I had an accident and needed stitches, so HAD TO use my employer-employee paid 'medical insurance', not that i wanted to. I actually considered if an outpaitient clinic could sew it up.
It took from 9pm to 3am to get it done at the ER. I gave my card to the woman in the reception glassed-in booth and she gave my card and a page admission back. Then i stood and bleed for awhile. Now i did call and tell them i was being driven in and expected a wheelchair at the curb on a clear night, but no such luck with Kaiser. So i stood there,,,and stood there,,,and bleed.
The next nurse/staff person in a stall was still doing the last persons paperwork when i was asked to sit down. Then she had to leave and find a ream of copy paper for the printer,,,wait and wait, and wait some more. Then she wanted to see the injury and i took off the 3 blood soaked towels. I felt a little dizzy /lightheaded like i was going to faint/pass out but hung in there. This person tried to put a new bandage on, but i quickly bled through it, so it was way inadequate. This is Kaiser.
Finally someone came with a wheelchair and wheeled me to an exam room, my 3rd stop, where we waited and waited and were brought papers to sign. I paid my $100 for the sew job but could not find out how much the crutches were, and still don't know, but am sure i will get the bill in the end. I must have had 2 doctors and 3 nurses come in and had to explain to each the injury, SO embarassing, but i guess entertaining for the bored late night staff walking around in circles. What really bugged me was that i had to sign mandatory arbitration and had about four people bring in four different sets of paperwork, when i could have done all that paperwork at stop #1 or #2.
Plus they kept asking me when i had my last tetanus booster, when ONCE would have been more considerate of an injured person with no liquids to drink for hours and a swelling and growing more painful wound. I was told my records had been 'digitized' but then they would have know in Kaiser at Kaiser ,at the same Kaiser, that i had had a flu shot and a tetanus booster 6 months ago !!
I kept apologizing to my driver for waiting so long for what was very inefficient; i have never seen so many 'drifty' people since the Navy !! They tired to sell me on staying overnight and risking a hospital infection for $400 more, but i said i would crawl/cab it !!,,,they said taxicabs were not allowed. So my driver and i waited and waited for these slow pokes.
The staff who gave me the lidocaine injections at the injury site, kept moving the syringe with the flexible needle vs keeping it straight for what seemed more painful injections,,,ouch.
I stayed conscious for the surgery with an iv as additional pain relief. Six hours was way too long. But then Kaiser never ever seems to get out of 1st gear. I brought mis sis in once, when she was in pain from migranes and uterine surgery, and Kaiser was not impressed to see her curled up on the reception room floor , in pain, and crying for 45 minutes, while she waited for her appointment time.
And when i came back in 3 days for a new bandage, one of two nurses/MAs , not expensive RNs, made the very big sanitary mistake of taking part of my bloody bandage off with her bare hands and then going back to the pc keyboard, so i suggested she best wash her hands BEFORE , and pause, it was like, how do i use these sink controls? scary. After THAT i watched every set of hands that touched my nasty wound to make sure they were freshly gloved !!
And my employer is pissed i am unavailable just when work is getting busy,,, and he has been paying about $400/month for his part, for years, for this low level of coverage and care. Another employee is out and has had to pay $29,000 in hospital copays,he is now broke and without any savings or investment money, which is not 'medical insurance' to me !! I have asked him to go back to another medical plan so i can go to UCSF medical school, rated in the top 10 in the USA, but he says this is all he can afford or will pay for in this terrible economy.
Oh, and i told them i would be foot-elevated recovering for the estimated 4 weeks at my parents, but where has Kaiser been calling for checkups and appointments? Yep, my 40 mile distant home phone !! What idiots. I had to change my address on my computer profile,,,and they are STILL phoning my home instead of my current address !!
I was told i needed to re-bandage my own wound daily, with a 'big bandage pack' for $10 and not a 'small pack', but they did not give me enough bandages to change the bandage daily as the doctor had done until the next week's $30 doctor re-bandaging visit ! Dumb, dumb ,dumb. SO I HAVE AFTER 8 WEEKS/8 ATTEMPTS GIVEN UP ON KAISER AND THEIR IDEA OF BANDAGES FOR A WEEK OF "DOCTOR ORDERED DAILY REBANDAGING" and go to Walgreen's instead.
I was told the wound was not healing as expected,,,and to keep it elevated,,,and maybe next week,,,or the week after that i would be given a vacuum bandage to speed healing, as i am not rich and retired with lots of idle time on my hands but am anxious to get back to work. I asked 'Why not the vacuum bandage now, not later, if it will help so much?" and was told to wait. I went to the hospitals business office-waited and waited and waited- and filed the medical leave papers for work ,since it looks like this will be not 3-4 weeks as the surgeon guessed, but 7-8 weeks. Yes, i can apply for SDI/state disability insurance. Mean while , i am paying rent and utilities on an apartment i am not using other than for storage and future occupancy,,,
So i called the 'patient advocacy' office of customer service and asked the woman there to plead my case for best care now versus waiting a week or two for this new tech. vacuum bandage. She put me on hold for over 5 minutes,,,,,i hung up in disrespected frustration, and she has never, ever phoned back. So much for Kaiser caring much ,past collecting premiums in Northern California !!
The new waiting room for podiatry and G.I. is much much too small,,,anyone notice?
At 9 weeks the staff took a picture of the wound, but covered half of it with a ruler ,,,crazy crazy crazy,,,
Being mocked over and over for having the gall to say 'i don't think i broke my leg' before the x-rays were developed,,,and being ignored when asking for a softer than the usual 4x4 gauze pad- bandage material over the bloody raw sensitive wound,,,yeah, that really recommends to "thrive" with Kaiser medical insurance.
Would it really cost/kill Kaiser to ask its in-hospital patients every day and out-patient victims every week, "How is our recommended pain medication working for you?" Oh,,,too much to ask of MDs, nurses, and hospitals, eh,,,
