August 17th, 2009

Reports the Express-Times:

One area lawmaker says he is ready to listen and learn about President Barack Obama’s latest health care proposal that would drop a government-run insurance system in favor of not-for-profit cooperatives.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, said he has questions about the proposal, but would hear out the Obama administration on the plan.

“I don’t know what these cooperatives will look like,” Dent said Sunday.

Foremost, Dent said he wants to know how the proposed insurance cooperatives would differ from nonprofit insurers, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which are already established in the private marketplace.

During the August recess, lawmakers from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind.

Obama had wanted the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation’s almost 50 million uninsured, but didn’t include it as one of his core principles of reform.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a government alternative to private health insurance is “not the essential element” of the administration’s health care overhaul. The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory.

Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own.

With $3 billion to $4 billion in initial support from the government, the co-ops would operate under a national structure with state affiliates, but independent of the government. They would be required to maintain the type of financial reserves that private companies are required to keep in case of unexpectedly high claims.

Read more at the Express-Times.