Cool -- I agree that a network-focused health care operation would be great. This would be akin to an idea we proposed to one of our clients in offering people the infrastructure to create their own phone company; given the raw materials and APIs, something similar could be worked out for the coworking community.
Now, I'll couch that concept in an idealist cacoon and realize that the laws and regulations around healthcare make it fairly improbable, but... What about taking a different approach? What about a Coworkers Union paired with an Independent Doctors and Caregivers network? Again, pie-in-the-sky thinking here, but surely there are docs out there who don't want the HMO lifestyle and who would be interested in serving our constituents needs? I mean, to wax philosophic, isn't this really about independence in general and "getting off the grid/treadmill/HMO plan"? Isn't our work all about creating a new economy that values and rewards those who remain independent and pursue making a living doing what they love to do? Perhaps we should take this mantra outside the social geek scene and start approaching those folks who might be able to co-facilitate our mutual independence? Chris On 3/7/07, Samuel Rose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I don;t think it's a tall order. It's a vital needed service, IMHO. > > I was wondering when this would come up in Coworkign circles. I've > been talking with some other independent entreprenuers about the > prospect of creating a cooperative-governed Health Care Union for > people in the US. I have some research on existing Health care Union > models. It was on my ToDo list to create launch a wiki site to explore > this some more, too. > > Coworking as movement in the US maybe does not yet have the numbers to > create a Health Care Union. But then again, maybe the idea would take > off and grow exponentially among people interested. It's worth > exploring. > > It's probably generally optimal to have a Cooperative-based health > care union be local or regional based. But I wonder if, in this day > and age of virtual connection, whether it can also be network-based, > local to a network of people? > > It would be awesome to have a system that a network of people could > easily adopt for starting up their own health care union, and maybe > aligning it/connecting it with a federation of health care unions for > coworking indepenedents. > > Either way, I'll be researching this at > http://socialsynergyweb.net/cgi-bin/wiki/HealthCareUnion/FrontPage > > But, if Coworking folks are also interested in this, I'll be sure to > also create it simultaneously into the Coworking wiki, too. > > On 3/7/07, coworking group <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Date: Tues, Mar 6 2007 7:18am > From: "Chris Messina" > > > Can we maybe create a page on the wiki to start documenting > resources, > ideas and the like? I don't know that we'll find a one-solution > that > fits all, but starting with educating ourselves would be great. > > http://wiki.coworking.info/Healthcare > > I also agree that geography is an issue to consider -- so it might > also help to document what people have done in different places... > Where the local goverment helps out, etc -- perhaps as a > namespaced > extension: CoworkingBrooklynHealthcare or something. > > In the long term, it'd be ideal if coworking community members > were > given at least three solid choices for affordable care -- and > that, > together, we could lower the rates for everyone by harnessing our > collective purchasing power. > > It's a tall order, but no one seems to be likely to do it for us. > > Chris > > > > Sam Rose > Social Synergy > Tel: +1-517-699-5594 > Cel: +1-517-242-7783 > AIM: Str9960 > Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samrose > skype: samuelrose > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://socialsynergyweb.com > http://socialsynergy.typepad.com > http://socialsynergyweb.net/cgi-bin/wiki/FrontPage > > Related Sites/Blogs/Projects: > > > > http://p2pfoundation.net > http://blog.p2pfoundation.net > http://www.cooperationcommons.com/cooperation-commons > http://smartmobs.com > > > > > -- Chris Messina Citizen Provocateur & Open Source Ambassador-at-Large Work: http://citizenagency.com Blog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog Cell: 412 225-1051 Skype: factoryjoe This email is: [ ] bloggable [X] ask first [ ] private --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
