Of course, not every co-op has been successful. Minuteman Health in Massachusetts, Evergreen Health Co-op in Maryland, and Oregon’s Health CO-OP were hamstrung by faulty websites. Others wound up on the wrong side of price, such as Arizona’s Meritus Health Partners, which was dramatically undercut by private insurers.
Some, such as the Louisiana Health Cooperative, have already run into trouble. Former CEO Terry Shilling tried to turn it into a money grab for his former health consulting firm, Beam Partners, proposing a four-year contract whereby Beam would receive a $3.3 million consulting fee, a 20 percent performance fee, and up to 50 cents for every person who signed up for the plan.
Moreover, there remains the question of what happens when some of the co-ops inevitably fail. Republicans, who have attempted to subvert Obamacare at every turn, are sure to turn such failures into Benghazi-sized incidents on Fox News. Those on the front lines don’t possess much faith that Obama will have their backs.
“How do you spin that?” Hickey asks. “It is spin, and I’m not trying to be critical, but up until now, the administration hasn’t done a great job of spin on any issue with the Affordable Care Act. So that worries me.”