me that some of my ligament was torn and that he had mended it back and that he didn't know how it happened. As I was speaking to his assistant explaining that I had copies of my records and the disk that all of my xrays are on that I ordered them for the knowledge of my body and care prior to the surgery(ies) he informed me that it was torn during the surgery. He was very considerate and I appreciate his honesty. The dr agreed with no apology.

During my discharge I was told to sign the revision by the nurse on duty and that she would give me a copy. She went on break directly after me signing and I didn't get the second discharge instructions as needed. I contacted the hospital, my doctor, the surgery clinic and the nursing station with no success on the care and repair for this. My son and nephew went into the stations and were unsuccessful. Where I have a set of knee replacement instructions to read, reflect and go by the ligament instructions have been verbal only and different in some instances. A physical therapist mgr came to visit me at home on Sunday after surgery and gave me a home health start of care packet which has several forms and documents that are blank standard. None is filled in or signed, only a double sided total knee exercise program that show a diagram of exercises.

I went to another hospital away for discharge instructions that I would know what's going on inside and that I could read and see what to do and to be better informed about my leg. I would like to do what I can to help the recovering of my surgery. The other doctor waited for the surgeon to return the call as I did also. As of yet I haven't received it. Voicemail on phone. As of yesterday no future appointments scheduled. Follow up in a couple weeks. My benefits are fully covered.

I have been in extreme pain for years. The doctors will tell you it's someone else's job to either refer you to a specialist, allow you to see another doctor, or they will just tell you out right they cannot help you. I have been trying to get any kind of care for four months. I have not been able to work, and each person I talk to at Kaiser tells me a different story. It's very frustrating!! I call it passing the hot potato- so far all the people I have talked to at Kaiser to passing that and not owning anything.

Since they have denied me a referral for an outside doctor that's not in the Kaiser system, (I have seen 4 different doctors inside Kaiser) I finally went to Mercy today and they actually did more for me in the first 10 minutes that Kaiser has done for me in 8 years.

FYI per California State Health and Safety Law- after the 4th second opinion within Kaiser, you hand write a request to members services (Have it date stamped & get the persons name and title- keep a copy for documentation). CA law clearly states Kaiser is required to pay for your visit to an outside doctor of YOUR choice. You will still have to pay your co-pay, but at least you will get some care. Hopefully I will be allowed to see this Mercy doctor from here on out. Also, remember you can attain an attorney and file a malpractice lawsuit. Google it....

After calling about a month prior and being told by two different member services in different states (I'm in Oregon for undergrad, and I'm a Northern California member) that having an IUD replaced early was just fine because of the situation, I called back today only to be told by a rather rude nurse in the OBGYN department at Skyline in Salem that it was "unethical and medically unnecessary" to have it replaced after just shy of three years. I told her my situation and that I had a lot of pain after the first insertion, and that the hour drive home was hell let alone an addition five hours from Georgia to Florida. Still, she insisted that no doctor would replace it. She then asked a doctor, a male but I didn't catch his name, to which he said, "Oh it will work just fine for seven years, don't worry".

Uhm, excuse me, not only is that illegal to recommend because the FDA has only approved them for 5 years (more or less, it's the same as a doctor telling a patient to use a prescription drug for something other than what it's prescribed for, or for a different dosage or amount of time), I am NOT risking getting pregnant in graduate school! I have no doubts that my long term boyfriend and I will be together, but neither of us can afford to have a child, certainly not when I will be at grad school from 8am-5pm 5 days a week plus studying! Despite being bounced around from phone line to phone line, no one seemed to be able to tell me why I was told it would be fine a month ago but now it's suddenly "unethical".

On top of this, they told me I'd just have to have it replaced in Georgia or fly home to Northern California. More or less, this boils down to two decisions: enduring an extreme amount of pain (as anyone who had an IUD placed before having a child can tell you, it HURTS when they pull your cervix open) or be forced to tell my parents who do not know and cannot know as they would not approve, a privacy RIGHT I have. How in the hell is that legal or ethical?

Kaiser used Electronic Medical Records to document my care or lack thereof. Many notes were just cut and paste of chart templates. Providers frequently Pre-chart using "dot phrases". Cookie cutter medicine is further demonstrated by cookie cutter charting. When medication changes were made, rare documentation of why and responses are found. When I go in to see one provider for about a 5-10 min visit, it is clear that they have not reviewed consultations by specialists. Documentation is inadequate and often inaccurate.

I suffered from 2009 from inadequate management of a rare problem CAUSED BY BOTCHED SURGERY FROM KAISER. Problems have made it impossible for me to work yet Kaiser's documentation is so poor (omissions & inaccuracies) that 2 applications for Disability Benefits have been denied though I was led to believe the providers agreed (at least they verbalized to me) that I could not work. It has been over a year and a half since initial application. Provider outside of Kaiser commented that they felt that my medical & surgical and subsequent mental health issues clearly made it impossible for me to work.

This outside provider has supporting documentation of disability but can only do so from Jan 2014. So I will lose benefits from 1.5 years. Kaiser's poor charting may even be used to invalidate new provider's assessments as stated in SSDI application instructions. I am so saddened by this situation. Kaiser has ruined me surgically, medically, emotionally & financially. I have not "thrived" with Kaiser. They may be okay if you just need basic health maintenance. Beware if you are ill & especially if your problems are not common. You will get cookie cutter care and cookie cutter documentation of a most unsatisfying recipe. Sad if you become disabled and need supporting documents. Choose carefully.

I then found a Dr ** in Arlington and he said my stomach was swelling as if I were 9 months pregnant but my liver function panel was normal. He did an endoscope (upper) and sonogram and said I didn't have ascites and I should come back and he could repair my bile duct through an endoscope safely. Unfortunately, I lost my insurance and could not afford to pay for the procedure myself. Meanwhile, I brought all my tests and procedures to Kaiser. After seeing my General Practitioner (Dr. **) I saw a G.I. Dr **. I brought all my notes, tests, procedures to him. He told me that the meds for Hep. C had very bad side effects and not to ever drink again. Well, he seemed like he had no bedside manner and no compassion.

I told him about my bile duct and he excused it and said my major bloating was probably ascites.. But I had no ascites. I went to see Dr. **. I told her many times about my bile duct problem many times. She sent me see a Dr. ** in Springfield, VA. He said my stomach swelling was from swallowing too much air. He said he would not help me. Now no one at Kaiser will address my bile duct issue and after 5 yrs. it has disintegrated. Now Dr. ** suggested I see a disability doctor and I can't find one.

Kaiser said I was too young and thin to have it. She said I had type III DEFINITIVELY! She wrote my doctors a treatment plan. Low dose chemo and the cornerstone of the treatment?... Narcotics! She said most of her patients were on a Fentanyl patch or morphine. I tried just pills, but it didn't touch the pain. Kaiser refuses to prescribe ANY of the treatments. They made me go to an expert of their choice and take pain classes. Then, they said, if the doctor seconded Dr. **'s opinion, they would treat me. I did everything they asked. The doctor said her treatment plan was perfectly reasonable for my dx...which he confirmed. Kaiser STILL refuses to treat me with any narcotics and none of the doctors will take me as a patient, citing ignorance of the condition, YET, I cannot get a referral for them to cover the expenses of my monthly flights and visits and medications to DR. **. (BTW, I also had to get a psych evaluation! They just said Dercum's was just TOO RARE and I didn't fit the picture...)

My thought is wtf. Sorry I don't know what to do now other than my GED dr tell him what's going on. In the meantime what happen if my problem acts up. It can be very painful when it does and all I ever had to do was call him; a few hours later I would get call back with some meds at the Pharmacy. I need to see him asap which was within a week, if not the next few day. In meantime he would have some test run till I see him. So now unless I can get this sorted I know what may happen if it acts up. The pain is bad like it does or has got. I'll make app then go there, have test run, etc and I'm at the mercy of that DR... In meantime, this could have all been avoided by letting me see my DR I've been seeing for years and worry about BS till later...

The other one I do the drug study would be even worse to hope to see. He's a Mental Health DR. I would hate to lose him, he's really good but can see where this would lead with them. It would get to the point I end up in Hosp... due no help how I have now. I have not been in the Hosp for that problem for all most 15 years and don't want to go back. So the only thing I can think of is call my GED DR, tell him what's going on, see what he may be able to help me with or I have two ways to go about it, see HIM and pay the cost or play their game.

Immediately the anesthesiologist forced a cup over my face, bruising my hand & arm, trying to block being put under anesthesia. Learned after the fact, KP, Zion hospital is an educational facility and there were four students observing the biopsy procedure in a very private/personal location of my torso. Never would I have approved of students observing & never would I have gone to a hospital that is an educational facility, had I known. After the biopsy, I was never given the results and instead sent to several different kinds of doctors who I was told will give me the results of the biopsy.

Each doctor gave their "spiel", not one would tell me why they are prescribing subsequent procedures. Went back to my primary doctor who was surprised I even came back to her. She couldn't tell me anything but did send me to yet another doctor, to learn of biopsy results. Of which, I never was told. Three weeks of running around in circles with no answers, I dis-enrolled. The biopsy left a huge open gaping wound and while still a member of KP, I needed antibiotics to get me thru to see a doctor outside of KP and was refused & told "It's inappropriate to ask for an RX because I've dis-enrolled."

Hours spent on the phone, it was finally the nurse's phone line that I was referred to a different KP location & fortunately that doctor prescribed antibiotics to get me thru to see the doctor outside of KP. My guess, KP is a generic "cattle call" health operating system without any thought or consideration for individualized medical attention. A lot of disconnects & no follow-thru except for the express purpose to gain revenue on the part of KP. Just glad I got out of there.

This Summer I hurt my left hand in the area of the 3rd metacarpal. I saw a different doctor on short notice (good). It was X-rayed and looked negative. I was satisfied with that. About a week later, I was called and told I have a fracture. I called to clarify and was told I fractured the 5th metacarpal and I needed to get it splinted. Finally reached my doctor and questioned things. We did second X-ray, but he said to go get splinted anyway. I went to Orthopedics for splint and the tech said the record showed the problem was my left 5th metatarsal (foot). Cleared up and hand splinted. The new X-ray was still negative. I was called the next week and asked about my left shoulder.

I complained about both issues over the phone in October 2013 and was told I would be contacted. It never happened. I called in approximately November and was told, "Sorry, someone will contact you." Didn't happen. I did an online complaint on 1/9/14, adding the fact that customer service/complaint dept was non-responsive. No call back. I forwarded complaint again on 1/24/14. I called customer service again on 2/10/14 asking why customer never calls back. I have yet to receive a call back from the complaint department. Also, the neurologist has not responded to a brief email question to clarify what form of magnesium supplement I should take. It's only been 2 days, but a simple question. My doctor does respond when I contact him online. His nurse is great also. It's the process.

After they pull this b.s. a couple of times, I get a letter in the mail that they have tried several times to reach me and due to my failure, they are taking me off the wait list, so the whole thing starts over. My two year old son requires weekly appointments, and the scheduling for him has been equally as messy. It wasn't until my husband started throwing around legal words that anything got done, but things still aren't fixed. Additionally, I've gone off and on my medications four times due to their inability to provide me refills. Just like another poster, mine are medications that I am to take regularly, and I am warned time and time again by my doctor and Kaiser's paperwork that I am not to suddenly stop taking them!

Finally, there is a general apathy towards patients, especially by the support staff. In my experience, about one in ten of the staff (doctors excluded) are friendly, compassionate, and competent. The only thing that keeps me with Kaiser is my son's surgeon and ENT. If they ever leave, we will be long gone regardless of what we have to pay elsewhere.

A - The automated system says "Due to healthcare reform we are experiencing heavier than normal call volumes" and then keeps me on hold for 52 minutes. No answer. No wait time, nothing! No option to schedule a call back at all. We are just on the phone waiting for someone to pick up and NO ONE DOES.

B - I was not calling in for a healthcare reform related issue (for which there was a special option to switch over to an operator or customer service representative dealing with those issues particularly). I was calling because I tried to sign up on the website and it asked me 6 questions using background information. I missed 1 of 6 and they must not mail me my password, which will take 3-5 business days & I cannot register online and use the website until then. Oh, they better prorate me. If I can't contact or use their services What the hell am I paying for!?!?

C - Through rigorous Googling I find a pharmacy near me.. Lo and behold, it isn't open on Saturdays...

I am over Kaiser. I want out of this and to switch to Aetna. ** website, ** service. The end.

What angers me the most is the number of automated calls I receive, at three per week from Kaiser talking about flu shots and other such nonsense. I have contacted by telephone member services twice to ask for the phone calls to stop and still they persist. I have received two phone calls in the week after my second request to stop the phone calls. Yet, the automated phone calls won't stop coming. If I block one number, the phone calls come from another number. I am on the Do Not Call Registry so I may have to file a complaint. I have also placed an online complaint about the number of phone calls. This a new first for me. I am already filing a compliant within the first month of a new health plan. You can bet I won't resign with this group next year if I am this aggravated already! Kaiser sucks!

In an e-mail message I asked Dr. #1 why just 30 pills. His response, belatedly: "You have not been to clinic for more than a year that is why I refilled 30 days supply on your blood pressure medication. For blood test you do not need an appointment for lab work. You can just go to lab any time to get 12 hours fasting lab work." This is at least the second time since mid-2010 that my prescription refills have been held "hostage" by a Kaiser MD. In 2010, another assigned PCP, (also not of my choosing) Dr. #3 pulled the same trick: "I see that you have not had your blood tests done. I shall refill your medication after you do these tests. Also, please make an appt to see me. Thank you."

In neither of these cases did Dr. #1 or Dr. #3 give me a courtesy heads-up about having lab work performed BEFORE withholding my meds. Had either done so, I would have had the work done at once. My sense is that these individuals willfully withheld my meds to show "who's boss" - i.e. - "I, as your doctor, am in charge." After some Internet research, I discovered that Dr. #3 was barred from practicing medicine in New York state, population ca. 20 million, and I promptly dropped him and selected another PCP (more about him later to follow). Moreover, I have dropped Dr. #1 and selected Dr. #5 , and have requested that he schedule/arrange to have my lab work done and schedule for me a physical examination. I believe the actions of Doctors #1 , #3 and (subsequently) #4 were not in my best interest, nor were they reflective of responsible, rational medical protocols. Since 1990 I have paid substantial fees for my Kaiser service, and in return I expect better of my PCPs. In recent years, such has not been the case.

My INITIAL Kaiser PCP and I had a good relationship. He was interested in my well-being, answered my questions, and I was sorry to lose him to retirement in 2010 after 20 years as my PCP. Since then, I have been unable to find a doctor at Kaiser Woodbridge whom I could confidently call "my doctor. " One other PCP, whom I also shed after a physical exam, Dr.#4 who is still at Woodbridge, showed no visible interest in my lifestyle or my personal exercise regimen, nor did he answer any of my questions about my outlook or expectations of my Kaiser experience.

Be these puzzling experiences as they may, I strongly recommend Kaiser officials everywhere COUNSEL Kaiser personnel - especially PCPs - to place member interests above any "who's the boss" arrogance when approving members' prescriptions. Finally, at this writing, the Laboratory desk at Kaiser Woodbridge has no record of an appointment for me., despite the assurance of Dr. #5 . Plus the Member Services people have not responded to my queries about the problems I have covered here.

I then sought to change to a new doctor which, if you believe the advertising, should have been easy. This Doctor was worse in her bedside manner. Her first statement to me was "you are making several medicines that I would never prescribe for you, perhaps we are at an impasse already." Let me repeat, these were the first words spoken by either of us. So what happened? A few days after my appointment, which seemed to conclude well after I calmed her down, I received an email from this doctor. She gave me some suggestions and told me I should stay with my first doctor, in effect, rejecting me outright as a patient. So you can choose a new physician but they can reject you.

Kaiser seems to specialize in shocking patients with deceptive practices and bait and switch tactics designed to minimize their care costs. During the flu season, they did not promote flu shots other than to post a small sign outside the front door. Why? Because they are free to the patient. In my case, I have both an upper and lower back problem. My total care over six months amounted to one X-ray for one and nothing for the other.. I was given some exercises to do and enrolled in a long term pain management program without any diagnosis other than a muscle strain and a pinched nerve. No other treatment other than pain medications.

When I enrolled in the pain management plan, I was told that their goal was to get me off the medications because they believed the pain was in my, and everyone else's in the program, in the brain. After six months, the open enrollment period came up and I changed to Blue Cross. The pain management nurse was shocked as if it never occurred to her someone would leave. Why did I really leave? I was afraid of Kaiser. When I signed up for the Pain program, I was told it would be 10 weeks. For that time, the program staff would control my medicines. I signed an 8 page document and did not receive a copy. When I asked for a copy several weeks later, I was told they do not give copies to patients. I was asking for the copy because this same nurse was telling me that they could keep me in their program for up to three years.

I was feeling very trapped. Again, I was not getting medical care and was being told they wanted to get me off all the medication I was on whether it was related to back pain or not. I felt powerless. Within two weeks of leaving Kaiser, I have had two MRI's and have been referred to a back specialist by my new Physician. Upon review of things, I believe the Kaiser HMO program cannot work for the best interest of the patients because of an inherent conflict of interest. It is their profits that are hurt when money is spent on your care. They have tailored their operation to keep costs down by keeping patients at minimal or sub standard levels of care. If you care about yourself and the ones you love, do not go with Kaiser, with one exception - Childbirth. That is easy for them to do and costs little, mostly nurses. As for adult or young adult care, get out and stay out.

Another time when I ask for annual test (which is needed every year if you are over 45), they make excuses not to do it... I was asked if I exercise, smoke or drink; I said I exercise, don't drink and don't smoke, and this is what they told me: YOU ARE PROBABLY OK, THEN YOU DON'T NEED ANNUAL TEST. I can tell you next time I select a health insurance at my work, it definitely will not be Kaiser.

I went in for a routine pap smear, and they wanted $50...My doctor had coded it as something awry. Nothing is awry. I am 3 years overdo, since he also doesn't seem to regard pap smears as necessary for prevention. Nor mammograms. Nor ekgs, nor anything. Heart disease and strokes are in my family.

It turns out that he is head of internal medicine. I thought this meant he was a good doctor. Turns out, he is obviously more interested in numbers for his department than my health. What else is new? And how could I be so naive? My husband is fortunately on medicare. He has the same doctor. I have not been in for another physical since 3/2011. Why? Because of the stress of having to battle Kaiser nickel and dime charges, I have not wanted to go back. Only when I threatened to take everyone into small claims court, were the charges dropped. My husband was called the minute a year passed since his last physical. Why? Because he's on medicare and Kaiser and my doctor, head of internal medicine, wants his money. I could wait for 5 years and never be called. Interesting.....Discrimination? I guess so!!

I guess they all operate this way. I hate it! If it turns out that I have a problem with my health, particularly in terms of a pap smear, I will be suing them.

I DO NOT DRIVE - I am at the mercy of public transportation and as I am disabled and not rolling in bundles of cash, cabs are out of the question. My parents are elderly and friends are useless now that I am sick. I am not ashamed to say my support system is nonexistent but Kaiser's Advice Nurses have taken it upon themselves to simply tell me off because I cannot get to the nearest Kaiser with after hour appointments which is 3 hours away when buses are running. But I honestly thought I was calling an advice line... NOT TRUE.

Advice is given in the form of "Why did you call if you knew you couldn't get to any Kaiser?" Try because I pay Kaiser for crappy service. Or this advice given by an Advice Nurse, "I think it's just said you would call in knowing you don't have any friends or family to help you either that or you're not really sick... Call back when you can get here...." What the **... I could go on and on about the so-called advice nurses but I won't. Instead I'll leave you with this gem from earlier yesterday evening..."I'm sorry I totally forgot what you told me you were calling about." Seriously, I was on then phone a little over 5 minutes with an "appointment representative" when he announced he forgot my reason for calling. Wow.

DOCTORS & NURSE PRACTITIONERS - These two terms are synonymous with Kaiser. While I learned this years ago and it was best to verify I was seeing an actual doctor, Kaiser has begun simply calling everyone doctor and when questioning them, representatives will reply, "Yea, you are seeing Dr. So-and-so". I scream FOUL!! I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten in the examination room only to see a nurse practitioner for my visit. And don't complain to membership services they'll say, "Oh no OUR staff told you, you were seeing a Nurse Practitioner..." So let me hear the recorded phone call is my response and mysteriously I am disconnected.

As for the doctors: I was once diagnosed with the flu AFTER NOT having my vitals taken and recorded. This means my temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels were not checked. I was forced to sit through a 5-minute visit as I was diagnosed. I would have accepted a hand on the forehead as a temperature check but no, one look at me and it's the flu. Naturally I complained, saw another doctor immediately who upon looking at me (that is no examination) told me she agreed with her colleague. Nevertheless I was back less than a week later with pneumonia and a bronchial infection... What happened to the flu?

STAFF ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND. - No matter how nice they are, the staff doesn't like you. For the life of me I could figure out where one of my doctors was coming up with the insane idea that I'm the life of the party. Then it dawn on me the staff, while I'm being cordial, explaining how horribly Migraines and Epilepsy have impacted my life it translated to me being a 30+ year old party girl. So my nearly endless pursuit of various degrees etc., means I party... Maybe it's effect of my illness, severe vertigo, vomiting, having seizures that are reminiscent of a hangover (I honestly don't know). I've only been drunk once in my life, I never had a chance to do drugs illegal or prescribed, not that I wanted to being in school in one from another since I was 5 years old. But oh, I guess I could be addicted to college if it were considered a drug. My advice that nice guy or gal behind the counter hates you in every way possible and is immature, childish, not a good listener and has an overactive imagination which seems to be a Kaiser employee must.

BACK TO DOCTORS & MEMBERSHIP SERVICES - I am disabled. It was ironically a Kaiser doctor that saw me through the process. I am thankful as my pain and seizure are barely controlled. However, you'd think Kaiser would have a color-coded system or something noting that I am DISABLED. I get the impression for all the doctors and nurses constantly asking me about work that after 4 years they have no hint, clue or notation anywhere that I am permanently disabled.

TEARS ARE FOR CHILDREN & THE UNSTABLE - I've learned not to cry at Kaiser unless you want staff questioning your mental health. The last time I went to Kaiser in severe pain, despite Migraines having clear and defined genetic markers, I have been told I may be better served seeing a shrink. When I vomited several times during IV Medical Protocol for acute migraines, I was told I should see a shrink...for vomiting and crying. After another difficult and unsuccessful IV Treatment inclusive of 5 different attempted injection sites that ended with blown veins or collapsed veins, I need a shrink because I refused treatment and being a human pin cushion. Do you see a running theme here?

UNEXPLAINED TEST RESULTS - I have had what seems like buckets of my blood harvested by Kaiser for various "tests". And yet some things remain unanswered like the elusive ESR test. As one doctor put it, "You have system wide inflammation... Do you have any idea why?" Look if I knew I sure as hell wouldn't be at Kaiser! Okay, my real response was to shake my head no and shoot my mom who took me to the doctor a concerned look. In the end, I was told to have my PCP looked into it. My primary care physician's response was to quite literally look at the result, make a note of it verbally then resume my scheduled check up. From cancer to lupus ear test helps decode quite a few serious conditions. I guess at Kaiser, an ignorant patient is a happy patient.

If it weren't for my current disabled status and fear of a mountain of medical bills, I'd happily leave Kaiser. I might even skip away on my torn calf muscle!

I get my appt and my refill, which is now to supposed to last a year. Not so! Just last week I call to refill and Costco calls Kaiser to get permission because on their record it had expired again. Kaiser never called me nor the Costco pharmacy. After arriving at the Costco pharmacy and finding this out, I'm again in a very bad situation. I call the Kaiser hotline and they told me to try the 24 hour pharmacy on their end because my refills still may be good. I call and they say the prescription has expired. 5 Months later?!?!?

They say I need to see the doc, but I told them my insurance has stopped and I can't. They said we will contact your doctor, but they refused to give me at least 1 pill to hold me over. How cold are these people? Do they not understand certain medications are needed to be taken every day? I called to refill this last week when I had medication. Now I have none and already feeling the effects of not taking it. How can they require me to come in without telling me and just 5 months from the previous visit on a condition I've had for years with no change!?!? I swear to God, I will never go back to Kaiser ever again.

My new insurance starts in Jan, and F Kaiser. Shouldn't they be liable for anything that may happen for not having that medication and knowing what condition I have and having the medication available with me willing to pay full price and they deny that option? I mean just refill it and then get the doc's ok for the next year, what is the big deal? They are only concerned about money and could care less what their patients go through.

So after demanding that I'm not a pot user, they sent me to take another drug test that I will find out today what it says. I have no idea what caused a false positive on this test but this is the second time this has happened with Kaiser now. It really sucks now because now the pain management doctor is looking at me in a completely different way and I have lost all respect from her. It has just been downhill since then. I also have other problems other than my back that not only do they say is all in my head but refuse to look into further because of my "recreational" drug use that doesn't exist!!! I am so pissed and worried now and all over something that I have absolutely no clue what is causing this THC false positive.

It's sad that they can latch onto something that I really cannot even fathom how to disprove... but won't even help me with any other problem I have with pain outside of my back because now I am labeled as a junkie. It's not right. I guess today, I will find out my latest lab results but it still doesn't erase what has already been done. Kaiser treats patients like a conveyor belt and has lost touch with the fact that people are human and everyone is different. And I am really sick of feeling like I have to prove I don't use drugs outside of what I am prescribed and very afraid of what will happen next. I am seriously considering changing insurance soon, thank God open season is around the corner.

I FINALLY got through to a real person the sixth try...who told me she can't help me with my problem because she can't access my application information. She said, "You have to access your own application online. You can contact the website support; they can help you access your application." She gave me a phone number for the website support, and hung up. I KNOW I can access my application online. I had specific questions, so I called the number provided to get answers. And they just refer me straight back to the website?!

I was declined for coverage. I figured it was because I had forgotten to fill out the payment information, so I reapplied with that included. But after I had done that, I received a response for the initial declination. The letter I was sent states very clearly "Our decision was based on the information you provided on your application and, where appropriate, on information from other sources such as your medical records and prescription medication history." Yet I cannot help but think that either the application reviewer simply looked at my application responses without looking up my medical record or they just wanted to get rid of me as a patient. I am considered 'at-risk' for coverage because:

2) My history of asthma.

First off, my weight has actually gone DOWN since my last physical (I have the paperwork), at which time my physician had stated that "Aside from your being overweight, you're in very good health." Second, I have a rescue inhaler which I use ONLY WHEN my asthma is triggered by outside factors (such as too much pollen in the air leading to nonstop sneezing, heavy smog alert or if I am already sick with the cold or flu). Otherwise, it just sits there in my purse. Most of my previous inhalers have been discarded due to being expired before they were used up. The most recent one, I had to get a refill after barely a month because I lost the thing.

I think I will be looking into other providers for health care. It seems to me that the Kaiser "mission statement" of "to help you thrive" is nothing but empty words.

I got a new General Practitioner instead and she gave me a referral as I requested. This Dermatologist gave me a RX for spirolactone. Since going in for appointments, I've noticed the doctors want me to get testing done, and more retesting done. I think that a lot of it is unnecessary and doesn't pertain to what I was originally going in for. I'm getting frustrated. It seems as if they are suggesting these things to be done to make more money from me. I honestly don't feel like Kaiser is working in my best interest, and am seriously considering to change my HMO now. Am I the only one that is feeling this way?

Anyway, the harassing treatment made me want to get out of there as soon as I could. All he could do was pop it back in place. He said he couldn't do surgery that day and if I wanted surgery, I could decide in the next 14 days, and reschedule but he and his assistant also said, "Oh, this would be hard to put back in place on this Tuesday visit." 5 days after the injury date, "Healed too much," they said. I felt pushed, rushed, confused and today thinking about all the other malpractice incidents. I feel it was done on purpose. They were telling me 2 different stories. I still don't know what the truth is, and I sure am not going to ask them. I had to request a cast, because they were only going to let me walk out of there with the original soft cast and I got it hit that same Thursday night at a place, and I didn't think it would be a good idea. And the guy putting the cast on was looking real goofy at smiling real crazy and laughing while he put the cast on. The whole experience was creepy crazy and uneasy to deal with.

And the surgeons (??) assistant came in and was jawing with me, “You want this, you want that,” rapidly asking me questions and then answering them as well. The main doctor could barely speak as well. Maybe it was set up that way. If you do this, it is this, if you do that, it is that. Talking real fast and trying to get into my head. Trying to drive me crazy and doing it. They knew I was hurting mentally and psychologically over this incident and they just took advantage of me. Playing mind games. Follow up care was no better. The therapist hated me there too, didn't want to see me either. When I asked, "Is there anything else I can do but exercise it," he carelessly said NO. He said, "Oh, did you loosen it (sheet)," when I asked what else I should do and went to get another sheet of what I already had. He acted like measuring my strength was everything he did. Was like he didn't want to do anything for me. Not much energy life or enthusiasm in him at all. He didn't want to deal with my presence much less as a patient. Like I bothered him to ask him the A question.

He wrote results on a scribble piece of paper. I didn't even have a progress chart on file. Real rude. Real sloppy and careless. He should have just been honest and said, "I don't want to work with you." Because all he did was give me a sheet with a few exercises on it. While my hand was still swollen, like it was a problem to get a copy of the exercising sheet. He jumped to that assumption when I was only asking what else could I do to help the hand get better. Insulting. I asked for more help, not the same old exercise sheet. The swelling still hasn't gone down and hand still hurts. They are very dirty and vicious to people they don't like.

And a lady doctor wouldn't let me think or talk on my own or ask her anything and said my injury circumstances will only get worse over time. Questions about anything I can do. I called to schedule an MRI because my hand wasn't getting any better and when I went in for it, it got changed to another X-ray. I declined because I just had too many of those already. Even the black assistant from Pittsburgh (neck tag) suggested having too many X-rays can be dangerous. They treated me like I didn't know why I was there that day and changed my order to an X-ray without asking or telling me first. Anyway, No emergency, No surgery, Nothing. Just call to make an appointment 5 days later. Very Generic treatment at best . Mine was worse than that. They are more political than they are medical. .

Another incident. I had a cyst on my head and the doctor said, "Oh. I will mark it. So I can see it," when I come back. He numbed it and then started chopping me an inch below the cyst for about 45 minutes, cutting muscle it seemed because I looked at his paper, he puts body parts on and it looked red and muscle-ish. It wasn't a cyst. I had this surgery before and it didn't look like these pieces. It was a good part of me being cut out of me. He didn't have any assistance/help. Just him. I didn't realize he started chopping in the wrong place till after the Novocaine wore off. I did wonder why it took so long though because the last time, it only took maybe 5 minutes. It was only one cyst and it stuck out far enough to not miss. Rest of head was smooth and fine. But he missed it...

When you complain, Kaiser ONLY makes it WORSE, so keep your mouth shut. You are there for THEM. It's their unwritten rule. It is like having to tip a lousy waiter. They want me to go away. I will, but I have to get over this shocking treatment first and find somebody that is going o fix it right. Personally, I don't think I can right now. HMO is managed care, very generic. No choice, respect, nothing. Everything is just all automated. No human compassion involved here. Once you get on their bad side, it only gets worse. And they don't say sorry, because they are NEVER wrong even when they are.

I complained about a nurse having blood all over his hands while giving flu shots to patients and it has been all downhill from there. I got more, but don't care to write it as of yet. Oh I tried to tell this to Kaiser but they didn't want to hear it. SAME ugly person everywhere you go within this company. One step at a time.

* I have epilepsy, and when you have a seizure and go to the hospital, it must immediately be reported to the DMV because your license will get suspended for 3 months. In January 2013, I had a tonic-clonic seizure (grand mal seizure, epilepsy) which was not reported to the DMV by the ER, as required by law. I believe this shows how overworked and disorganized the people are at the ER.

* The neurologist they assigned me to after I had a second seizure prescribed me the WRONG epilepsy medicine at extremely high dosages which may have been FATAL if I'd followed her dosing instructions - luckily I double-check everything! I mentioned to the pharmacist that the dosage listed on my prescription was incorrect, and I ended up waiting at the pharmacy for several hours before they told me to go home. A few days later, I was called back and told to pick up a completely different medicine. I asked to be assigned to different neurologist, which took about a month, then another 2 months before I could go in to see her (since she's always booked). I must say that the new neurologist seems to be ultra organized and thorough. She's the one who first realized that the ER never called in my tonic-clonic seizure, except at this point it was already 3 months since I'd had the seizure and past the point when it needed to be reported to the DMV.

* I was bit by an outdoor cat and I went in the cat bite checked out. The doctor they assigned me to LOOKED UP MY SYMPTOMS ON HIS IPHONE right in front of me! It literally looked like he was checking my symptoms on WebMD. He didn't even get up or leave the room. After consulting his iPhone, he told me that I had nothing to worry about with the cat bite and sent me home without any medicine or treatment. Of course, I was still charged $100 for the doctor's visit.

* Terrible and non-compassionate billing practices: The epilepsy medicine they originally put me on wasn't working, so I went back to the ER a few times with seizures. Every time I had a hospital visit, I'd receive literally dozens of bills in the mail. There's no place to view your bills online, and you have to call a phone service to find out what you still owe, and to make payments. Even though I'd only gone to the hospital 3 times, I had literally dozens of different types of bills with different billing numbers to pay off and keep track of. I was paying off my bills every month via their phone service (I was paying for 4 different bills at a time), and the people I talked to on the phone said I was keeping up with everything, yet somehow a $700 bill was missed by Kaiser and got sent to a collections agency (which weirdly enough is also owned by Kaiser). The Kaiser collections agency also has a confusing (yet different) phone service I must use to pay off my collections account, and even though this was caused by a mistake on their side, and even though I have continued to pay several hundred dollars a month towards my collections account, they still report me to a credit agency every month, which keeps hurting my credit, and have informed me they will continue to do so until it's completely paid off.

This place used to be a lot better, but they've really gone downhill in the last 3-4 years. Avoid Kaiser if you possibly can!

I understand how high tech this hospital is - and that is because all they want you to do is spend money so they could make more money for all those investments they had done at the expense of their patients. In short, my husband ran out of medication and had to go to the ER to be able to get his prescriptions refilled - but they treated him like a drug addict and we had to be there from 11 am till 5:30 pm and they didn't even give him the prescription. My husband is COPD, Diabetic and was in severe pain but all we could do is just go home and let him suffer. I feel like all these doctors are doing nothing to really help him feel better - they want him to stop taking the medication which he has been taking for almost 7 years now. And how could he just stop taking it when he is always in pain because of his back and neck operation? He's already 69 years old and they think that he is just for the high of the drugs not knowing how he is going through without his medications.

Personally, I never really liked Kaiser Permanente - and I really hope that I won't go to that hospital. They are not sincere and their advertisement about caring people is not true. Every time we are at the ER, I hear doctors talking to patients and they are rude, they feel that they are God! and that people should be at their mercy. Sad but this is my actual experience and the only reason I got KP because they are the cheapest medical insurance that my company provides but their services really sucks! I've always wanted to work for this company before since my cousins work there - but with my experience, I don't want to be a part of a company like this who is only after the money and not really the well being of individuals. That's why they could afford to pay high salary because they are greedy and all they want is for people to keep spending money so they can make big bucks! Sad - but this Moreno Valley KP really sucks! Management should start doing an audit if they want to maintain their reputation if there is any at all.

Appears my premium was raised in July, & although I explained that I never rec'd a notice, nor did the last two invoice they sent showed an increase, I was liable for an add'l, $56.00 for the last two months nonetheless. Asking why they didn't show this increase when they billed me; they stated they only bill every two months & this IS PAST DUE! & my new increase is now shown in this latest invoice.

I am having a problem with a company forwarding invoices not representative of what they actually say they are owed. Also, if expense is an issue, they spared no expense in sending an add'l two pages re: "Voluntary Disenrollment". I have been paying premiums with Kaiser for at least 6 years & of note, recently turned 61 years old.

The say they sent me notice of increase back in July. I cannot disprove this, but what makes this so wrong is the the five different people I had to talk with & one disconnect (a habitual occurrence with this billing dept.) & yet I am told they are having trouble finding information, with the last person, a supervisor, who vows to return my call tomorrow. I believe she is sincere.

All started fairly well with Kaiser, and along the way I saw what I viewed as mass healthcare. If Kaiser is similar to what can be expected, public healthcare is going to be quite problematic.

On Friday, confused by the hard time I was having to get him into an EP, I went to the ER and asked where his heart monitor strips were. Turns out they never recorded them. Waste of paper. I now have nothing to prove his HUGE episodes and can't get him into the EP at UCSF because they don't have proof he needs to. Are you kidding me? There are NO documentations of what went on that night with his heart, so I have no proof? I'm hoping to get an affidavit from the doctors and nurses from the ER that night. Anyone got any ideas?

I am scared out of my mind. I called Member Services and they are no help at all. They keep saying you have to go back to the same doctor. I have an appointment outside of Kaiser with a dermatologist and when I spoke to her on the phone and asked why Kaiser isn't taking it seriously, she said they should have at least done a biopsy on it. Now I'm paying her $140 for a doctor's visit. I don't feel like I should have to go outside of Kaiser when I'm paying them $500+ a month. I am not taking anti anxiety medication because I can't sleep at night wondering if I have something serious. They just don't care about their patients, only money, money, money.

We are moving to Sacramento and have changed coverage from So Cal Kaiser to Northern Cal Kaiser. I asked the specialist to review my daughter's most recent labs with me and for a referral to a new specialist in Northern California. She flat out refused! She stated I could not have the labs or x-rays and I was on my own for the new doctor. I contacted our regular pediatrician and she refused as well. I contacted member services and they are stating we must sign a med records release for the labs. I just want somebody to review the latest labs, WTH?! Don't doctors review labs anymore? Why do we need to sign a release?

They are telling us also that since Northern Cal Kaiser is separate and they can't access her records, we will have to start the diagnosis process over with a new pediatrician who will have to run all new labs then diagnose my daughters illnesses again, and then refer her again to a new specialist. By the time she gets seen and back on meds, it will be the end of summer. Do they have any idea how detrimental to her health this will be? She has Lupus for God's sake! I filed a complaint with the State Department of Managed Care yesterday. She recommended calling the State Medical Board to start complaints against the doctors involved.

I am totally at the end when it comes to our care because this is not the only incident of poor care. I have been hemorrhaging for a year. My hemoglobin is 7 when it should be a 12, and they do nothing. I just don't know where to turn.

Every night around 4am, I pulled by myself orange juice pallets, milk pallets, everything that goes into the refrigerators by myself. I loved it. I depend on no one but myself. And I certainly wasn't having knee issues then. I've been to two specialist who gave me regular x-rays and MRI and they didn't find anything. They told me that I was 100% healthy. The Wal-Mart warehouse in Apple Valley is about 64,000,000 square feet. I had to walk that whole warehouse counting pallets for ten hours a day. At first, I was like this won't work because I've all ways kept myself busy. If I'm not doing anything productive, then I couldn't be at work. For the last two years of my fourteen years is where the knees were taking a toll on me.

Now, I am considered permanently in having high blood pressure. I'm seeing a pain management doctor and a psych. I don't sleep at night normally. Now, I have to take sleeping pills to help me go to sleep. I'm also taking ** for severe depression and taking blood pressure pills. I'm also seeing an allergist as well. None of this ever occurred when I first started working for Wal-Mart. The first doctor I saw was Dr. **, who gave me the whole year off to get state disability. Nothing from that whole year changed my situation with the knees. Then I switch doctors and saw Dr. Laquisha **, who also told me that there is nothing wrong with me. And because she is not a specialist, she told me that she wasn't going to do anything but still gave me two months off. I switched from Dr. ** to Dr. Lesile ** who also told me that I'm disabled. Somebody at Kaiser needs to read the Social Security Act and their policy. It stated that if you are disabled, it has to be a least a year and from that, it doesn't mean there is nothing wrong with me.

Also, Dr. Laquisha ** let me walk out of her office with high blood pressure which was 144/80. I called to ask about it and her nurse told me that Dr. ** said that the blood pressure wasn't a problem. It's the reason why she did not sit down with me and discuss what I needed to do to bring it down. This incident started on 3/24/2011 all the way to now, 3/27/2013. I cannot depend on my husband because his check of every two weeks goes to all the bills, rent, car notes, insurance, etc. After I went through all of that, I had to take out my 401 that I've been putting in ever since 1998. And then I exhausted all of my resources after the 401. I complained about Laquisha ** and the board of whoever they were told me that Laquisha was only doing her job and that I shouldn't have nothing to say about Dr. **. I have no time to lie about what I am going through just to quit my job for almost fifteen years. That would be stupid!

So now, I applied for Social Security Disability. I saw the judge on Jan. 28, 2013. I've waited for a whole year, plus six or seven more months because of all the files that the judge has to go through. She made her decision and now I am waiting for the results. If she denies me, I was told to keep re-appealing because without the help from these doctors who claim that we, the patients, are their number one priority. Well, I don't think Kaiser cares, and to call me a liar is now how I feel for the last two years with no real income coming into our home.

He said that they had a lot of emergency surgeries going on, but I think they overbooked themselves. The nurses were very sympathetic and kind. However, my family and I prepared for this surgery before and after. My husband took off work for 10 days to help me after my surgery. My job is on hold even longer now. It was incredibly rude and inhumane of Kaiser to treat their patients like this! I was already there, ready to go! And they pulled the plug!

This was not the first mishap I have encountered with Kaiser since the beginning of my back pain, which started on Jan. 25, 2013. It took this long to finally be seen by a specialist and now my surgery is canceled! My husband already complained to Kaiser customer service. But after reading all the complaints about Kaiser, it maybe a long road ahead of us for this fight! My husband is very persistent. Let's see where this will take us.

He used some very thick string like a jute for the stitches. I have had plastic surgery before and it is not normal. There were huge lumps where the string was pulled through and they are still there. No one at Kaiser will take my complaint. I had a another skin cancer diagnosed in July by the MOHS doctor. It took 3 months to get that one removed. One just goes in a circle. I may need another doctor now. I am afraid of what the result would be.

One and a half months passed, I again sent an email to Doctor A (because you can never reach them by phone) about my ongoing problems and daily pains. She didn't even see me. She referred me to another doctor by email, saying that Doctor B does more knee surgery than her! (If she is not confident about herself and refers me to someone else right after a problem occurs, why did she do the surgery?!) I visited Doctor B but he was unwilling to accept me as a patient because, with his words, he didn't do my surgery and if I have further questions, I can contact Doctor A! So Doctor A didn't want to talk with me and referred me to Doctor B. Doctor B didn't want to talk about the surgery, saying he wasn't the one who performed it and again referred me to Doctor A. What a wonderful health insurance company! Everybody refers to each other and nobody tries to find a solution. This is how Kaiser works!

Doctor B checked MRI and wanted me to wait 3-4 more months to determine whether the surgery was successful or not, even if I have had a lot of pains, couldn't walk, and couldn't sit at that time. This is another big question mark about the Kaiser services! One month later, I visited Doctor B. I called him again and told him I had a problem on my right knee this time. Because I cannot use my left knee (surgery knee) properly and put all body pressure to right knee, I had terrible pains on my right knee as well. I visited him on 4th September 2012. He said he would refer me to the physical therapy (PT) for four weeks and if I had a lot of pain after that, he would make the surgery on the right knee. The thing was that I had already been going to PT for five months! When I asked him that my left knee even didn't recover and had still ongoing problems, pains every day, how can I do right knee surgery and use my left knee until right knee recovers? He said it was alright.

When my husband tried to ask questions about the left knee, he snapped and said he had talked this issue with me before. I visited him twice and every time he was like he was in a hurry and didn't have time for me. I got confused and one week later (on 15th October) I visited an outside doctor whom my friend recommended, paying $250 from my pocket. This Doctor C told me that he was confident that right knee can heal without surgery but left knee had a big problem. He asked me whether I use inflammation pills. I told him that Doctor A and B asked me to use it when I need it. He said, ''No! You had to use it every day for the inflammation. You had a lot of inflammation." When I showed the pill Doctor A gave me, Doctor C said that it was not good for me because I was very thin. He prescribed another pill and strictly advised me to use it every day and he said, ''If the pill doesn't work in three weeks, it means there is something inside that prevents you from healing because you have already been continuing PT for a very long time. You should have been much better now."

Kaiser's Doctor B wanted me to wait 3-4 months. Doctor C said only three weeks. I can trust Doctor C because he knew that my insurance wouldn't cover his surgery and I cannot afford outside surgery. So, he didn't say that to convince me to change my doctor. I waited six weeks to make sure, not three weeks. And I called Kaiser customer services about my complaints and to get advice. I talked on the phone more than 40 minutes and somebody called me two days later (on Wednesday or Thursday on 5 or 6 December) for extra questions, and she told me that she would call me next Monday (on 10th December) to give me the best doctor's name on this field. But nobody called me. I waited two more days and I called customer services again on Wednesday (12th December). I explained the whole situation again, talked for 45 minutes, but no help! And then I requested from costumer service agent to direct me to the manager.

Manager told me that someone would call me in 1-2 hours and if not, she asked me to call her back. After nobody called me after 2.5 hours, I called the manager again but she didn't respond and never called me back. I've been paying a lot of money each month to Kaiser. When I needed their services for an important issue only once, they failed immediately and they even didn't make an effort to correct it. And they made me a disabled person. I wasted at least six months of my life and I need to find another surgeon from outside with paying from my pocket. I already paid more than $2,000 for just the PT. They are a waste of money. I was a normal person before the surgery but now, I can't even leave home or walk with my dog. I can't even cook or sit on the table for more than 30 minutes because of pains and I'm limping when I walk. If you really don't want to be upset and not deal with their malpractice, never get health insurance from Kaiser Permanente.

I asked for a second opinion. He refused to let me see anyone else. He didn't touch me (to examine me), run any blood tests, diagnostic tests, urine tests, vitals, nothing! I cried in horror and was devastated, but no one in the ER (Kaiser staff that is) would help me. I tried to ask the doctor for help on what to do, but he abandoned me instead. He also told me that I was crazy in the presence of other patients. They basically threw me out when security came to my room. I could barely walk, but managed to get myself out of there only to collapse at home. I was seen by a different doctor later, who apologized for Kaiser's behavior (he was a Kaiser doctor, but an unusually sweet and kind one at that) and prescribed me medicine to help me and gave me a plan of action.

I later requested my medical records for my own use and for complaints. I found that the doctor lied in them saying that I was a drug-seeker, that I became very upset when he denied me drugs, that I had taken an excessive amount of drugs and that I couldn't answer his questions. He also wrote that he did a full examination. For this reason, Kaiser is now charging me with $150 co-pay that I refused to pay on the day due to the fact that I wasn't treated and was thrown out without treatment.

Right now Kaiser is denying, denying and denying. They will not help one bit. They are protecting themselves, lying to me and I feel trapped. I can't prove harm (even though I probably suffered from this, if not physically, then emotionally) and I can't prove he lied because it's his word against mine. I called the police, who urged me to file a civil suit but Kaiser doesn't allow people to file a claim in court (beware of this when considering Kaiser) and their own complaints process is laughable and utterly mocking their patients.

I am currently writing a termination letter to them and I have made an appointment with my former doctor (my previous network was Cedar's Sinai, which has been great). I have also filed a complaint against the doctor with the medical board, asked for an IMR for the co-pay to be waived, called the police, written to the AMA and every other agency I can. Furthermore, I have posted on all medical sites against the doctor and will now post on every forum I can about Kaiser and their horrible treatment. I am also contemplating writing a story for the papers and online news media. I know I can probably not get the doctor disciplined and have a hard time being heard, which is the most frustrating part.

I am a little person up against this huge machine with armies or lawyers and people to fight back. If anyone else has problems, don't keep them to yourselves. The only way to get heard and Kaiser to act respectfully and treat people decently is to speak up.

Just this month (October), again, I received another "statement" from KP showing the same amount owing and threatening collection. Once again I went through the procedure to get it cleared. They assured me they would clear it. This time I asked for a written confirmation of the resolution. Sharon at KP Dental Sunset office refused. She said, "It's taken care of. You don't need any written confirmation." She went on to say she didn't see anything on the record. I suggested she send me an updated "statement" showing nothing was owing. Once again she refused. I am very frustrated over this whole situation and need an advocate.

3. Your height/weight does not fall within the most desired range for body mass index (I am 5'4" and weigh 110lbs).

I could not believe these were the reasons they denied me! Maybe I should overeat and try to become obese so that I can get insurance!

The only reason I am not letting go of them is that I do need my medication and without the insurance I think I will be lost. The reason I can still be on Kaiser's plan is that I signed up before my pre-existing conditions and now they will not enroll me to another plan and they cannot kick me out, so they just increase my premium each year. The reason I gave the company two stars instead of one, though, is that after I cancelled last Monday, I just saw in my account a full reimbursement. They were professional enough to honor my request and gave back my money as promised - even the enrollment fee. I read other reviews that have problems with this.

I have never taken any hormones or anything, so she told me that I have this bacterial disease and to come back if it doesn’t get better. Um, hello! This is my third visit and I keep coming back and nothing is getting better. She prescribes Advil and Aleve. That is all I have been taking. This was a waste of my time and effort to come in and pay another co-pay for the diagnosis that I have this bacteria when I do not even take hormones. I was honestly appalled. I still have the rash and nothing has been done to solve it from you people. Oh, and this doctor made me take a TB test when I clearly do not have TB - more wasting of my time. All you people want us to do is take Pap smear tests. That’s all you care about - it is ridiculous.

Oh, and I called today to get back at my primary doctor because they called and left me a message and then they don’t call me back. After 4 hours I have to call them back and they finally recommended me to a dermatologist – oh, and he will call me. I don’t get the phone number or anything. I call back begging for it and the Long Beach operator gave me the wrong number and then the other operator from Downey finally felt compassion to me and gave me the correct number and the office is closed. You people are pathetic. I cannot wait to change providers because this is the worst care that I have ever received.

Please explain how you have tried to resolve this issue: I asked to get the number and you give me the wrong numbers. I told you I am not on hormone pills and you proceeded to tell me I have a bacteria caused by hormones and that makes no sense at all. And I kept telling ** that I wasn’t on hormones, but she proceeded to tell me that I have this disease and that I am wrong. What would you consider a proper solution to your issue: referring me to a dermatologist or not misdiagnosing me? Beware of the offices of Dr. ** of San Diego and Dr. Marcos ** of Long Beach, CA.

All Kaiser said when my husband complained to them? "Is she alive? Okay, we'll pay the bills for the hospital!" That same year, I went back to Kaiser Permanente with a mass in my breast. This time, I saw someone that claimed to have an MD. She told me "it is perfectly normal to have a mass in your breast if you have breastfed children." Not feeling confident this was good information, I went to a private OB/GYN. I was in surgery 2 days later to remove a piece of breast 2" X 3" which was filled with "abnormal" cells.

The real MD told me that this would have kept changing rapidly to become cancer. I thank the good Lord my husband's company dropped Kaiser Permanente shortly after these events. And I am alive and get quality medical care - but not by Kaiser!

I never smoked. I don't drink. I have never been in the hospital for myself since birth. I have never broken a bone or had stitches. The last illness like a cold was at least 8 years ago. I have great blood pressure, normal cholesterol (I'm vegetarian), blood sugar level is very good, and I keep up to date on all health screenings/wellness. I also have no history of cancer in my family. I was very surprised when I applied online late Thursday and by Monday had a denial. Now, my current California Kaiser will expire in less than 90 days and I will not have insurance. Even during my time being unemployed over the past few years, it has not stopped me from paying the high cost of individual insurance. I replied to the denial, immediately on July 24th with a written certified letter for a reassessment of my denial. I formally requested a telephone interview by fax the next day. It is now Sunday, July 29th, with no answer.

How can a person read an application with written answers to the questions answered yes in less than 24 hours and send back a denial? I have always been an advocate of Kaiser and that is why I have been with them for over 25 years. My husband and father both died in a Kaiser hospital, so I do have experience with the hospital side and Kaiser was great through it all. I can only hope that they will call and I can clear things up.

I contacted some of my insiders in Kaiser and discovered not only did they know about the benign tumor, but they had placed me on comfort care, which only means that Kaiser slated me to die. To make matters worse, Kaiser then started prescribing medication for nursing to inject in me that would kill me. I was able to stop the death panel, get to alternate the care, have surgery to remove the tumor and I am now back to work. Kaiser settlements for wrongful death max out about $200k and neurosurgery about $400k. Kaiser does what they do for financial gain. Use Kaiser at your own risk. Sincerely, Masters-prepared nurse practitioner.

All was well at the beginning. My primary care doctor seemed great. We had an issue with only being able to go to their pharmacy that was only open from 9-5 Monday to Friday, but we made it work. I was told I would be contacted by neurology department to make an appointment, but I never got a call. I come to find out that the only neurology department I could go to was 50-plus miles away, which is difficult for someone who can't drive due to health issues.

I was in the hospital 3 times in one month for MS exacerbations. Keep in mind I couldn't go to my local hospital - I had to go to only one hospital in Atlanta that was almost 40 miles away. I finally met a neurologist in the hospital and she seemed great. I finally got an appointment in their neurology department near the hospital. I was ushered in to a room and waited to see the neurologist. She came in looking like she was in a great rush, except there were zero other patients there at the time. She looked at me and said that she didn't think I had MS at all because she never saw the test from my old doctor. She did some basic neurologic tests and told me flatly that I wasn't trying hard enough and that people in the hospital said I was uncooperative. What?! I burst into tears and told her I was trying as hard as I could and it was horrible to say something like that.

She then coldly asked if there was something else in my life going on. I shook my head just to get it over with. She tested my reflexes and my left side didn't respond after several attempts. I had already told her my left side was significantly weaker and no amount of trying on my part would fix that. She then told me that she was not going to refill any of my medications and that I would "just have to deal" with the constant pain in my back from my spinal cord swelling. At the end of the visit, she took me to the appointment lady and I specifically (and loudly) stated I wanted to see the doctor that saw me in the hospital. No problem: the next appointment I could get was in two months.

I went to my primary doctor and told her that the neurologist I saw refused to refill any of my medications and that I was in terrible pain every day. My husband told her how he had to help me sit up in bed because of it. She gave me 45 of my pain pills and said she would not refill it until I went to the pain clinic, who should call me within 48 hours to make an appointment. No call came. On July 2nd, I went through the lengthy and frustrating automated system that rules Kaiser and an hour later I finally got a person to make my appointment. The earliest available appointment was on September 23rd. My primary will not refill my pain medication and told me I would just have to "deal with it" until I saw the pain clinic (glorified pill pushers, from what I understand). Now, I am out of pain medication with no way to see a doctor who will help me until after my pain clinic appointment. The helpful (sarcasm) nurse told me to just keep going to the ER ($200 a pop plus 20% if they admit me) until I had my pain clinic appointment.

I have been treated like a drug addict just making up everything to get pills, shoved off from one department to the other and ultimately made to feel helpless. As soon as open enrollment gets here, we are getting the hell away from Kaiser. This is what socialized medicine looks like, America. It's ugly, inefficient and a bloated bureaucracy that cares more for their paychecks than their patients.

Their own insurance plan only paid $3348.95, leaving me with $1484.20 for me to pay. In other words, they overcharged themselves $1484.20 and sent that overcharge on to me. This seems excessive to me, as I was in pain and not fully capable of noticing what charges were covered in my plan and what were not covered (as if I always carry a copy of my plan around with me for just that purpose). Now, what can I do? I can't afford to pay as I just purchased a home and I don't want to get into my wife's retirement money as she's self-employed. So the only thing I can do is to continue to fight the bill and probably drop coverage with them and putting what my employer pays into this "insurance" into a health savings plan.

The next day, I went to a walk-in clinic, described my symptoms, and was prescribed an inhaler to relieve my coughing. My coughing abated, and I felt better within 24 hours. I just received my bill from Kaiser. The blood test Dr. ** ordered was for flow cytometry, a $2490.00 test! For the flu! I now owe Kaiser $1154.00 for a test that was unwarranted and uncalled for.

What I really don't understand is how even my minor pre-existing conditions are somehow turned into huge risks for Kaiser? As a member, you pay through the nose for a co-pay plan, you pay for the 10-minute max visit and you pay the bulk of the prescription cost. Explain to me how this is not a money-printing machine for them. I'm still trying to figure out what to do next.

My husband was in severe discomfort and pain and his stomach was swollen so badly it looked as though it would burst. My husband tried to explain to the doctor about the pain that he was experiencing and the doctor still refused to perform the procedure required to reduce the fluid retention, and that wasn't all, my husband's blood pressure was dangerously high. We left the Hospital and went to another local hospital where we are treated and also advised that my husband's blood pressure is dangerously high, something like 269/140, and he is admitted until he is stabilized and later, discharged.

We are very dissatisfied with this, and we do plan to contact an attorney and file against every entity of Kaiser Permanente and a malpractice lawsuit against the attending physician.

So now I have to wait up to a week just to make an appointment with my doctor for something I feel urgent and then wait until they have an open day. Kaiser is a huge, bloated bureaucratic mess, hardly a way to "thrive".

In December of 2008, I was "treated" at the MOHS department of San Rafael Kaiser for a cancerous lesion on my nose. A Dr. ** performed the surgery. He had assured me that the skin, etc., for filling and covering the scooped out area would be taken from behind my left ear so that the scarring would not show. There was a back-up in the lab department that day and a long wait for results. Dr. ** was obviously in a very great hurry to proceed as he made many a trip to the lab to check on the progress of the slides. Finally, he announced that he could proceed, seated me and abruptly announced that he was taking the skin, etc., from between my brows. I protested but was ignored. Then, a hurried procedure was begun, leaving a deep hole and scarring where there had been no wrinkling of any kind.

The work was done in such a hurry that it caused the skin to pucker on one side of my face. A stitch placed too close to my eye caused discomfort and inability to wear reading glasses for several months. One nostril is still higher than the other and the area from which he dug the skin, etc., is still tender and itchy. Because I complained, I was subjected to universal hostility from the entire department. Patients are encouraged to complain if there is a problem, but treated as a pariah if a complaint is made.

I got letters from my Kaiser doctors addressing all the issues that they stated for denying me coverage as well as giving my own detailed explanations. I faxed the appeal to them and in less than 24 hours they denied the appeal. I don't know how they could have even looked at the information in the appeal in that amount of time. In addition, they sent me erroneous medical records when I asked to see what they used to base their decision.

However, before I could even get those records corrected, they denied the appeal and told me I had no more recourse. How is this fair? I thought that if you are staying with a provider that it was illegal to claim pre-existing conditions as a reason to deny coverage. All of these "pre-existing" conditions happened while I was a Kaiser member!

So against my better judgement and that of the care facility I took him home. The next day he had a severe insulin reaction I had to call an ambulance. The next day, another one with the ambulance being called. Blood sugars suddenly dropping to 24. The home nursing, registered nurse came to the house to assess his issues and see what continued support he would need. She was shocked at his condition and being at home. She recommended to take him to emergency at which I said I would but the insurance doesn't want to pay for it. One hour after she left, my husband had blood sugar of 24 and I again had to call the ambulance who took him back to Penrose Main Hospital, Colorado Springs. He still has pneumonia and they want him in long term care. Kaiser should be responsible for this as he should never have been discharged requiring 24 hour care to a home with a working spouse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They were extremely unhelpful and did not answer my questions. One lady finally was empathetic and at least listened for 5-10 minutes to my situation and explained my options. They need to let their customers know beforehand if they are in danger of being terminated. Receiving a letter in the mail two months after the effective date is extremely stressful and wrong. Fortunately so far, I do not have any economic or physical damages. But the stress has been very high. I have been fortunate to have health insurance continuously for 40 years, since I was born.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why does Kaiser hire people who have English as their second language? I do not want to speak to someone who cannot speak English! Then I was told that the Benefits department hours are from Saturday to Sunday 8-2pm and Monday- Friday 8-9am. I wanted to speak to someone regarding the above ER visit and when I called I had to ask three or four times to be transferred to someone regarding "Explanation of Benefits", but I was disconnected. Then I call back with a different number (404.261.2825) and got a recording that stated to call back during 'normal business hours'. How about changing the recording to actually inform Members of the normal business hours?

Had our daughter not been denied seeing a Kaiser facility physician, we would not have had to go to the ER! Going to the ER was a waste of time. None of the stinking doctors could or would tell us anything and they just sent her home. So we called Kaiser again to get an appointment and we went and saw Dr C, who is a great doctor considering I refer to Kaiser Doctors as Kaiser Quacks!

We will not be renewing this insurance policy come November 2010. Kaiser is a scam who have poor customer service, terrible doctors, and it's impossible to get through to a person. I compare this company to one which once you place an order from them, you are screwed should you need help or have a question about something. How do you sleep at night knowing that Members are not being serviced they way Kaiser claims? Did you know this is called lying!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I called in an attempt to understand what the $10 was. All I got was, "that's right, that's what it should be." Needless to say, I paid the earlier amount which I understood and attached an explanation with my payment. I am sure I am charged interest now on this $10 by the collection agency. At my most recent visit to Kaiser (November 2009), I was told and paid my share of $75 to the receptionist. When I received the invoice statement later, another $10 was added to this visit with no clear explanation what this another $10 was for.

I have in front of me now, to go through again, several pieces of invoices for visits; invoices for prescriptions; letters to Kaiser; and letters to the collection agency from over the year since the insurance changed to high deductible. I cannot tell you how turned off I am by Kaiser's billing practice. We no longer visit Kaiser unless there is absolutely no other choice. We certainly don't follow any procedures just because the M.D. has suggested it. No way! I learned that the hard way. $1,200 MRI at the end of last year. We love the MDs, but the billing methodology sucks and the billing department personnel can use more training in explaining the amounts.

Today, I just wanted her to write a letter for my new employer. After Doctor ** routinely checked my eyes, ears, and body, she told me to take a urine and blood test before she could write a letter for me. And I did. Yesterday, I received a three hundred and thirty dollar bill from Kaiser Permanente. I was frustrated and upset. It is only cost $85.00 at any clinic to see a doctor to write a letter. There was no prescription, no operation, and no medication for me. There were some procedures unnecessary for me when I saw the doctor. Why did Kaiser Permanente hospital charge me $430.00?

Today, I then called several Kaiser Permanente hospital phone numbers regarding overcharge on my bill. This morning, I spoke with Ms. ** at 510-752-6110. She said that the bill was correct. She could not help me to fix the bill problem. I totally believe that it was a scam and that the Kaiser Permanente hospital overcharged me. I am requesting the government to investigate this scam and correct the bill problem.

I went on the internet to inquire what it can be and it's really hard to tell because it could be anything but it also can be serious so it says to contact your doctor. I work with the Sheriff's Department and yes, I type all day every day but it doesn't mean otherwise. I was told that I had to be put on the list to see my primary doctor but I requested to see any other doctor available, but I was given attitude by one of the unknown clerks, then transferred to another clerk and then a supervisor for an appointment. I was told they had an available appt. on the same day. I can't drop everything and just leave. I had been taking off for other serious matters. All I needed was enough time to give my supervisor a notice, just like everyone else in other companies.

I love Kaiser's services but I hope that I don't run across this problem ever again with Kaiser. Again, I am sorry but my health comes first and they are there to serve. I don't need to have anyone else stress me when I'm going through a tremendous family crisis. Thank you.

She did not mention there were laboratory fees involved (this is the first malpractice: not enough information conveyed to patient). That $30 she said would be an oral contract for charges on the service provided to me. No additional fees should be charged. June 02, I went to Kaiser at Walnut Creek to complete the procedure. When I left, the cashier wanted to charge $40. I told her my husband said it should be $30. Then she conceded; I paid $30 (this is the second malpractice: staff was not clear on the charges).

June 28, I received a bill dated June 24, 2009 of the amount $585. June 30, my husband logged a complaint in Kaiser’s website. July 2, my husband received a phone call from Kaiser asking for detailed information. During the conversation, my husband complained that the $585 was outrageous and the $30 was not a reasonable estimate of the service charge. Then the woman responded that we should call another phone number for a better estimate. We were never informed that there was such a phone number we could call (this is the third malpractice: information hidden from patients). July 08, I received another bill dated June 25, 2009 of the amount $217. July 10, signed statement of authorized representative, faxed to Kaiser. July 31, I received a letter dated July 28, 2009 saying the complaint was rejected.

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

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

I called Friday, the 3rd, and again on July 5th to see if they can get her in sooner. They told us no because of the swelling. I told them that the swelling was down. They said go to the ER. So once again, we went back to the ER. They advised me that her ankle was fractured on both sides and that an orthopedic will be calling me with a sooner appointment, which they did not. Mind you, I have filed a complaint with them and was advised that someone would call me that day to discuss my complaint. What a shock, they didn't. Meanwhile, she might need surgery to set it right. All this trouble because they failed at everything.

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

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

I waited to be seen in the waiting room. I was called in by the nurse, told to wait for the doctor. I waited about 5 min., and the doctor came in. He asked me what had happened and then examined me for about 10-15 min. after which he decided I was fine, but that my neck and face might begin to hurt later since I was still in shock. He prescribed me Vicodin and Ibuprofen and I paid for these at the pharmacy.

I never received a bill until January 2009 and I am now being billed in the amount of $720 ($530 being paid by insurance). This makes the total for my 15 minute check-up, $1250 (and I cried when I thought I had to pay $180)! I called in January regarding the first bill, and was told that there had been a huge billing error on services rendered between November 18-30, 2008. I was told that a supervisor would contact me or my mother (since I had moved abroad in December). No one ever called and this week, my mother informed me that the same bill arrived again. I called today and spoke with Marie at the 800 number I gave above.

Marie explained that it was no mistake, that the cost of my visit to the ER that day was $1250, of which I am responsible for $720. She said there is a $180 deposit for being seen and that the rest is for the cost of lab tests, x-rays, etc. I told her this was excessive and ridiculous, especially since I am insured, am the victim of a crime, and I never received any lab tests, X-rays, blood transfusions, IVs, nothing, just 15 minutes with a doctor. She told me she would file a complaint on my behalf stating that I thought the charges are excessive for the services I actually used that day in 15 minutes.

I have no idea how to confront this situation, but I feel I am being robbed. I left the US and moved to Spain in order to avoid this sort of health insurance fiasco. The irony is that one month before leaving, I was attacked and, as the victim of crime, I have no right to emergency room services even after having paid for health insurance. The U.S. health care system is inhumane and Kaiser Permanente is robbing people by creating excessively high bills for their services without properly informing patients in advance.

I called and they even talked to Joel who still says they need to see it again. I have spent a total of 5 phone calls and 1.5 hours on the phone & gas & time in the rain to drive there once. They need to mail me my Rx as I have requested. Why doesn't Kaiser know that I took their class on their website and why don't they have the Rx there when they called me to say they do? And why should I have to go back when I already went and waited in a long line yesterday and due to their mistake, I am supposed to continue being put out? And why do they all keep telling me to bring in my certificate which was confusing to a patient, when they should call it the "multiple-page quit-smoking plan"?

All of these were a huge inconvenience on my day and time and a lot of undue stress by the very crew that should be my support. I don't want some lame response telling me to go in again. I want my Rx mailed to me now for all I have been through and for doing my part already! It is time for Kaiser to do their part!

I have enrolled in Kaiser's health care service since Jan 2008. Then my husband covered us (my son and me) under his employer's insurance starting October 2008. In August 2008, I called Kaiser and told them to terminate my service in October 2008 and they said they would do that. But then after October 2008, I received bills for October 2008 and then also other statements to collect the fee. I sent them letters. None was processed.

In June, my son received medical service in Swedish Family Medicine (SFM) located in Seattle. Then I was billed by Kaiser the amount of $165 because SFM charged Kaiser $165. I sent a check to Kaiser. But then even after a few months, SFM billed me. Obviously, Kaiser did not pay SFM. Then months after June, Kaiser sent me a letter saying I only have to pay $143 because $22 is covered by my medical plan. So Kaiser owed me $22. I sent 2 letters to Kaiser customer service to settle this. I got no reply but bills.

I still got a bill from SFM dated Jan 18. 2009 and a bill from USCB (a collecting agent) for a balance of $24. I am not sure how $24 came up but I consider this a harassment that Kaiser initiated. I condemn Kaiser for all its irresponsible doing and harassment to me, and disclosing my personal information to a collecting agent.

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