So What do Health Care Co-ops Look Like?

If you look around Wisconsin, they’re everywhere

On Sunday, August 23 there was a very informative article in the Wisconsin State Journal on heath care coops and their prevalence in society today. Link-http://www.madison.com/wsj/arch_local/462964

For instance in Wisconsin we have several examples-
Group Health Cooperative (Madison)- provides health care for 62,000 members, owns five clinics. Doctors do not bill by procedure, are paid by salary, and emphasize preventive medicine and alternative therapies. U.S. News and World Report named GHC the 8th best health plan in the country the last 3 years. Their slogan you may have heard is: “Better, Together.”

Group Health Cooperative (Eau Claire)- Similar model as GHC in Madison but they are independent of each other.

The Alliance- is a health care purchasing cooperative made up of 160 employers. It negotiates contracts directly with providers instead of through an insurer. Most of the employer members self-fund their health care.

Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative- This coop, based in Sauk City, is composed of 35 rural hospitals that share services such as technology and quality improvement to maximize rural resources.

The Farmer’s Health Cooperative- consists of 2,700 independent farmer members that access health care through the co-op. The co-op spreads risk among a large group of farmers and contracts with Aetna to offer 6 different benefit plans.

These are all not-for-profit coops that enhance Wisconsin residents access to affordable, quality health care. Building on these models would be a great start.