Founded in 1957 as a cooperative, HealthPartners is the largest consumer governed nonprofit health care organization in the United States – serving more than 1.8 million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. Since 1997, HealthPartners International Development has worked to expand affordable health financing mechanisms with the goal of reducing impoverishment due to catastrophic health care costs and improving health outcomes.

What We Do

• Cooperative Health Financing Solutions: 
  • Health cooperatives: HealthPartners International Development works with local stakeholders to define their health care needs and negotiate agreements with local health facilities to prepare for care.  Health cooperatives are owned by their members who join to access affordable care.  HealthPartners trains members, health care providers, and democratically elected boards of directors to carry out their roles.  HealthPartners also works with government ministries to adjust and enact laws and regulations that enable health cooperative growth.
  • Health financing through partnership to cover the informal sector: HealthPartners International Development leverages cooperative infrastructure (communications, leadership, financing) to connect the informal sector with insurance partners (including the government) to advance universal health coverage.
• Knowledge generation and dissemination: HealthPartners International Development shares its innovative model and learning with the cooperative and international development communities, with the goal of building a network of health financing advocates that advance universal health coverage through the cooperative model.

View their website for more information: International development | HealthPartners