ACA and Health Cooperative might revolutionize the industry

[RandomVariable]

There was a banner ad on this site that advertised for a cooperative health organization. I did a little research on the topic. I posted a few weeks about about one of the larger health insurance companies said this would happen but they might not welcome the competition too much. Basically they work as a priceline.com or progressive car insurance, but they do not offer insurance themselves (I am not exactly sure of that). They do the leg work for the customer to find the best plan at the best price. Those "higher premiums" which are one of the Republican's battle cries might be a temporary phenomenon.

Kentucky Health Cooperative claims most of the business on exchange

Morrison also told Hancock that co-ops will save billions for the consumers and taxpayers paying for insurance because of the added competition and lower prices. Premiums are 8.5 percent lower on average in states with co-ops than in states without them. He acknowledged that cause and effect hasn’t been proven, but said “Nobody’s offered another explanation for why that might be true.”

ACA's Co-Op Health Plans Report Varied Enrollment Figures - California Healthline

The sign-up figures have varied sharply among the 23 co-ops, Modern Healthcare reports. For example, a few exchanges reported particularly high enrollment figures, including:

CoOpportunity Health, which operates in Iowa and Nebraska, has enrolled over 50,000 individuals, representing more than 400% of the plans' initial projections for 2014 enrollment;
Kentucky Health Cooperative has enrolled more than 60% of the state's exchange business; and
Maine Community Health Options has enrolled about 80% of the state's exchange enrollments (Modern Healthcare, 2/26).

According to the Times, the health co-ops in Montana, New Mexico and New York also are garnering a larger share of the enrollment market, partly because they have fairly competitive insurance packages and pricing.

Minuteman Health plans to offer broad N.H. network on marketplace in 2015 | Concord Monitor

“We are pleased that marketplace customers are likely to have more choices in 2015 than they do today,” he said, noting that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care officials have also said that company plans to sell policies on the marketplace next year.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only company selling plans on the marketplace for 2014.

That monopoly and some other factors mean “right now, New Hampshire looks like a lot of opportunity,” Policelli said.

“New Hampshire has historically been a difficult market for carriers. Carriers have come in, had a rough time and left,” he said.

“But right now New Hampshire is so heavily consolidated, there’s a real opportunity for a value-oriented carrier to come in and present another opportunity,” Policelli said. “Do we think we are going to have 80 percent market share anytime soon? No, we don’t. Can we present an alternative that will be attractive to many people in the state? We believe we will.”

 

[Boatswain2PA]

The reason these areas are so consolidated is because of the enormous regulations. The same can be said for hospitals who are gobbling up private practices all over the country.

Co-Ops can give smaller companies a chance to collectively act as a larger organization to share the cost of compliance with the regulations. This is one of the few good things about Obamacare.

We should go a step further and allow interstate purchasing of health insurance policies.

Of course, this still does NOTHING to fix the root problem with our health care financing system which is the disconnect between what people GET and what people PAY.

 

[Politico]

They can co-op all they want. That isn't the problem.

 

[Antares]

The sign-up figures have varied sharply among the 23 co-ops, Modern Healthcare reports. For example, a few exchanges reported particularly high enrollment figures, including:

CoOpportunity Health, which operates in Iowa and Nebraska, has enrolled over 50,000 individuals, representing more than 400% of the plans' initial projections for 2014 enrollment;
Kentucky Health Cooperative has enrolled more than 60% of the state's exchange business; and
Maine Community Health Options has enrolled about 80% of the state's exchange enrollments (Modern Healthcare, 2/26).

According to the Times, the health co-ops in Montana, New Mexico and New York also are garnering a larger share of the enrollment market, partly because they have fairly competitive insurance packages and pricing.

I was at a meeting with Co-Op here in Nebraska, they have 7700 members.