Consumers' cooperative - Health Insurance Co-op?

[SeeHopeWin]

I saw Senator Conrad on CNBC this morning, he argued in favor of this option vs. the Public Option? Why is this not a good thing if we can't get a public option? He said some study showed that this kind of plan can get to over 12 million members real fast, making it a top 3 health insurance plan in the country...Of course, eventually, it can go to 100 million or more if the people like it...etc.

Isn't this similar to a Credit Union, which I think run pretty well? Here is what I found on the topic on Wiki:

Main article: Consumers' cooperative

A consumers' cooperative is a business owned by its customers. Employees can also generally become members. Members vote on major decisions, and elect the board of directors from amongst their own number. A well known example in the United States is the REI (Recreational Equipment Incorporated) co-op, and in Canada: Mountain Equipment Co-op.

The world's largest consumers' cooperative is the Co-operative Group in the United Kingdom, which offers a variety of retail and financial services. The UK also has a number of autonomous consumers' cooperative societies, such as the East of England Co-operative Society and Midcounties Co-operative. In fact the Co-operative Group is something of a hybrid, having both corporate members (mostly other consumers' cooperatives, as a result of its origins as a wholesale society), and individual retail consumer members.

Legacoop<18> in Italy has 414 383 employees, 7 736 210 members and turns over €50Bn per year growing at a steady rate of 4.41%.

Japan has a very large and well developed consumer cooperative movement with over 14 million members; retail co-ops alone had a combined turnover of 2.519 trillion Yen (21.184 billion US dollars ) in 2003/4. (Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union., 2003).

Migros is the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland and keeps the cooperative society as its form of organization. Nowadays, a large part of the Swiss population are members of the Migros cooperative – around 2 million of Switzerland's total population of 7,2 million, thus making Migros a supermarket chain that is owned by its customers.

Coop is another Swiss cooperative which operates the second largest supermarket chain in Switzerland after Migros. In 2001, Coop merged with 11 cooperative federations which had been its main suppliers for over 100 years. As of 2005, Coop operates 1437 shops and employs almost 45,000 people. According to Bio Suisse, the Swiss organic producers' association, Coop accounts for half of all the organic food sold in Switzerland.

EURO COOP is the European Community of Consumer Cooperatives.






I am not defending this option, I am just trying to better understand how it works...etc.

[RDANGELO]

1. I think the big question is whether they will actually materialize

in the firs place. A substantial number of people would have to ban together and raise a significant amount of money just to start if off. The best hope for this is that the states would be able to create them and receive start up money from the federal government.

[PSPS]

2. Insurance co-op is not like a Costco

The whole idea of insurance is based on "pooled risk." The bigger the risk pool, the better the deal. Single-payer would have a risk pool of 300 million (the entire country.) A co-op's risk pool would be too small to effect any meaningful savings.

Further, you will end up in a situation where the private insurance racket will "cherry pick" its members, relegating everyone deemed likely to ever make a claim to the "co-op," further skewing the risk pool. The co-op would quickly become financially unsustainable.

The "co-op" plan is ideal for the private insurance racket because it will both give them a place to "dump" sick people while, at the same time, create an "example" of the evils of public health care because it will fail.

[SharonAnn]

3. The cooperatives would probably be too small in some areas to lower costs.

And separating them into individual entities pits them against behemoths like United Health Care, Aetna, Cigna, etc.

Why not have National Public Plan? Anyone who's against it is trying to weaken or eliminate it.

There is no better alternative.

[The empressof all]

4. I belong to a Health Care Co op

I've been a Group Health member (Seattle) for over twenty years. The Organization started out with Pure intent I believe but at this point in time to claim this will contain costs is a Shell game at best.

I have never had the kinds of troubles I've heard complaints about my Health care Provider. (Sometimes referred to as Group Death in the PNW). I love my Doctors and I credit the providers there with saving my life during a major health crisis. However.... we are small business owners and self pay our insurance...It costs the same as any other provider I would be able to get in WA. (I can't change providers btw...because we are not eligible due to pre-existing conditions) Group Health's rate to Business groups is comparable to any of the other Major Insurance Companies in Seattle.