A Maine health co-op held up as example of how the healthcare cooperatives set up under the Affordable Care Act could prosper is losing millions of dollars this year after making a healthy profit last year.
In 2014, Maine Community Health Options enrolled 40,000 people, had rates lower than its big competitors and offered unique benefits with a wide range of networked physicians.
FierceHealthPayer, citing an Associated Press report, said that the co-op “attributed its {past} success to focusing on internal operations and offering a broad network, but higher-than-expected medical costs have hurt the insurer….The co-op recently announced it will will not accept new individual members after the current enrollment period ends later this month.”
