Hey, GuideStone, can you talk to us a little more?

GuideStone announced, rather abruptly and suddenly on December 20th last year, that they were "temporarily" no longer writing any new individual policies

In the midst of the current uncertainties related to the various implementations of the Affordable Care Act and the effect it is already having on millions of Americans, and in an effort to preserve our Personal Plans medical plans for the long term, we have made the difficult decision to TEMPORARILY limit participation in the Personal Plans medical plans to our current participants going into 2014. This means the Personal Plans will continue to cover those who are enrolled as of December 31, 2013, but will not be able to accept NEW ENROLLEES into the medical plans, except as required by law due to marriage, birth, adoption or similar qualifying event. This measure will apply to both our expanded ministries we serve as well as our Southern Baptist audience. This change does not affect the availability of our Personal Plans dental, term life, accident or disability plans.

 If you call GuideStone they will tell you quickly, "Nope, we have temporarily stopped writing new seminarian, church staff, or other individual policies."

If you go to GuideStone's website you will search for awhile before you find the same announcement. Why GuideStone makes it difficult to find this I am not sure.

So, seminarians and other individuals are thrust into Obamacare for insurance. One seminarian found insurance through the troubled Obamacare website that was far superior to what GuideStone was offering to seminarians and with the government subsidies was much, much cheaper. How about insurance for $25/mo or so sound? Pretty good if it works.

One can see GuideStone's problem. As long as lower income people (that would include most all seminarians) have their insurance subsidized, GuideStone will be completely unable to compete in this market.

But I wonder about pastors and church staff. In some areas where there is little competition among providers or for those staff with higher salaries, and the subsequent loss of subsidies, will GuideStone be able to compete in this market at all? And does the Affordable Care Act count the housing allowance as income in qualifying or not for the subsidies. Don't know but would be interested in what the experiences are for the brethren.

Who knows where this is going or what it means for GuideStone. I just wish GuideStone would do a better job of talking to us than they have thus far.

Here's a little feedback, O.S. How about picking up the pace on this? I hear you on your court challenges. What I would like to hear is something relative to where most Southern Baptists are. Thanks. 

GuideStone reinrollment vs Obamacare?

There it lies - my GuideStone 2014 comprehensive medical re-enrollment packet. (I smudged the address just in case some nefarious spammer wanted to load my mailbox with junk mail. If you would like to send me money, I have a PayPal account and can accommodate you that way ;) .)

I haven't opened it but can prophetically state with absolute certainly that the annual cost will be more than my entire year's salary at my first church (not adjusted for inflation of course). It will easily be my household's greatest single expense, unless I decide to borrow money and go buy a new boat.

How much difference will there be between the Obamacare exchange price for my family of two and the GuideStone price for us? I don't know but plan to find out.

If GuideStone is, say, $5,000 per year more expensive, is it worth it to pay that? I'm thinking probably not.

So...I ask my fellow Southern Baptists a couple of questions:

1. For those of you who are like me, in the individual insurance market paying your own bill, do you plan to check the exchanges and compare? Have you already done so? What experience do you have?

2. For those of you whose bill has always been paid by your church, are you or is your church considering moving that expense to the exchanges to save the church money?

Yeah, I understand that GuideStone is filled with old, unhealthy dudes and that is why it is so high.

What do you plan to do for next year?

GuideStone seeking ObamaCare subsidies?

Well, not really. But if I understand O. S. Hawkins correctly, GuideStone is lobbying to get laws passed so that GuideStone can indirectly receive government subsidies.

While many pastors and their families would otherwise qualify for these [health care exchange] subsidies, the way the law was written excludes them from accessing subsidies if they participate in a church health plan, such as GuideStone's. GuideStone views this as an issue of fundamental unfairness. (Baptist Press)

It must be tough for GuideStone to advocate a position that acknowledges, seems to me, that they may be in a non-competitive position in the individual health care market unless their present and potential clients are allowed to access the same ObamaCare premium subsidies that they would be if they left GuideStone and bought their health coverage from one of the secular providers participating in the exchanges.

I am heavily flummoxed about all the health care changes. Here's what I understand relative to ObamaCare and my insurance provider, GuideStone:

1. GuideStone will continue to provide ministers with health insurance in 2014 and beyond.

2. GuideStone will still NOT allow enrollment of new participants in 2014 who have preexisting conditions.

3. GuideStone will have competition from the Exchanges. As an aside, preliminary figures in my state make the exchanges, with the subsidies, very attractive to someone with my family income. 

Here are the questions that express what I do not know about GuideStone and ObamaCare:

1. Will GuideStone be forced at some point in the future to accept those with preexisting conditions or will their plan be grandfathered in, allowing them to continue to require underwriting and reject some applicants?

2. Will GuideStone's present participants be able to leave GS, move to one of the exchanges, and receive the premium subsidies? (I think the answer to this is 'yes' and that the issue of the subsidies is as I described above - staying with GS and receiving them, where the answer is 'no.')

3. Does GuideStone expect that their premium structure will become highly noncompetitive if a significant number of participants move to the exchanges? I suspect that no one knows the answer to this.

4. Does GuideStone have any expectations of selling policies to young, healthy Southern Baptists or does the lack of the premium subsidy effectively eliminate the bulk of this market?

I get the general feeling that GuideStone is gearing their marketing thrust to existing clients with a heavy emphasis on continuity, trust, and comfort level. That, with a bit of scare-mongering. While I like continuity, I'm not sure it's worth several hundred dollars a month. But then, I don't know the bottom line...yet.

Frankly, I'd like to hear more straight talk from GuideStone on all this.

How loyal should Southern Baptists be to GuideStone?

Let me be brutally candid here about health insurance and more personal than I am accustomed to be on this blog: My GuideStone comprehensive health insurance monthly bill is larger than my mortgage payment and is the most expensive routine expense I have. I suppose many other pastors join me in that. Even pastors whose churches pay their insurance understand that the insurance billing eats into their take home income indirectly as churches look at the costs of providing salary and benefits for their clergy staff.

I have heard my fellow pastors complain for decades about GuideStone being expensive, more expensive than alternative sources of insurance; nonetheless, I understand the reasons for this and have not asked churches I have served to explore alternative sources. Now that I pay my own bill directly in retirement, I have continued to buy from GuideStone.

Two factors have led to this. First, GuideStone will not terminate coverage for frequent of excessive claims, and second, I have found GS to be easy to work with.

We are finally hearing from GuideStone on ObamaCare, although if one accesses their website and roots around a bit there is and has been plenty of general information on it there. We are hearing more now because (a) the ObamaCare health care exchanges will be open in October, and (b) GuideStone is softening clients up for next year's rate increase, said to be in "single digits."

Baptist Press has the article, Obamacare's implementation eyed by GuideStone for 2014

My mortgage is a fixed rate. Premiums vary only in the amount of escrow needed for property insurance and taxes, and has gone down several years running because of reduction in taxes. Alas, health insurance is not fixed and, despite my taking less and less coverage, higher and higher deductibles, has skyrocketed. I mentioned the ballpark figure I pay for insurance at a minister's conference recently. The leader, a pastor but retired military, was aghast at the figure. He had no clue.

If an acceptable insurance alternative is available through the exchanges I will look very closely at it.

Naturally, GuideStone doesn't like the competition nor the reality that they stand to lose customers. Warnings to GS clients, in the form of advice, is offered in the article:

Pastors and churches must address four main concerns as they look to re-enrollment for 2014:
1. whether they will provide coverage for their employees or put them in a position of having to obtain coverage on secular exchanges.
2. how exchange plan benefits and total cost of coverage, including out-of-pocket expenses, exchange taxes and fees, will compare with their existing coverage.
3. whether, if they use a secular health plan provider, they will be subsidizing objectionable contraceptives, including abortifacients.
4. whether their health plans meet applicable health care reform limits and rules.

While these are relevant considerations, I don't like the way GuideStone puts this. Average sized churches probably depend on, and defer to, the pastor about where he obtains his health insurance. Churches may stand to save thousands annually if the pastor buys his own health insurance from one of the exchanges.

I am quite concerned that the article, a piece written by GuideStone employees, failed to mention one very important change that ObamaCare forces on them. Next post for that. Maybe GuideStone is working on that one.

If I sound a little surly about the whole thing, I am. I am about to write next month's check to GuideStone.

Hey, GuideStone. Let's hear something from you.

Quickly now, what is GuideStone saying to SBC clergy concerning the rollout of Obamacare, specifically the insurance exchanges that are to be in place starting next year?

Don't know? Haven't heard?

I'm not hearing much out of GuideStone concerning ObamaCare - no advice, no heads-ups, not much of anything.

Sure, if you go to their site you can find information on health care reform. Did down and you can find info for individuals and families. I'm guessing that most SBCers who have GS insurance like to hear a real person, or read a real Baptist Press or other article.

New insurance rates will be coming out soon. It is one of my biggest expenses.

What should I expect?

Check this article from Religion News Service: Partisan fighting spells trouble for clergy insurance under Obamacare

Under Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act, more than 50 percent of UMC clergy would qualify for tax credits available to lower- and middle-class families to purchase insurance. But because of the way the law was written, those tax credits cannot be used toward insurance plans churches can offer through government-run exchanges.

Substantial numbers of SBC clergy will also qualify for subsidies, since the income levels for qualifying are about $62,000 for a family of two, $94,000 for a family of four, etc. The average SBC pastor income is under $60k. Many make much less. Many have only one working member of the family.

Looks like GuideStone's insurance rates may be heavily undercut by the government exchanges. Will thousands of SBC clergy take the government subsidy and ditch GuideStone for them?

I love dealing with GuideStone. They are always helpful with insurance and retirement matters but if my bill would go from well over $1k/mo to a much lower bill for same or better coverage, I'm wide open to a move.

Those lower paid clergy for whom the church pays their insurance as a part of their compensation have a difficult decision as well. If the exchanges substantially lower the bill, does the church rearrange compensation to allow the minister to buy his own and his straight income is increased? Will the church figure into that the fact that the minister will probably pay taxes on the increased income?

There are a lot of variables.

Does housing allowance count in comparing income to poverty level?

Will GuideStone be taking a lot of new ministers who were not accepted previously because of pre-existing conditions? How will this affect GS rates?

There are a lot of questions. I'm not seeing what I think I need to see from GuideStone.

Let's get with it, brethren.

The high road for an Independence Day sermon

When did it become de rigeuer for churches to devote the Lord's Day prior to July 4th to a hodgepodge of religion, worship, patriotism, and celebration of civil religion?

My guess is that sometime around the Reagan revolution thirty years ago.

I know how pastors think, some of them anyway, and there is always pressure to preach the grand glories of the Republic and toss in some God-talk with it. Folks expect that. Sometimes we are all about meeting the expectation of our congregation, not a bad thing, but not always the best thing either.

It is also somewhat expected that the pastor issue breathless warnings about our country going to Gehenna, declining morally, and other highly preach-able, and appreciated, boilerplate sermon pyrotechnics.

And, as a result of the Obamacare decision, is not the pulpit pump highly primed for a rip-roaring, stemwinder sermon a la 'America You Are Too Young To Die'?

Resist the temptation, brethren. The Republic will survive this latest challenges and will not endure for the long, long haul anyway.There are vastly more important, eternal matters about which to preach.

Take the High Road, the Straight and Narrow one, instead.


Let the theocrats offer their bluff and bluster about bringing America back to God. There is something eternally better: The life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are no Christian nations, only Christians so try and secure a few more souls for the Kingdom of God this Sunday, rather than a few more votes for November's election.

My hope is built on nothing less than

        Jesus blood and righteousness.

...and eat a little BBQ if you can.