The U.S. Government Accountability Office has started organizing a body that will help set up nonprofit, member-run health insurers that will serve the individual and small group markets.
The GAO today announced the appointment of 15 members to the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan advisory board.
The board was created by the Affordable Care Act, the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
Congress create the CO-OP program as an alternative to setting up a government-run health insurance program open to all U.S. residents or relying entirely on the existing commercial health insurance market.
The advisory board is supposed to help the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allocate the federal grants and loans that will be used to start the co-ops, officials say.
