Sharing Ministries Competing with Health Insurance. Will Congress Red Tape smother this industry?

Katy Talento - Exec. Dir., Alliance of Healthcare Sharing Ministries
AHCSM.org

While Americans are used to credit unions instead of a bank, fewer are comfortable with replacing their traditional health insurance company with a Religious Sharing Ministry. That’s changing though, thanks to ObamaCare.

The cost of health insurance chased a million (mostly smaller) businesses and families out of the insurance exchanges. Today, with 2 million members, the Sharing industry has new players: “Medical Cost Sharing” communities that are not religious.

Whether religious or secular, Sharing’s success has attracted the ire of its competitors’ regulators in the 50 states. Several states targeted one specific company - Aliera - for persecution, bankrupting the company and leaving their members without means to pay expensive health bills.

Congress may consider a bill to require federal regulation of these new health plans. So how is the Sharing industry responding to this political attack?

Fresh from assisting with former President Trump’s health policies, Ms. Talento believes her organization’s new accreditation program will protect consumers better than yet another wasteful government oversight program ripe for capture.

Katy knows what she’s talking about when it comes to health innovation. An epidemiologist licensed to also build self-funded group health plans, she’s a soon-to-be-naturopath, as well, who is planning along with other big thinkers how to insert more integrated (natural) care into the health plan market.