Some Democrats Consider Healthcare Co-Op Over Obama’s ‘Public Option’

(CNSNews.com) - In a press briefing held by top Senate Democrats, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it is possible that when a draft bill for health care reform emerges from the Senate this week, the public health insurance option it contains could come, like his Brooklyn apartment, in the form of a co-op.

However, a free market analyst said the co-op idea is likely being floated to attract moderate Democrats who do not back the government-run ‘public option’ plan being pushed by the White House.

The co-op idea was originally presented by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and would allow co-operatives to obtain a charter from the federal government to service their membership. “We do have co-ops in lots of things, [it] is run for the customers,” Schumer said on Thursday, “and we like that because we think the public would run things for the customers too, [and] it wouldn’t be government.”