Community meeting set in Waupaca
Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative (CGHC) is now offering health insurance to individuals and small employers in Waupaca and Waushara Counties.
CGHC will host a community meeting from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Par 4 Resort, 201 Foxfire Drive in Waupaca.
The meeting will help people understand the similarities and differences of buying health insurance from a non-profit cooperative.
Representatives will also focus on helping people understand insurance plans, network options and the deadlines for signing up for coverage during open enrollment.
CGHC is a non-profit, member-governed health insurer. As a cooperative, the Board of Directors is elected by those buying the insurance. Any earnings are returned to the members through lower prices or improved services.
Cathy Mahaffey, CGHC’s CEO, said she’s pleased with the opportunity to serve residents of Waupaca and Waushara counties.
“When we added ThedaCare to our network, we heard from a lot of people interested in joining up because they otherwise had to travel long distances just to see a doctor,” she said. “We are very interested in serving additional Wisconsin communities where our providers can more than adequately meet the communities’ needs.”
CGHC, which also offers Aurora, Children’s Hospital and Health System, Partnership Community Health Center and Bellin Health in its network, is expanding its service region at a time when other insurers have left the individual market.
They were the only health insurance company offering coverage on the federal Marketplace in 2018 in seven Wisconsin counties and are among lowest priced options on the market in 2019.
“The cooperative was built on the promise of bringing a new and different kind of choice to the market for people,” Chief Business Development Officer Brian McDonald said. “We are trying to transform health insurance by building our cooperative around the needs of consumers, and hoping it encourages others to do the same.”