5 Years A Member

I have been a member with Kaiser Permanente since 2010.  My husband handed me the member ID card and I thought to myself, well now what?  My concern was for my kids as they had been with the same Pediatrician since the day that they were born.  Also, I had been with my primary doctor for many years and his office didn’t accept Kaiser Insurance; yes I thought that Kaiser was like any other health insurance as we were coming over from have had Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance.

The first thing I did was to call the customer support number that was on the back of my insurance card to find new doctors.  The process didn’t take long, the support person was very nice, and in 10 minutes I had a new pediatrician for my kids and a new doctor for myself.  Unlike other health networks, Kaiser has their own doctors, clinics, and hospitals in California, which is very unique.

Meet The Doctors

My first visit to a Kaiser Pediatrics office was horrible.  I didn’t like the Pediatrician very much as he told me my son was going to be short.  How in the world do you tell an 11 year old boy that news, especially since his last pediatrician had said for years that we won’t know exactly how tall children will be until they are 21.  So, we moved on from this doctor to another one.  Finally, after going through 3 or 4 different pediatricians and many ear infections and other ailments later, I met a nurse who said her brother goes to an awesome pediatrician, Dr. Urbano, whom is at a clinic, which was about 10 miles from my house.  So, being frustrated, I accepted her recommendation and took my son to the clinic.  Finally, I had to agree with her that Dr. Urbano was awesome!  The doctor took his time to talk to me and my kids, and I like that he took a preventative approach towards healthcare. He also was very very excited and supportive  about my kids passions in athletic events.  Even our old Pediatrician did not spend so much time with us during office visits.

Although Dr. Urbano is excellent, he was simply to far away to away so I looked around and found another terrific Pediatrician, Dr. Culler, whom is located about a 5 minute drive from our house and 3 minute drive from my kids schools.   She also takes a preventative approach towards healthcare and I recommend her and her team to parents in Walnut Creek, CA area.  My husbands doctor is also very caring and in all my years of working with doctors he was one of the best, he spent over an hour just talking to my husband about preventive health issues as he recently lost his father to Leukemia.

Technology for Members

I recently just downloaded the Kaiser app to my iPhone.  This is a wonderful app that makes my health and kids health organized with online scheduling of flu- shots, physicals, emailing our doctors, etc.

Will it be Pick Up or Delivery

For busy parents, a wonderful convenience offer from Kaiser Permanente is to have your family’s prescription medicine’s delivered to your door.  Kaiser doesn’t charge extra for this service, so I highly recommend it, especially if you have scheduled refills.

Kaiser Boutique …One Stop Shop

I enjoy shopping – There, I said it.  So while at the local Kaiser clinic, I noticed a boutique shop.  They actually had some very nice items and I could not resist I purchased a feel good item, necklaces, for only $5.00.  I’ve worn it to my work at Niemans and was complimented on it.  The reaction I got from people shopping there was ~”seriously..you bought that from Kaiser?”.  Yes, overall I would definitely recommend Kaiser Permanente to my friends and family.