Health insurance cooperative: Difference between revisions
The Squicks (talk | contribs) The source does not state that Grassley only supports co-ops because of campaign contributions. Your statement " it should be reported" is also pure OR. This won't fly. |
|||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
During a September 2009 report by [[John King]] of [[CNN]], he stated that "[s]upporters know, here in Minnesota and other farm states think co-ops could solve at least a big chunk of the health care 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.<ref>{{citenews|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/06/sotu.01.html|publisher=[[State of the Union with John King]]|date=September 6, 2009|author=[[John King]]|accessdate=September 21, 2009|title=Interview With Senators Klobuchar, Nelson; Interview With Governor Pawlenty}}</ref> |
During a September 2009 report by [[John King]] of [[CNN]], he stated that "[s]upporters know, here in Minnesota and other farm states think co-ops could solve at least a big chunk of the health care 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.<ref>{{citenews|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/06/sotu.01.html|publisher=[[State of the Union with John King]]|date=September 6, 2009|author=[[John King]]|accessdate=September 21, 2009|title=Interview With Senators Klobuchar, Nelson; Interview With Governor Pawlenty}}</ref> |
||
In June 2009, Republican Senator [[Chuck Grassley]] told 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."<ref name=Boston/ |
In June 2009, Republican Senator [[Chuck Grassley]] told 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."<ref name=Boston/> |
||
==Examples== |
==Examples== |
||
Revision as of 22:47, 21 September 2009
A health insurance cooperative is a cooperative entity that has the goal of providing health insurance and is also owned by the people that the organization insures.[1] It is a form of mutual insurance.
United States
In the debate over healthcare reform, health care cooperatives are posited as an alternative to both publicly-funded health care and single-payer health care.
It has been proposed as part of the health care reform debate in the United States by the Barack Obama administration as a possible compromise with Blue Dog Democrats (as well as with Republicans) in the search for universal health care in the United States.[2][3][4] As it is being proposed by President Obama, 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 a non-profit organization.[5]
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 Senator Max Baucus of Montana, who is also the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Finance as "tough enough to keep insurance companies’ feet to the fire."[6] He has proposed a bill that includes a health insurance cooperative instead of the public option.[7]
There once were numerous rural health cooperatives established by the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Most of them closed or merged over the years, generally because they lacked a sufficient economy of scale (i.e., they were too small to function efficiently). Thus, co-operatives currently have so little market share as to be "invisible".[8]
Criticism
Howard Dean and 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.[9] The activist groups SEIU and Moveon.org have also stated their opposition.[10] Prominent economists such as 2008 Nobel Economics Laureate Paul Krugman and Robert Reich have also questioned co-ops ability to become large enough to reduce health care costs significantly. Thus, they both support the public option instead, which they state has strong opposition from the insurance industry.[11][12]
Support
During a September 2009 report by John King of CNN, he stated that "[s]upporters know, here in Minnesota and other farm states think co-ops could solve at least a big chunk of the health care 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.[13]
In June 2009, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley told 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."[9]
Examples
See also
References
- ^ "What Is a Health Insurance Co-op? (Health Insurance Cooperative)" About.com: Patient Empowerment Retrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^ "White House appears ready to drop 'public option'" Retrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^ "White House Appears Open to Insurance Co-ops" New York Times Retrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^ "Chances Dim for a Public Plan" The Wall Street Journal Retrieved on August 18, 2009
- ^ "President Obama Considering Insurance Co-Op" KKTV.com Retrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^ "Co-op Health Plan Emerging as a Senate Option" New York Times Retrieved on August 17, 2009
- ^ "Zen Health Reform" - Slate.com Retrieved September 18, 2009
- ^ Michael R. Grey. New Deal Medicine: The Rural Health Programs of the Farm Security Administration. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1999.
- ^ a b Wangsness, Lisa (June 21, 2009). "Health debate shifting to public vs. private". Boston Globe. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Ibid.
- ^ Robert Reich's recent references to health insurance cooperatives
- ^ Paul Krugman (September 17, 2009). "Baucus and the Threshold". The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ John King (September 6, 2009). "Interview With Senators Klobuchar, Nelson; Interview With Governor Pawlenty". State of the Union with John King. Retrieved September 21, 2009.