Health Insurance for Pastors

My church does not believe in insurance.

The pastor pays for his health care needs in cash.

You failed to mention this option.

Pastor Jung

That's quite a blanket statement. Do you drive a vehicle, have a mortgage, have liability insurance on your business or church facilities?
I would have lost everything I have if it were not for health insurance. Having been through catastrophic illness, I know the value of insurance. My 20% co-pays on transplant medicines alone run three to five hundred dollars a month.
In answer to Ron's question, we have insurance through private employment.

Maybe because it's not really considered a viable option for most of us? IMHO, going without health insurance invites bankruptcy.

FWIW, my employer provides health insurance - the church couldn't possibly hope to pay for it; it's way too small.

I don't want to get too off topic. But as a chaplain of the Fire Dept, one thing really bugs me. It's people who could not "afford" renters insurance. I live in a parsonage, so I have renter's insurance. It cost me about $8 a month for $40,000 content coverage. So if you go to McDonald's once a month you can afford it. I think most just assume they cannont afford it. Ok, back to topic...

Why? Is McDonald's giving out money to pay renter's insurance?

No, but at the rate Obama's going, the US Govn't might....

I know what you meant. Just adding to the silliness.

I'd be very careful & examine thoroughly the companies, their requirements, their "health," and their standing in your state. When shopping for health insurance, I considered Samaritan, but found the regulations cumbersome and too much of a hassle, esp. considering that the premiums weren't a great deal less than what I'm paying for my MSA-compatible plan. I don't remember the specifics of those requirements, but they are spelled out on their website, I believe. Medi-Share ran into trouble in Illinois & was prohibited from writing, at least for a time. The counsel I received was to beware of anything not really "insurance" because if either of those companies run into trouble, & you've had some medical issue while with them, you'd be sunk trying to get conventional insurance coverage. As it turns out, that was good advice. I considered Medi-Share 5+ years ago, and a couple years later, they were banned from Illinois.

I'm not trying to express any sort of expert opinion on either company. Just sharing my thoughts based on my limited experience.

By the way, another good possibility is purchasing a high-deductible, major-medical plan (premiums are relatively inexpensive), and then set up a Medical Savings Account. Our church budgeted $550/mo. for medical coverage. I divided those funds between insurance premium ($390) and MSA ($160). The MSA is tax-free, goes into a savings account that can be used for any kind of medical expense (dental, vision, OTC medications, vitamins, etc. I even used MSA funds for a vaporizer!). Unlike a Flexible Spending plan (where funds must be used within a calendar year or forfeited), all the money put in the MSA keeps accumulating tax-free, with interest, indefinitely. Definitely worth looking into.

I do not believe in insurance unless mandated by a government authority or unless it is mandated by some program or bank in order to get a loan.
I do my own actuarial analysis and choose to take the risk that the insurer takes, making the profit by keeping the premium in pocket. In answer to your question about catastrophies, that is part of the risk and life. I know the reigning view is to mitigate risk by insurance and call it prudent. It works for some for others it gives peace of mind, for most it simply makes them poorer financially, more risk adverse, and they end up not using it (the insurance).
I have lost everything in the past. It doesn't phase me to take on this risk going forward. Just start over work harder and smarter.
There is a reason the insurance companies own so much and so wealthy. Christians especially live in fear and try to mitigate this with insurance. I don't believe in this strategy.

Pastor Jung

A Christian having insurance does not imply that he's living in fear. He is likely being prudent and demonstrating love for his wife, family, the church, and society. I'm grateful that our church hasn't adopted the "no health insurance 'conviction.'" If we had, there are 5 families in our small congregation--including the pastor--who would've lost everything due to exorbitant, unforseen medical bills, and that's within the last 7 years. What church could help with more than $250,000 in medical bills out of its benevolence fund? Just start over & work smarter? Tell that to the guy who's just had emergency by-pass surgery & will never be able to work as hard as he used to. Or the couple whose monthly prescriptions cost more than $1000. That's a $1000 more they have to work harder & smarter to cover than they had before illness struck. Or the husband who just lost his wife to breast cancer after running up $750,000 in medical bills--yet unpaid. Or worse, the mother of 3 children whose husband just passed away from cancer, leaving her with a mortgage and $400,000 in unpaid medical bills, because I advised him by my example and teaching not to have medical insurance. And of course, there's no life insurance, either, because it's not mandated by any authority.

For my part, I don't want to lead people down that path.

We had Medi-Share in the past and it was a real blessing to our family. It paid for two surgeries that my wife
and I had and several other things.

our church's philosophy is that money/benefits should never be the things that cause pastor/staff to be derailed from ministry. so we use Blue Cross and have a quality policy along with dental insurance. staff pays $100/month. this was in place even when the church first planted with 35-40 adults. it's just something we have committed to as a body.

There are many interesting aspects to discuss concerning insurance, risk, personal responsibility and loss. I will only say this here, insurance for the masses is a recent concept. There is no historical evidence of this in Biblical times or up until the late 19th century. If you believe it is prudent to be fully insured with maximum or minimum coverage on your auto, life, health, credit cards, accident, investments (annuities), apartment (renters) there are plenty of people to take your money in return for "coverage".

DJ

Cell phones are even more recent. Does that mean we shouldn't use them either? How about computers and the Internet?

There are many ways to pay for medical bills. But first we must examine how such bills are "run up". If some out of control hospital has you stay at $300-$1500 per night and you agree then technically you owe this amount to the hospital. You will either pay or they will write it all off or a portion off because you can't pay their retail rate. Personally I have learned over the years to be very selective in anything that gets billed. I make sure I can pay the amount that will be billed before I take the service. In the case of an emergency such as an accident one must have cash reserves set aside to responsibly follow this methodology or simply get the trauma center or hospital to reduce the charges after the fact down to a reasonable amount. I have never advocated bankruptcy nor declared bankruptcy. This is a rare solution. Before the recent legislation, bankruptcy by an individual left the hospitals and doctors holding all the bills with no recourse to collect but I think now it's different and I agree that the medical folks should be able to collect and that individuals cannot be irresponsible and wipe out all debt with bankruptcy.

D Jung

There are two groups of people that have brought this point up in my experience. The first group really can't afford health insurance or get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions and need an employer that will provide it for them. The path of least resistance to health care then is to look for a job that provides group coverage and pays for it. Think corporate america. There is an alternative but it would require more risk and faith and work. That is to navigate the health medical system and look for an affordable alternative to health insurance. Paying cash for services. Shop shop shop. Free clinics. Samples given to doctors of medication etc etc. etc.

The second group of individuals are upper middle class and can afford all health care costs with few exceptions if they paid in cash however they use the employer benefits for an excuse to stay fully employed and committed to a job that they would not necessary like or stay with or profit the most by if such "carrots" were not perceived as great and necessary. They work for the perks or benefits ignoring the opportunity cost and potential for far greater accomplisment, achievement and earnings by doing something outside of the corporate sphere.

D Jung

Say what you will - but my wife had cancer a few years ago and she developed some mighty high health bills mostly covered by our insurance. We have three children and she would have died probably if we didn't have the insurance. Having the insurance also helped us still have money to feed, cloth, and house our children during those darker days. Surely God could have revealed a solution without insurance, but I believe that having insurance was Gods way of taking care of the financial end of the situation and it assured me we would not be denied the care she needed.

I should note, my pastor and his wife have health insurance. The pastors wife works a job to gain access to health insurance for her family.