Wisconsin Ag Connection - Wisconsin Co-ops Testify on National Health Care Reform

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Wisconsin Co-ops Testify on National Health Care Reform
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 04/24/2009

Cooperative Network President and CEO Bill Oemichen was in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to tell federal lawmakers how cooperatives can be an effective player in the effort of providing better health care policies in this country. During a testimony on national health care reform before the Committee on Education and Labor's Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee, Oemichen testified on behalf of the Alliance for Employee Benefit Cooperatives in support of federal reforms that would allow small employers, their employees, and their families to gain greater access to affordable, quality health insurance coverage through the formation of cooperatives.

"We all know that a critical piece of the health care puzzle is the need to expand coverage among small businesses and their employees," said Oemichen. "Employee benefit cooperatives, a private-sector solution designed to meet this need, would level the playing field for small businesses."

An employee benefit cooperative would provide health care and other benefits to the employees of its shareholder-members. Small employers would join a cooperative that would be the aggregating vehicle used to purchase and deliver health insurance benefits to the employees of its member businesses.

Oemichen points out the success of Wisconsin health care co-ops as examples of how the cooperative model can succeed.

"Our cooperative model is currently providing health insurance coverage to farmers and agribusinesses via the Farmers' Health Cooperative of Wisconsin which contracted with Aetna to begin providing coverage in April of 2007," said Oemichen. "The cooperative has successfully used the power of group purchasing to negotiate low renewal rate increases of less than 10 percent each year, provide first-dollar coverage of preventive care up to the first $500, and ensure that farm-related accidents are covered by health insurance."

At the hearing, members of Congress from Illinois, Minnesota, Tennessee and New Jersey expressed interest in pursuing the use of cooperatives to provide access to affordable quality health insurance.

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