If you are a run-of-the-mill patient with nothing out of the ordinary wrong with you and you don't get sick very often other than the normal cold or occasional flu, Kaiser is just fine.
But anything else? Forget it. All of my examples are from Kaiser in northern California. We have a relative who has a close family member who is a senior executive with Kaiser in southern California and that relative's parents have Kaiser and THEY get top of the line care...well, because the parents' son is a senior So Cal Kaiser exec.
Kaiser screw up #1:
I had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic that I was taking for a sinus infection. Developed a fever, horrible hives & rash all over my body, and it felt like my throat was starting to close up. DH rushed me to the local Kaiser emergency room. They had me walk across the street to a clinic, where I waited 4 hours to be seen. Once I finally did see a doctor, they were really concerned about my airway and my ability to breathe (since I really couldn't). But nobody ever gave me a breathing treatment, put me on oxygen, gave me a steroid injection or anything. Just "here's a prescription for Prednisone" and instructions to go home. It was horrible.
Kaiser screw up #2:
My grandmother had all the symptoms of a stroke. Sudden muscle weakness. Couldn't walk. Couldn't stand up. Somehow my mom got her to the Kaiser ER. Doctors examined her and told her to go to the clinic because she wasn't "that bad." So she went to the clinic. A family practice doctor saw her and told her to go home and rest and to take an Alleve and let them know the next morning if the severe back pain and muscle weakness didn't get any better. The next day, she had to be sent to the ER by ambulance, where they finally ran some tests and learned that she'd had a stroke in her spinal column. My grandmother pretty much never walked again after that. She could shuffle around but she lived the rest of her life in a wheelchair. All because the Kaiser ER docs couldn't be bothered to run a CT scan on her back.
Kaiser screw up #3:
This happened to a close friend of my sister. We'll call her Jane. Jane's mom and dad had Kaiser. One morning while showering for work, Jane's mom had a massive heart attack, thought she was going to die. Called 911, they raced to the Kaiser ER, which was NOT the nearest ER to them. It was a 20-25 min drive from their home. They got to the Kaiser ER. Docs examined her and told her that she was too sick for their ER, that she'd have to be medivac'd via helicopter to the county trauma unit at the county hospital a 30 min drive away (but <5 min by helicopter).
But there was nowhere for the helicopter to land because there were too many cars parked in the ambulance parking area. And the ambulance drivers wouldn't move their ambulances. Nor would any of the regular car owners move their cars either.
So they had no choice but to drive her to the county hospital. Except now the county hospital wouldn't take her because of other traumas they were dealing with, so they didn't take her to the county hospital. By now, they figured out that Jane's mom had experienced an aortic dissection. The same thing that killed actor John Ritter. It was a miracle that she was still talking.
1 of the ER nurses told Jane, "Oh my! This is too stressful for me. I'm going to go get a cup of coffee." And the nurse left.
Now Jane's mom was sick enough that she had to be sent to Stanford Medical Center but again, no helicopter because of nowhere for it to land and this hospital didn't have a heli pad on the roof of the hospital. So Jane and her dad had to say their goodbyes to Jane's mom and the doctors told Jane and her dad that Jane's mom would probably die en route to the other hospital, so prepare to have to identify the body when they got there to Stanford Medical Center.
Jane's mom was stuck at that stupid Kaiser ER for over 90 minutes before they finally sent her off to Stanford in an ambulance. During the 90 minutes of total ineptness, Stanford had called in their top heart surgery team and everybody was there at Stanford hospital on stand by ready to rock and roll.
Once Jane's mom arrived there, Jane said that it was like night and day difference in terms of the quality of care. Stanford ran like a well oiled machine. The Kaiser hospital let her mom sit there waiting to die while they did literally nothing to help her. Jane's dad was so distraught that he threatened to call the police and drive his wife to Stanford himself.
Needless to say, their family are not big Kaiser fans and will never use Kaiser ever again.
Nor will I. It's cafeteria medicine. And that's not a compliment. Luby's Cafeteria of medicine.