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?

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.

A sweet deal from NAMB

Most pastors, like ordinary Americans, are acutely attuned to health care costs and especially to the premiums they pay or their church pays for comprehensive health care coverage. The holy grail of healthcare for Southern Baptists is be employed by or have an arrangment with some SBC entity whereby they pay your health insurance premiums. We hacker and plodder pastors who go individually to GuideStone pay high premiums for not-so-hot coverages.

I suppose GuideStone is doing the best they can with a voluntary pool of aging clergy whose health habits are measurably below the general population (think fried chicken and rotund reverends) but coverages have deteriorated and premiums have risen, both substantially.

It's an unholy mess. No one is happy about GuideStone health coverages and premiums.

I am approaching retirement age and the coverages my church can afford on me are pathetic even though the premiums amount to over a thousand dollars a month. When I retire, my health care premiums will be my largest monthly bill, easily going beyond my combined mortgage plus escrow payments.

So, when I learn that the North American Mission Board has been carrying health insurance for around 340 missions personnel who are only partly funded by NAMB, well, I'm interested.

That is a sweet deal.

Get the picture here. Some missionaries for whom NAMB provides as little as $100 in monthly support qualify for having NAMB pick up their insurance. Of course, that means Annie Armstrong and Cooperative Program givers - you, me, our churches - struggle to pay insurance for our full time people but if you can get NAMB to jointly fund a position, even part time, even the slightest fraction part time, and we get to pay their insurance also. Not so sweet.

It's time to say goodbye to the sweet deal. NAMB is eliminating insurance for positions for which they are not primary employer. Good for NAMB.

"We do not feel obligated to pay those benefits when we are not the primary employer" says NAMB leader, Kevin Ezell.

Ezell estimates that this will eventually result in up to a $5 million annual savings. Annual savings? Five million...anually? Good heavens.

While I sympathize with those affected, nothing raises the ire of folks in the pulpits and pews greater than when they learn that some people in SBC life are getting a sweet deal, and we are paying for it.

Good move, NAMB.
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My source for this is reporting in The Christian Index, November 3, 2011.

Sadly, one SBC statistic that is not declining: GuideStone health insurance premiums

Cooperative Program revenues are down. Every church I know is behind budget. Some state conventions have steeply declining revenues. Our two mission boards are millions behind in revenues. Rather depressing.

How about an SBC statistic that is not declining?

Here’s one: GuideStone raises comprehensive medical insurance coverage 25% over last year. My premiums have increased about 60% in the past two years. Rather depressing. The packet containing my 2011 medical re-enrollment has been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks. I just now got the nerve to open it.

For about $15,000 per year, my wife and I get comprehensive health insurance which means that above the premiums we get to limit our annual out-of-pocket health costs to $11,600. To be clear, that is about $27,000 for the year in the event of major health care expenses. Such a deal.

Yeah, yeah. I know the problems, the reasons.

Yeah, I know that by-passes and knee replacements, etc. cost big bucks.

No, I didn’t expect Obama to fix anything.

Sure, I’m grateful to my church for paying my insurance, although most of us have understood for years and years that steeply increasing insurance premiums have eaten up any salary increases.

No, I don’t know of a decent alternative outside of getting a job where group insurance is available.

The telemarketers are already calling the church to try and get us to drop GuideStone and buy theirs. Give them credit for knowing when SBC pastors might be in a mood to switch.

Stinks, really.