Insurance question

Blue shield is definitely better Expecially if you can get a ppo

Per my understand, PPO’s are better as you get to chose providers within the network and get alot of services without a referral needed. While HMO(Kaiser) is more controlled and can only see Kaiser doctors and you need a referral for most services outside of the primary and general OB SERVICES.

I will say that we love Kaiser and actively try not to swap out. I love that they all share charts so doctors have all your history automatically. All of your information is on one app where you can see test results, message doctors etc. Doctors are in centralized locations which makes seeing multiple docs in the same day easy. And as long as you get a good GP, getting referrals isn’t hard.

I agree with Lauren, I have Kaiser and I absolutely love it! I couldn’t imagine using another company ever again. It’s so convenient

I’ve only ever had kaiser my entire life so i’m a little bias but it is very nice knowing that whatever kaiser hospital i go to they have all of my medical history already and that i can do everything from scheduling appointments to refilling prescriptions in app or on the website

Blue shield is amazing!!!!

Blue Shield!

Although Kaiser is convenient, I’m not too fond of their services at times. Been curious about switching to Blue Shield

Kaiser is way better in my opinion. I’ve had both and blue shield is inconvenient and idk if you plan to have more kids but Kaiser has midwives and idk in my opinion an over all better system. I had Kaiser and then blue and then I switched back.

Thank you all so much! I'm glad to hear there's pros to both 😊

Highly recommend Blue Cross!! PPO's are the best as you can be seen any doctor within the network the bad part it is $$ vs HMO more economical and best if you don't see a doctor often just will need an authorization to see specialists which are easily handled by your primary PCP

BLUE SHEILD ALL THE WAY i am not a fan of kaiser. i mean it works but PPO is WAYYY better than HMO

@Steph I don't have experience with Blue cross, but I've been outside CA for 4-5 years with Cigna before moving here. I never got an appointment when I needed, also have had bigger bills for small consultation/ailments. That's why moving to CA and taking Kaiser made me very happy. I never got back my penny's worth while outside. But with Kaiser I've been surprised with minimum to no charges during consultations. I got charged $20 each for scans+Hysteroscopy and a D&C. The previous year when I went to Stanford Healthcare, I was charged $350 for just the scan. Its just my experience, but I've had visible positive experience with Kaiser, and appointments being available usually between 2 days - 2 weeks. But if you have had a medical history that'll require a lot speciality care/have rare condition, PPO might be better. Else I vote for Kaiser for common ailments.

PPO!!! Blue shield for sure