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KY Judge Shuts Down Christians-Only Health Care Cooperative Plan, Citing State Regulations

Nov. 1, 2012 8:00am Billy Hallowell

A Kentucky judge has officially shuttered a Christians-only health insurance plan. As of Thursday, members of Medi-Share, a cost-sharing health care company based in Florida, will lose their coverage, as Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate found that the company doesn’t comply with Department of Insurance regulations. As a result, Medi-Share will not be allowed to function in the state of Kentucky.

At the center of a 10-year battle is the notion that some Christians buying into the plan may mistakenly believe that they are purchasing insurance that will bring them hospitalization coverage. However, this is not something that is offered by the company, leading Kentucky officials to challenge its operations.

Contrary to traditionally health care plans, Medi-Share views itself as a charitable group that helps cover medical bills for Christians. In essence, there is a Christians-helping-Christians methodology that drives its practices. On the group’s web site, the company makes it clear that it is not providing traditional insurance.

Judge Shuts Down Medi Share, Christians Only Health Plan | Regulations

A screen shot from the Medi-Share web site

“Health insurance comes with a contractual guarantee to pay your medical bills,” The Medi-Share web site reads. “For over 19 years our members have been faithfully sharing medical bills on a non-guaranteed basis, trusting the Lord to provide in their time of need through the voluntary gifts of other like-minded Christians.”

The decision will impact 800 Kentuckians who, starting today, will now have no coverage. As stated, Medi-Share plan is unique in that it is a Christians-only medical cooperative. While not entirely the same, it resembles secular insurance, but only permits churchgoers to partake — individuals who promise to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, drugs and pre-marital sex.

“We just don’t think the Department of Insurance or Judge Wingate thought through the reality that you have 800 people now that, overnight, have nothing,” Medi-Share President Tony Meggs has said in the wake of the judge’s decision. “The state, with Medi-Share, should come together to provide some type of transition for these people.”

According to Meggs, members weren’t notified until Tuesday that the plan is poised to end this week. Lawyers for the Christian health company are pushing Wingate to take another look at the method through which the plan was ended so that members can at least have applicable time to find another option.

While the judge’s ruling was certainly swift, the Department of Insurance reportedly did notify Medi-Share members in Kentucky earlier this month — before Wingate’s ruling came to fruition. The government, at that time, apparently provided members with a list of alternatives that meet insurance code.

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Comments (55)

Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 11:10am
If I had this plan and lived in Kentucky, I would be calling the Christian legal association to fight this attack on faith based contracts. This plan has been extremely successful and everyone including the healthcare community of businesses was a winner. Families who could not afford other plans found a great deal of success in this approach. This is a big insurance business power grab.
Christians it’s time to stand and refuse satans plan. Daniel did. Our faith excercised in daily life is being attacked. This is a faith based decision and not up to the gov. to tell us what to do.

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- texashuntre
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 12:02pm
  Just make it a charity for the 800 that were already on this..
  
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- mike_trivisonno
  Posted on November 2, 2012 at 7:30am
  I wonder what sort of arrangements Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate has made with the muslims. I am sure Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate will show great respect to the muslims and approve whatever sharia compliant system they devise.
  
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- Cosmic Zamboni
  Posted on November 2, 2012 at 10:32am
  If medi-share is really Christian, as they claim, nothing stops them from covering the costs of these few members even though they are not allowed to pay their monthly “premiums”. Isn’t that Christian charity? The government couldn’t stop that, could they? But Medi-share doesn’t take people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes. Just like insurance companies? Is that how the early church worked? If you have a pre-existing condition, no “Christian” help for you. It’s a sham co-op by people merely trying to lower their insurance costs. Nothing wrong with it, except claiming it runs on “Christian” principles. It doesn’t.
  
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- rickc34
  Posted on November 6, 2012 at 9:20am
  This is another example of left wing liberal government attacking Christian organizations . The President lies when he states that he is a Christian. Christians helping Christians is what medi-share is all about. How many complaints have been filed against them?
  
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RamonPreston
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 11:07am
So much for separation of church and state. “The state” does whatever it wants to.

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- Chuck Stein
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 11:45am
  You don’t even need freedom of religion in the First Amendment to defend these cooperatives — freedom of association should be enough.
  
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Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 11:02am
Every Christian needs to stand up for MediShare. This is faith based insurance and not big business insurance. Those who have MediShare have always had every bill paid by the membership. This is the insurance industry big power grab. Medishare lowers the monthly expense of “coverage” by $300-400 dollars per family. The gov. and big business are trying to kill a very successful and great product. The insurance industry does not want the competition. VERY SAD.

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Twinspeedr
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:56am
This kind of judicial activism is reprehensible. I’m thinking of moving to rural land somewhere in the next 6 – 12 months, Kentucky is now off my list.

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Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:53am
The big insurance companies want these non profits put of business. These plans compete and are growing. That’s what is really going on. I know a family who has this plan. They love it. Their cost for insurance went from $850 a month to $350 a month for virtually the same coverage and same deductible.
This is a matter of religious faith. This should be appealed. It’s a matter of faith and not depending on a contract with some insurance beast. Where is a challenge to this vile decision? At the end of the day Christians are going to have to start refusing to follow anti God laws. Daniel did over food and bowing to the King. .

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RIckInTexas
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:50am
THEY ARE EXEMPT! THIS DIRECTLY FROM OBAMACARE HR 3590 — ‘‘(2) RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS.— ‘‘(B) HEALTH CARE SHARING MINISTRY.— ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Such term shall not include any individual for any month if such individual is a member of a health care sharing ministry for the month. ‘‘(ii) HEALTH CARE SHARING MINISTRY.—The term ‘health care sharing ministry’ means an organization— ‘‘(I) which is described in section 501(c)(3) and is exempt from taxation under section 501(a), ‘‘(II) members of which share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs and share medical expenses among members in accordance with those beliefs and without regard to the State in which a member resides or is employed, ‘‘(III) members of which retain membership even after they develop a medical condition, ‘‘(IV) which (or a predecessor of which) has
been in existence at all times since December 31, 1999, and medical expenses of its members have
been shared continuously and without interruption since at least December 31, 1999, and ‘‘(V) which conducts an annual audit which is performed by an independent certified public accounting firm in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and which is made available to the public upon request.

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- From Virginia
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:49pm
  Doncha know? Christians are exempt from this exemption…….
  
  Out government is now the official enemy of Christians in America.
  
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myptofvu
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:41am
Who is the Plaintiff? I don’t see one. So this plan has been working for 10 years without incident and now its being shutdown without a member even complaining? I thought Judges were supposed to look at the facts. Isn’t their record considered as a fact?

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- Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:57am
  Excellant comment. Christians should not take this standing down but outright refuse this determination. We are not dependant upon a gov. to provide for our health. Our health comes from God and we should be willing to die for this faith like Daniel. National healthcare is anti faith. National healthcare replaces faith in trusting God with faith in your health plan and the gov. to provide and protect. When are Christians going to stop bowing down? It’s time to stand for faith.
  
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- Arminius23
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 11:20am
  EXACTLY! Who was offended? No one, except the government which should not interfere with anything like this. It is the groups right to reserve who their patrons are and how they distribute the money.
  
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vaman
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:36am
Contrary to some, this is not another so called attack on christians, nor is the judge some kind of evil jesus hater. The judge followed the applicable law. It is this “insurance” company that is entirely at fault. 800 people don’t have this coverage because this company couldn’t comply with the standing laws.

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- TeresaJ
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 5:10pm
  My understanding is that the law they “violated” is that Medi-share didn’t make it clear this isn’t insurance. At worst, the courts would have been just to mandate a clear “This Is Not Insurance Sign,” and nothing else. Shutting it down is nothing short of hostility towards the program, and overstepping it’s power.
  
  What this is really about is how big the government’s britches have gotten.
  
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RIckInTexas
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:32am
According to Medi-Share they have met 100% of their members qualified expenses since they opened in 1993. The average time to see an expense satisfied is 34 days – wish other healthcare companies could do this as quickly.

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Steve28
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:16am
Being an agent you see plans all the time being sold that infer they are insurance until you read the fine print. Thing is many don’t comphrehend the difference in these plans. I have no problem with these plans as long as it is made clear that it is not insurance and only some type of supplement. I don’t see how they could cover a large claim with this small group of insureds and that could be a potential problem. It might be best to have reinsurance type contract that covers any claims over a certain amount(example $50,000 )and then they cover most everything under that amount.

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- StanO360
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 2:45pm
  I think some of them do have insurance that kicks in with bills over a certain amount.
  
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whatdoibelieve
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 9:15am
First sentence of the article.

“A Kentucky judge has officially shuttered a Christians-only health insurance plan”

If The Blaze can’t even get it right that this isn’t an insurance plan…

However, it really is kind of a defacto insurance plan. The individuals on this plan are foregoing health insurance for a medical bill coop plan. My guess is if they had insurance in addition to this plan it wouldn’t be a problem. But since they are not using traditional insurance in addition to this plan, they are basically using this as health insurance without the guarantee of payment.

All that being said, I wonder if the states have to crack down on this sort of thing now since we will have a federal mandate for insurance and all of these individuals will have to pay the “Tax” since they are technically uninsured.

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- getitgotitgood
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 9:23am
  You really don’t understand things I would say you are ignorant. Read YOUR post.
  
  Report this comment
TommyGuns
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 9:12am
My first instinct is that there’s more to this story. When the state started to object to the group, and there are only 800 members, why didn’t the group send a letter to its members reiterating that this is not insurance, but a group of like minded people who have committed to sharing the cost burden of health care for its members? You have to wonder if the insurance companies in Kentucky had a hand in the action brought against the group. All that being said, I do hope that the group appeals this decision by this judge. As someone on here said, there’s far more deceptive advertising claims on the net, TV, radio and print media that seems to pass muster. One example would be those so called pharmacy savings cards, or the discount cards for doctors, dentists, etc. They’re all over the place, and some of them charge a monthly or yearly membership fee. What’s up Kentucky? Time to clean house of judges like this one.

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- StanO360
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 2:48pm
  I’m not clear on who is going to stop them from continuing using the plan? They are in Florida, the users can still submit their bills. It’s not insurance so it can’t be regulated by the State Insurance Dept. It’s an association, perhaps they should just continue associating?
  
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obxned
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:59am
Had this been a blacks or muslums noly plan, it would be praised by the left as innovative and wonderful, and had no legal problem. The problem here wasn’t with the coverage, it was with the ‘Christian part’.

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- listeninginVT
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:42am
  that’s what I thought too.
  
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Grace1798
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:57am
We have a few choices here………VOTE OUT THOSE WHO HATE CHRISTIANS from now on OR…..since there is so much fraud in voting, we may have to leave the country. If this goes on, or IF Obama gets in again, we intend on taking our business and moving out of USA, while we’re still allowed to do so.

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HollyRye
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:57am
Unbelievable! So, this ruling is based on something that MIGHT happen??? The assumption, yet once again, is that we need the government because we are stupid? “some Christians buying into the plan may mistakenly believe that they are purchasing insurance that will bring them hospitalization coverage.”
I know a lot of people who use Medi-share as an affordable alternative. This is absolutely appalling. These judges have got to go. Heck, we pretty much need a clean sweep of our entire government!

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- lwoot
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 10:42am
  I view it as one of those out of the box ideas and had I not seen this article would never have thought something like it existed. The idea actually has merit. Does this group run in more states than Kentucky? I am going to see if I can find more info on it. It may not be exactly what I am thinking and would participate in but what little I have seen in the article it’s a very interesting concept. Especially for someone who believes and lives christian principles. The idea that in regards to helping one another voluntarily through a private venture to get health care is innovative in my opinion.
  
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Zorch
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:56am
Voters have been “wasting” their time paying for and trying to get people elected into some of the top positions of the Nation, and their states, but we have to re-evaluate our efforts and get control of the states, their legislatures and the appointing process that puts judges in control of decisions like these. Democrats have spent the last 60 years maneuvering themselves into our societies, while we fiddled our thumbs. Even after voting against the most egregious violators of our freedoms and liberties, there remain those unelected positions of power that allow the Dem.’s to regain their hold on our nation one election after another. And of course there is that Republican Establishment that sees things quite the same as the Dem.’s, albeit, they take different roads to get to the same place. For instance do you know there is an international agreement on tires which is steadily raising the prices of your vehicle tires? They are also “labeled” in such a way that if used on an “improper” vehicle, you can be fined, I digress. My point is we are asleep, thinking we’re wide awake. Judgeships are often life time appointments made by Governors; voting the Governor out does not change the power of the bench. Conservatives need to acquire power the way the Dem.’s have done; a long range, incremental plan. Focus your concern on local elections. Sure the Presidential elections mean a lot, but don’t drop the ball after you win that one. The stench left behind, matters.

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Steve
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:56am
I’ve been to their website, and it quite clearly states that they are NOT insurance. It’s not in the small print, and it’s not unclear. I see much more unclear things hold up in court. Why is this different than any other contract?

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Landon410
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:52am
so, stop calling it insured, call it medical bill benevolence fund…. then the insurance commision can’t do jack squat

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- Steve
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:58am
  It’s called a health care co-op plan. I don’t see “insurance” in there anywhere.
  
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LadyLibertykicksASS
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:50am
Stinks like Religious Discrimination …… Time to file a Law Suit !!!!!!!

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- ChildofJesus
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 9:56am
  In the world but not of it. That’s how the world behaves toward those who wrong them. As believers we’re meant to be different. Speaking the truth in love and continuing to follow Jesus no matter what others may do. We’re meant to make the world jealous so Christ’s light shines brightly. And we will suffer but God is our protecter and provider he’ll make a way. I believe that. :)
  
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silentme63
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:50am
Lets not forget, the bible tells us all christians will be persecuted yes even here in USA, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, wars rumor of wars.. this will be our reality.. lets get right with him,
His name is Jesus.

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Buddynoel
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:42am
Obviously this Judge wants to pay for these medical bills from his pocket. Sounds awfully generous of him.

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toiletclogga
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:41am
How is this system different from what the Amish do regarding health care? Theirs is a shared burden as well.

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- rosegrower
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 11:10am
  It’s absolutely no different. The Amish, however, have established their particular religious view of insurance as one that is protected. They sued the federal government to be exempt from paying into social security and won. The people of Kentucky who were using MediShare should file a similar lawsuit; not only would it be an interesting situation as far as this particular firm is concerned, but it might also be used as leverage to eliminate Obamacare as well.
  
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SquidVetOhio
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:28am
The Blaze should do a little investigative journalism on this judge. It’s time to start holding this clowns accountable. The KY legislator should modify whatever laws they need to allow this orginization to continue.

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Proverbs17-12NLT
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:19am
“Under my plan you will be able to keep your insurance company” obamacare.

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- reallyannoyed
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:35am
  And what do state regulations (implemented by a red state, no less) have to do with Obamacare?
  
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- wclark
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:52am
  I lived in Kentucky and Kentucky is not a red state. Kentucky is a purple state. They vote Republican in most national elections (outside of Lexington and Louisville) but vote mostly Democrat in state and local elections. I practiced in front of Judge Wingate and this ruling does not surprise me.
  
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kickagrandma
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:13am
Excuse me, but what right does a judge have to decree what individual citizens want to do and are willing to pay for (so long as it is not hurting others)? Let me see, if this were a muslime group, would there be any question by this judge? Time to unseat people who are un-AMERICAN. This is, after all, AMERICA.

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- HKS
  Posted on November 1, 2012 at 8:33am
  We defiantly need some Judge house cleaning in this country, Where do they find these idiots pitiful people just pitiful.
  
  “Remember Benghazi”
  
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