CalPERs Health Net HMO experiences?
Hi,
I was born and raised in the Bay Area and have been within the Kaiser HMO system since birth. I'm growing increasingly frustrated with certain aspects of it now that I'm using it as a parent and am considering other HMOs offered by the CalPERs system. The Health Net is most similar in price, which is appealing, but the Health Net HMOs don't seem as well regarded as Anthem or Blue Shield's offerings on sites like California's Office of the Patient Advocate. I'm wondering if those who have had experience with the Health Net HMO, particularly the SmartCare HMO network, would mind writing in with their experiences. Or if you have another HMO from CalPERS that's not Kaiser, I'd be interested in hearing too.
Thank you!
CalPERS employee
Jul 7, 2016
Parent Replies
I've had CalPERS BlueShield coverage for a long, long time. For me, it is significantly more expensive than Kaiser (not sure if this would be true throughout CalPERS though), but it has been excellent coverage. We had a child on chemotherapy for years, extensive stays at CHO (months!), second opinions at UCSF, and didn't pay a dime other than co-pays of $5 or $10. We've never had to submit claims, it's just covered. So that's been our experience and we will be sticking with BlueShield. Sometimes I think it might be the CalPERs name that make BlueShield behave so well and maybe other people who have BlueShield not through CalPERS have a different experience. I really don't know...