The Letter You Never Want To Get On Christmas Eve

I was reading the December 18th issue of Inside Health Insurance Exchanges and came across an article entitled, "New Kids on the Block Come Out Swinging; Co-Ops Lower Rates for Many Health Plans."

The gist of the article had to do with the success a number of Obamacare insurance co-ops have had in charging lower rates and getting lots of market share by "[underpricing] more established players inside and outside of the public insurance exchanges."

The article went on to point out that some traditional competitors are beginning to complain that the co-ops have unfair advantages.

This quote from the CEO of CoOpportunity––the market leading Iowa and Nebraska Obamacare funded co-op that enrolled 120,000 people in 2014––stood out:

For Blues plans and other carriers "with deep reserves, booming stock prices and market entrenchment to plead for relief from these nimble, undercapitalized start-ups is ludicrous and insulting," counters CoOpportunity Health CEO Cliff Gold. He says his company has been successful in attracting customers in two states despite not having the lowest cost products anywhere in Iowa or the most populous part of Nebraska. "At the end of the day, in the long term, success is determined by a company's ability to create value for customers, he tells HEX. "That critical but elusive combination of price, product features, provider network, and customer service is what separates competitors."

Here's the letter that Mr. Gold received a week later on Christmas Eve:

Here is an article on the matter from an Iowa newspaper.