[momearth]

Hi,
We have recently relocated to California. We need to change our health insurance and we can take either Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO or Kaiser HMO. Till now we had good experience with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO in arizona but we know nothing about Kaiser HMO.

Any suggestions you could give which would be better especially where Infertility treatments are required which are expensive and usually not covered by companies...how much does Kaiser help in here?
thanks!

[imama]

I have Kaiser HMO. You will have some infertility coverage - 50% for everything except IVF. There is no coverage for IVF. The thing I don't like about Kaiser is that you have to use them. I am going to have my DH switch us to a PPO when open enrollment happens so that I'll have choice of doctors.

I've heard Kaiser in SoCal is better than Kaiser in Northern Cali. I'm in Northern Cali and have had a LOT of problems with Kaiser and our infertility challenges. One ex: it took 7 days for our semen analysis results and then Kaiser gave us a result of "no result" becasue their labs can't analyze small samples - his volume was low but had about 15 million total. We went through that process 2X. What kind of lab does that? But it didn't cost anything.

The semen analysis at the RE's cost a few hundred but was worth it to me. You can also walk into Kaiser and pick up an infertility price sheet.

[Heatherly]

Everyone I know with Kaiser hates them. i would lways try for a PPO vs HMO if finances allow it.

[Petitechou]

Blue Cross Blue Shield EPO cover 100% for one try! They are the best! Good luck!

[Ella]

We are with Kaiser North Cali and our experience has been so so.

In terms of IVF treatment, we get coverage for everything except the IVF itself, i.e. the blood tests and lab work are all covered by our insurance thru Kaiser. Their fertility clinic was awesome because I only dealt with doctors, I didn't have anyone else do my u/s other than my RE everytime I visited.

However I have mixed emotions about the hospital. First of all from a financial point of view it is great, we never pay for anything. I paid $0 since I started seeing my OB. If you ask the IVF clinic for a doctor referral they will tell you that everyone is great in Kaiser. You will not hear that an OB is awesome. Also, you will not have the chance to see any outside OBs unless Kaiser refers you to them. We tried but everywhere we went we were turned down.

Good luck with your choice.

[MillyWilly]

We live in northern Cali and have not had any problems with Kaiser. Like pp have stated they cover a lot up until the actual procedures (ie IUI and IVF). We did have to move on to IVF and I think it was on the cheaper side (for IVF anyways)-12k for everything. The clinic in Fremont is awesome and I loved my dr, she was wonderful. Good luck with what ever you decide

[momearth]

thanks so much for your replies. The BCBS PPO we had earlier in arizona covered a lot but somehow the new papers we have got show they are falling a little expensive....and a lot they covered earlier is not covered any longer. So we have planned to go ahead with Kaiser as it falls cheaper.

Also regarding the semen analysis results which gave "no result " exactly the same thing happened with my husband twice through PPO we had earlier... seriously dnt know why these labs are not able to get result despite testing twice!