I'm with Kaiser too. They do all right. I use to say that Kaiser is great for healthy people. The premium is the best of any plan our employer offers. They've changed their tune the past five or so years, at least in the SoCal area, couldn't say about up your way. They're a lot more proactive these days. Almost to the point that they are starting to annoy me. I've had the same doc for 33 years and he takes pretty good care of me. But, the urgent care people are different. Just be firm and insistent. They'll take care of you.

Back in '01 I had a third degree A-C separation in my left shoulder, thanks to an "improper right turn" by a pickup truck. Doc said it was a coin-toss as far as surgery, and surgery didn't have a good track record for actually improving things. So I elected not to go under the knife. Recovery was uncomfortably slow (typical for soft-tissue injuries), and that shoulder will never be 100%, but it works well enough. I'm confident I made the right choice.

SP
OC, OR

I never learned how to fall by rolling. In '85 I was bumped off the road just before one of those traffic calming bollards they have in the UK - put my arm out - pop>Type two on my left. In '91, first day of a 2 week tour from St. Johnsbury, wifelet stopped short right in front of me> over the handlebars> on right type 3 separation. ER doc says "too bad, you'll be deformed". No ops on either, just PT slowly building ROM and strength - did it for me. Neither look bad now, and there's not much appreciable shoulder drop on the worst one. I don't think that it took me more than a year of strengthening to get to greater than 90% again. OK, I was younger... more anabolism going on back then.