Just now I
called the phone
number on the Kaiser ad that dropped out
of yesterday's newspaper (December 6, 2005) where it has snuggled with
the other ads. The two sided ad is called "Call the Experts
at Kaiser
Permanente Senior Advantage for Answers." "With our more than
60
years experience listening to and caring for members, you can count on
us to guide you through the changes in Medicare. Empowering
people
to make informed health care decisions. That's just one more
way
Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage can help you thrive." Then
the
Kaiser logo - now joined with the Thrive logo.
I called
1-877-288-4335. It would appear by the tape
recording
that those members already in the Kaiser Senior Advantage Program - a
subcontractor
to Medicare - they are automatically enrolled in the Medicare Part D
program
without making any new choice. And they are warned that if
they sign
up for any other Medicare Part D program, they will be dropped from
Senior
Advantage.
I went on to
wait for a live voice. I asked if the physicians
at Kaiser worked for profit. The answer from a very assured
young
lady was that "Kaiser is absolutely non-profit." As the
Kaiser physician
contract with Kaiser, they are also "non-profit." She was
"absolutely"
sure of this. The physicians just "work for
Kaiser."
No wonder
everyone in the ad from the pictured telephone operator to
the seniors at the tennis court who just won a trophy (thriving) are
smiling
- here are physicians just working for salary who could not be
influenced
by profit. Talk about trust. Hippocrates would be
proud.
On the other
hand, there is the truth. The Permanente
physicians
were originally organized for profit. I have the original
TPMG articles
of incorporation. And Kaiser has been profitable for 58 of 60 years -
half
going to the physicians. Last year the physician split
$900,000,000.
This was above salaries which with benefits are worth $250,000 a
year.
The Permanente partners are the top average IPA earners in the state -
if you ad in the profit bonus (cushioned into a comfortable "corridor"
flow).
Kaiser is
linked to HMOs, which people hate. So they try to
lean
on the term "Kaiser Permanente" so they can "fly the Permanente
flag."
But it is handy to try to shift the Kaiser Plan - not-for-profit with
the
physicians as the most important ad "tag line" in the
organization.
The Permanente partners own stock by which they can split stock
dividends
- most hidden into glorious retirement schemes. (Hint - the
FBI should
start by looking for numbered accounts in Mellon Bank.)
Now senior
confusion over the Medicare Part D plan - about as clear
as the tax code - is used as the invitation to join Kaiser and let your
worries be over. Both political parties hope more seniors
will join
HMOs - though all of the politicians voting have the right to sue for
mistreatment.
For the vast majority of seniors, HMOs cannot be sued. That
"patient
right" to go after organizational corruption got lost in the stampede
to
look for individual physician error.
Ad lies will
be called puffery in court. Wrong information on
the phone will be called an operator's bad hair day. Poor
care once
the senior is stuck inside the HMO will be called the "rational" use of
precious resources to keep premiums down. You know - the
"best evidence"!
The only
good news I can add as that the nation is gradually stepping
away from HMOs. Someday it will only be a bad idea - a form
of greed
tied to governmental entrepeunerial
fraud.
Chuck Phillips, MD
To
The Kaiser Papers
DRPHILLIPS.KAISERPAPERS.org
|
kaiserpapers.com/drphillips