Consumer Oriented and Operated [Health Care] Plans

Abstract

Given the recent passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), the current environment represents an opportunity for employers to reevaluate their approaches to health care provision. In this vein, the aim of this article is to explore a possibly significant source of innovation in the provision of health care benefits, the financing of health care coverage and the delivery of health care services: the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP), which is a new choice for employers arising from the PPACA. This article examines whether employers will continue to offer health insurance as a benefit, whether nonprofit employers will develop CO-OPs and whether all employers will encourage their employees to sign up for CO-OPs from among the health plan alternatives in the public exchanges. CO-OPs are found to be a potentially attractive health care alternative that should be considered by various types of organizations.