I have the option of either of these two or more expensive personal physician plans. I had pretty reasonable treatment from Kaiser whenever I went and they are less expensive with lower scrip base fees.
The next point is that I rarely get sick, have no dependents and have extremely low medical bills. So, I’m wondering which is the better choice given these parameters.
There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a health plan. You really ought to do a side-by-side comparison for what each covers and for how much.
For example, although you mentioned low overall medical bills, do you have any history or close family history of chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease? Could you be at risk for any of these?
Although one may be significantly lower premiums-wise, the out of pocket may be higher, sometimes significantly so. Also, find out how accessible emergency care is. If you go to a Dopefest on a weekend, and hurt yourself, can you be treated, or do you have to go through a bureaucracy first?
If you’ve had good experiences with Kaiser, and you feel comfortable with them, then by all means stay with them. Just make sure it’s the best decision for you.
I’ve got the same choice and I’m going with Kaiser. I’ve had Blue Cross and Aetna in the last couple of years and have had an obscene number of problems. Kaiser is far from perfect, but having grown up with them I know how to work their system to my advantage - once you understand how their gatekeepers work it’s pretty easy to get appointments quickly and once you’re signed up there’s no paperwork.
That said, the only reason I’m going with them is because it’s through my job - I’ve had them as a private person and had huge problems with billing and nobody ever called me back because I’m not a corporate HR department.
I wasn’t thrilled with the average day-to-day care that I got from Kaiser. I hated having to fight for a check-up appointment, I hated having to fight for a specialist when needed. They also have, in my experience, the world’s worst eye-doctors.
However…
My grandma needed some serious heart surgery during the last 10 years of her life. She just died last October, and during those ten years, I couldn’t find a single thing to complain about in the way that Kaiser handled her case.
Talking with others while waiting in various emergency rooms, the conclusion that everyone seemed to come to was that while Kaiser’s non-urgent care was so-so, their critical care couldn’t be beat.
I’m staying with Kaiser on the assumption that if I’m well, I’m able to fight with my doctor to get a specialist or a check-up, but if I’m seriously sick, I like knowing that I won’t have to fight.
Hey Fenris, that’s what I was talking about with knowing the system. I haven’t made an appointment in years, because I know I’ll have to fight/wait forever to get the doctor I want - but I learned a long time ago to invent something small and related to get into their urgent care clinic, and from there I have always gotten the referral I want, and usually within 48 hours. I know it’s a stupid hoop to jump through, but it’s definitely the lesser of two (or more) evils as far as I’m concerned.
My dealings with a lab (Unilab) that both Blue Cross and Aetna use were the final straw in a long series of baaaaaad experiences. I have a disease similar to diabetes (PCOS) which requires me to take meds to control my blood sugar and get bloodwork every 3 months or so to insure I’m not suffering liver or kidney damage. I have been double billed multiple times from all companies concerned, because they all cash the checks and do not bother to update the account. Unilab sent me to collections for 3 out of 4 services I had performed, even though all were paid on time and I had the cancelled checks or paperwork to prove it. I will stick with Kaiser to avoid that hell.
Personally, I’ve never had any problems with Kaiser, which I had for most of my life. My girlfriend, however, told me it took them weeks to diagnose such routine illnesses as strep throat and a urinary tract infection. But I do believe they are unjustly villified. So what’s my point? I don’t know. Kaiser’s not that bad, I guess.
The reason that I did not go with Kaiser is that it is my understanding that you don’t get a chance to develop a relationship with any one doctor, since it is more of a first come first serve type situation there. For most of my childhood, I’ve only had two doctors, Dr. Rose when from birth(He delivered me) to about 12, and Dr. Thesing from then to 26 when I moved out here to CA. I am a strong believer in locating a single good doctor and sticking with them, so that you have someone who knows you not knows what your file says, and if I have to pay more for that, I will.
And I have to agree, Kaiser seems to be soso in the general practice area, but once something serious is discovered, they work fast. Have a friend who had a persistant cough, and it took several visits (it’s just bronchitis, don’t worry) over a few months before he got a new doctor that actually checked out his lungs and had them xray him and discover the mass on his lung. Once that was seen they were pretty quick in biopsy and then a chemo regimen for Hodgekin’s.
Thank you everybody for posting your experiences. I’m really grateful for all of you confirming my exact perceptions about Kaiser and the differences with Blue Cross as well.
Narile, I believe you are able to specify a primary caregiver at Kaiser, you are just subject to their schedule. One has pretty much always been able to do that, it just wasn’t well known.