SAN FRANCISCO, June 5 /PRNewswire/ — Jeffery Sterman, Public Affairs Director and voice of Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco for ten years is claiming AIDS discrimination and breach of contract. A person with AIDS, Sterman is one of those who helped create the hospital’s response to HIV and AIDS.
David J. St. Louis, Sterman’s attorney, filed [...]

Our apologies for the dearth of updates lately, but by no means does our temporary silence indicate that the Kaiser Krappola hasn’t continued to hit the fan. There’s too much to post individually, so please enjoy this Kaiser Permanente News Roundup:

Now that Kaiser has completed the nationwide roll out of the outpatient side of its [...]

Now this is funny. It’s rare that we post something that isn’t Kaiser related, but this extremely humorous political ad for Senator Ron Wyden’s Healthy Americans Act is about universal health care, which we strongly support.
While we would prefer a single-payer universal health care plan that cuts insurance company bureaucracy and greed out of [...]

[kaiserthrive.org's editor's note: We love birthday parties -- especially our own -- but even so we were taught to be humble on these occasions, and that it would be less than polite to toot our own horn. Not so George Halvorson, who appears to revel in insulting Kaiser Permanente victims by refusing to address [...]

[kaiserthrive.org editor's note: Yeah, everyone is 'Thrive'-ing at Kaiser Permanente...unless you need a kidney transplant, or have pneumonia, or cancer, or a past due pregnancy, or a consumer complaint, or need a prescription, or, or, or...
Thrive has been so "successful" that nationally Kaiser membership has remained mostly flat since the campaign began, and the Hawaii [...]

[kaiserthrive.org editor's note: Our apologies for not posting this sooner, but due to recent personal obligations it has been difficult to update as often as we would like to. Unfortunately I also don't have much time tonight for commentary, although this article and Kaiser's news release certainly scream out for more than a little [...]

[kaiserthrive.org's editor's note: Is this vindication for Kaiser critics, who have been making these claims for years only to be erroneously discredited, abused and marginalized by Kaiser management and its less than ethical PR and legal departments? Feels a little like vindication, but in our experience these people seem to regret their horrendous actions quite a bit less than they do being caught.

We received an email from a Kaiser employee a few days ago, asking us if we would be willing to post some tangible steps that Kaiser could take to improve itself, as well as a score card listing some of these steps and how Kaiser is doing with implementing them. Kaiser makes a point of pretending it doesn't respond to anything we do, even though we know for a fact that isn't true, but in the spirit of supporting what is best for Kaiser members, we are more than willing to report on positive steps in the right direction. We're still hoping to find even one Kaiser member or employee who has been treated fairly in a dispute, and as soon as that happens it will be our pleasure to report it here.]

From the L.A. Times:

State fines Kaiser again — The HMO’s second such penalty in a year targets its handling of patient complaints at nine hospitals. [...]

[kaiserthrive.org editor's note: Kaiser often defends repeat malpractice offenders -- such as Dr. Death Jayant Patel -- for years, resulting in many unnecessary patient deaths. Unlike medical care, where every penny is pinched, Kaiser spares no expense defending its negligence. The running joke is that Kaiser will spend $1,000,000 to defend a $1,000 claim, and to say that Kaiser lawyers play dirty to win is unfortunately a gross understatement. Never forget who is footing the bill: that's right, YOU.]

The state medical board is seeking to revoke or suspend a local physician’s license after her patient was not admitted to the hospital promptly and developed blood poisoning.

The state attorney general, on behalf of the medical board, says Dr. Degrasia Anne Howard committed multiple acts of gross negligence, in a report filed June 15. [...]

[By now everyone has heard that Kaiser Permanente has a starring role in Michael Moore's 'Sicko', from the infamous Nixon Tapes ("...the less care they give them, the more money they make"), to denial of care and patient dumping...it's all there.]
Michael Moore’s ‘SiCKO’ Trailer To Be Projected on Buildings Across the Country on Monday, June [...]

Our server was down most of the day Friday, June 22nd, and as a result some of our incoming email bounced back.
We’re requesting that anyone who attempted to send us an email on Friday please try again.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Admin