Does Group Health hold answers in health-care debate?

The Obama administration last week endorsed health cooperatives like Group Health as a potential alternative to a government-run insurance plan whose aim is to create competition among insurers and slow soaring health-care costs.

even some of Group Health's most ardent admirers warn that replicating the co-op would be difficult — and replicating it quickly practically impossible. Sixty-two years after its founding, Group Health remains one of just two major health cooperatives in the nation. The other is HealthPartners of Bloomington, Minn.

Creating health co-ops, after all, could involve building or assembling new organizations from scratch, including management, ... Full Story »

Posted by Dwight Rousu - via Seattle Times
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Subjects: Politics, U.S., Health
Topics: Health Care
Member Tags: Local News
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Posted by: Posted by Dwight Rousu - Aug 23, 2009 - 6:10 AM PDT
Content Type: Article
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Edited by: Dwight Rousu - Aug 23, 2009 - 12:06 PM PDT

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Fred_gatlin_thumb
3.9
by Fred Gatlin - Aug. 23, 2009

This is an excellent description about coop health care. The key is it is a non-profit company and providers are salaried.

It is my understanding that all Blue Cross Blue Shield companies were mutual insurance companies. That means the company was owned by policy ... More »

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3.2
by Patricia Blochowiak - Aug. 28, 2009

The last I knew, Group Health relied very heavily on primary care physicians, a factor associated with higher quality for lower cost and not mentioned in this rather superficial story.

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4.4
by Dwight Rousu - Aug. 23, 2009

Duhigg presents a balanced thoughtful look at one of two major health care co-ops functioning in the U.S. as a reality check for the co-opting proposal of the blue dogs.

The social outlook of the doctors is critical also. You can't transplant doctors indoctrinated with a culture of greed into a socially oriented ... More »

See Full Review » (13 answers)
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3.9
by Tanya J. Maurer - Aug. 25, 2009
See Full Review » (11 answers)
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by Crystal Barnes - Aug. 26, 2009
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