Senate Panel Eyeing Health Co-Ops to Serve 12 Million

[jefferson_dem]

Senate Panel Eyeing Health Co-Ops to Serve 12 Million (Update1)

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By Laura Litvan

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Finance Committee is considering a system of nonprofit health-care cooperatives that would cover 12 million people and receive $6 billion in federal startup funds, Senator Kent Conrad said.

“They say that this would very early on get 12 million” people covered, Conrad told reporters in Washington today. He said the plan could be operated on a state, regional or national approach. Actuaries have said the co-ops would become the third- largest provider of insurance in the country, he said. The Obama administration hasn’t signed on to the plan, Conrad said.

The secretary of health and human services would appoint an interim board to oversee the co-ops, Conrad said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=arrJ7R3CbF18

[lyonn]

1. Would that work anything like local electric co-ops?

We have a farm and at the barn area we have service through a co-op. They have replaced our meter several times through the years and at one time we had an $800. elec. bill on our home, total elec., but still? They eventually replaced the meter and our bill dropped by hundreds of dollars. Our home was destroyed by a tornado so we built on a different part of our property where we could get service from the regular elec. co. and our bills are more consistent and reliable.

Awfully wordy but I haven't had a good experience with a co-op. To make matters worse, the City won't allow us to change from co-op to City. Oh the council is busy, busy screwing the people for the corps, etc..

[Autumn]

3. I don't like my electric co-op

their service is lousy and so is their billing.

[DrToast]

2. What's sad is that's more than the public option would cover in the House bill. nt

[Mass]

4. The problem is that at this point, what they would cover and the costs are very unclear.

They should be less expensive than private companies as they do not have to cover shareholder benefits, but things like who defines salaries for executives, who negotiates prices with providers and how many providers they can attract are very dubious.

I am ready to reserve my POV until Conrad puts his plan on the table, but I find really disappointing that so many are ready to accept such a plan without even knowing what it is.

Rockefeller had some pretty negative things to say about co-ops:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2815702120090728

"I have done a lot of reading on the history of co-ops and it is not a nice history," Senator John Rockefeller told reporters after a closed-door meeting of Democrats.