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Kaiser Permanente


Self Description

December 2002: "Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health care organization. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group-practice health maintenance organization (HMO) with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of members in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Today, it encompasses Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and the Permanente Medical Groups, as well as affiliation with Group Health Cooperative based in Seattle, Washington."
http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/newsroom/fastfacts.html

Third-Party Descriptions

July 2008: "Kaiser Permanente, Delta Dental and AARP are among organizations very much like VSP, which was established in 1955 and granted tax exemption in 1960. Five years ago, after an examination of VSP’s finances and operations from 1996 to 1998, the I.R.S. revoked its tax exemption."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/us/16exempt.html

January 2008: "Overweight and obese patients have long complained that doctors treat them insensitively and are too quick to attribute health problems to their weight. But their claims of bias were often met with skepticism -- until recently. Now research from such academic powerhouses as Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania is adding to evidence that the problem may be real and may affect patients' quality of care. And actions by the giant health maintenance organization Kaiser Permanente show the medical establishment is beginning to respond."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012502926.html

May 2007: Last week, Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest nonprofit health insurer, settled criminal and civil lawsuits, agreeing to establish new rules for discharging such patients, and to pay $55,000 in fines and to cover the city attorney’s investigative costs. Kaiser will also contribute $500,000 to help the homeless with follow-up care and other services.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/business/media/22react.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Founder/Co-Founder of Financial Supporter of (past or present) Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) Organization Nov 5, 2007

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Jul 08, 2009 In Retooled Health-Care System, Who Will Say No? Questions About Cost And Limits Linger

QUOTE: How will tough decisions be made about what to spend money on?

 Washington Post
Jul 02, 2009 Pay-for-Chat Plan Falls Flat at Washington Post

QUOTE: The [Washington] Post decided Thursday to cancel plans to charge lobbyists and trade groups $25,000 or more to sponsor private, off-the-record dinner parties at the home of its publisher...

 New York Times
Jul 01, 2009 Autism patients' treatment is denied illegally, group says

QUOTE: State regulators are violating mental health and other laws by allowing health insurers to deny effective treatment for children with autism, consumer advocates contend.

 Los Angeles Times
Jun 25, 2009 Heading for the emergency room (Reforming American health care)

QUOTE: The American health-care system, which gobbles up about 16% of the country’s economic output, is by far the most expensive in the world...

 Economist
Aug 28, 2008 Medical Bills You Shouldn't Pay: In a controversial practice known as "balance billing," health-care providers are going after patients for money they don't owe

QUOTE: As health-care costs continue to soar, millions of confused consumers are paying medical bills they don't actually owe. Typically this occurs when an insurance plan covers less than what a doctor, hospital, or lab service wants to be paid. The health-care provider demands the balance from the patient....this common practice, known as balance billing, often is illegal.

 BusinessWeek
Jul 16, 2008 Vision Insurer to Ask Justices to Restore Its Tax Exemption

QUOTE: The country’s largest eye-care insurance program plans to ask the Supreme Court to decide whether the Internal Revenue Service properly revoked its tax exemption in 2003, company executives said Tuesday. The proposed filing, by VSP Vision Care of Rancho Cordova, Calif., highlights a major debate in the nonprofit arena over what activities deserve tax exemption when most nonprofit groups charge fees for services and products to supplement their income from charitable donations.

 New York Times
Jan 29, 2008 Weighty Assumptions: Doctors Too Quick to Blame Obese Patients' Ills on Fat, Studies Suggest

QUOTE: Overweight and obese patients have long complained that doctors treat them insensitively and are too quick to attribute health problems to their weight. But their claims of bias were often met with skepticism -- until recently. [New research] is adding to evidence that the problem may be real and may affect patients' quality of care.

 Washington Post
May 22, 2007 Film Offers New Talking Points in Health Care Debate

QUOTE: Few of them may become Michael Moore fans. But some insurance industry officials and health policy experts acknowledged yesterday that the film documentary “Sicko,” Mr. Moore’s indictment of health care in this country, taps into widespread public concern that the system does not work for millions of Americans.

 New York Times
Aug 11, 2006 Kaiser to give $3 million to donor registry: Contribution supplements $2 million fine for poorly managed kidney-transplant program

QUOTE: In addition to a record $2 million state fine, Kaiser Permanente will give $3 million to an organ donation registry as penalty for deficiencies found in its kidney transplant program... State and federal surveys of the program this spring found that the program lacked administrative oversight and left scores of patients in limbo for nearly two years.
Jul 03, 2004 Health Insurance Consumers Wield the Power of Appeal

QUOTE: ... a ritual familiar to many Americans: the tedious, at times grueling, back and forth between health insurers and their members over denied claims for prescription drugs, hospital and physician services, and specialized medical equipment.

 Washington Post
Dec 26, 2002 Drug Makers Battle Plan to Curb Rewards for Doctors

QUOTE: ...Bush administration plan to restrict gifts and other rewards that pharmaceutical manufacturers give doctors and insurers to encourage the prescribing of particular drugs....looked like illegal kickbacks.

 New York Times