Medical Insurance-Colorado to Get Kaiser Healthcare?

[dellaterra]

Hey wise forum members--I have been reading insurance and residency posts and am wondering if anyone has experience with Kaiser. I am considering doing residency in Colorado in order to qualify for healthcare (and state subsidy for lower income!) with Kaiser Hospitals Plan. Would appreciate feedback, thoughts, opinions etc on this idea.

I have had Kaiser my whole life in the SF Bay Area. Kaiser is the insurer and the hospital system, for those not aware. Its really easy to deal with and very straightforward. They have facilities in a few states - California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii, Georgia and Wash DC. They have a program called "Traveling Member" (took a bit of research to find) that allows members to go to different facilities-away from their "home base" and get treatment for up to 90 days. Of course, emergency room visits to non Kaisers are re-reimbursed.

Kaiser has a facility in Palm Springs (reasonable drive from Quartzsite and environs) and as far east in WA as in Spokane, WA (I thought it was just the coast). And some hospitals along the front range in Colorado.

So, my question is, what do folks think of this as being a sort-of solution to the portability and using the state subsidy for health insurance. I'm reminded of Bob's slide with the arc of a day's drive from his dr. in Nevada.(?) Some coverage in the Rockies and sort of southwest.

Regarding residency would be something like getting (and keeping) a PO Box in Boulder or Fort Collins, renting a room for a month for street address and other residency requirements. When I had Kaiser in bay area almost all correspondence was online. Requirement is an address within 25 miles of service zip codes.

Another thing is, if I got cancer or a head injury or some other type of serious illness requiring extended treatment , I would probably move back to the bay area and stay with family members and be able to use Kaisers in bay area.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I currently have a Blue Shield PPO until Sept from my previous employer.

Elle-

 

[Firebuild]

Hey wise forum members--I have been reading insurance and residency posts and am wondering if anyone has experience with Kaiser. 

I have experience with Kaiser but not as a traveling member or whatever that is - sounds interesting. 

I was a self-pay Kaiser member for years until I could no longer afford it. During that time, I can truly say Kaiser Permanente saved my life; they paid out more on a single hospitalization (at a non-Kaiser facility) than I had paid in in my entire time as a member, and they never batted an eye or tried to rush me out the hospital door. I was uninsured until the Affordable Care Act, after which time I got Kaiser through Medi-Cal, up until I left California to come back east and care for my mother. In fact, I loved my Kaiser coverage so much that I contemplated keeping it and trekking to CA whenever I needed care. But I finally bit the bullet and decided to give MassHealth a shot since I'm in MA now. So... my opinion is... if you can get Kaiser coverage that will work for you when you travel, do it.

 

[JohnnyPayne]

I lived in Colorado and got coverage with Kaiser while I was there.

It's easy to have a Colorado plan and then get medical services at a Kaiser facility in another region. You just have to call member services and get assigned a visiting member # for each state you go to...

Kaiser has facilities in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.

I was able to pick up my prescription with zero hangups with my Oregon visiting member #.

The only problem is that Kaiser facilities are not that widespread and seem to be limited to the major cities. I had to drive 3 hours from my farm job in Southern Oregon to Salem to fill my scripts....

 

[JohnnyPayne]

Signed up just to answer this question. Lol

 

[highdesertranger]

a guy who rents a room from us works at Kaiser has for over 30 years. I wouldn't get all excited about Kaiser. what I am trying to say from the stories I hear they are not all that special. highdesertranger

 

[Gr8ful]

Have you looked at Medi-Share? About 1/2 or less for us, also been around forever.