Pros
The care providers, both physicians and non-physicians, really care about their patients and the quality of care they provide. In general, they are smart, well-trained, and keep up with new developments in their field. The medical care providers are often doing some of the best research in their field, helping to keep the quality of services very high. Not the cutting (sometimes bleeding!) edge that you might find at major academic medical centers (eg, the UC's or Stanford), but in the top 10% of what you'll find anywhere (including those major medical centers). And just like the old advertisements used to say, there really are good people at KP. It's been great for my professional development.Compared to some corporate environments, and other medical settings, that I'm familiar with, it's my choice for employment by far.
Cons
There is a weird "entitlement" factor associated with the Kaiser culture, both among certain employees and a lot of members. Maybe it's just part of the American culture at large. Some employees seem not to understand that KP is a business, not a social service organization, and don't take personal responsibility for making it a good place to work and a good place to get health care services. They talk about "Kaiser" as though it was the Great and Powerful Oz (the wizard), some nameless, faceless, uncaring entity trying to exploit them and which, in turn, should be exploited. They don't understand that it's a highly competitive world, and to continue to get good pay and great benefits, they and the company they work for have to succeed in that competitive environment. Likewise, some members have similar misconceptions, and want the latest, most costly drugs, tests, and other services, even when there is no evidence those are any better than what has been established, and they want these things at below cost. They don't see a relationship between their premiums (mine too) and the cost of these services. That's one problem with prepaid healthcare. The other big thing for me personally is the discrepancy between the pay and benefits for the MDs vs other providers and people who work alongside them. In fairness, those physicians usually work extremely hard, especially in primary care, but sometimes it seems outrageous what they get that others don't. And the culture is very physician-centric. Some argue that is a strength of KP, as compared to healthcare systems that are run by business people, but that physician-centeredness is often exclusive, just a different version of an 'old boys network' that can cause undercurrents of resentment among others in the organization. And the bureaucracy - yikes! A lot of it has to do with the incredible amount of regulation that healthcare organizations have to deal with, but still, it is slow and cumbersome.