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Health Care Cooperatives Thriving

Co-op Care, WFC’s landmark project to encourage the formation of health care purchasing cooperatives, is growing at a rapid rate and is exceeding projections.

Last month, WFC proudly announced that its farmer-based cooperative, the Farmers’ Health Cooperative of Wisconsin (FHCW), is now providing well over 1,000 of the state’s farmers and agri-business employees with affordable, quality health insurance. WFC was hoping to hit the 1,000-member mark after one operating year but easily surpassed the goal in less than three months.

Another Co-op Care health purchasing cooperative, the Healthy Lifestyles Cooperative, is currently providing health insurance and a strong wellness program to nearly 3,000 small-business employees in the Brown County area. The co-op and its insurer, Destiny Health, provides members with financial incentives to encourage them to become healthier and therefore save costs. If enough members participate in the cooperative’s wellness activities, Destiny Health has agreed to cap its rate increases.

After eight months of operation, Healthy Lifestyles is well on its way to meeting its wellness goals. It’s been so successful that the cooperative’s management plans to open the cooperative up to a second pool of interested small businesses and will begin to provide insurance to that group of employees beginning January 1, 2008.

A third Co-op Care cooperative was launched just last month via a strategic partnership between the Wisconsin Medical Society (WMS) and Wisconsin Physicians Service (WPS) health insurance company. Called the Physicians Health Cooperative, the cooperative is open to WMS member physicians and their employees in 14 eastern Wisconsin counties.

A fourth cooperative, one that would be statewide for small employers across Wisconsin, is currently in development. WFC will provide additional information about that cooperative as it becomes available.