Health care sharing ministry

Health care sharing ministries are organizations in the United States in which health care costs are shared among members who have common ethical or religious beliefs. A health care sharing ministry does not use actuaries, does not accept risk or make guarantees, and does not purchase reinsurance policies on behalf of its members.

Members of health care sharing ministries are exempt from the individual mandate requirement of the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010[1] (the individual shared responsibility provision was repealed in December 2017, effective in 2019). This means members of health care sharing ministries are not required to have insurance as outlined in the individual mandate.[2]

Approximately 30 states have safe harbor laws that distinguish healthcare ministries from health insurance organizations.[3] Some of the larger health care sharing ministries include Christian Healthcare Ministries (founded in 1981),[4][5] Medi-Share, a program of Christian Care Ministry (1993),[6][4][7] Samaritan Ministries (1994),[6][8] Liberty HealthShare (1998, originally established by Mennonites),[6][9][10] United Refuah HealthShare,[11] MCS Medical Cost Sharing[12] Altrua HealthShare,[6][13][14] Freedom HealthShare,[15] and Trinity HealthShare (1997).[16][17][18][19]

History

The idea behind health care cost sharing seems to date back at least a century. For many decades, "in Amish and Mennonite communities across the [US], people pooled their money to lighten the burden of debt for individuals during hard times."[6] In the late 20th Century, this broadened out to larger communities by larger cost-sharing ministries within the Christian community.[6]

Most health care sharing ministries are oriented toward practicing Christians and aligned with ideals or principles found in the Christian Bible, primarily translated to mean that believers have a responsibility to assist in meeting each other's needs.[20] Such ministries often cite a biblical verse in the book of Galatians, from the New Testament, as a mandate applicable to medical costs, specifically Verse 2 in Chapter 6, in which the Apostle Paul wrote “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.”[6] Some ministries view verses 44–45 in Chapter 2 of the Book of Acts, also from the New Testament, which states that early Christians "were together and had everything in common" and "gave to anyone as he had need," as the basis for their founding.[21][22] Other health cost-sharing organizations are more secular. For example, Sedera Health asks their members to "live a healthy lifestyle" but does not explicitly emphasize any religious obligations.[6]

Several states have tried to block health care sharing ministries on the grounds that they are selling unauthorized insurance.[23] For example, the State of Oklahoma contested Medi-Share in 2007 for marketing information that promoted the cost-sharing option as "insurance", but that issue was resolved when they changed their approach, and by 2010, Medi-Share was able to operate in Oklahoma once again.[4] A majority of states, however, have enacted safe harbor laws specifying that the ministries are not insurance and do not need to be regulated as such. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issues exemption letters to ministries that have met the criteria to operate independently of the Affordable Care Act.

In 2010, at the time the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, there were estimated to be about 100,000 people belonging to some type of medical bill-sharing ministry.[4] By 2014, it was estimated to be 160,000; and by 2018, that number in the US had grown to 1 million.[6]

The future of health care sharing ministries after Obamacare's individual mandate repeal was unclear, but a work published by Harvard Law School suggested that many people may continue to use them, and they could even expand for people ineligible for healthcare subsidies (i.e. above the income threshold).[24]

Membership

According to Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries, a trade association of sharing ministries, over 1 million Americans participated in health care sharing as of February 2019, sharing more than $670 million in medical bills annually.[25][lower-alpha 1] A January 2015 op-ed in The New York Times stated that the four main healthcare ministries in the US have a total combined membership of about 340,000, that membership has grown significantly because of the healthcare ministries' exemption to the insurance mandate of the Affordable Care Act, and that monthly cost of membership in a health care sharing ministry is generally lower than the cost of insurance rates.[22] The Seattle Times also reported that membership has grown significantly in recent years.[26]

Most health sharing ministries tend to have restrictions such as abstaining from extramarital sex, excessive drinking, and use of tobacco or illegal drugs. They usually require members to be in good health and make a statement of belief, as well. For instance, Samaritan Ministries requires a statement of Christian faith including belief in the true God and divinity of Jesus; Liberty HealthShare and Freedom HealthShare are more inclusive, accepting members with a wide variety of religious and ethical beliefs.

United Refuah is the first and only Jewish healthcare sharing organization.

All such ministries require that members subscribe to the principles of individual responsibility for their own health and of helping others in need.[27]

Requirements under the Affordable Care Act

In order for members to be exempt from the tax penalties outlined in the Affordable Care Act, ministries must meet the following qualifications:

  • Must be a 501(c)(3) organization
  • Members must share common ethical or religious beliefs
  • Must not discriminate membership based on state of residence or employment
  • Members cannot lose membership due to development of a medical condition
  • Must have (or a predecessor must have) existed and been in practice continually since December 31, 1999 (a grandfather clause)
  • Must be subject to an annual audit by an independent CPA which must be publicly available upon request[28]

The six ministries that meet these qualifications are: Christian Healthcare Ministries, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share, Samaritan Ministries, OneShare, and Trinity HealthShare.[16][19][18][17]

Freedom HealthShare claims to meet all of the qualifications above and claims that its members are now exempt from the Personal Penalty.

MCS Medical Cost Sharing, founded after 1999, does not meet the qualifications, but offers to pay the tax penalties incurred by members.[29]

Altrua HealthShare has also been recognized as an qualifying health care sharing ministry, due to its merger with Blessed Assurance Bulletin.[30][31]

Anabaptist Healthshare[32] is recognized as a health care sharing ministry by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.[33]

In 2017 United Refuah entered the scene. They are the first and only Jewish healthcare sharing organization and claims to be recognized as a healthcare sharing organization by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as well.

In 2017 Freedom HealthShare was created to enhance health sharing with advanced technology. It is a recognized 501c3 charitable organization.[34]

Tax deductibility

Monthly share payments are not deductible from US federal income tax as either a medical expense (because it is not a payment for insurance) or a charitable deduction (because it is a payment for goods and services). Member payment in excess of their required monthly minimum, however, may be deductible as a charitable contribution.[35]

gollark: Exactly.
gollark: If you try and use a "staff of traveling" from some Minecraft modpack in, I don't know, OpenTTD, that will also not work and does not exist you idiotic hexahedron.
gollark: If you try and use a "burst laser II" from FTL: Faster than Light in Minecraft, guess what, you can't and the item doesn't even exist.
gollark: > if it works in one video game, it should work in another video game tooFirstly, that makes absolutely no sense and is utterly wrong.
gollark: You can't just magically add extra hardware to things and somehow influence AI behavior.

See also

Notes
  1. Updated statistics are available: "Data and Statistics". Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries. However, it is unclear who the "affiliates" referred to are. Does this include all Old German Baptist Brethren?

References
  1. Pub.L. 111–148 Sec. 5000A(d)(2)(b)(i)
  2. "The Religious Alternative To Obamacare's Individual Mandate". NPR. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  3. "Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries: State info". Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries. Archived from the original on 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  4. "Sharing ministries offer alternative to health insurance". Dallas Morning News. 28 December 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  5. "About Us". Christian Healthcare Ministries. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  6. Laura Santhanam (16 January 2018). "1 million Americans pool money in religious ministries to pay for health care". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  7. "Medi-Share". My Christian Care. Archived from the original on 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  8. "Samaritan Ministries International". Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  9. "Health-care sharing ministries promise relief from high insurance costs. But there's a catch". Washington Post. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  10. "Liberty HealthShare". Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  11. "Healthshare Plans | Jewish Health Care Sharing | United Refuah HealthShare". Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  12. "Christian Health Care". Christian Medical Cost Sharing. Archived from the original on 2015-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  13. "Resources". Altrua Health Share. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  14. "Health care sharing ministry members share their experiences". Self pay patient. 2013-11-27. Archived from the original on 2015-05-09. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  15. Hummer, Gregory (2019-06-21). "Freedom HealthShare". Freedom HealthShare.
  16. "IRS Document" (PDF). PDF_IRS Docuemnt.
  17. "Trinity HealthShare Announces Agreement with Faith Driven Life Church". Trinity HealthShare. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  18. "Trinity HealthShare Announces Agreement with Faith Driven Life Church". www.businesswire.com. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  19. "What is a Health Care Sharing Ministry (HCSM)?" (PDF). Trinity HealthShare. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  20. Whyte, Liz Essley. "Sharing Health". Philanthropy Magazine. Archived from the original on 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  21. "Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries". Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  22. "Onward, Christian Health Care?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  23. "The Washington Post". Archived from the original on 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2017-12-02..
  24. Dong, Aobo (January 17, 2018), "Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSMs) after Tax-Penalty Repeal", Bill of Health (blog), Harvard Law Petrie-Flom Center, archived from the original on 2018-02-02, retrieved 2018-02-01
  25. "What is Health Care Sharing?". Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries. 10 February 2017. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017.
  26. "Banking on faith: Cost-sharing ministries offer Obamacare alternative". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2015-05-20. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
  27. "Healthcare Sharing – Mainstream Healthcare Choices". Christian Healthcare Ministries-review. February 28, 2016. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  28. Pub.L. 111–148 Sec. 5000A(d)(2)(b)(ii)
  29. "No Penalties for M.C.S Members". Christian Medical Cost Sharing. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  30. "Altrua Gains Recognition as a Health Care Sharing Ministry" (PDF). Altrua HealthShare. 23 December 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  31. Parnell, Sean (15 October 2014). "Altrua qualifies for Obamacare exemption, plus more on CMF Curo". The Self-Pay Patient. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-12. (Altrua achieved this via a merger with a smaller but older ministry)
  32. "Business Entity Details: Anabaptist Healthshare". Virginia State Corporation Commission. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  33. "Anabaptist Healthshare". 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  34. Hummer, Gregory (2019-06-21). "Freedom HealthShare". Freedom HealthShare.
  35. Roane, Dayna (1 March 2014), "Religious exemptions form health care individual mandate", Journal of Accountancy, archived from the original on 19 January 2017, retrieved 22 January 2017.

Further reading
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