Monthly Archives: June 2009

Health care and culture wars

Posted on June 29, 2009 by coopgeek

Creation of a public plan for health care has the potential to open a new front in the culture wars, by forcing the nation to decide whether coverage should include controversial procedures like abortion. The potential for conflict does not necessarily mean that we should avoid … Continue reading →

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A closer look at Group Health Cooperative

Posted on June 27, 2009 by coopgeek

In the interest of better understanding Group Health Cooperative (GHC), I’ve contacted the Group Health Center for Health Studies to ask about their co-op’s experience and what it tells them about the prospects for cooperative-based health care reform. I first spoke with … Continue reading →

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New polls needed

Posted on June 24, 2009 by coopgeek

It has been claimed that 75% of people support a public health care plan over any alternative, including the creation of co-ops. The general implication seems to be that Congress should not be looking at other options due to the will … Continue reading →

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How to start a health care cooperative

Posted on June 23, 2009 by coopgeek

Let’s step back from whether we think that health care co-ops would be an acceptable substitute for a public plan, and focus on how to make them as useful and effective as possible if they are the chosen plan. This will help … Continue reading →

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The co-op plan can’t work?

Posted on June 22, 2009 by coopgeek

The “co-op plan” for health care reform is barely a week old as a concept, and only days old as a draft proposal by the Senate Finance Committee, but already many have declared that it can’t work. These claims have often … Continue reading →

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Blog shift

Posted on June 21, 2009 by coopgeek

Due to the urgent need to inject some good information into the health care reform debate, I’m cross-posting my blog at the Daily Kos: http://andrewmcleod.dailykos.com/ I’ll be posting the same content here, but if you are in the mood for discussion (which … Continue reading →

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A few words on the health care co-op plan

Posted on June 19, 2009 by coopgeek

The Wall Street Journal ran a story on the Senate Finance Committee’s draft health care reform proposal, which claims that the proposed insurance cooperatives would “see direct oversight from the Health and Human Services secretary, who would (have) authority to … Continue reading →

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Healthcare, government, and control

Posted on June 19, 2009 by coopgeek

Stop the presses! It appears that the Senate Finance Committee has released a draft health care reform proposal that features cooperatives instead of a public plan. The proposal includes grants for risk capitalization and loans for start-up costs. I was starting to wonder if co-ops … Continue reading →

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Healthcare cooperatives – pro or con?

Posted on June 18, 2009 by coopgeek
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Healthcare cooperative history

Posted on June 15, 2009 by coopgeek

It seems that a national debate on healthcare cooperatives has begun, sparked by a proposal from Sen. Kent Conrad to create not-for-profit cooperatives to compete with investor-owned companies. My last post exaimined current models of cooperative healthcare; I would like to … Continue reading →

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