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Kaiser Model Terrifies Former Patient
By Frances Stark of Keizer - August 30, 2009
Nothing in the health care debate has sent shivers of fear down my spine like the suggestion that health care cooperatives like Kaiser could serve as the model for the delivery of health care services.
As an employee of the state of California, I was enrolled in a Kaiser for a time and would like to share my experiences with that organization. With respect to preventive care, I attempted to schedule a routine physical and pap smear. I spent about five months trying to do so, and was told every time I called that all appointments were filled for that month, and to try again the next month.
A telephone operator took pity on me and finally explained that Kaiser opened the scheduling for a month on a particular day; all the appointments for that month were filled by 10:00 a.m. on the day the schedule opened, and everyone who didn't manage to get an appointment was then told to try for the following month. I developed a problem and called Kaiser for an appointment.
I was told that nurse practitioners usually saw patients in the department in which I needed an appointment, but my symptoms were too severe for me to be seen by a nurse practitioner. The best they could offer me was to put me on a five-year waiting list to see a doctor, and if they had a cancellation, they would call me.
I would have 30 minutes to keep the appointment. And if I hadn't been able to keep that appointment, I suppose I would have been put on the 10-year list.A colleague of mine, a Kaiser patient, was turned away by the emergency room at a Kaiser hospital when he was suffering from a massive heart attack.
He almost died and has since had two heart transplants. Kaiser lost a substantial malpractice suit to him.Two close friends of mine delivered babies at Kaiser hospitals without a physician in attendance. In one case, the maternity department was understaffed; in the other case, the attending physician went home at the end of his shift before his replacement arrived.
If Kaiser serves as a model for the delivery of health care in this country, heaven help us all.
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