Health Insurance Co-ops: Good or Bad?

[ShowMeLiberty]

So the Blue Dog Dems came out with a different proposal for "health care reform" using private, non-profit co-ops instead of government-run insurance to get a majority of people covered.

I've been looking for any reasoned arguments against this plan because it actually sounds like a good idea to me. I haven't read the actual text of the bill (can't find that either) but for now I'm leaning in favor of this.

What would be wrong with private, non-profit organizations that small businesses and individuals could join in order to negotiate with health insurance companies as a large group to get group premiums similar to those the largest employers enjoy today?

Anybody have anything solid against it?

[He Who Pawns]

I've always wondered about having credit-union style healthcare, where the union itself is not motivated by profit. My credit union is AWESOME, like 10 times better than my bank. Lower loan rates, better service, etc.

The main things we need, though, are tort reform, and to move away from insurance paying for everything to insurance only paying for catastrophic bills, like $5,000 and above. Health Savings Accounts can cover the amount up to 5K.

[ShowMeLiberty]

I've always wondered about having credit-union style healthcare, where the union itself is not motivated by profit. My credit union is AWESOME, like 10 times better than my bank. Lower loan rates, better service, etc.

The main things we need, though, are tort reform, and to move away from insurance paying for everything to insurance only paying for catastrophic bills, like $5,000 and above. Health Savings Accounts can cover the amount up to 5K.

Tort reform would be a big step. Somewhere on the http://www.doctorsonstrike.com/ site it talks about replacing the malpactrice tort system with a malpractice compensation board similar to the worker's compensation board for work-related injuries. That might be a better answer.

IIRC, the same Blue Dog bill had things in it like allowing HSA's up to an amount like 5K and giving people a tax credit for having them. It also removes the penalty taxes on people and small businesses who don't have/provide insurance coverage.

They'd still have to remove about 900+ pages of god-knows-what from the final bill to make it acceptable, but I think these Blue Dog amendments are definitely the right direction to go if "reform" is seriously the goal.

[TastyWheat]

Based on this article from Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56T5VJ20090730), insurance co-ops have been tried before and failed. Maybe they'll succeed this time because of the greater demand for low-cost insurance, or maybe they'll succeed because of the billions the government will put forth in order to start them.

Supporters of this idea may think that once the ball is rolling the government will be "hands off" and let the co-ops do their thing just like Amtrak and GM. My faith in the government hasn't been swayed as of yet so I don't support the idea.

HSA improvements and tort reform are about the only good ideas put forth so far.

[ShowMeLiberty]

Bump for your thoughts.