Blue Shield Insurance

[Keith]

Does any body know how blue shield insurance works in Hilo or in the surrounding area. We were looking at our options between blue shield and Keiser. Keiser is a lot more expensive for out of state coverage from California.

Keith

[Robin C]

I have insurance from United Healthcare. It is comparable to Blue Shield.
The problem I have found is finding doctors who will take new patients. There aren't many.
Call around to Hilo docs to confirm.

Kaiser here seems to be better than Kaiser in California. The added benefit is being able to get an appointment (unlike the situation if you can't find a doc who will take new patients).

We've kept United Healthcare because of my past frustrations with Kaiser in California. I think if we had to pay for our own insurance we would go with Kaiser.

Good luck. Heath care is a challenge here.

Robin

[Keith]

Thanks Robin

The problem is Blue Shield out of pocket $348.88.00 and Kaiser runs $693.00 for our out of state policies. But if no doctors work with you on the policy it can be the cheepest in the country. Looking at past blogs, maybe it's better just to fly back to Cal when you have a medical problem

Keith

[taildrag]

We have Blue cross/Blue Shield and it is true that no doctors in the area are accepting new patients.We are getting our medical care at the Keaau Clinic and they are a preferred provider for Blue Cross.We've always had our own doctors but have received adequate care at the clinic.For major issues we plan to go back to the mainland at the Mayo Clinic where we went before.Since I have Blue Cross,I feel that options for care providers is better than Kaiser Permanente,though they may be better if you don't travel etc.Hope that helps.
"Living the Dream"
Don & Lek

[macuu222]

Both my wife and I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield as we are both retired Alaska state employees...living in Puna and covered 100%. The problem seems to be that many doctors don't participate with out of state insurance companies. The exception being the Hilo Hospital which takes just about any insurance.

Specialized doctors seem to have limited openings for new patients except for referrals from other local doctors. So what we had to do was go to the Honakaa Health center to see a GP which in turn referred us to specialist in Hilo. It's alot of work and travel time....but it payed off as my wife is now a regular patient.

Also...does anyone know of a good general surgeon(anywhere on the island)?