OPINION: Could nonprofit health insurance plans be the real reformers?

'Consumer Oriented and Operated Plans' have potential to topple the big guys, some say

By Wendell Potter
6:00 am, May 29, 2012 Updated: 6:00 am, May 29, 2012

 

When members of Congress who led the effort to overhaul the U.S. health care system saw the public option slipping away, some of them suggested that a viable alternative would be the fostering of nonprofit health insurance CO-OPs (Consumer Oriented and Operated Plans) throughout the country.

I was among the many who belittled the idea. Having spent two decades in the health insurance industry, I knew how difficult it is for even the biggest insurers to establish a presence in markets where one or two other insurance firms dominate. And there are hardly any markets left where that is not the case.