Healthcare Cooperative Better for Montanans, Said Doctor

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By Kenneth Wong

Story Published: Feb 1, 2012 at 8:31 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 2, 2012 at 3:52 PM MDT

BILLINGS - The state of healthcare, as well as insurance coverage in Montana, was the topic of a meeting at St. Vincent Healthcare on Wednesday, as a doctor from Missoula claims that a new insurance cooperative could provide better medical coverage for Montanans.

At a luncheon held in the Mansfield Health Education Center at St. Vincent Healthcare, Dr. Tom Roberts, president of the Montana Health Cooperative, said that the co-op is designed to provide an alternative to the private insurance providers for Montanans struggling to afford healthcare.

According to census figures, close to 20% of Montanans do not have health insurance.

The Montana Health Cooperative applied for Federal start-up loan funding in 2011. Health insurance co-ops, designed so that its participants will make many of the decisions, were authorized under the healthcare reform legislation that was passed in 2010.

"A co-op actually involves the people that are getting the medical care in deciding how the thing is organized," said Dr. Roberts, "What do we do? How do we provide care? Co-ops have a lot of experience in dealing with those kinds of decision from a member's kind of perspective, and not from a doctor's perspective."

The Montana Health Cooperative website states that they hope to be operational by 2013.

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