So, I requested a copy of a recent MRI from Kaiser-Permanente. They sent it to me on a CD-ROM and as I always do, I checked everything on there for viruses and got an all-time record for amount of malware. 7 total trojans and what not from just one of the files.
Something tells me Kaiser is next to get ransomwared, honest to gerd.
I didn’t realize the Kaiser strike was still on and went to get my Covid booster. There was a picket line, so we stopped to ask what they wanted us to do.
They said to keep the appointment. They want the facility to feel the staffing pinch. The only people they don’t want crossing are workers.
Interesting. #Kaiser made $91b in revenue from its almost 9.1m enrollees in California last year. That presumably covers everything including insurance payments, copay, meds, stuff like hand lotion if you buy it at a kaiser pharmacy, and I don’t know what else.
That’s about $10k from almost exactly a quarter of the population in #california.
If end-stage capitalism has a motto, it's this: "Stop hitting yourself." The great failure of "voting with your wallet" is that you're casting ballots in a one party system (The Capitalism Party), and the people with the thickest wallets get the most votes.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
#HotLaborSummer is now #PerpetualLaborSeptember, with 75,000 #Kaiser@UnionCoalition workers walking out alongside the @UAW, @SAGAFTRA and 2,350 other groups of workers picketing, striking or protesting:
On Wednesday, more than 75,000 unionized employees of Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health providers, walked off the job, marking the largest health care worker strike in US history.
The unprecedented strike comes at a time of heightened labor activity across the United States, with tens of thousands of workers across multiple industries taking to the picket lines for better pay and benefits.
The #kaiser healthcare workers’ #strike has been a long time coming. Ask anyone who’s worked there in the past 20 years. All the healthcare professionals endured increasingly difficult and outrageously stressful working conditions, decreasing administrative support, frequently toxic management that leadership did nothing about, etc.
There was a lot that #kaiser healthcare professionals were willing to put up with because of the organization’s generous retirement benefits, known colloquially as the “golden handcuffs.” If you worked there and put up with all the bullshit for long enough to get fully vested, it was a good deal, or seemed like a good deal anyway.
But at a certain point it’s not worth destroying your mental and physical health for #kaiser’s “golden handcuffs,” no matter how generous those retirement benefits may be.
And, you know, when the Kaiser leadership gets kind of stupid and doesn’t even offer the golden handcuffs anymore…
BREAKING: Kaiser Permanente workers just launched the largest healthcare strike in US history. It’s time for Kaiser to stop paying their CEO over $10 million and pay their staff a livable wage. #SolidaritySeason
ATTENTION! #Kaiser has gotten the updated #Covid#vaccine. Unfortunately in SF they are not dispensing it by appointment, rather you need to show up at the flu clinic and see if they've got shots available. Seems like an awesome system. [Edit: I am not a public health expert, so possibly it is a better distribution system? Weigh in].
"Unless a deal is struck, more than 75,000 health workers will walk out for three days from Oct. 4-7, disrupting care for KP patients in California, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. The unions represent a wide range of KP health workers, including lab technicians, phlebotomists, pharmacists, optometrists, social workers, orderlies, and support staff."
Just got my COVID booster and everything hurts. But what hurts worse was the pharmacist telling me that she had to turn away people WHO WANTED THE SHOT because their insurance providers wouldn't cover it (manufacturers are charging ~$120*).
If your insurance provider won't cover this (or if you don't have insurance) the CDC's Bridge Access Program can help! It covers no-cost COVID-19 vaccines until 12/31/24, info here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html
@laminda Does where you get the shot matter? For example, #Kaiser not covering it if you get it outside of their facilities, when they’re currently not offering any appointments?
80,000 Kaiser workers prepare for strike authorization vote.This, as 150,000 autoworkers have recently authorized a strike. And 177 other U.S. strikes this month, alone.