Senator McCaskill suggests a government-run health insurance co-op might be a answer to questions about the most effective way to reform healthcare. And she says the concept is not new for Missourians.
Skyrocketing workers comp rates in the 1990s led the legislature to create Missouri Employers Mutual to compete with private workers comp companies. It has not driven private companies out of business. But it is credited with keeping rates down.
Part of the debate in Washington involves suggestions of setting up a government-sponsored health insurance cooperative that would compete with private health insurance companies.
Senator McCaskill says Missouri’s experience proves the validity of the idea. "It’s a great example of a co-op," she says. She says MEM has had a positive impact on workers compensation rates in Missouri.
McCaskill calls the health insurance cooperative an alternative that might be the most viable way for Congress to put more competition into the healthcare marketplace.