The following post comes from Gary Skeen, president of CBF’s Church Benefits Board, as part of a blog series related to health care changes due to the Affordable Care Act.

Churches are like other employers, historically providing and caring about health care for
staff and ministers. The difference is that churches truly care about the health of staff not from a bottom-line perspective of productivity and profit margin, but from a well-being perspective. We genuinely try to care for others the way Christ cares for us.

Church groups have historically taken the lead in health care for everyone. Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and others have established clinics and services in both the United States and overseas.

We understand that for church administrators and leaders, lives of service generally do not make someone wealthy, so providing benefits—health care and retirement savings plans—is a way to care for them during different times in their lives. But with the rising cost of health care, health status of aging ministers, regulations and controls on multi-state insurance plans and other factors, providing these benefits has grown more difficult in the past few years.

The truth is, health insurance has become unaffordable for many, forcing choices such as drastically reduced coverage, very high deductibles and for some, no coverage at all. And when there is a crisis, sick patients are often forced to emergency rooms, where costs significantly sky-rocket. This is the reason for health care reform and the other changes we are anticipating and discussing.

What does this mean for you and your church?

This fall, you may continue to purchase health insurance in the same way you have in the past as an individual or as a church/employer. But, the Affordable Care Act is now providing a new insurance exchange called the Health Insurance Marketplace that anyone can access to look for coverage for themselves or a group.

Churches can join the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), or simply allow their ministers and staff to find coverage through the individual marketplace. The availability and convenience of the individual marketplace should not mean that churches do not provide health care options for their staff, but it should be part of their decision-making process when choosing appropriate levels of coverage.

The law requires most everyone to have health insurance coverage for 2014 or pay a penalty (tax). The law does remove some barriers like pre-existing conditions; it removes limits on coverage amounts and provides some control on costs by age. The new law is also standardizing what are appropriate minimum kinds of coverage and provides a way to compare different health plans.

Another way to look at it is that you and your church will have another option for how and where you purchase health insurance. With the exception of those who qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, those who meet an exception or other sort of government-sponsored program, all coverage offered in the Health Insurance Marketplace will be with an existing health insurer like BlueCross/BlueShield, Cigna, United Healthcare, Aetna and others.

The Marketplace compared to an auto lease

Here’s another way of looking at this—consider the new health insurance law to be an auto lease for 2014. You have the option to lease the same car you are driving from your local dealership that you may have used before or from a government-sponsored dealership.

As with anything, the onus is upon you to research your options. The new government car dealership has to lease to you. Yes, it might provide significant savings, but the vehicle offered might not have all bells and whistles that you might want, and the deals might be different for each person. This will be true of health care next year.

In the next set of posts, I will write more about some of the differences between the government’s Health Insurance Marketplace and local health care providers as well as the SHOP option for churches and other things to take into consideration.

If you have any questions, or would like to be added to our subscriber list on health care updates, please email us at churchbenefits@churchbenefits.org.

My job at Church Benefits Board is to keep you the church leader informed about what’s coming and help you to navigate the process.  Your benefits are our ministry. If I can ever be of assistance, I or a CBB staff member is ready to help. Call us at 1-800-352-8741.