Co Op Personal Loans

New health insurance co-op aims to cut costs for patients, doctors

Terry Gardiner, vice president of policy and strategy for the advocacy group Small Business Majority, said the portion of the health reform law enabling creation of co-ops likely will be key to the law's long-term success at helping individuals and small businesses struggling with health insurance costs and quality. The problems are most pronounced for those who are self-employed or who own companies with fewer than 10 employees, he said.

In keeping with the purpose of the co-op provision in the law, HealthyCT would offer insurance to those who find it hardest to obtain - individuals and businesses with 50 employees or less - and be run by a board made up of patients, small business owners and doctors, Thompson said. He would be among the board members, representing his 7,000 fellow doctors in the Independent Practice Association. (NOTE: This corrects the number given in an earlier version.)

It will seek to control costs by using the "medical home" model, in which each patient has a personal physician to oversee and coordinate visits to specialists, tests and other aspects of care. HealthyCT will be created using the knowledge of the doctors organizing it about where to find efficiencies and cut waste, Thompson added. For example, he thinks there are ways to lower costs for imaging services but still provide doctors with the information they need on their patients.

In addition to government loans and grants, the medical society and its affiliate are investing some of their own resources into the project, Thompson said, and seeking other funding. The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut recently awarded HealthyCT a $50,000 grant. While declining to give a specific figure, Thompson said start-up costs are significant, especially after the cash reserves needed to cover very high claims are factored in.

Nationally, Congress has authorized $3.8 billion in funds to foster the creation of at least one nonprofit insurance co-op per state. Because Connecticut is a small state, Thompson doesn't expect it will have more than one co-op. The doctors' organizations were the logical entities to start the co-op, he said, because they already have a statewide network of health care providers to build from. HealthyCT would also work to sign up as many hospitals in the state as possible to be part of its network, he added.

Condo or Co-op, What's the Difference? | Ticor Title Northwest

A condo unit is created by a state statute (RCW 64.34) which requires a complex and expensive survey to locate each unit as a “parcel” of land. The unit occupies airspace within the main parcel. The unit’s boundaries are in simplest terms a “box” with six sides (typically the walls, floors and ceilings of what looks like an apartment in a building). Everything within the box is the unit, owned 100% by the unit owner. Title to the unit automatically includes a percentage interest (as tenant in common with all owners) in the common elements – everything outside the box. The common elements are not a separately owned or taxed parcel. While a homeowners’ association manages the property pursuant to the recorded declaration , it owns no real property.

Each unit is taxed independently, and can be sold and mortgaged just like a platted lot. A failure to pay taxes or the mortgage on a unit has no bearing on the title to any of the other units, and thus no lien can arise solely on the common elements such that it would affect the title to any unit or the project if foreclosed.

A co-op unit is similar to a condo unit one respect: the space occupied by the unit owner is usually also a “box.” But, there is no survey defining the location of the boundaries, so there is no “legal” description of the unit that meets the standard of a condo unit or a platted lot. Also, all of the property, including the units and the common elements, is owned by a cooperative corporation, which also acts as the homeowners’ association. A co-op buyer gets stock in the cooperative corporation (only unit owners can own the stock) and what’s called a proprietary lease to the unit that allows exclusive possession. This unrecorded lease is often for a nominal monthly amount, although assessments can be significant.

The entire co-op property is a single tax parcel and especially in newer projects is often encumbered by a mortgage. It’s up to the association to pay the taxes and the mortgage, with a significant monthly homeowner assessment to cover those expenses. This means, of course, that if assessment collections fall short all unit owners risk losing title to their units in a foreclosure.

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