Health Insurance?

[greggd]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

It depends on what health issues you have. If you and your family are fairly healthy and all you really see the doctor for is regular check ups, minor coughs and colds, stable chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, or common moderately complex problems like fractures, stab wounds, etc.....then Kaiser or any other group or even solo physicians can competently take care of you (assuming they have a clean license). For really complex and rare health problems, it would be ideal to not be limited in your choice of doctors or hospitals to the HMO. You may have to use traditional insurance (eg a PPO) for greater flexibility in coverage, but these things are also more expensive.

The way I view health insurance is for major issues only.. Doctor office visits are not something that I consider insurable. I buy for emergency room, hospitalization, and specialists leading to surgery for an injury.

So with that, I pay extra to go with the freedom of seeking out the best, which are generally the specialists who treat athletes. The focus on re-hap and expectations post surgery are generally to a higher degree. Not that I've had many injuries, but thankfully, those that I've had were not lingering issues and I credit that to the doctor, and the extensive and performance orientated rehap.

[ndfmnlf]

The way I view health insurance is for major issues only.. Doctor office visits are not something that I consider insurable. I buy for emergency room, hospitalization, and specialists leading to surgery for an injury.

That would be ideal. However, there is a trend towards treating patients with even serious illnesses in the office rather than in the hospital. Some surgeries can now be done on an outpatient basis. The proliferation of "surgicenters" where patients are operated on and then sent home the same day attests to that. People with gallstones used to be hospitalized for a week to have "open" surgery (laparotomy). Now it can be done with a laparoscope, and the patient goes home the same day. People with cancer are now often given chemotherapy in clinics rather than in hospitals. Dialysis for people with kidney failure is an ongoing treatment, and it is done in the office rather than in the hospital. These are major illnesses. So if your health insurance policy only covers hospital visits and inpatient surgeries, you may be socked with huge bills.

[jkoz]

Originally Posted by bettedaviseyes

If you have Kaiser, you do have to use their facilities, but they are top-notch from my experiences. My husband and I had Kaiser insurance and had doctors in Woodland Hills, and always felt very, very taken care of. We haven't felt like that since moving and switching to a PPO. We can't wait to get back to Kaiser!

I've always heard mixed reviews about Kaiser-some love it, some hate it--that's par for the course in health care in general though. I've also heard you have to "know how to use the system" at Kaiser to get good care. What does this mean exactly?