Health insurance cooperative
Ahealth insurance cooperativeis acooperativeentity that has the goal of providinghealth insuranceand is also owned by the people that the organization insures. It is a form ofmutual insurance.
United States[edit]
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In the debate overhealthcare reform,healthcare cooperatives are posited as an alternative to bothpublicly funded healthcareandsingle-payer healthcare.
Cooperatives had been proposed as part of thehealthcare reform debate in the United Statesby theBarack Obama administrationas a possible compromise withBlue Dog Democrats(as well as withRepublicans) in the search foruniversal healthcarein theUnited States.[1][2][3] As proposed byPresidentObamaand others, a future health insurance cooperative would not be government owned or run, but would instead receive an initial government investment and would then be operated as anon-profit organization.[4]
While a health insurance co-op is not strictly run by the government, hence not making it a public entity, it has been described by former SenatorMax BaucusofMontana,who was the chairman of theUnited States Senate Committee on Financeuntil his retirement from the Senate in 2014, as "tough enough to keep insurance companies’ feet to the fire."[5]He proposed a bill that includes a health insurance cooperative instead of thepublic option.[6]
There once were numerous rural health cooperatives established by theFarm Security Administration(FSA). Most of them closed or merged over the years, generally because they lacked a sufficienteconomy of scale(i.e., they were too small to function efficiently). Thus, co-operatives currently have so littlemarket shareas to be "invisible".[7]
The bill proposed byMax Baucus,theAmerica's Healthy Future Act,which uses health insurance cooperatives, was estimated by theCongressional Budget Officeto cost $829 billion over ten years, and because of the increase in taxes of $210 billion over 10 years[8]on premium insurance plans with high benefits, would lead to a reduction in the deficit of $81 billion.[9]It would expand coverage to 94 percent of all eligible Americans.[10]
Support[edit]
During a September 2009 report byJohn KingofCNN,he stated that "supporters know, here in Minnesota and other farm states think co-ops could solve at least a big chunk of the healthcare access and affordability problem." He interviewed Bill Oemichen, President of the Cooperative Network, who remarked that "where co-ops are, they tend to be very, very high quality because it is the consumer who owns them, that is making sure that their health care provider is a quality health care provider." Oemichen also stated that 65% of those who switched from typical health insurance reported better coverage and service.[11]
In June 2009, Republican SenatorChuck Grassleytold reporters, "if it’s all done entirely within the private sector, you know, it doesn’t seem to me it’s got the faults that you have... by having the government institute something."[12]Steven Hill, a program director at theNew America Foundation,has written forSalon.comthat "co-ops may hold the key to a substantive compromise", comparing the U.S. reform proposals withhealth care in Germany.He argued that they can produce quality care for less money given that they would lack theprofit motive,they would negotiate fees for service, and that they would end currentmarket monopoliesthat insurance companies have in several states.[13]
Criticism[edit]
Howard Deanand other Democrats have criticized abandoning the idea of a federally run, statewide, public option in favor of co-ops, questioning whether the co-ops would have enough negotiating power to compete with private health insurers.[12]The activist groupsSEIUandMoveOn.orghave also stated their opposition.[12]2008 Nobel Economics LaureatePaul Krugmanand political commentatorRobert Reichhave also questioned co-ops' ability to become large enough to reduce health care costs significantly. Thus, they both support thepublic optioninstead, which they state has strong opposition from the insurance industry.[14][15]
Examples[edit]
- Everspring Health
- Kentucky Health Cooperative(in Liquidation)
- Evergreen Health Cooperative(in Liquidation)
- Consumers Mutual Health Insurance of Michigan(This website is temporarily unavailable, please try again later.)
- Health Republic Insurance - New York, New Jersey, Oregon
- Nevada Health CO-OP - Nevada(in Liquidation)
- Ithaca Health Alliance
- Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"White House appears ready to drop 'public option'"Retrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^"White House Appears Open to Insurance Co-ops" New York TimesRetrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^"Chances Dim for a Public Plan" The Wall Street JournalRetrieved on August 18, 2009
- ^"President Obama Considering Insurance Co-Op" KKTV.comRetrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^"Co-op Health Plan Emerging as a Senate Option" New York TimesRetrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^"Zen Health Reform" - Slate.comRetrieved September 18, 2009
- ^Michael R. Grey.New DealMedicine: The Rural Health Programs of theFarm Security Administration.Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press.1999.
- ^The Atlantic,"New CBO Score Of Baucus Bill"07 Oct 2009
- ^"The Baucus Bill Cuts The Deficit",The Atlantic Retrieved October 7, 2009
- ^"Health bill would cost $829B, help cover 94 pct"-Seattle TimesRetrieved August 7, 2014
- ^John King(September 6, 2009)."Interview With Senators Klobuchar, Nelson; Interview With Governor Pawlenty".State of the Union with John King.RetrievedSeptember 21,2009.
- ^abcWangsness, Lisa (June 21, 2009)."Health debate shifting to public vs. private".Boston Globe.RetrievedSeptember 21,2009.
- ^"Relax. You'll love healthcare cooperatives! Honest".Salon.12 October 2009.
- ^"Where to find me".
- ^Paul Krugman(September 17, 2009)."Baucus and the Threshold".The New York Times.RetrievedSeptember 21,2009.