The mutual idea is still a good idea.

In the 1870s across Wisconsin, farmers and businessmen organized town mutual insurance companies to protect themselves from financial loss if their farms, businesses, or homes were lost due to fire. The key goals of the mutuals were to maintain local control, provide excellent service and keep rates affordable. As mutual companies, they were (and still are) owned by and directed by the very people who purchased their insurance policies. For more than a century, these companies have kept their focus on the “mutual” interest they have with their policyholders.