@hollydolly You have my sympathy for having to put up with socialized medicine. Germany is not much better. My cousin is a children’s doctor in Germany. When we visited him, he told me that, in order to make any money, he can spend only ten minutes for each child.
The private Kaiser Permanente healthcare provider here is not perfect, but better than yours. While Kaiser specialists are absolutely great, their PCP’s tend to be penny-pinching. Here is just one example.
After retiring from work, my wife’s employer payed for my membership at Kaiser; while at the same time, I also obtained Medicare with which I explored other healthcare providers, like the Riverside Medical Center. While my Kaiser PCP assured me my PSA tests are normal, the RMC doctor was concerned about the increasing PSA curve and insisted on a biopsy.
The biopsy confirmed that I had prostate cancer. Based on the result by a non-Kaiser urologist, Kaiser immediately scheduled for me a Da Vinci Robotic Prostate Surgery within three weeks that saved my life. I had about a dozen larger and minor surgeries with Kaiser specialists, and all of them were perfect.
I have been with Kaiser since 1970, and in those days Kaiser was just fantastic. At South Lake Tahoe, I had a ski accident. The local non-Kaiser ski specialist told me I had crushed my fifth vertebra, and that medicine can’t heal it. We also had a long talk about skiing. Kaiser picked up the bill without asking a question. When I subsequently saw this doctor on TV being the US Winter Olympics Team physician, then I did not request Kaiser for having a second opinion about healing my injury.
When our children were born at a Kaiser Hospital, upon checking out we were given plenty of supplies to take home. And while I was working in the shed, my toddler crawled out of her crib and searched for me. Well, she smelled like turpentine and I panicked, thinking she had swallowed some. I drove through ten traffic lights to the nearest emergency room. Again, Kaiser picked up the bill from a non-Kaiser facility.
Kaiser is large and employs thousands of physicians. If you don’t like a PCP, then online with a click of the mouse, you can switch to another PCP. And you can always request a second opinion from another PCP free of charge. Management asked me from time to time to evaluate a PCP or specialist whom I recently had seen. This might be the reason why I never had the same experience as
@hollydolly.
BTW, I can communicate with Kaiser physicians by email, pre-arranged telephone or video talk, or in-person visit for which I have to complete an online questionnaire for the physician. If my PCP doesn't have an opening, then I usually can see another doctor the same day. After each contact with a Kaiser healthcare provider, I can read afterwards a report online about that contact. Since my wife retired from work last year, Medicare pays now for my Kaiser membership.
Recently I had to have a crown replaced. Kaiser has a contract with Delta Dental that saved me money. Without insurance, I would have had to pay about $1,400. My dentist wanted $920 with insurance, but I requested to have the crown replacement pre-approved. Delta cut the price down to $365 which my dentist accepted. I received the same service as if I had paid $1,400.
Well, I better stop before I start writing a book.
God loves you, and so do I.
..on this really horribly wet torrential rainy day..
Frustrated , I called back and wait another 15 minutes before they answered again , the woman had a distinctive voice, she denied all knowledge of any call being made .. did I know what dept that it came from etc. I didn't.. so she put me through to Plastic Surgery which was the last dept I 'd been to.. and while talking to them who also denied it was them , another call comes in and this time a message is left .
... giving me an Appt for the X-ray on my hip !
