On Coops, even through the FEHBP, an insurance plan through a coop is around $15,600 a year, this is not money savings, it is up there with all the other insurers that offer plans to federal employee's. I will agree that there may be fewer claims against them as far as denials because of the variety of specialties that they employ. But the reason we left Group Health is that they had no Graves Disease Specialists, they only had Diabetes Specialists, I had to go to a plan that would allow me to use the Endocrine Center at the UW, where the few Graves Specialists practice in the Northwest. Co-ops have limitations and they certainly are no cheaper than other providers. The difference for me is, if my insurance refuses to pay a claim, I have the full force of federal requirements and the OPM backs me up. I know because I've used them and always had those refused claims paid. Most of you don't have the feds forcing insurers to pay claims.

Grayson Fever -- Get It. Nicely Said!

Bingo! Couldn't agree with you more.

Scares the "profits" right out them, they know they all have a corner on the market. I have tons of choices in our insurance offerings as my husband is a federal employee, amazingly though all the plans offering high coverage are priced the same.... right around $15,600 a year, an no it does not cover plastic surgery or anything like that.

But we are going to get a public option, because we are going to keep the pressure up on our representatives. They know who votes, and with all this real time dissent, it is causing our Reps to pay attention to what we are saying. AHIP can take a hike, they are the enemy, the problem for them is we all know it.

I hope your sister is going to be Ok!

And I agree with your nutritional supplement screed, nothing, nothing is better than a balanced diet and exercise. I like to do a minimum of 90 minute cardio and light with lots of reps weights... 4-5 days a week... I am addicted to my heart rate monitor though, I cannot leave home to ride or lift without it!!!!!

He is confusing you with me! Hahahahaha... but I stand by my czar statement!

I shall re-quote for NOB another member of the G-No-P

"Good luck with your teabaggers love of the right wing Czar of mental midgets Glenn Beck"!

Hahahaha, they just don't like how easy it is to make fun of their rather large egg shaped idols, who use the oldest acting trick in the book (in Hollywood) to create tears, duh, OH NOES, Vicks Vapor Rub, what an old trick! I wonder if these guys also know Preparation H is used to get rid of bags under ones eyes. Glenn Beck = marginal actor, his listeners = dumb.

OMG He uses Hollywood tricks, I wonder if Glenn Beck is a secret liberal..... hahahahahaha probably. I am sure he is a clown and knows how to keep his rather low IQ audience enthralled, it is what actors do best.

Ok dufus, when I listen to the radio, like more normal people, I listen to music. Talk radio is for mental midgets who can't think for themselves. Why are you such an angry little old white guy. (how do I know this, I've looked at pictures of your party, your all old angry white guys)

So good luck with your teabaggers love of the right wing Czar of mental midgets Glenn Beck!

501(c)(15) is the designation Mutual Insurance Companies or Associations.

As a former member of a health care cooperative I have seen both the good and the bad in non-profit cooperatives. However, the cooperative insurance costs for a family, a comprehensive plan still costs $15,600.00 per year. Yes it is a non-profit corporation. How is this affordable? A non-profit cooperative is still a health care plan, they may own their own hospitals and physicians may work for the organization, yet costs are still quite large.

Let us also make clear what a non-profit organization is, it seems intellectually dishonest that you do not make clear in your article what a non-profit organization is:

A non profit organization is and IRS designation for tax purposes. A 501(c)(3) Organization is the IRS designation for non-profit organizations. This is a federal tax exemption status, but does not preclude a non-profit from raking in the bucks, it just means at the end of the tax year all the profits must be spent. I once worked for an educational non-profit that raked in the bucks, so at the end of the fiscal year we were given $1,000.00 bonuses for each year we'd worked at the org. One year I received 7,000.00 in an end of the year bonus.

Non-Profit rules:

A nonprofit corporation should be organized when the intent is to pursue a religious, charitable, educational, literary or scientific purpose permitted under 501(c)(3) of the tax code. The specific purpose of the nonprofit corporation must be properly set forth in its articles of incorporation so that nonprofit and tax-exempt status may be obtained.

There is much information out there about 501(c)(3) organizations. But as i said this does not preclude a non-profit from making all kinds of money, they just must end their fiscal year with no profits on paper.

So cooperatives, non-profit or not are still quite expensive and they don't save money, they cost the same as any for-profit insurance costs. So where Mr. Hill is the money saving?

Public insurance is the only way to lower costs and introduce competition. This is a given.

So now what have we learned Mr. Hill, we have learned that a 501(c)(3) corp costs just as much as a for profit health corp. That isn't going to help us at all Mr. Hill, nor is it a game changer in health reform, it just promotes our already existing insurance system. What insurance company hired you to write this, Kaiser, Group Health? Just wondering.