Kaiser

 My father joined Kaiser when I was 10 and I have been a member of Kaiser for over 70 years.  Basically, I have had very little problem with Kaiser, except that whenever I see the commercial on TV for an Alzheimers medication and how it helps the mother be better it reminds me that none of her doctors gave my mother any medication for her Alzheimers and I wonder if she might have been better if they had.

One thing I loved about Kaiser was when they created their web page.  You could go to KP.org and check your prescriptions, get messages from your health care team, or correspond with your doctor.  I've used the web site for years and my doctor and I solved a lot of simple problems via the web page,  But recently they took away the ability to email your doctor.  Now if I want to say something to her, I have to write her a letter and hope she responds (which she does, by telephone in a week or so ... I can't call her.)  Now if I have a minor question, I have to go through the telephone line and  they contact some doctor to get the answer, a doctor I've never heard of.  I hate that.

Yesterday, I had problems with the pharmacy.  You can still, supposedly, order refills of your medications through the web site, and I did about two weeks ago.  After I ordered, I got an email asking for my date of birth so they could confirm that it was really me making the refill requests.  I sent them that information.

But it's 2 weeks later and no medications have shown up.  I finally contacted the chat line and talked to someone named Kerry, who says they have NO order from me for refills.  Swell...and I'm running out of the medications.  She asked if I wanted to pick them up at the pharmacy, which I didn't, but I said that yes, I would.  Now, I'm talking to her on Tuesday and she says I can pick up the medications on Friday. But we are leaving for Santa Barbara on Friday, which means I can't get the meds until Monday.

She finally said that if I registered at the pharmacy, they could find her order and fill it, but I can't do that until Wednesday.  So I'm supposed to go to the pharmacy this afternoon and it will be interesting to see if I actually get my medications...and she can't give me a refill for the vitamin my doctor has prescribed because she says it's an over the counter order.

This is presumably an "improvement" on what has been working so well for years.