Congress might consider trying medical co-ops

Herald Leader ^ | July 7th | Kevin Sack

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

On Capitol Hill, those innovations have made Group Health a prototype for a political compromise that could unclog health care negotiations in the Senate and lead to a bipartisan deal. After a month of brainstorming, including briefings from Group Health executives, the Senate Finance Committee seems poised to propose private-sector insurance cooperatives — instead of a new government health plan — as its primary mechanism for stoking competition and slowing the growth of medical costs.

But state officials say Group Health's impact on holding down costs has been mixed. And its successes might have less to do with its governance — by a board that is elected by patients — than with its ownership of a vast network of clinics and specialty care centers.

[wastoute]

WHile AMericans informally subsidize healthcare for illegal aliens, millions of them, through COBRA laws (now EMTALA), making it formal is a step that most of us won't accept. Fixing something by breaking it worse just doesn't make sense and a 6 yr old can understand that.

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[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Is this co op thing just another sop to illegals?

[Man50D]

The coop is another form of government expansion. The current health care bills even modified will create more government expansion. Any such bill needs to be rejected in its entirety.

[InterceptPoint]

If Co-ops are a good idea then we should be able to look around and see them. AFAIK, we don’t. That’s enough for me. The Government needs to stop messing around with the system. They will just screw things up.

[dforest]

This is the Trojan Hose. They are still going to be government run. This is a crafty way of getting it through.

[dforest]

oops I forgot the “r” in horse, now that I think about it, I will just leave it as is.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

————The coop is another form of government expansion.-—————

Not that I doubt you, but a link would be nice.

It’s easier to spread around to others.

In every article I read, it talks about co ops as being individual owned. Reminds me of credit unions.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

————If Co-ops are a good idea then we should be able to look around and see them.—————

That’s not necessarily true. The government at every level has set up a healthcare minefield here. Innovations are very hard in this kind of environment.

————The Government needs to stop messing around with the system. They will just screw things up.-—————

I don’t disagree with you there. My ideal situation would be HSAs and catastropic only.

But for some reason(and I could be wrong which is why I’ve been asking for more info on this topic) the idea of coops doesn’t seem so bad assuming you’re allowed to buy across state lines, and the employer based system is abolished.(taxes changed so individuals get a tax break for buying a co-op)

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

haha, trojan hose.

That’s not necessarily that far off the mark, despite the missing “r”.

:-)

[dforest]

You will notice I saw my typo, but I decided I liked the typo. It was fitting. LOL

[wastoute]

The co-op thing is just an effort to salvage "half a loaf" from what will soon be Zero's failed attempt at healthcare reform.

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[wastoute]

Let me re-state for the umteenth time, "If you hear folks want to have a healthcre reform debate and MSA's aren't part of the debate, quit listening. They aren't serious and have only some other agenda. Do not waste your time or energy either listening or trying to comprehend what they are saying. What they are not saying is much louder than what they are saying. What they are not saying is they don't give a damn about cost control or quality of services. Their only desire is something other than healthcare entirely."

Hint: see Cloward-Piven. This is everything you need to know.

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