Kaiser Permanente workers push for improvements to staffing levels and wage increases after union contract expires
Solidarity! This string of labor action hopefully can lead to more unity of working people.
Nixon legalized and subsidized HMOs because his friend Edgar Kaiser thought it would be profitable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QkgUkM0o6Q
Kaiser is unlike regular insurance because they don’t let you pick an independent provider. Instead, all your doctors are hired directly by the insurance company in a major conflict of interest.
I’ve been in Kaiser for years, and even though my wife has worked for PPO insurers, and head up chronic care solutions for a large one, she is on my Kaiser HMO plan. The cost for care is simply much much cheaper going through Kaiser.
The overall organization is not-for-profit, and physicians are on salary, and that shows when the bill comes. That said, they’re pretty notorious for struggling with the lack of physicians and therapists in the US.
IMHO, I’ve got a lot of issues with Kaiser, but when it works, it works really well. When I needed major surgery they let me get multiple opinions with multiple surgeons at different hospitals, and I picked the surgeon that felt had the best plan and track record. Then they made sure to set me up with long term care with a PT, nutritionist, specialist in my condition, etc. That plus a week in the hospital cost me $50 or something. Maybe $75 with drugs. No way my company’s equivalent PPO plan would’ve done that.
Good.
The health care industry is a disaster.
We’ve been poised to lose the ability to care for our adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities because we pay the paraprofessionals who do this very important work so little that I could make more money frying chicken.
People like me who truly care for our most underserved populations (enough to continue working despite the pay, long hours, high physical and emotional demands, and awful benefits) are being forced into burnout because there’s simply no one else.
We are overworked, underpaid, forgotten and often as a consequence of the work subject to emotional and physical abuse.
My boss is out due to a factored kneecap. Her boss is unreachable because the new food stamps restrictions have made her spend every hour trying to secure food for her family (see again; underpaid) a necessary priority.
We are struggling.
I hope these workers strike and their conditions are improved. I will stand in solidarity with them at every step. I often wish my sector has that luxury.
