[quote=no_such_reality] . . . Yes, there’s a big change coming. The insurance companies are reacting to making new plans targeted to an insurance pool that is much larger.
You choose poorly. You chose a cheap provider that has bailed on you. If you would have chosen Kaiser, or one of the others, you’d still have insurance . . .[/quote]
Actually, nsr, you probably haven’t been around long enough to know that Aetna was never a bit player in CA OR a “cheap provider.” Aetna’s PPOs in SD were managed by CCN for nearly 20 years, until CCN was bought out and Aetna formed what we now know as their “Advantage Plans” (PPO), which are both HDHP and comprehensive.
I had an Aetna HDHP through my govm’t employer for over 13 of those years with Champus Standard (now Tricare) picking up right behind them. With both, I could see the best providers from a big selection of local providers and pay only the first $150 of my medical expenses out of pocket every year (my Champus deductible). I didn’t care about the Aetna $500 deductible (this was “high” back then) OR their coinsurance requirements because Champus picked up the slack. The situation was the best of both worlds and many military dependents who worked for local govm’t did this. In addition, I had a comprehensive Aetna Advantage PPO at a law firm I worked at after taking deferred retirement. Many SD firms today still offer Aetna Advantage. I liked it so much that I formally applied for it after I left because I didn’t want to pay COBRA rates for it. Aetna is still here in CA but ONLY for its “enterprise” clients. They are only terminating the CA individual policyholders.
I wouldn’t have Kaiser if you gave it to me. I had two co-workers who were almost killed over there in Allied Gardens in that bldg Kaiser calls their “hospital.” In addition, they performed wrong operations (removed wrong organ) on two SD residents in the eighties and these cases were tied up in court for years. I could go on. They’re well known for being incompetent and their “system” has been well known for not being able to tell the right hand from the left hand. Coworkers who subscribed to Kaiser told me they rarely ever saw the same doctor twice and the doctor turnover was phenomenal. Their “urgent care clinic” wait was often several hours in a room full of sick people. Often times they were met by a PA or NP for an appt and never saw the doctor they made the appt to see, or any doctor, for that matter.
You do whatever you want and have a nice life, nsr. I’ll stick with a PPO with choice … as I always have and if I happen to draw an “HMO” in the “Covered CA lottery,” I will keep it for one year only, which is just enough time for me to make my exit from this great state of ours. I don’t care much now and at that point, I won’t care at all. There are several back bedrooms available to me here if I should find an intermittent compelling need to visit, both here and in NorCal. Those interstates out there run in both directions and I know how to find CA cuz I’ve had lots of practice. It’s all good 🙂
