New York Christians Flock to Health Care Alternative

Obamacare is not for everyone. Some people get health insurance at work; others don't qualify for government-subsidized health care; and still others just don't believe in it. One alternative gaining traction among some devout Christians is a non-profit model called a Christian health care sharing ministry.

Medi-Share, one of the most popular ministries, has more than 100,000 members nationwide, up 200 percent since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Membership is concentrated in the Bible Belt, but in New York, Medi-Share grew from just a few hundred members before the ACA was passed, to almost 2,000 today.

In Medi-Share, each member deposits a monthly fee into an account in a Christian credit union, and that money is matched with the medical bills of other members. But not all medical bills are "eligible for sharing," as Medi-Share notes on its website. Coverage doesn't extend to anything deemed "unbiblical," such as abortion or treatment for STDs. And those aren't the only limitations: Medi-Share's service also excludes routine check-ups and mental health care.

Jaadin Andersen, 28, a new mom from Brooklyn, is one of Medi-Share's newest members. She only briefly considered signing her family up for a plan under the Affordable Care Act before deciding against it.

"They're not affordable," Andersen scoffed.

She didn't bother entering her family's financial information in New York's online insurance marketplace. If she had, she would have found that they qualify for a hefty federal subsidy and about ten different plans that are cheaper than the $350 dollars per month they pay under Medi-Share.

But Andersen said she chose Medi-Share for its cooperative, faith-based model. She said she likes that the organization lets her know whose bills she's paying with her monthly fee.

"That way, I can pray for them," Andersen said. "You're more connected and your money is actually going to help other people,"

Joining a health-care-sharing ministry satisfies the ACA's individual mandate for coverage, Congress declared in 2010, in a nod to religious freedom. But critics of the model say it doesn't have the same consumer protections as regular insurance companies.

"If you go to them and they don't want to cover something, you just don't have the same recourse under law to make them pay that you do with an insurer," said Glenn Cohen, faculty director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

Medi-Share has faced legal troubles in Kentucky and other states, but officials have yet to weigh in on the model in New York.

A version of this article first appeared in Crain's New York last month.