Off Topic: For Federal Employees, Coop Health Care Plan Premiums ARE Lower than Regional HMO AND National Blue Cross Premiums.

Most federal employees get health insurance coverage via the Federal Employee Health Program, FEHB. A recent news story HERE says

1. Federal employee contributions toward premiums are usually about 30%, with government paying remaining 70%. (Federal employees also pay 100% of copay costs).
   
2. Story also says that average premiums will increase 7.4% in 2010, the largest annual increase since 2004.

Question: How Do Premiums for a Health Care Coop Plan Compare With Blue Cross and Kaiser Health Care Premium Costs?
I thought it might be interesting to compare premium costs of a cooperative plan vs a regional HMO and national Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. I choose to look at Washington state since they have a highly regarded Health Care Cooperative, the Washington Group Health Cooperative.

My single page PDF file HERE shows detailed comparisons of premium costs for the LOWEST level of service available for each provider.

Answer: In Washington State at Least One COOP IS Less Expensive than Blue Cross AND a Regional HMO.

Here are comparative total premium costs for the three health plans:

Washington Group Health Cooperative	$ 4,306	Self
Blue Cross	$ 4,836	Self
Kaiser	$ 5,359	Self
Washington Group Health Cooperative	$ 9,721	Family
Blue Cross	$ 11,327	Family
Kaiser	$ 12,310	Family

1. The total premium cost for the Cooperative Health care plan is anywhere from $531 (11 %) to $1,606 ( 14 %) lower than the nationwide Blue Cross plan, depending on whether the plan is for an individual or a family.
2. The total premium cost for the Cooperative Health care plan is anywhere from $1,053 (20%) to $2,590 (21%) lower than the Seattle Kaiser regional HMO plan, depending on whether the plan is for an individual or a family

Note: All premiums shown are for non postal federal employees. Selection of the lowest level of service available for each plan should make this comparison as fair as possible. However, the FEHB plan comparison tool for 2010 is not yet available on the FEHB website so it is not possible to do a detailed comparison of covered services and co payment costs.