Editorial: Hardly a religious freedom

Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

S tate regulators have responsibly ordered a Christian group to stop operating in Nevada because the company is essentially offering health insurance without a license, escaping regulation and taxes.

As reported in Wednesday's Las Vegas Sun by Marshall Allen, people pay each month to be part of the group Christian Care Medi-Share and can submit medical bills for reimbursement. Sounds like insurance, right?

Not according to Medi-Share officials. Stephen Sullivan, chief counsel for Christian Care Ministry Inc., the nonprofit umbrella organization for Medi-Share, said this is not insurance. He said members of the group are all Christians and "share" with each other by helping pay off medical bills. He cites the Bible, which calls for Christians to help each other.

"Members see this as a fulfillment of that scripture," Sullivan said. "It's not really for the state to determine if it is or isn't a proper way to fulfill that scripture."

Sullivan went as far as to say that a ban threatens to compromise the group's religious freedom, which is a gross stretch of the First Amendment.

Medi-Share looks and acts like an insurance company. It takes monthly premiums, which it calls "shares." It requires deductibles, which it calls "individual member responsibilities." It pays out on claims. On its Web site, it bills itself as the "Biblical healthcare solution to the rising cost of health insurance."

Undoubtedly some of the more than 60,000 members nationwide, several hundred of whom are in Nevada, think this program replaces health insurance. Relying on this program as a sole way to pay medical bills is dangerous. Unlike being in a licensed insurance plan, members have no guarantees. The group doesn't promise payment on claims, especially on ailments that are deemed to be from a nonbiblical lifestyle, and if it goes bankrupt, the members don't have a prayer.

Medi-Share officials have tried to disguise an insurance program and hide behind religious freedom. The state is right to shut this group down.