I’m a proud supporter of Health Care Sharing Ministries. 

Right now, the legislature is about to consider a deeply flawed piece of legislation being drafted by Representative Tom Oliverson, Chairman of the House Insurance Committee, which would impose punitive requirements on Health Care Sharing Ministries. 

The bill would single out these ministries and potentially subject them to even greater bureaucratic scrutiny than health insurers, and eventually shut them down if they are deemed insufficiently compliant. 

The proposed bill would involve a state takeover of a private, independent accreditation process which involves more than 80+ standards. Ministries currently voluntarily submit to scrutiny by a private organization to demonstrate their stability and integrity to the public. Turning over this process to the state would be unconstitutional and unworkable. 

This grant of unprecedented power to the Texas state insurance bureaucracy over religious ministries would unfairly burden the religious exercise of these faith communities. This misguided proposal must be stopped! 

I urge you to stop this bill and keep government out of Christian health care. 

[If you’d like to add even more, here are more details]

Specifically, I would like him/her to know; 

• More than 150,000 Texans have chosen a faith-based alternative to health insurance. Their ministries shouldn’t be required to provide exhaustive and intrusive reporting to the Texas Department of Insurance and subjected to the punitive enforcement authority of the Insurance Commissioner because they are not insurance and are already regulated by the Attorney General.
• These communities are led by faith and stay true to their biblical beliefs in their health care choices. We want the government to stay out of these communities of spiritual and financial support for Texans. 
• Since the 1980s, Health Care Sharing Ministries have helped their members share eligible medical bills, including major medical expenses such as surgery, childbirth, cancer treatment, and other life-changing events. They provide reliable help for more than a million Americans, including more than 150,000 Texans.
• Health Care Sharing Ministries are uniquely American; they build on the traditional right of Americans to share their burdens in like-minded communities and to forge bold and innovative solutions to big challenges like the rising cost of health care. 
• Health Care Sharing Ministries have already partnered with rigorous private accreditation entities to review their financial stability and organizational integrity. These organizations can scrutinize the ministries far better than the government can or should. Turning that process over to the government is unconstitutional and unworkable.
• We don’t need more government control over our daily lives. Enough is enough.

I appreciate you passing along the message along to the Representative (or Senator) that Health Care Sharing Ministries are a choice for Texans that must be protected and that (s)he should strongly oppose any bill that seeks to impose more government regulation on these faith-based organizations.