Group Health becomes Kaiser Permanente next month

Group Health Cooperative of Washington will be no more.   Next month, the name will be replaced and the Kaiser Permanente name will grace the buildings, the billings and even the uniforms of the employees.

In a letter to all 600,000 Group Health members, Susan Mullaney, president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington assured them that they will be able to keep their current plans, premiums and benefits through the remainder of this year.  They will also be able to keep their doctors and their identification number.

In December 2015, Kaiser Permanente acquired Group Health.

Group Health had 600,000 members and revenues of $3.5 billion.  Kaiser Permanente has 10.3 million members in in eight states and revenue of $60 billion.

In exchange for the merger, Kaiser agreed to invest $1 billion dollars over the next decade in Group Health facilities, staff and equipment.