{"id":3101,"date":"2015-10-27T07:35:54","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T13:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=3101"},"modified":"2015-10-27T07:46:52","modified_gmt":"2015-10-27T13:46:52","slug":"money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html","title":{"rendered":"Money doesn’t grow on trees, and other “healthcare co-op” surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This, from Sunday\u2019s Chicago Tribune, \u201cInsurance startup\u2019s slowdown discouraging<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n

The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across the country has raised concerns about the future of Land of Lincoln Health as it enters its third year of open enrollment Nov. 1. . . .<\/p>\n

Land of Lincoln was set up by the federal government to provide an alternative for individuals and small businesses in Illinois, one of the least competitive health insurance markets in the country, according to the American Medical Association. . . .<\/p>\n

The challenges Land of Lincoln faces are partly out of its control, Montrie said. Under President Barack Obama\u2019s health care law, insurance companies must sell policies equally to everyone, regardless of medical history. The Affordable Care Act established three programs to protect insurers, including giants like Blue Cross, UnitedHealth Group and Aetna, from the financial risk of ending up with an unhealthy pool of customers.<\/p>\n

But one of the programs known as risk corridors became the subject of political debate last year after some Republican lawmakers called it a massive bailout that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars. In a 2015 budget bill, Congress specified that the risk corridors program had to be self-financing, meaning that the payments to the insurers could not exceed collections from those that made money on their marketplace business. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, it\u2019s not news that the co-ops are struggling, if not failing; Megan McArdle had a brief write-up on this not long ago<\/a>. \u00a0It was a fantasy that the big bad insurance companies had it within their power to provide lower prices and better customer service but just chose to spend all that money on executive bonuses instead, due to cartel-like price-fixing, so that all you needed was to inject a non-profit instead. \u00a0After all, the Blues were originally non-profits, though many have since turned to for-profit status in order (I think) to be able to gain capital by issuing stock, and the article itself recognizes the pitfalls of being a non-profit: \u00a0\u201cIf it added more customers, Land of Lincoln would need more capital to meet regulatory requirements, Montrie said. As startups and nonprofit companies, co-ops are finding it very challenging to raise additional money.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the story of the co-ops\u2019 failures has been well-documented. \u00a0Besides which, the sole comment on this story points to the \u201cLand of \u00a0Lincoln\u201d facebook page, in which multiple \u201cvisitor posts\u201d complain about exceedingly poor customer service.<\/p>\n

But what surprises me is this:<\/p>\n

That anyone\u2019s surprised at this turn of events.<\/p>\n

That the \u201crisk corridors\u201d were perceived of not as a risk management mechanism, but as flat-out subsidies.<\/p>\n

And that these entities are, apparently, not true co-ops; that is, the name \u201cco-op\u201d is officially an acronym for \u201cConsumer Operated and Oriented Plans.\u201d \u00a0A co-op is a specific type of member organization; see this lengthy treatment in Wikipedia<\/a>. \u00a0I tend to think of co-ops in the U.S. primarily in terms of farmers and grain elevators. \u00a0Now, Land of Lincoln as a corporate entity is a mutual insurance company<\/a>, and, so far as I can tell, operates under the same governance structure as any other such organization, but what really distinguishes it is that it got its start up funds of $160 million from the federal government. \u00a0Other than that, so far as I can tell, its corporate structure is the same as any other mutual insurer (here\u2019s a list, from wikipedia<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This, from Sunday\u2019s Chicago Tribune, \u201cInsurance startup\u2019s slowdown discouraging\u201c: The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across the country has raised concerns about the future of Land of Lincoln Health as it enters its third year of open enrollment Nov. 1. . . . Land of Lincoln was set up by the federal government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMoney doesn't grow on trees, and other "healthcare co-op" surprises<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This, from Sunday's Chicago Tribune, "Insurance startup's slowdown discouraging": The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Money doesn't grow on trees, and other "healthcare co-op" surprises\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This, from Sunday's Chicago Tribune, "Insurance startup's slowdown discouraging": The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-27T13:35:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-27T13:46:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html\",\"name\":\"Money doesn't grow on trees, and other \\\"healthcare co-op\\\" surprises\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-27T13:35:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-27T13:46:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"This, from Sunday's Chicago Tribune, \\\"Insurance startup's slowdown discouraging\\\": The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Money doesn’t grow on trees, and other “healthcare co-op” surprises\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Money doesn't grow on trees, and other \"healthcare co-op\" surprises","description":"This, from Sunday's Chicago Tribune, \"Insurance startup's slowdown discouraging\": The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Money doesn't grow on trees, and other \"healthcare co-op\" surprises","og_description":"This, from Sunday's Chicago Tribune, \"Insurance startup's slowdown discouraging\": The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-10-27T13:35:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-27T13:46:52+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html","name":"Money doesn't grow on trees, and other \"healthcare co-op\" surprises","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-27T13:35:54+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-27T13:46:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"This, from Sunday's Chicago Tribune, \"Insurance startup's slowdown discouraging\": The recent demise of several Obamacare-spawned health insurers across","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/money-doesnt-grow-on-trees-and-other-healthcare-co-op-surprises.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Money doesn’t grow on trees, and other “healthcare co-op” surprises"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}