Anabaptist Healthcare?

[MaxPC]

For the Anabaptists who are currently in an active Anabaptist fellowship:

How do you handle medical expenses?
Insurance?
Anabaptist health exchange?
Other?

[Hats Off]

Some of us have government insurance, some go to the deacon to have hospital bills paid through the church alms fund. Sudsy would like this - we are free to choose! And we don't actually keep track of who uses which system. Although as a tax preparer I do see a bit of what others do.

[Sudsy]

For the Anabaptists who are currently in an active Anabaptist fellowship:

How do you handle medical expenses?

We are so blessed in Canada to have a government that puts much of our tax monies into medical benefits. As Paul took advantage of being a Roman citizen and the protection this provided him, we avail ourselves of the good temporal benefits that government provides. This includes tax refunds on charitable giving and many other blessings (roads, garbage removal, street lighting, etc, etc).

Insurance?

Shop for the best deals to insure our temporal stuff. Considered good financial stewardship.

Anabaptist health exchange?

Not sure what this is.

Other?

[Josh]

(1) I pay them. If I can't afford them I pray and ask God for help, then share my need with my family and my church.

(2) In my current church fellowship, if your employer provides insurance, you use that. If your employer doesn't, or you are self employed, you use our church's cost sharing plan.

(3) I was previously a member of an Anabaptist need sharing plan when I went to a different fellowship.

(4) When I was in Australia, our fellowship accepted Australian Medicare, so I use that when I am in Australia.

Additionally our church has its own small hospital and a number of facilities located near major health specialist providers like Mayo Clinic. We provide homes to stay in for people travelling from out of town, and we also have V.S. units where young men and young women can help serve the general public who are in the hospital.

[MaxPC]

These answers are helpful, thank you. Perhaps you all can provide some ideas on the organization of an alms fund or cost share for health coverage. We're talking about setting up such a fund within the diocese.

Would it be a separate fund like a credit union type account or a straightforward savings account that receives donations and the requests are handled by a committee?

[Bootstrap]

These answers are helpful, thank you. Perhaps you all can provide some ideas on the organization of an alms fund or cost share for health coverage. We're talking about setting up such a fund within the diocese.

Would it be a separate fund like a credit union type account or a straightforward savings account that receives donations and the requests are handled by a committee?

How does your diocese do this currently? I assume they already have established ways of doing this - surely this is not a new issue for them. Are you in the Eastern Tennessee / Knoxvillle diocese?

Catholic churches have a very different organization than Anabaptists / Mennonites. For instance, you own a lot of hospitals, have much larger churches where people don't know each other as well, and have a very different funding model.

[Judas Maccabeus]

These answers are helpful, thank you. Perhaps you all can provide some ideas on the organization of an alms fund or cost share for health coverage. We're talking about setting up such a fund within the diocese.

Would it be a separate fund like a credit union type account or a straightforward savings account that receives donations and the requests are handled by a committee?

How does your diocese do this currently? I assume they already have established ways of doing this - surely this is not a new issue for them. Are you in the Eastern Tennessee / Knoxvillle diocese?

Catholic churches have a very different organization than Anabaptists / Mennonites. For instance, you own a lot of hospitals, have much larger churches where people don't know each other as well, and have a very different funding model.

Lead article on that references CHI. I used to work for them.

J.M.

[Judas Maccabeus]

For the Anabaptists who are currently in an active Anabaptist fellowship:

How do you handle medical expenses?
Insurance?
Anabaptist health exchange?
Other?

Since we are urban, many, and perhaps most get insurance through their work. There is a fund set aside for emergencies and it is maintained by a committee.

J.M.

[MaxPC]

I'm appreciating the input. It gives me some ideas to share. We are looking at creating a similar emergency fund and reworking how we are going to be able to offer insurance without being forced by the government to fund abortions or artificial birth control which is against our teachings.

[Josh]

I'm appreciating the input. It gives me some ideas to share. We are looking at creating a similar emergency fund and reworking how we are going to be able to offer insurance without being forced by the government to fund abortions or artificial birth control which is against our teachings.

A good place to start would be an existing Catholic health sharing ministry, which partners with Samaritan's Ministries so that they can pool their administrative and financial resources with both Catholic and non-Catholic Christians.

Regardless, it is illegal to offer insurance that does not meet government regulations. That's why the above is a health care sharing ministry, not insurance. Nonetheless, insurance does not have to provide birth control or abortions if doing so would violate the consciences of the payors, as found in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell.

In any case, Catholics run some of the biggest healthcare networks in the world, such as Ohio's 4th largest employer, Mercy Health Partners, which is a public juridic person entirely under the control of the Vatican, with input from various members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Other denominations run large healthcare networks as well, such as the West Ohio United Methodist Conference's OhioHealth system and the Seventh-Day Adventists' Florida Adventist Health System (including major insurers like Health First), just to name a few.

Despite the Catholic tradition of excellence and their sheer size when it comes to providing healthcare, if you really want to hear the Mennonite view of things, you could contact Mennonite Health Service, which provides services to various Anabaptist-affiliated healthcare organisations.

References: I worked in professional services for health insurance payor systems and care management software, and later I worked in software development for healthcare equipment asset management, including for some of the above Catholic organisations.