New York Representative Anthony Weiner is my new hero. It’s clearly time for a single payor system and it appears that progressives are finally getting the courage to speak up for it. There is no rationality in a system that syphons health care dollars off as profits to big insurance corporations. Kudos to Rachel Maddow for prominently featuring this issue.
There is a third option for health insurance that is being totally ignored by the media. That is the concept of providing consumer healthcare through cooperatives.
A cooperative is structured somewhat like a corporation except that its shares are only available to its customers and are not publicly traded. Dividends are paid to all share holders.
This business model is used in Credit Unions, Farmer's co-ops, in rural utilities for electricity, water. and phone services.
Health cooperatives have been tried, under the name Health Management Organizations (HMO's). To control costs, they limit options.
Dan, HMO's are not Co-ops. They are subsidiaries of for profit insurance corporations such as Humana.
Down here in Nashville, we have a mental health clinic that is a co-op. It is a non profit clinic that has worked to provide services to mentally ill patients,many of whom are homeless.
The insurance companies found excuses to drop coverage of most mentally ill patients years ago, and the system of for profit hospitals, insurance companies and HMOs refused to offer needed treatment by requiring large co-pays as a precondition of treatment. All to maximize profits so a few hundred executives can buy their personal islands and private jets.
The <a>Mental Health Co Op of Nashville provides services to these people as a non-profit and is largely funded by charitable organizations and fund raisers.