I have Kaiser. It is as good as any HMO I’ve had. All HMO’s (and a lot of PPO’s) require you use a network doctor to get full benefits… the difference is Kaiser is closed network – so the network doctor is an employee of Kaiser.
I saw them waste no expense on my mom’s multiple cancer surgeries and chemo. She had excellent care.
Same with my dad.
My younger son was born at Zion – I loved the midwife pre-natal care and midwife delivery.
If you don’t like your primary, it’s easy to change them. I happen to like my primary.
My kid’s pediatrician is great. I’ve grilled her about what it’s like to work for Kaiser, she likes it because she gets hands on clinical plus gets to work on her specialty – neo natal… they set up her schedule to allow both. And her hours are much more regular than elsewhere.
I also like that they don’t have blanket, one size fits none, policies about what surgeries are covered, etc… I was/am considering a surgery that is a bit more radical than guidelines, do to a familial cancer risk. I was told that as long as my doctor agreed, it would be covered. (They cover a similar surgery, for non-cancer related reasons, without problem – that was my basis for for discussion with the surgeon.)
But – You will not get private rooms, or high end treatment like you might at other hospitals. The recovery rooms for OB sucked and I was glad to go home in less than 24 hours after my son was born. The care was good -but having my roommate’s loved ones chatting and visiting 24/7 made recovery less than fun and I was happy to go home.
