We’re also in California, and I’m afraid I don’t have advice on choosing insurance because we’ve been with the Kaiser HMO for 12 years now. If you don’t have a particular issue with Kaiser, I wouldn’t cross that off your list of options. We have been *very* happy with their service, in general. If you’re interested, PM me and I can give you some tips on dealing with them.
Sorry, that reply of mine about Kaiser was a little truncated. I should add a couple of things: In our area (Santa Rosa), the best physicians are all being sucked slowly into the Kaiser system because they are just sick of dealing with govt crap. So here at least, we have a deep pool of excellent docs at Kaiser. For example, my son needed ophthalmic surgery, and Kaiser had assigned a doc to do it. He seemed like a nice guy, but I knew nothing about him. I got on the Internet and did some snooping about this doc . . . and found out that he is the BEST pediatric ophthalmologist in this area, and well-known for his excellent surgical skills. (He ended up doing major ophthalmic surgery on my husband as well.) So we got a terrific surgeon with no extra charge.
So there are three things about Kaiser I’ve learned:
1) It’s not the same in every area. I love it here in SR, have heard it is good in San Francisco, but word is out that it sucks rocks in Oakland (not surprising, given the probable clientele). So you need to ask around and/or do Internet research and find out if you’re in a good area.
2) You have to be willing to do some Internet research, both on your doctor (and don’t forget, you can change doctors easily — I’ve done it several times to get one I liked) and on procedures etc.
3) You have to be willing to “work” the system, by which I mean that when you come home from a doc you don’t like, you get on the phone with the Kaiser operator and pick out a different one (or look on their Internet site and pick out one whose philosophy looks good to you). I did that several times when I was pregnant, to find an OB I liked. Finally found one who was absolutely stellar and she is still my OB/GYN now eight years later. You can also work it by getting on the phone to the patient ombudsman. They were being SUPER slow scheduling taking off a probably cancerous mole, and I got on the phone and b*tched to the ombudsman . . . and they found an appointment for me three days later.
So *if* Kaiser works for you monetarily, and you are willing to be your own advocate (which really you have to do most of the time nowadays anyway) I really recommend Kaiser.