Aetna HMO or Kaiser - Which would you Chose?

[shmoogrrrl]

I was trying to figure out where a good place to ask this would be on the internet, and I was lurking here and thought I'd post my question here. I figure there are a whole lot of people here who read this board so I can hopefully get some honest opinions!

My husband is starting a new job next week. We know that their health insurance options are Kaiser and Aetna's HMO plan. We are having a hard time deciding between them.

We've had Kaiser for the past 6 years so I am used to the doctors and such, but the Aetna plan is a little better as far as co-pays, pharmacy goes. I am also a bit interested in choosing my own doctors, although I have to admit that the doctors we have now, with Kaiser, are pretty good.

Do any of you have any opinions on Kaiser or Aetna that you'd like to share?

Thanks!

 

[shatzjsl]

I have had Aetna HMO for six years and never had a problem. I have had three surgeries and had no problems with coverage.

 

[caitycaity]

i really like kaiser, but our copays are low.

 

[onecoolmama]

I had Aetna HMO and had no complaints at all!

My family that has Kasier says STAY AWAY! Dh's new job had a choice of Mamsi or Kasier and I would NEVER use Kiaser.

Here is an example: My aunt fell and broke her ankle at 1am. She called Kaiser and they didnt have an opening until 4am. (Now every other compnay I know tell you to go to the hospital..but not kiaser.

It took a week, between getting appointments for x-rays and seeing a podietrist!

Now this is just one example of many!

Like I said I have about 15 family mambers that have Kiaser and curse it!

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Thanks for the opinions! I am such an insurance idiot since I've pretty much had Kaiser forever that it is good to hear the good AND the bad for both!

One thing that I should have mentioned is that we are currently in the middle of infertiltiy treatments so if anyone has experience with Aetna when it comes to that, it would be VERY helpful! Kaiser has been okay with that, as I have a two year old now.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Well, I don't know much about Aetna, but I do know that Kaiser is synonomous with reliability. I mean, after all, Kaiser insurance was an offshoot of the company that made merchant ships during WWII.

They prefabed them to increase production.

Here are some great facts about those ol' Kaiser built Liberty ships:

Kaiser shipyards in Vancouver, Washington and Richmond, California produced these 10,750 ton cargo vessels from late 1940 through 1945, and 2751 were produced.

The record for production goes to the Richmond yard #1, where on November 12, 1942, the Robert E. Peary was constructed in four days, 15 hours and 30 minutes, a record that still stands.

To commemorate the building of Liberty and Victory ships silk banners were given to employees.

Liberty ship engines weighed 140 tons and were oil fired triple expansion steam engine designed at the turn of the century. The engine room scenes in the movie Titanic were filmed in the engine room of the Jeremiah O'Brien. To make the engines seem even larger, all the railings for the movie scenes were replaced with ones half their original size.

An extra 10 feet was added to the keel of the Liberty ship design and the Victory ship was born.

Liberty and Victory ships were manned by the Merchant Marine, a group of volunteers who's pay stopped the minute they stepped, (or were torpedoed), off the ship, and who's medical care stopped 90 days after hospitalization. The worst loss of life aboard a Liberty ship occured when the S.S. Paul Hamilton with 504 troops and 8000 tons of ammunition was destroyed in an attack off North Africa.

Kaiser was a great company to work for too. When a new employee joined the Kaiser Shipyard, they were given a booklet that explained their job, the work rules, pay scale and even the various accomodations available for company employees. By the way, female shipbuilders were encouraged not to wear high heels to work!

To get to and from their homes, many of the shipyard workers had to take the ferry across the bay to get to work. They were issuedtokens to use in lieu of money. They were issued by the United Sates Maritime Commission to the Kaiser Company in Vancouver.

Not only that, but Kaiser Rolls make for a great sandwich to have with a nice, tall mug of beer.

 

[caitycaity]

My family that has Kasier says STAY AWAY! Dh's new job had a choice of Mamsi or Kasier and I would NEVER use Kiaser.

wow, if you don't mind my asking, which center do they use? (you can pm me if you want)

we have had kaiser for the past 4 years and we are so pleased with it that dh and i want to pay to keep it if we leave our current jobs.

 

[monkeyboy]

Cliff you are killing me

and I am now thirsty to boot

 

[onecoolmama]

Is there one in Rockville? Wow I am shocked that soo many people like it! My family has had soo many problems with it and we are a HUGE family.

There used to be one in Rockville (I dunno if it is still there) and my Garndfather lives in Bethesda..so again, I ahev no idea where the centers are.

My other aunt lives in Stafford and the others live in Kensington...all of them have had horrible problems with Kaiser.

My mom is in Silver Spring and they left a message on her answering machine telling her that they saw an anerisum (sp?) in her head and if they were right..they thought it would be too close to operate on.

Well, when she got the message, she called and asked for an appointment. The next one they had was for 6 weeks later!


But if other people have had great expeirences...hey go for it. I mean, I am only one person. They are a big company so they must be doing something right.

 

[caitycaity]

well, the only people i know who have kaiser around here are me and dh, so maybe we've just been lucky.

there is one in rockville. dh goes to one of the ones downtown and i go to gaithersburg and kensington.

 

[onecoolmama]

I should post a picture of my family! I bet you know some of them! We are huge. LOL!

Did you grow up here. There are 13 of them and they grew up in chevy Chase.

 

[caitycaity]

nope, i didn't grow up here, but i have lived in this area for the past 8 years.

perhaps the reason dh and i like it so much is that we used to be on the george washington helath plan and they are REALLY horrible!!! maybe we just don't know what we are missing.

 

[Lanshark]

We had Kaiser and hated it. If you needed to see a specialist, that was out of network, it took an act of God.

 

[onecoolmama]

Ok...not sure if this is where to post it..but here is my family. You live around all of us; although...this area is big. We are not all there, but it is worth a shot!LOL!


http://www.geocities.com/onecoolmama77/my_family.html

 

[caitycaity]

hmmmm, none of you look familiar, but i always see cars with disney license plates and antenna toppers around where we live and i always wonder if people are disers.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Thanks again to everyone!

To the DC people, we are in Northern VA, not really DC, but close! I don't have any Disney stuff on my car though.