Can Health Coops Do The Job Of A Public Plan?

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 23 Jun 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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"Perhaps the clearest sign yet of the unpredictable nature of… an ambitious [health care] policy overhaul is the approach that is suddenly starting to emerge on Capitol Hill as an alternative to a public plan - non-profit, consumer run health insurance cooperatives," Time reports. "Despite no public debate on the issue and scant knowledge about how health cooperatives could be set up - not to mention what they would cost, how many people they could insure and, most importantly, how they could bring down the overall cost of health care - the Senate finance committee appears to have tentatively signed on to the concept; a 10-page outline of a plan drafted by the powerful panel included a proposal for such cooperatives - a little understood concept proposed by" Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. Conrad "has admitted he came up with the idea after giving up hope that bi-partisan legislation was possible if a public health insurance plan was included" (Pickert, 6/22).

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told The Associated Press, "I don't think I could say with a straight face that this (co-op proposal) is at all close to a nationwide public option…Right now, this co-op idea doesn't come close to satisfying anyone who wants a public plan." Schumer also said "Finance Republicans had rejected several proposals designed to beef up the suggested nonprofit insurance co-ops. These included setting up a national structure for the co-ops, $10 billion in government seed money, power to negotiate payment rates to medical providers nationwide and creation of a presidentially appointed board of directors. Without 'dramatic' changes, Schumer said he would oppose the co-ops deal and urge other Democrats to do so as well" (Alonso-Zaldivar).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

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