In the second Democratic presidential primary debate, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris raised their hands when asked, "Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan?" Wiping out our nation’s $600 billion private insurance industry would most likely include my family’s membership in a HCSM.
HCSMS: AN OASIS OF MARKETS IN A SEA OF SOCIALISM
HCSMs might just be the last stronghold through which a patient can energetically participate in market-oriented health care. Each year, thousands of Christian families like ours take the plunge, drop traditional health insurance, and join a sharing ministry. Like us, many find a surprisingly humane and affordable oasis outside of the cruel desert of Healthcare.gov.
HCSMs have been around since the late 1980s in smaller forms. When Obamacare threatened to end health-care sharing ministries in 2010, religious freedom advocates got loud, most notably lobbyist James Lansberry, who famously said, "Who is this Barack Obama who mocks the armies of the living God?" Senate Democrats caved, extending a tiny exemption from the Affordable Care Act to appease a mere 150,000 HCSM members.
For nine years, as Obamacare tore through American households and clinics and hospitals, HCSMs quietly grew‐twice, thrice, and now nine times their size. Today there are 1.2 million HCSM members, and their medical expenses covered by sharing ministries exceeds $1 billion annually. Membership is expected to reach 1.68 million by 2020.
Growth has its pains, and some HCSMs are under fire over issues of quality and honesty. Member complaints within Liberty HealthShare and Aliera Healthcare Inc. have raised red flags in several states, especially Washington state, where both were ordered in May to stop operating.