Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage to end 12-31-16

[gailbuck]

Any discussion and/or recommendations would be appreciated.

[Obie]

Result of Obamacare.

[Chunkster]

Neither the thread title nor the original post is clear to me. Is Kaiser ending their Senior Advantage Medicare plan entirely, or is the OP leaving it voluntarily and looking for new options. A friend was contacted by Kaiser just this week to enroll in it, so it makes me wonder what's going on here.

[1voyager1]

Kaiser is ending the Senior Advantage Plan as of 12/31/16.
They have sent out a letter telling people to get going on finding a replacement for it, or suffer the consequences.

[Chunkster]

Well that's a real stinker. I just got calls from two elderly friends who got the letter. Kaiser should be ashamed for throwing its most financially and medically vulnerable customers to the wolves. Up until now, they were just about the only way to have Medicare and be assured of having a primary care doctor on this island. I sent Russell Ruderman an email suggesting that he hold hearings and investigate this, and I hope others do so as well. I also hope the press gets onto the story and gives Kaiser the big black eye they deserve.

[birdmove]

Not familiar with the Senior Advantage plan. Does this mean Kaiser will not be taking anyone that is on medicare? Or is this some other kind of coverage/plan? If so, I'll be looking for another health care provider in another 2 years.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Green]

Good luck trying to contact them !! I waited 45 minutes on hold with no help even though the recording says "please hold someone will be with u shortly" According to kaiser website a representative is available 8am to 8pm 7days a week.

[gailbuck]

Can anyone tell me his/her experience of being on Original Medicare--with no Medigap Plan? I do understand that I would have to buy a Part D Drug Plan.

[EightFingers]

That was on the news just now. There's another plan available for them but federal law doesn't allow automatic enrollment.,makes it sound better but who knows...

[reni]

"Kaiser should be ashamed for throwing its most financially and medically vulnerable customers to the wolves. Up until now, they were just about the only way to have Medicare and be assured of having a primary care doctor on this island. I sent Russell Ruderman an email suggesting that he hold hearings and investigate this, and I hope others do so as well. I also hope the press gets onto the story and gives Kaiser the big black eye they deserve."

KAISER DOES NOT CARE WHO THEY THROW TO THE WOLVES. They were the worst, absolutely the worst healthcare experience of my life. Phone calls? To them? Ha! Like "customer care" actually OFFERS customer care? They made a mess of my accounting. They had even sent me notice of cancellation for non payment. On my own, I had No help with customer care....no help with accounting.....no help with a formal complaint to their head office. I finally submitted a written complaint to the State of Hawaii Insurance Commissioner regarding my specific problems.. I included months of correspondence along with all payment receipts. And no, I was NEVER late with my premiums.
Kaiser is so politically powerful now, Frankly, I was not sure if even our State would help me.
But they did. They gave Kaiser a specific amount of days to respond to each allegation. Once SOMEONE at Kaiser actually LOOKED at my specific acct., they conceded . The stress they put me thru..... couldn't wait to get free of them.
Health care in this area is awful and it does warrant a review by our representatives.....but can they actually do anything ?
Surprised no one has brought up that one of the sponsors of Billy's video night on Kauai was Kaiser Permanente. Why? why would a non profit healthcare corp. need to spend it's members money in this fashion?