[kosherhurricane]

Kaiser is non profit. They dont have shareholders and no dividends. The 1B net income that year is because some years they run a deficit.

If the workers get paid more through this strike, it will translates directly to higher prices.

Even after that, Kaiser will stay a low cost provider. Becasue they are non-profit.

[droopyEyelids]

The math of health providers is always super sketchy, because they 'donate' their emergency service to the indigent at a non-discounted rate and deduct that from their profits.

Aside from the fact that those non-discounted rates are astronomically high in the USA, they also don't have to worry about anyone analyzing the list of services provided, so the medical billing errors in the provider's favor don't have a chance of being questioned.

Large medical provider accounting is right next to Hollywood accounting in the staggering games played with profit, expense, and loss.

[lotsofpulp]

> The math of health providers is always super sketchy, because they 'donate' their emergency service to the indigent at a non-discounted rate and deduct that from their profits.

This makes no sense. If they are the healthcare provider, then services provided to the indigent go in the expenses column, and revenue is in the revenue column.

And you cannot “deduct” anything from profit, it is literally all revenues minus all expenses. And also Kaiser is a non profit.

[runako]

> If the workers get paid more through this strike, it will translates directly to higher prices.

Has Kaiser not raised prices for health insurance premiums or other fees since 2020? Because that would be notable and they absolutely should lead with that.

My suspicion is they didn't mention that because they have been raising the fees they charge their customers faster than they have been raising wages, like many employers.

Either way, it doesn't matter all that much if their wages aren't keeping pace with inflation. That would almost definitionally lead to the kind of labor shortages described in the article.

[gshubert17]

I've had the same Medicare advantage plan with Kaiser in Colorado since 2019: My monthly costs for Kaiser, and then for Medicare part B:

2019: 370.50 135.50

2020: 360.50 144.60

2021: 294.50 148.50

2022: 236.50 170.10

2023: 236.50 164.90

2024: 236.50 ??

Before 2019 I had a different plan. I was retired but not yet eligible for medicare. Prices for such pre-medicare plans have increased significantly over this period. edit fix formatting