Kaiser Permanente - How it All got Started
Kaiser Permanente has its roots in the great depression when Sidney R. Garfield made it his mission to provide health care to the thousands of workers involved in building the Los Angeles Aqueduct. He built Contractors General Hospital where sick or injured workers could be treated. Money was tight and his insurers struggled to pay his bills promptly.
However Dr Garfield turned away nobody and most often provided services at no charge. He was running at a loss. Harold Hatch was engineer-turned-insurance-agent who offered Dr. Garfield a solution. If an insurance company paid a fixed amount per day, per covered worker, up front - the problem of financing would be solved. Kaiser Permanente
and its concept of prepayment were well on its way to a successful future.
In 1945 Kaiser Permanente
prepayment health plans were made accessible for the greater community in the United States. By 1952 the company has 250,000 members and was a favorite with Los Angeles-area management and labor groups like the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Retail Clerks Union. But they would not stop there.
Three years later Kaiser Permanente made some changes and streamlined the connection between medicine and management. Individual physicians were given a share in the Kaiser program. This was a similar concept to the way the company is run to this day. By 1997, the company had 9 million members and forms an alliance with AFL-CIO between labor and management.
Kaiser Permanente is still committed to preventive care and the prepayment of insurance needs. If you are looking for affordable health care that understands the needs of working people and their growing families get a free quote from Kaiser Permanente today. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from this revolutionary approach to health care.
