Posted on 08/18/2009 5:29:27 AM PDT by libstripper
The Obama administration has signaled that it might accept health care cooperatives instead of a government-run health insurance program to compete with private insurers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Group Health in Washington State is an excellent co-op.
Public option by any other name is still UNACCEPTABLE.
Don’t be fooled. This is just another name for “the public option.”
The government will impose rules and regulations and make them as inefficient as the heavily regulated private companies.
The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the idea that a health care overhaul has to include the option of a government-run insurance program. If this public plan is removed from the bills currently under construction in Congress, it could be replaced by nonprofit health insurance plans run on the co-op model, where people who buy the insurance are the ones who own the insurance company.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) is pushing for health co-ops; he sees them as a way to provide competition to conventional insurers without the political negatives of a government-run plan.
But health co-ops as part of a nationwide health care fix are controversial. Robert Laszewski, who heads a Washington, D.C.-area consulting firm, says, "I think they're the single dumbest idea I've heard in 20 years of being in Washington and working on health care policy."
Laszewski says there's no need to promote co-ops. They can already form on their own. As for the nonprofit advantage, he says there are plenty of nonprofit health insurers around, including many of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans. The only difference is that they're run by board members who are appointed, rather than elected. Laszewski says any kind of new insurer will need a lot of cash on hand to line up doctors and hospitals willing to treat patients, and to set up health IT and billing systems.
"Actuaries have figured it will cost about $6 billion to establish the insurance reserve requirements that cooperatives will need, and 12 million people will sign on," Conrad said in an interview with NPR on Monday.
"Those of us who have to count votes know that the public option does not have the votes," he says. But he's confident he can get the votes for co-ops.
But how exactly do health co-ops work? NPR spoke with Pam MacEwan, executive vice president of public affairs with the nation's oldest health cooperative, Group Health Cooperative. Group Health covers 11 percent of the health insurance market in Washington state. It offers various types of insurance, at average or just below average prices. Its HMO was recently ranked the nation's best by Consumer Reports magazine. Here are some excerpts from the interview, edited for clarity:
How does Group Health work?
We are a nonprofit organization, and we're cooperatively governed. The members, that is, the patients, actually elect the board of trustees, and each of our trustees receives care here.
What does that mean for someone who buys health insurance from Group Health?
We consider you a member, and you're eligible to vote in the organization, and you have a say in how we organize care and design benefits. Our members participate in reviews of grievances and in discussion about the benefits packages. Most of the work is done by the board of trustees that's elected by members.
What kind of care do members of Group Health get?
We have really different kinds of packages. You can buy individual coverage for your family with a high deductible that would look very much like any other insurance package. We offer full coverage through employers and Medicare Advantage plans. Some people purchase a policy that allows them to go to any doctor; other people purchase something that's a little more restrictive that just allows them to go to Group Health doctors.
So how would a member feel the difference?
You would feel in control; you have access on e-mail to your doctor; you can make appointments on e-mail; you have access to your medical record. Overall, there's a sense of transparency, with you being in the middle and calling the shots.
Would member-run health co-ops work as part of the overhaul plan in the place of government-run health plans?
I would need to know much more about how they intend to put the cooperative plan together to know if that will be the answer to how we design public plans.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111966287
What kind of history does Medicaid have?
Or the Post Office?
Mennonite Mutual Aid
Samaritan’s Purse
Medishare
Exactly. Does anyone actually believe Washington will fund health care co-ops and then walk away with no strings?
Yes, it is. I work for them and I really love their form of healthcare delivery.
90% or more of our patients wait less than ten minutes for service at the lab, Xray, or pharmacy. We focus on customer service, almost excessively.
We have urgent care facilities around the Puget Sound area in which the wait times are about 1/2 of the local ED wait times.
Group Health recently placed first in a Consumer Reports eval of HMO and HMO-like healthcare groups for the entire country. This eval was done by the consumers themselves.
Ask me any questions about the healthcare co-op I work for, anytime.
We are not on a ship - we are on a life raft and we have to find and choose a ship to board, with some help from the federal government.
This is the least likely to be overpowered by the feds ship and we need to consider it, get involved, and make it the way we want it to be.
But your point is a good one, and that is exactly what we need to demand, that they fund them at the state level and then walk away.
A co-op by nature is self-governed.
Yeah...I don’t understand all the snark from FReepers who aren’t members. I’m a former member, most of my relatives are members.
Co-Ops AREN’T government run. Some suck, but some are excellent and are a viable alternative.
please ping, and thank you for all of your hard work.
It would truly be awesome.
Thanks for your posts here. I understand the concern of the feds running healthcare, but this is the perfect answer - let the consumers run it at the state level.
State and regional make sense to me. State boundaries can be an artificial construct..For example a north-west effort with Oregon, Washington, Idaho MAY make sense, or not. Let a regional effort be in play.
Cordially,
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