Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — After clearing the House with ease, a bill that would strengthen exemptions for religious health care cost-sharing organizations was tabled in a Senate committee Tuesday.
Health care sharing ministries — a Christian-based alternative to the Affordable Care Act that is growing increasingly popular — are already exempt from the state insurance code due to their religious nature, according to attorney Mike Sharman, who represents Liberty HealthShare.
But Sharman said the language of the exemption isn't clear enough.
If the state insurance department "chose to get aggressive toward us … they could bring this against us," he said.
Representatives from other health care sharing ministries disagreed with Sharman and spoke out against HB113.
Many objected to a compromise in the bill that would require health sharing ministries to print a disclosure statement with their applications clarifying that the consumer's health care expenses are not guaranteed to be covered.
Howard Russell, the executive director of Christian Healthcare Ministries, called the bill "much ado about nothing."
"It has no purpose and there is no cause for it," Russell said.
Lawmakers and speakers debated how strictly health care cost-sharing ministries should be regulated, given that they are not technically insurance companies and yet are structured much like them.
In a health care sharing ministry, members pool monthly fees to help pay for the medical costs of other members.
Health care sharing ministries received an exemption under President Barack Obama's health care law, meaning members are exempt from the tax penalty for not having traditional insurance.
But ministries are not regulated by the insurance department to ensure that they are solvent and able to cover members' costs from month to month.
Many ministries also will not pay for pre-existing conditions or health costs deemed to be the result of "unbiblical" actions, such as births from unwed mothers.
Utah Insurance Commissioner Todd Kiser said he's watched with concern as health care sharing ministries have grown, fueled by people dissatisfied with the traditional insurance options offered under the Affordable Care Act.
He said exempting ministries from regulation entirely would leave administrators with few options to fight fraud.
"If you pull them out of our purview, put them in some purview with commerce, with consumer protection," Kiser said.
Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, made the motion to table the bill Tuesday in the Senate Business and Labor Committee, arguing that health care sharing ministries should be placed under some type of oversight.
The bill, he argued, "is not impeding anyone from joining or associating or practicing their religious beliefs. … Liberty is not under attack."
"We need to make sure the consumer is protected," Davis said. Email: dchen@deseretnews.com Twitter: DaphneChen_
