Alliances include a broad spectrum of organizations, trade associations, fraternal orders, and communities that represent potential distribution channels or even elements of a solution.  In the broadest sense these are communities of people that are brought together for various reasons including: advocacy, identity, value and networking.  

There are several types of organizations characterized by both their association to their members and their association to the broader world. 

The characteristics of organizations are as follows:

• Identity:  This characteristic describes organizations that are linked very specifically to the nature of its members.  In the classic sense, this includes organizations like the American Medical Association, American Bar Association, but to a lesser degree includes local historical societies which provide identity for those who are deeply rooted to a community.  This is also true of organizations like AARP, an organization for older Americans, but which also is also characterized by its advocacy.  Finally, unions and trade associations are aggregations of similarly situated employees, businesses or individuals, which are linked to identity, but which are also organizations that are successful because they provide benefits to their members and advocate on their behalf. 
  
  To a lesser degree, identity organizations also include communities that are created for a group of similarly situated individuals.  Message boards that provide useful conversations and information to a community of similarly situated individuals are substantially different from actual organizations.   The salient distinction is that lack of identified leadership. 
• Benefits:  This characteristic describes organizations that are chosen because they provide significant benefits to their members.  Membership in such organizations may be limited to specific individuals, but benefits are what drive participation.  At the most radical end of this spectrum are organizations like AAA, which provides significantly more benefit to its members (motorists) than the cost of membership.  Similarly USAA a financial services and insurance company available to members of the military and their progeny, provides deep discounts on insurance, and because it’s a non-profit pays any profits to individuals at the end of a year.  However, there are variations on Benefits organization that also have strong identity and issue interest components, such as AARP, which provides insurance, local Chambers of Commerce, which sometimes provide tax advice at low or no cost, or MediShare, an organization that provides a health insurance substitute for their members who must be evangelical Christians.  In the case of these two organizations, the benefits are used as an organizing tool.  Put differently, an identity based communities are attracted by offering a cost effective benefit that all of the members of this community need.  
• Advocacy/Issue Interest:  These are organizations characterized by advocacy for a specific issue such as the environment (Sierra Club, NRDC), veterans issues (VoteVets, IAVA) for example.  Membership represents an endorsement of a set of issues for which these organizations stand.  Affinity for these organizations may be stronger for the core members, but weakens among rank and file membership.  This characteristic also would suggest the inclusion of unions, trade associations and other large association that require inclusion in a specific category of people (AARP for example), however, this model assumes that the relationship between leadership and its members is characterized by identity (I am a postal worker so I belong to my union) not issues (I care about global warming.)  While both organizations advocate, the advocacy is not the SOLE reason for the union member’s participation, while it is the basis for a member of the Sierra Clubs participation in his organization. 
  
  This also includes communities that arise from issue interest such as a message board for cancer survivors.

 

In addition to these characteristics, alliances bring opportunities, such as collective buying (discussed above as part of benefits organizations), that may prove useful. 

• What organizations would serve as useful delivery systems for a product or health insurance provided by healthcare uncovered? Why?  What characteristics define this as a useful ally in this respect?
• What organizations would serve as useful political allies for a government driven healthcare uncovered solutions? Why?
• What are examples of successful identity, benefits and advocacy organizations?
• What alliances/organizations have the deepest connection to their members?  How do these organizations build trust with their members?
• What alliances organizations have the broadest relationship with their members?  How is this achieved?
• What communities have the deepest connection among their members?  Why?  How was this achieved? 
• What organizations or alliances have characteristics that would lend themselves to the aggregation of individuals to spread risk or create new risk pools in new and different ways that a beneficial to the distribution of a healthcare oriented product?  Why? 
• What alliances or organizations might distributed a product that has financial benefit to the organization, but for which the financial benefit is subsidiary to other institutional priorities?
• What organizations/alliances provide helpful medical support to individuals with similar ailments?  To what extent might such alliances be used to reduce healthcare costs? 

• Alliances that create risk pools that are aligned in new way
• This component provides channels for products, alliances for political change or communities that can keep individuals healthier.