Success proves undoing of health insurance co-op

A few days after Christmas, Lisa Lovig's doctor called with jarring news. The health insurer covering her cancer treatments had run out of money, and its future was at best uncertain. "I was terrified," said Ms. Lovig, 59, who has pancreatic cancer and relies on her insurance to cover frequent doctor appointments, tests and a litany of expensive drugs. Her insurer, CoOportunity Health, was one of 23 nonprofit cooperatives created under the Affordable Care Act to generate more competition and choice in insurance markets dominated by huge for-profit companies. Many of these newcomers to the industry, seeded with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loans, struggled to attract customers after the law's online insurance exchanges opened in 2013.