Posted on 10/31/2004 7:19:39 PM PST by liberallarry
It may seem unlikely, given Kaiser's past image as a ham-handed H.M.O., but plenty of others are reaching the same conclusion. High-level visitors from across the political spectrum - the Bush administration and National Health Service of Britain, for example - are coming to California these days to look at Kaiser as an institution that is actually doing some of the things needed to improve health care.
Obviously, there is no single model for revamping the nation's costly, disjointed health care system, and Kaiser certainly has its share of problems. But according to economists and medical experts, Kaiser is a leader in the drive both to increase the quality of care and to spend health dollars more wisely, using technology and incentives tailored to those goals. "Quality health care in America will never be cheap, but Kaiser probably does it better than anywhere else," said Uwe E. Reinhardt, an economist at Princeton who specializes in health issues.
HEALTH care systems in most industrialized countries are in crises of one form or another. But the American system is characterized by both feast and famine: it leads the world in delivering high-tech medical miracles but leaves 45 million people uninsured. The United States spends more on health care than any other country - $6,167 a person a year - yet it is a laggard among wealthy nations under basic health measures like life expectancy. In a nutshell, America's health care system, according to many experts, is a nonsystem. "It's like the worst market system you could devise, just a mess," said Neelam Sekhri, a health policy specialist at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
First step for cheaper health care is to make "organ transplant" a separate policy, buy it if you want to or buy only common coverage. Transplants at a half mil each are killing health care costs.
When lifespan is controlled for ethnic origins, European and American counterpart populations have essentially the same lifespan, while non-European counterpart populations have greater lifespans in the US.
As compared to the French system which let 30,000 elderly people die of heat stroke one August? Or the English system where people pick up infections from unsanitary hospitals? Or the Canadian system where people die waiting their turn for lifesaving surgery? Or the Chinese system where the elderly who are unable to pay or produce party connections get a shot for their health which, by some strange coincidence, develops into a fatal complication within a few weeks?
Please, I don't need to have nightmares tonight.
We had Kaiser for two years. After waiting in the ER lobby for 8 hours for stitches for my 9 yo we quit Kaiser. BTW After 8 hours they can no longer do stitches, so they had to steristripped it. I blew a fit after about 6 hours of waiting, their response was to call security on me.
A few months after we had quit, a friend was in their ER waiting. A lady had stopped breathing while she was waiting to be seen. When the front desk clerk was told that the lday wasn't breathing she told the family that "She had to wait her turn". The family dialed 911 and let the 911 operation know their location. A minute or two later a nurse came flying into the waiting room to help the non-breathing lady.
I hope that the front desk clerk is not working in the medical field any longer.
BTW the lady's family had the presence of mind to get witnesses name, address and phone number. That lady has one smart family.
It's not all that comforting especially when you find Kaiser's among the top rated HMOs in California.
In addition to working there, I got to experience Kaiser as a patient, after I broke my shoulder. Kaiser was set up so that it was nearly impossible for me to do physical therapy during non-working hours. However, I couldn't take any time off during the work day to do therapy. I finally hired a personal trainer at the gym I belonged to help me rehab my shoulder.
I doubt this NYT "journalist" would enroll at Kaiser if he had a choice. I am sure J.F'n.K . and Madame Tereza would never join it, but would think it is great for all of us little people.
I'm a Kaiser, uhmm, "customer". Kaiser is the Department of Motor Vehicles with cute white coats. Let's bring on government controlled heath care immediately - modeled after Kaiser. I suspect most of the beds will be filled with Govt health care workers shot by impatient patients.
You have mail and I would like a response.
I've been a Kaiser patient for 22 years and I adore them. Two $40,000 C-sections, a surgical biopsy, tons of medication and treatments, tons of doctor face-time, emergency care all over the US, numerous lengthy inpatient stays, home nurse visits, giving me machinery I needed--no additional charge. Kaiser has made no money at all on us. I never had trouble choosing the doctor I wanted or getting the care I needed, or my kids needed. They never hesitated to send us out of plan to see some specialist they didn't have on staff.
But as with any other system, you have to know how to deal with the bureaucracy.
The truth is, as a divorced mother I could never afford Blue Cross/Blue Shield, even through my employee plan. Kaiser is less than half the price. You are fortunate you have that alternative.
Thank you for your blessing. I know that we are blessed beyond measure for the insurance that we have.
My husband is doing great. He was released from the hospital 5 days after his surgery. He went back to work part time 8 weeks later. Was back to work full time 3 months after his surgery.
It seems Kaiser is not the solution.
You forgot the "Barf Alert."
Kaiser is the largest insurer in California.
Kaiser is sued more often than any other insurer in the state. Kaiser has paid out larger settlements for malpractice than any other insurer in the state and has more complaints than any other health provider I know of in the state.
An individual may recieve poor care from many place, but at Kaiser they have raised inadequate care to an art form.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.