Iowa’s insurance commissioner says it’s too early to make predictions about the fate of health co-ops set up under the Affordable Care Act, but thousands of Iowans are scrambling to find a new insurer after one of those co-ops essentially collapsed last month. Nick Gerhart was recently assigned management of the nonprofit insurance provider CoOportunity. The leaders of CoOportunity initially thought they would enroll about 12,000 people in Iowa and Nebraska, but they got about ten times that, according to Gerhart.

David Fairchild and Clara Peterson own a small cleaning business in Iowa. The couple had health insurance via CoOportunity Health before the co-op faltered.

“Ours was the second largest (health co-op) in the country, so you’ve got to look at it that way.” Gerhart says. “If the second largest can’t make it, how viable are the other ones? I don’t know. But at the end of the day they didn’t have enough capital to support 120,000 members.” CoOportunity hit a kind of perfect storm, according to Peter Damiano, director of the University of Iowa’s public policy center. First, the co-op had to pay a lot more medical bills than those in charge expected.

“CoOportunity Health’s pool of people was larger than expected and was sicker than expected,” Damiano says. “So their risk became much greater than the funds that were available.” The reason the co-op’s customers were sicker has a lot to do with what the insurance market looked like in Iowa before Obamacare.

The largest insurer by far in the state was and still is Wellmark. But Wellmark decided not to offer any plans on Iowa’s health exchange, leaving just CoOportunity and one other insurer – Coventry – offering plans on the exchange throughout the state. Gerhart says, the co-op thought it was going to get more federal money, but learned on December 16 that financing wasn’t being extended. Gerhart says even though CoOportunity is not officially dead yet, customers should switch insurers.

David Fairchild and his wife, Clara Peterson, own a small cleaning business in Ames. David has chronic leukemia but treats it with expensive medicine. Last year, the couple saved hundreds of dollars switching from the insurer Wellmark to a plan run by CoOportunity Health. For the first time in a long time, Fairchild said, they felt like they had room to breathe. “Basically it covered our office visits; covered exams, it covered all but $40 of the medicine every four weeks. It was just marvelous. It probably was too good to be true,” Fairchild said.

Fairchild and his wife have already applied through healthcare.gov to switch to Coventry. In a written statement, Dr. Martin Hickey, chairman of the board of the National Alliance of State Health Co-Ops, said, “The news about CoOportunity Health is not a statement on the health insurance co-op program or the co-op concept. It’s a reflection on the fact that all insurers – not just co-ops – are operating in unique markets with unique business plans and varying state regulations. The circumstances for CoOportunity Health in Iowa are not the same as those in the 23 other states in which co-ops are currently operating.”

(Radio Iowa/Iowa Public Radio)

(Update 7:45-a.m. Mon., 1/19/15- Escapees have been captured)

Three females escaped Sunday night from the Clarinda Academy. Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says the teens ages 14, 15, & 17., left at around 6:45-p.m. and allegedly stole a gray, 2012 Hyundai Sonata gray that was owned by an Academy employee. The vehicle has Iowa license 155-SMH.

The teens, two white females, one black female took off in an unknown direction of travel. Two of the females are from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The third female is from Texas.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The annual air show at Offutt Air Force Base won’t be held this year because of planned construction. The Omaha World-Herald reports that air show fans in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa will have to drive several hours to find one in 2015.

Maj. James Lee with the 55th Wing says the air show is being cancelled because Congress approved funding for a taxiway project at Offutt this year. The Air Force plans to spend roughly $7 million to repave part of a taxiway that’s normally used for static displays and spectators at the air show. The Air Force Thunderbirds were expected to headline this year’s show.

Lee said he expects the air show to return in 2016.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The afterglow of Governor Terry Branstad’s sixth inauguration is still hanging in the air, but Iowa Republicans are already speculating about the political future for Branstad’s faithful Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds. The 55-year-old serving her second term as Branstad’s second-in-command, is widely viewed as a likely candidate for governor in 2018, if Branstad steps aside.

MANNING, Iowa (AP) — Veterinarians are working hard to monitor a virus that killed millions of baby pigs in the United States last year. The Sioux City Journal reports Iowa veterinarian Michelle Sprague is president of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. Sprague says keeping track of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus means more paperwork for veterinarians and more testing.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — More than 300 people came out this weekend to say goodbye to a northern Iowa elementary school that is scheduled to be demolished this year. The Mason City Globe-Gazette reports the Mason City district held an open house Saturday for the former Madison School. Twenty-five-year-old Lorra Sappenfield got emotional as she walked through the 91-year-old building because she says the teachers there changed her life.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are searching for a 19-year-old man they believe is responsible for the shooting death of a 20-year-old Marshalltown man. The Times-Republican reports the fatal shooting was reported after 11 p.m. Saturday. The victim was rushed to a local hospital where he died shortly after midnight Sunday. His identity wasn’t immediately released.