Oregon Public Broadcasting

Seattle's Group Health is suddenly in the national spotlight because of the buzz in Washington, D.C. over health care co-operatives. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Group Health provides healthcare and medical insurance to nearly 600,000 patients in Washington and Idaho.

Group Health is a cooperative or co-op. In simple terms that means it's governed by its customers.

So you might think Group Health would be beaming with pride now that the co-op model is gaining traction as a possible replacement for the embattled “public option” when it comes to a national healthcare overhaul.

But Diana Birkett, Group Health's Director of Public Policy, says it's not that simple.

Diana Birkett: “It would actually in Washington state mean a competitor for us, which we're fine with. We compete now and we believe that it's a good model. Which is actually why we're actually a little bit torn about taking a position because there's pros and cons and we don't really know how it would play out for the rest of the country.”

Birkett says Group Health is more focused on issues like regional inequities in Medicare reimbursement rates.