I know this is a really weird thing to ask at a quilting blog, but I'm trying to get feedback from as many folks as possible about this....
Dear Northern California Quilting Board Members,
My husband and I are trying to decide our health insurance options for the coming year. We've had HealthNet for several with no issues. Love-love-love our doctors, good hospitals in the area (Oakland), no payment issues or disputes. The problem is that our premium is going up by $121/month next year, which is a lot for us.
We've got two other options: A new "HealthNet Lite" (what I'm calling it), that's identical to regular HN except that the premiums will only be $10 more than what we're paying now. Oh, and that NONE of the hospitals in our area are included -- that's right, NONE of them. The closest ones included in the plan are a good 45 minutes away from us.
Our other option is to move to Kaiser. The benefits are comparable to what we've got now and premiums would be nearly $200 less than what "HN Regular" would be. But it would mean leaving our doctors and forming relationships with new ones.
I've had the advantage at my job of hearing about all the changes and improvements that KP has made in the last 15-20 years and how other health plans are now catching up to it (instead of vice versa).
If you have coverage through Kaiser (in general, but in the East Bay in particular), can you tell me: Are you happy with it? Do you like your doctor? Can you change your primary care physician if you don't get on with him/her? What is the hospital care like? What don't you like about Kaiser?
Please feel free to PM me if you'd rather not leave a public message.
Many, many thanks!
Peg