Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance Company
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Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance Company
Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest managed care companies in the United States. Kaiser Permanente plans are best known for their affordability. Their plans come in a wide variety of deductibles and benefits to best suit your needs and budget.
Kaiser Permanente provides health insurance, and Medicare plans for seniors - including Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplemental and Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage (also known as Medicare Part D).
Why Choose Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance?
Kaiser Permanente offers a variety of California health insurance plans at affordable rates. Through their extensive history, they have grown and set the standard in the health care industry. Their wide array of plans offer flexible coverage to best meet your needs whether you need individual coverage, family coverage or coverage for your business.
History of Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance
During the late 1930's and early 1940's, Kaiser Permanente evolved by providing health care programs for industrial companies. In October of 1945, Kaiser Permanente officially opened to public enrollment.
Sidney Garfield, MD (a single inventive young surgeon) began the organization we know today as Kaiser Permanente during the height of the Great Depression. Dr. Garfield borrowed money to build Contractors General Hospital in the middle of the Mojave Desert to treat thousands of men involved in building the Los Angeles Aqueduct. However, in short time, Dr. Garfield was having difficulty getting the insurance companies to pay his bills in a timely manner and to make matters even more stressful not all of the patients had health insurance. Although the income of the operation was not meeting the hospital's expenses, Dr. Garfield refused to turn away any sick or injured worker.
Introduction of PrePayment System
Enter Harold Hatch, an engineer who became an insurance agent. Mr. Hatch introduced the prepayment system by suggesting to the insurance companies that Dr. Garfield be paid a fixed amount per day, per covered worker, up front. As a result, for the sum of five cents per day, workers could receive this new form of health care coverage and for an additional five cents per day, workers could also receive coverage for non-job related medical problems.
Once the aqueduct project was complete, Dr. Garfield was contacted by another industrialist to provide health care to 6,500 workers and their families. This was the largest construction site in history, the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam.
Dr. Garfield welcomed the opportunity and turned an existing run-down hospital into a state-of-the-art treatment facility and recruited a team of doctors to work in a"prepaid group practice." Dr. Garfield was once again turned this opportunity into a great success; however, the grand experiment was reaching an end as the dam neared completion in 1941.
In the Shipyards
When America entered into World War II, tens of thousands of workers (including many inexperienced and poor health workers) poured into the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California, to meet the nation's demand for big Liberty Ships, aircraft carriers and the like. At the same time, Dr. Garfield was already scheduled to enter active duty with his U.S. Army Reserve unit in a matter of a few weeks. Henry J. Kaiser has a big problem of providing health care for a group of 30,000 people and their families. Mr. Kaiser was convinced that Dr. Garfield was the person who could solve this problem so Mr. Kaiser requested President Franklin D. Roosevelt to release Dr. Garfield from his military obligation to specifically organize and run a prepaid group practice for workers at the Richmond shipyards. And so Dr. Garfield brought his innovative health care delivery system to the San Francisco Bay Area and formed an association with Mr. Kaiser.
When the war came to an end, the shipyard workforce fell from 90,000 to 13,000 employees in only a few months. This greatly affected the health care practice run by Dr. Garfield. But both Dr. Garfield and Mr. Kaiser wanted the practice to continue so on October 1, 1945, the Permanente Health Plan officially opened to the public. In 10 years, enrollment surpassed 300,000 members in Northern California. The support from unions was the greatest reason for the success of the plan. Three unions eventually became the major driving force behind bringing
Today, Kaiser Permanente has evolved to one of the largest health insurance and health care providers in the country and is currently headquartered in Oakland, California.
Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance in the 21st Century
With the new Health Care Reform Act being implemented, Kaiser Permanente California offers a host of individual and family health insurance plans to people across California. President Obama often time used Kaiser Permanente's systems, standards and procedures as a model to reform the system.
To learn more about the Kaiser Permanente plans you can either call 888-662-8254 or click here to get a free quote of all the plans offered in California.
Additional Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance Options
Kaiser Permanente is a leading company in the health insurance space as they provide health insurance solutions like HMO and Health Savings Account plans. Kaiser Permanente offers affordable plans to individuals, families and companies in need of health insurance.
To learn more about Kaiser Permanente California Health Insurance plans, click here.
To start researching the right plans for you, click here to get instant quotes of all the major carriers in California.
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