Interesting...

HAYDEN, Idaho - Mary Suitter is sporting fresh bandages on her face and arm, markers of two new biopsies that may reveal yet another bout with melanoma.

Though she lacks conventional health insurance, the 57-year-old mother of four says she isn?t worried about the costs of a recurrence of her 2006 diagnosis with the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Suitter ? and her husband, Mike, a handyman and builder ? are members of a health care sharing ministry, a religious co-op whose participants agree to support each other ? and to pay each others? medical bills.


?The Bible says to bear one another?s burdens,? says Mary Suitter, who has a sheaf of cards, letters and notes that arrived with small checks from Christians across the country, funds totaling more than $35,000 to cover her family?s expenses over the past four years.

The Suitters are among more than 100,000 people in the United States whose care is compensated not through guaranteed insurance payments, but through faith that fellow believers will foot the bills. Christians who regularly attend church usually sign up as individuals, but they?re part of a larger community that pays for ailments from broken legs to brain tumors, so long as they meet ministry guidelines.

The arrangements have drawn new attention following President Barack Obama?s signing last month of the health care reform law, which specifically exempts members of health care sharing ministries from so-called ?pay or play? taxes on mandatory health insurance.

That means the Suitters can all but ignore the new law, which takes effect in 2014 and requires that most people buy health insurance or face a fine that starts at $95 for individuals and $285 for families, or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, and rises to $695 for individuals and $2085 for families or 2.5 percent of income by 2016.

Ministries say they care for their own
Officials with the Suitters? Christian co-op, Samaritan Ministries International, and other health care sharing groups say they lobbied federal legislators aggressively for the exemption, claiming that their members cover their own medical needs, providing their own kind of care.

?Our argument was, we?re not part of the problem, we?re continuing to be part of the solution,? said James Lansberry, vice president of Samaritan, which serves some 14,000 families. ?Our members are here, they?re paying their bills.?

It?s the same argument used by other recognized religious groups, including the Amish, whose members long have been able to be exempted from paying taxes for Social Security and Medicare. Based on that exemption, such groups may also opt out of the mandatory insurance requirement under the new law.

Experts caution, however, that the religious exemption won?t apply to just anyone who claims a faith-based objection to paying for health insurance. Christian Scientists, for example, can qualify for tax breaks, but church leaders now are telling members they're not eligible for the health exemption because care is not guaranteed within the community, said Russ Gerber, media manager for the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston.


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?The aim of this was to primarily cover those religious organizations that self-fund their health care,? Gerber says. ?We?re not in it.?

Ultimately, the religious exemption likely will apply to a narrow range of faiths, and it?s not clear which will have successful petitions, notes Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a tax law expert and associate professor at the Notre Dame Law School. ?It requires pretty substantial evidence that you are, in fact, committed to the full tenets of this group,? he added.

Committed faith, biblical lifestyle
Committed faith is a key for health care sharing ministries, whose organizers say they expect an influx of inquiries from people wanting to avoid insurance or fines. Under the health care law, ministries must have been in existence since at least Dec. 31, 1999, must retain members even after they get sick and must conduct annual audits.

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The ministries operate across state lines, with members from far-flung regions sharing costs. Samaritan, for instance, has about 46,000 members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and in places where U.S. missionaries are based abroad.

The health care ministries work by asking members to contribute monthly payments, or ?shares,? which pay for a wide range of needs. A March newsletter for Samaritan includes requests for payment for hip replacement surgery, colon cancer and complications from a heart attack, among other ailments.


The three largest sharing ministries say they each process between $2 million and $3.5 million in medical needs each month, paying bills that range from several hundred dollars to $500,000 or more.

In return, members agree to adhere to a so-called biblical lifestyle. At Samaritan, which is based in Peoria, Ill., members are expected to attend church three out of every four Sundays and to submit verification signed by a minister.

The Suitters say they regularly attend two churches, the Coeur d?Alene Bible Church and Real Life Ministries, a large Evangelical Christian church with more than 7,000 members in Kootenai County, Idaho.

Ministry members are asked to agree to Christian tenets of faith and to adhere to healthy choices that prohibit smoking, illegal drugs and alcohol abuse.

Medical bills? Christian co-ops rely on faith - Health care- msnbc.com