I think you have a great idea, Jason. It is the basic notion behind the first health insurance and then the HMOs after health insurance became inefficient. The HMO efforts of the last thirty years have not been very effective at being anything other than another insurance company. Their apparent lack of 'success' does not mean that renewed efforts at stemming skyrocketing health care shouldn't be tried, and I agree that the city of Minneapolis is as good as any group to change the tide. Rising health care costs have been at or very near the core of a lot of the problems facing all parts of the city recently. Dan McGuire Ericsson
phaedrus wrote: > I seem to recall my parents had some sort of "Co-op > Homeowners Insurance". Everyone would pay their > premiums, over the year claims would be made, and at > the end of the year, any surplus (after claims and > overhead) would be redistributed to the members (less > claims made). > > I always thought this would be a neat thing to have > and would also work for Health Insurance, but the > tricky part is getting a real big pool of money for > starting so that if you get hit by a lot of claims > early on you can cover them. > > But then I notice: Minneapolis has a lot of health > care expenses and a large part of budgetary problems > are related to this. > > What if we had a Minneapolis Health Care Union? > Basically, have the city become self insured. Then as > a way to start making life better for businesses and > individuals in the city, allow others to join in the > pool. > > Of course, we'd need to hire some experts in setting > the premium costs based on risks (like smokers should > pay more than non-smokers), but even if it isn't done > perfectly, as long as more money is collected than > paid out, and the surplus is proportionally > redistributed to the payers (city, businesses, and > individuals) at the end of the year, it should work > out fairly well! > > I actually believe that having a number of health care > unions could be superior than a national health > coverage in some ways (although I can see some bad > things too), and why not have Minneapolis start it? > Even if national is the way to go, start it out local > in a way we can afford... > > So, anybody think these are good ideas, or am I > becoming one of those crazy folks that spout lots of > idealistic but unworkable plans? > > * MHCU (Minneapolis Health Care Union) > > Oh, and as long as I'm at it: > > * Bidding preference to worker-owned businesses > (followed by actively owned businesses) > * Bidding preference to locally-owned businesses > (followed by regionally owned businesses) > * IRV (Instant Runoff Voting) > > Seriously, some feedback and criticism would be > nice... Am I crazy or are any of these the sort of > things politicians may wish to add to their platforms? > > - Jason Goray > Sheridan, NE > > (whoops, forgot to spell check the last post. dang.) > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL > PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
