A coalition of eight unions representing 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente said late Saturday that is has not reached an agreement with the company, setting the stage for the largest healthcare strike in US history on Wednesday.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which has workers at hundreds of hospitals and medical offices in California, Oregon, Colorado, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C., said in a statement that it remains far apart with the company on important issues but still has had “good discussions with Kaiser.” The healthcare workers are seeking across-the-board pay raises and improvements to their pension plans, as well as protections against outsourcing.
The coalition’s contract with Kaiser officially expired after 11:59 pm PT on Saturday night.
The HMO format of insurance is not uncommon, but Kaiser does have a somewhat unique implementation of it. Most HMO insurances contract with healthcare providers (network) and you are only allowed to go to them. Kaiser is not the healthcare provider but it is a consortium with the medical groups, hospitals, and insurance, such that they appear as one big entity. This can create conflicts of interest, but it also creates some huge efficiencies. Everyone from GPs to specialists to pharmacy is all in the same system, so there are not issues with communication between different companies and hospitals. The also have more incentive than most insurance companies to keep you healthy to prevent you from using the more expensive types of care. In my experience, for the same premiums, KP tends to have the lowest out of pocket max and no/low deductibles compared to PPOs like Cigna or Blue Cross/Shield.