People say Kaiser has worse doctors, long & tedious process to get a specialist.
I have Kaiser and actually a lot of the friends that I went to college with who became doctors went on to became Kaiser doctors! Kaiser has become extremely competitive and offers a certain work/life balance that a lot of Doctors now are seeking. My overall experience with them has been extremely positive, you just need to find a Primary Care Physician (PCP) that works well with you. Some are anal and take a lot of convincing to refer you to specialists. Other PCPs refer you out without you even having to ask. It's easy to switch your PCP if you don't like them too. I think you do it online now (or just call them).
Things I've learned being with Kaiser off and on over the past 15 years, it is important to have your PCP in a convenient location to you. Those locations can usually do Pharmacy refills, basic X-Ray and blood work. My PCP is on my way to work.
ALSO, I found it is very important to have a full Kaiser Hospital close to you because all additional services are there (MRI, CT Scans, Physical Therapy, Mental health and other specialty doctors offices). I live in West LA and the West LA Kaiser hospital is only 10 minutes away.
For your priorities:
- Emergency Room / (Car Accidents) - If you're ever in an emergency situation you go to whatever hospital is nearest (regardless of Kaiser or not). Kaiser's policy is to reimburse you fully if it is truly an emergency). For Urgent care you must go to Kaiser facilities.
- Chiropractic Specialty Doctors - Kaiser has specialty doctors, physical therapists and physical medicine doctors. From my experience, I have not seen any Chiropractic services through Kaiser and generally the Kaiser insurance does not cover chiropractic care.
- Sport Injures, x-ray, MRI, etc.. - Kaiser is good, but these services are usually only offered at the full Kaiser hospitals (except basic X-Ray).
- Routine check up, blood test, etc.. - This is all done at Kaiser PCP locations which are scattered all over the place. In LA and OC you shouldn't have a problem finding them.
My last bit of advice, my Ex was under my Kaiser insurance and she "threw out her back" one day. She basically couldn't stand up, but was fine laying down. It took about a week to get an appointment with her PCP, another 2 weeks to get a spine specialist after that, then 3 more days to schedule a MRI. Turns out she had a huge herniated disk in L5/S1. In cases like this, it's almost always better to suck it up, pay the higher deductible and go to Urgent care or the Emergency room. You could end up waiting a few hours but at least you'll get a MRI right away instead of 3 weeks. But the service we received from this experience was nothing short of exceptional (once we got in to the doctors).
