More people are depending on healthcare ministries to cover for their medical fees instead of purchasing insurance coverage; this trend could upset the stability of the ACA if it continues unabated.
These “healthcare” ministries provide a healthcare cost-sharing system among their faithful, their popularity growing due to an ACA provision allowing participants in eligible ministries to avoid paying fines for not purchasing any sort of health insurance.
The ministries are not regulated by the states and operate outside of the insurance system, which already makes them a cause for concern for both recognized insurers and consumer groups.
According to estimations by ministry officials, they have about 500,000 across the country—more than twice the number the ministries in question had before the legislation came into effect in 2010. This large increase in membership was unanticipated by ministry officials when their groups obtained an exception to the law.
Only those ministries in continuous operation since Dec. 31, 1999 are exempt from the ACA. The exemption was enacted in response to small religious groups that asserted that their nonparticipation in the ACA was “a matter of religious freedom.”
