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Having experienced access to care inside the Kaiser system and outside the Kaiser system I have to say that with the integrated approach that Kaiser has accessing care is easier, getting Kaiser to cover care is easier. Outside of their HMO, with standard PPO care it's a veritable morass of insurance portals, individual doctor portals, no shared medical files so you end up having to request medical records, and send them to each provider individually and for prescriptions... With Kaiser if you need it, you go to the pharmacy at the facility where your doctor is and odds are they'll have it for you. There's no need to "shop around" or wait for a prescription to be transmitted to CVS, Wal-Mart, your local grocery store, etc. It's just there. You have full access to your complete medical record and test results online at any time. My family always received top-notch care and from what I've seen now that I'm on the outside (F's for Cigna), it's just a better way to do medicine.

That said, my experience and my family's is from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (San Diego).