In This Together
Are the new
consumer-owned
health plans about
medicine or money?
BY ALLISON BELL
NANDINI PILLAI KUehN would liketohelpstarta consumerop- erated and oriented Plan (
co-oP) for New Mexico, and what she has
read about the program troubles her.
sen. Kent conrad, D-N.D., proposed
adding the co-oP provisions in section
1322 to the Patient Protection and Affordable care Act of 2010 (PPAcA) back when
Democrats ran both the house and the
senate, to provide an alternative for Democrats who wanted to create a “Medicare
for all” public health plan option.
A co-oP is supposed to be a non-
profit, tax-exempt, member-owned health
insurer that will sell individual and family
health insurance through the new health
insurance exchanges that are set to open
in 2014.
PPAcA section 1322 tells the co-oP
“to use any profits to lower premiums,
improve benefits, or for other programs
intended to improve the quality of health
care delivered to its members.”
But a core co-oP principle is, “sol-
vency and the financial stability of cover-
age should be maintained and promoted,”
according to draft regulations released by
the U.s. Department of health and hu-
