Alternatives for
Catholics to the New Health Care Regulations
Christian healthcare-sharing ministries have
been around for more than two decades as a creative approach to handling the
growing costs of medical care. The largest players include Medi-Share,
Samaritan Ministries International and Christian Healthcare
Ministries. They market themselves as alternatives to health insurance,
though they themselves are not insurance companies but nonprofits.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains a section
that exempts members of health care- sharing ministries from purchasing
insurance. The Amish, Mennonite, and Indian tribal communities are exempt from
the penalty to be placed on Americans who fail to purchase health insurance by
2014. Christian health care-sharing ministries have grown in popularity and
success ever since the Old Order Amish Church Fund began the modernera of
burden-bearing during the 1960’s. They receive no funding or grants from
government sources.
Medical costs are "shared," not
pooled as they are with insurance companies. Also, members can choose to leave
the plan whenever they wish. Members themselves vote on what medical procedures
should be shared. Health care sharing simply means that a certain group of
members share in one another's health care costs. Health care sharing offers
Christians a way to carry one another's burdens by paying for one another's
medical bills while offering prayers and encouragement as well.
Christian healthcare-sharing ministries, for
the most part, do not turn people away, cancel their membership or raise their
monthly financial “contributions” because of expensive illnesses. Most healthcare-sharing
ministries require some sort of evaluation of individuals and families to
ensure adherence to Christian values, and subsequently, health values such as
non-smoking, excessive drinking, etc., before membership.
Participants in these ministries commit to a
“statement of faith” and a monthly contribution, similar to a premium, based on
their desired level of coverage. They are free to choose their own doctors. They
then submit claims for qualifying medical needs.
In general, depending on which health care-sharing
plan the member belongs to, members’ fees are either sent directly to another
participating member who has a medical bill to pay or to a central office.
These monthly fees can range anywhere from $50 to $500 per member. Members must
also pay a yearly administrative fee. Medi-Share has the funds sent to a
bank account, then distributed. Everything is done digitally, so members log on
to see where their money is going. In the case of Samaritan Ministries,
members receive a letter in the mail telling them to send a check to a specific
member in need each month.
As nonprofits, Christian health care- sharing
ministries aren't required to follow the same state and federal regulations as
health insurance companies. They are largely unregulated, except by themselves.
This means members cannot go to a state insurance commissioner with a complaint;
rates aren't reviewed by an independent regulator, and there is no way to
ensure they are following anti-discrimination laws. Unlike an insurance
company, there is no obligation to pay, and funding is based upon the amount of
money available, but the system has been shown to work well and cover all costs
adequately. In examining the current health sharing plans in existence, it has
been found they have a good history, and there has never been an issue with
paying.
The Christian healthcaresharing plans
currently in existence include about 40,000 – 50,000 people each, of all
faiths, and are growing rapidly. Due to its structure, a health share plan
generally ends up costing both the employer and the employee less than an
insurance plan. It’s a more cost-effective measure for families. As an example a Samaritan Ministries family will pay just
$320 a month in "shares," the ministry equivalent of premiums. At a
time when the average monthly health-insurance cost for a family of four is
slightly more than $1,500, the savings can be substantial. It will be no
surprise that healthcare fees will go up substantially when ACA is implemented.
The previously uninsured were not covered due to costs, however, now they will
be covered, and the costs will increase for everyone. Also, the government will
add a new “tax” to ensure a base amount available for emergencies.
Some members generally must pay out of pocket
for preventive care like wellness checkups for children and routine tests such
as mammograms. Other ministries pay only when a bill is more than $300 and only
if it falls within guidelines voted on by the ministry's members. For example, an
unwed woman's maternity care is covered only in rape cases. None of the
ministries pay for abortion or contraceptives.
A new Catholic health care-sharing ministry, Immaculata
Management Group, Inc. (IMC),will be overseeing a new health care share plan, called
Solidarity HealthShare, which is expected to be functioning by January
1, 2013. They state they offer an alternative to the HHS mandate, however all of
the other three non-Catholic groups are also an alternative to the HHS mandate.
IMC will also have a “statement of faith”
broad enough to include members of other religions who wish to join. A unique
advantage is that it will provide coverage of pre-existing conditions. Because
the mandate will not apply to health sharing ministries that have existed since
Dec 31, 1999,IMC is partnering with one of the three existing health sharing
ministries already meeting this requirement in order to qualify for the
complete exemption.
For more information, contact any of the
following health care-sharing ministries:
Medi-Share: Website, www.medi-share.org; phone 866-606-7390
Samaritan Ministries International: Website, www.samaritanministries.org;
Phone 888-268-4377
Christian Healthcare Ministries: Website, www.cbnews.org; Phone,800-791-6225
Solidarity HealthShare: Website www.SolidarityHealthShare.com,
but as of this date it is still under construction. Phone is 486-382-6328
.
The Catholic Campaign
for Human Development
By Stephanie Block
The
Catholic Campaign for Human Development is an annual collection of the United
States Catholic Conference of Bishops. It was launched in 1970 with three
purposes. The first and best understood of these is the funding of economic
self-help projects run by the poor as a way of addressing domestic poverty. The
second purpose is the support of social change.
CHD’s founding resolution stated that “the
magnitude and complexity of poverty in the U.S. in a time of rapid social
change...calls for the creation of a new source of financial capital that can
be allocated for specific social projects aimed at eliminating the very causes
of poverty....There is an evident need for funds designated to be used for
organized groups of white and minority poor to develop economic strength and
political power in their own community....”
Lastly,
the collection is intended to fund educational programs that will raise the
level of awareness among middle and upper classes for the plight of the poor.
The founding resolution committed the Campaign to “lead the People of God to a
new knowledge of today's problems, a deeper understanding of the intricate
forces that lead to group conflict, and a perception of some new and promising
approaches that we might take in promoting a greater spirit of solidarity…”
To
bring about social change, at least one third of CHD grants have been used to
fund Alinsky-style, broad-based community organizations. Most of these are based
on institutional membership. The largest of the Alinskyian organizations are
the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), with a network of over 60 local
affiliates, the Pacific Institute for Community Organizing (PICO), with about
35 affiliates, Gamaliel with over 40 local affiliates, and Direct Action and
Research Training Center (DART), with a dozen local affiliates. ACORN, another
Alinsky-style network based on individual membership rather than institutional
membership, also receives a percentage of CCHD funding. Besides training
their membership to take civic action, these groups seek an ultimate
restructuring of government, education, job training and placement, healthcare,
housing, and social service provision. They are also theologically liberationist,
promoting concepts of “class struggle,” consensualized “truth,” and a
politicized spiritual life, assessing imperfect, troubled economic or
socio-political structures to be root causes of evil rather than a consequence
of human actions, done by free and responsible persons.
The
educational programs of the CCHD are also liberationist. An older CHD
publication, “Sourcebook on Poverty, Development and Justice,” produced by the
CHD during the tenure of Sr. Josephine Dunne, SHCJ (CHD Education Coordinator)
is a collection of essays explaining the foundational liberation theology of
the CHD and its preference for “liberating education.” “Liberating education,”
for Dunne, was a process quite distinct from traditional western education,
which she typed as “being institutional, self-serving and divorced from
developmental needs, forcing the learned to look elsewhere for meaning and
causing institutional education to be in many cases the experience of
irrelevance. Catholic education in the U.S. seems to have shared in this
deficiency.” In its stead, Dunne offered a “new theory of catechesis” that
included values clarification and a threefold pedagogy, which she termed
transference, reflection, and action-living (see-judge-act), lived out by the
learner in a “continual dialectical interrelationship.”
Recent
CCHD-produced educational materials continue to use see-judge-act pedagogy.
While see-judge-act methodology is not necessarily manipulative, it is often
designed to lead participants to pre-determined conclusions. Session 1 of “Poverty
and Faithjustice,” for example, presumes that any adequate response to poverty
will require fundamental changes in the social and economic structures of the
United States. JustFaith, the most recent educational program used by the
CCHD, continues in the same vein as its predecessors.
The
Campaign has also been found to fund organizations with anti-life agendas.
While CCHD grants have not gone to organizations that directly provide abortion
or contraceptives, CCHD money has gone to grantees that politically support
these social evils. In an effort to repackage itself and regain donor
confidence, the Campaign added the word “Catholic” to its name in 1998 and
produced a new set of guidelines emphasizing the sanctity of life and
disqualifying organizations from CCHD-funding whose primary or substantial
thrust was contrary to Catholic teaching. It has made only minor funding
corrections in response to these guidelines.
Catholic Relief
Services
Following Catholic Relief Services' public
response to a 250-page report by American Life League, ALL president Judie
Brown published an open letter to CRS. In the letter, Brown firmly rebukes the
millions of dollars in grants CRS gives to organizations that commit abortions,
distribute contraception, and perform sterilizations. CRS claims that the
grants were for projects that "save lives," however Brown contends
that grants to organizations that fight directly against the gospel of life
cannot be justified "simply because those organizations do some
good."
"Funding these groups is a little like
paying wolves to tend the sheep," said Brown. "I simply do not
understand why CRS is so determined to fund organizations that have made
perfectly clear their commitment to kill babies and ruin souls."
ALL's 250-page report on CRS grantees shows
that 86 percent of CRS' domestic grants for fiscal year 2012 went to 23
organizations that distribute and promote the use of all forms of birth
control, including abortion.
"All
we are asking is for CRS to stop funding organizations that view the
elimination of children as the solution to the problem of poverty," said
Brown. "It's a very simple request, and we really don't think it is too much
to ask of an organization that calls itself Catholic."
In addition to publishing the open letter on
ALL's website, the open letter was sent to every bishop who is head of a
diocese in the United States.The open letter is available on American Life League's
website: http://www.all.org/pdf/OpenLetterToCRS.pdf
ALL's 250 page report on CRS grantees can be
found here: http://www.all.org/~dcurrier/docs/CRS_Grants_for_FY_2012.pdf
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