Group Health Cooperative
 |
|
| Cooperative | |
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Founders | Thomas G. Bevan, Ella Willams, Addison Shoudy, R.M Mitchell, and Stanley Erickson |
| Website | www |
Group Health Cooperative, (formerly known as Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound), now more commonly known as Group Health, is a Seattle, Washington based nonprofit healthcare organization. Established in 1945, it today provides coverage and care for about 600,000 people in Washington and Idaho and is one of the largest private employers in Washington. Patients who receive care at its medical centers are provided Web access to their medical records, secure emailing with doctors and nurses and the ability to fill prescriptions online that are mailed to homes without a shipping charge. On December 4, 2015, it was announced that Group Health would be acquired by Kaiser Permanente, forming the latter's eighth region.
Group Health was officially registered as a corporation in Washington on December 22, 1945.
Despite being marketed as a cooperative for much of the organization's history, Group Health has never legally presented itself as a cooperative. It is a nonprofit organization with members. Members have always been able to amend bylaws and elect a board of trustees, but have never owned organization assets or directly controlled operations.
Group Health's founders included Thomas G. Bevan, then president of lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at Boeing; Ella Willams, a leader in a local chapter of The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry; Addison Shoudy, R.M Mitchell, and Stanley Erickson, who were pioneers in the American cooperative movement; and other community members who had no strong past affiliation with any particular social group.
The Seattle Times noted in 2012 that non-profit insurance outfits, including Premera Blue Cross, Regence BlueShield and Group Health Cooperative, were stockpiling billions of dollars in reserves while increasing their rates at the same time.
...
Wikipedia