Comments on: Co-Op Health Plans and the Politics of the Surreal http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/2009/06/12/co-op-health-plans-and-the-politics-of-the-surreal/ Inside view on the business of healthcare Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:12:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Carl Mercurio http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/2009/06/12/co-op-health-plans-and-the-politics-of-the-surreal/#comment-299 Carl Mercurio Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:08:43 +0000 http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/?p=1722#comment-299 More than 30 Blues plans are not-for-profit. They serve something like 40 million lives. Add in not-for-profits like Kaiser, Group Health, Harvard Pilgrim, HealthPartners, etc...and a big portion of the health insurance industry is not-for-profit. There is also no shortage of examples of group health purchasing coalitions (including lots of failures). But the real question is whether this co-op proposal solves the problem at hand. I'm having a hard time seeing it. That said, Carl McDonald of Oppenheimer has some good comments on the whole co-op concept and how it might work. http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/2009/06/15/co-op-health-plan-idea-raises-lots-of-questions/ More than 30 Blues plans are not-for-profit. They serve something like 40 million lives. Add in not-for-profits like Kaiser, Group Health, Harvard Pilgrim, HealthPartners, etc…and a big portion of the health insurance industry is not-for-profit. There is also no shortage of examples of group health purchasing coalitions (including lots of failures). But the real question is whether this co-op proposal solves the problem at hand. I’m having a hard time seeing it. That said, Carl McDonald of Oppenheimer has some good comments on the whole co-op concept and how it might work.

http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/2009/06/15/co-op-health-plan-idea-raises-lots-of-questions/

]]> By: coopgeek http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/2009/06/12/co-op-health-plans-and-the-politics-of-the-surreal/#comment-295 coopgeek Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:23:21 +0000 http://blog.corporateresearchgroup.com/?p=1722#comment-295 One thing you seem to have missed is that the Blues aren't nonprofits, which seems pertinent. According to wikipedia, they are franchisees with a variety of ownership structures. In any case, the largest is Wellpoint, which is in 14 states and covers 35 million people, and is also part of the S&P 500 index: www.wellpoint.com/business/default.asp However, you are right that there are other nonprofits out there (Kaiser, for example). I just did an overview of the cooperative ones over at my blog. Please drop by and comment. One thing you seem to have missed is that the Blues aren’t nonprofits, which seems pertinent.

According to wikipedia, they are franchisees with a variety of ownership structures. In any case, the largest is Wellpoint, which is in 14 states and covers 35 million people, and is also part of the S&P 500 index: http://www.wellpoint.com/business/default.asp

However, you are right that there are other nonprofits out there (Kaiser, for example). I just did an overview of the cooperative ones over at my blog. Please drop by and comment.

]]>