Just a doggone minute here...why the fark would anyone in their right mind pay these bozos a monthly fee when they state that not only aren't they a health insurance company, but they don't guarantee bills will be paid? Sounds like a scam to me.

Ah yes, taking care of people with shady dubious practices, just like Jesus wanted *facepalm*

"They are a religious organization that comes together, pooling together their resources to cover each other's medical bills. How about that?" said Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, the House's health care budget chief. "They're not insurance; leave them alone."

Its sounds more like selective charity.

To qualify for the program, participants have to agree with the company to submit to binding arbitration to settle payment disputes, "not in a secular court," according to a Christian Care pamphlet.

WTF???

I don't know if I can finish reading TFA.

This sounds fundamentally unsmart.

No regulation, no recourse over people you may depend on.

Rule of Life #1: Never trust a contractor with a Jesus Fish on his truck.

So you give money to these people who might pay your hospital bills, you can't sue them, and the government isn't going to regulate them?? That should go well.

/Waiting for the about the inevitable lawsuits
//If you pay me $500 a month, I'll cover your slashies

Confabulat: Rule of Life #1: Never trust a contractor with a Jesus Fish on his truck.

Unfortunate, but true

.

"There's no Guarantee that the bills will be paid"

Oh yeah.....My baby boy gets to make his debut.....

But some critics, such as Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, say they aren't so sure it's a good idea for the Legislature to give such groups a way to operate without oversight.

Regulate them as a non-profit financial cooperative... since, uh, that's what they are.

Basically, yeah, you don't get out of being regulated just because you're non-profit, you do need to do things like disclose financial records, though, generally speaking.

The description of the program sounds like the core 'good idea' underlying insurance before excessive capitalism takes over and transforms something essentially socialist into a mechanism for screwing the poor and lining the pockets of the administrators. (Not that this isn't the fate of almost all attempts to form a commune including national governments going Marxist, but that's a discussion for another time). If they can manage it without screwing it up, no reason to take the program away or anything.

"I still say a church steeple with a lightening rod on top shows a lack of confidence."
-- Doug McLeod

Is the Florida tag out sick? Did these guys refuse to pay the doctor bills? Inquiring minds want to know!

Confabulat: Rule of Life #1: Never trust a contractor with a Jesus Fish on his truck.

I actually got a local copy of a "Guide to Christian Businesses". Several people in it I knew from personal experience were corrupt rotten bastards, and the rest are not going to be my first choices, by association.

Yet, on nearly every other page of its benefits pamphlet, Christian Care Ministry Inc. says it's not health insurance, because it doesn't guarantee bills will get paid.
.
.
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In Tallahassee, the company has hired well-known insurance lobbyists, including Mark Delegal, who also lobbies for State Farm. The proposal to exempt religious groups from insurance regulation has solid support among Florida House Republicans.


the usual suspects!

Dr.Zom: "I still say a church steeple with a lightening rod on top shows a lack of confidence."
-- Doug McLeod


Wire Cutters.......that's all Im sayin'.

"it's not health insurance, because it doesn't guarantee bills will get paid."


Well, a fool and his money...

They'll only pay for doctors standing around the operating table praying.

Give me $500 a month and I'll pray for you.

Why don't we just change the name from Florida to Jesusland and get it over with? We already have a state law banning gay marriage, but these bozos are pushing a constitutional amendment banning it. And then there was the dust up over school vouchers going to Christian schools, and lets not forget the current farce of teaching ID in science class.

Confabulat: Rule of Life #1: Never trust a contractor with a Jesus Fish on his truck.

I'll go you one better. Ask a contractor about doing work for churches. They are the worst about paying bills. One in recent memory had to threaten to reposes the A/C system before getting paid.

Fundiamentally, I have no problem with people of faith choosing to do this, since it is their right to make a choice of health care coverage.

However, perhaps TFA was unclear, but was the company activly trying to avoid regulation? That would seem suspicious to me. Any business should have someone impartial going over their books to make sure they are on the level before I would want to invest in them. However, it seems like they feel that wrapping themselves in the cross excludes them from any oversight.

Their refusal to allow members to go to "secular court" is also a concern. In effect, this organization is the essence of religious faith; you send them your money and hope to God they aren't ripping you off, because you have no idea if they are, and if they eventually do, you have no legal rights.

What happens when your monthly payment increases to $666?

Will they re-brand?

If they're taking your money, creating an account for you, are they banking? Except, they get to decide who gets to spend your money? I'm guessing the CEO's family never has a medical bill turned down.

Looks like the average salary is nearly 70K per year. You know those clerks aren't making that kind of money, so someone's getting a fat pay check at the top of the pyramid.

Pay them the money, and then they'll pray really hard for you. If you get better, then you're welcome. If you don't, it was God's decision.

Pray you don't get sick.

As someone who spent a number of years working at the home office of a slightly bigger insurance company, I am curious about how they run their business. Do they have a team of actuaries that determine the premiums and coverage limits? Do they have a re-insurer? How solid is their solvency? If they are lacking any of these things, that 23% administration costs sounds extremely high.

It's very convenient they don't have to release any of their financial info due to being a religious organization. This just totally smells of the insurance industry before heavy regulation. A bunch of people paid into a system that let them down in the end, and the states had to step in to make sure that doesn't happen again.

You can't act like an insurance company and then they you are not one and the regulations do not apply to you.

The Florida Department of Insurance should put a stop to this.

God wants you to have shiatty health care coverage...

I don't recall it working so well for that Jesus guy.

I don't believe in insurance. It's a form of gambling.

You know, the tag would have implicitly covered the , , and tags. All of which are applicable to this one.

error 303: Give me $500 a month and I'll pray for you.

Ditto.

It doesn't look like they do contracts for discounts with providers so it's more like a HSA without the tax advantages or oversight. This has a strong scam funk about it.

hej: You know, the tag would have implicitly covered the , , and tags. All of which are applicable to this one.

Where did you get a green asinine tag?

How does this company NOT meet the definition of a fraternal organiztion? And unles Florida's Dept. of Insurance is utterly backwards they should have oversight over a fraternal as well as a for-profit company. If they go without oversight from anything resembling a competant commissioner who will track things like liquidity/loss ratios.

/Gall damn Florida Republicans are stupid.

Lets see:

1. "Christian Businessmen"
2. Health Insurance Lobbyists
3. Florida Republicans

Yeah, this should end well.

This appears to be yet another case of life imitating the Onion.

From last year' the Onion: Jesus Is My Health Insurance.

Between that the Bush Presidency prediction, the 911 memorial hole and the Gilette thing with the five razors I seriously must reconsider categorizing The Onion under "Humor" in my bookmarks. It's beginning to seem more like precognition to me.

"Montana kicked the company out. Illinois and Nevada are among states that have told the company to stop operating, but Christian Care said it's appealing the orders."

Seems legit to me.

Hmmm..I support this on the premise that a lot of stupid people will lose their money and die.

However I am opposed to it on general principles and common sense.

What would Jesus do?

GunshipPolitico: Where did you get a green asinine tag?

Good question. I just copied the URL from the first tag I found on the main politics page. Odd.

I suspect that it works as a health co-op, which as long as they run things reasonably it makes sense. If it is a cheaper alternative than traditional health insurance it might not be a bad alternative.

If they had an open books policy, it might be legit. Probably better than Cigna...

Billy-Bob Kenobi: "Montana kicked the company out. Illinois and Nevada are among states that have told the company to stop operating, but Christian Care said it's appealing the orders."

Seems legit to me.

Once you get a good scam going, the money talks for itself.

"They are a religious organization that comes together, pooling together their resources to cover each other's medical bills. How about that?" said Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, the House's health care budget chief. "They're not insurance; leave them alone."

Christian Care has been around for 15 years, growing from a staff of three who worked out of a garage office into a company that now employs 150, mostly in Florida, says Christian Care president Robert Baldwin.

How about this? Before you start any organization that takes people's money in exchange for services, how about you check if that business is legal?

Oh officer, I don't sell drugs. It's an art exhibition. I merely display drugs, turn my back, and some people seem to take that time to do their own art exhibition where they take the drugs and leave money where my drugs were. Why are you suppressing my art?

Nothing fails like prayer.

Socialized Healthcare? In my Religion?

It's more likely than you think.

I'm missing something...where are all the people saying they got screwed by this organization? You are all SAYING they are a scam, but who feels they were victimized? Seems to me like a bunch of people pooling their money together to pay health care costs, and VOLUNTARILY agreeing to certain conditions to participate in the program.

I'm in the healthcare business...companies do this all the time, it's called a Self Funded Health Plan.

Why shouldn't a church be able to pool resources together to care for its members? For all of you who usually scream "seperation of church and state", seems to me that this would fit quite nicely.

Oh, and look, they are doing it at an administrative cost that is less than that of major health insurers...sounds to me like the insurance industry is a little peeved that someone is beating them at their own game, and taking away their business.

BilltheThrill: However, perhaps TFA was unclear, but was the company activly trying to avoid regulation? That would seem suspicious to me. Any business should have someone impartial going over their books to make sure they are on the level before I would want to invest in them. However, it seems like they feel that wrapping themselves in the cross excludes them from any oversight.

Uh, when does an organization desire outside regulation of themselves?

And when the hell will people learn that being religious != good? Imagine if we had background checks for workers at nonprofit organizations. All those priests could have been exposed instead of pretending God has it all worked out.

Stan: You don't even know anything about Christianity!
Cartman: I know enough to exploit it.

/Gogo South Park truth