Last night by a vote of 219-212 the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR3590, which was previously passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve.  They passed the bill without amendment so it now goes to President Obama’s desk.  He is expected to sign the bill on Tuesday.

The bill contains in individual mandate to purchase health insurance, but it also includes an exemption from the penalty for members of health care sharing ministries.  We are thankful for this island of freedom that remains in the legislation for pro-life Christians, and encourage people of faith to seek out information on these ministries and consider joining.

The individual and employer mandates do not take effect until 2014.

Both of our member ministries were featured in a recent news broadcast in Charlotte, NC.  You can watch the video here.

The usual push on regulation is included in the news story, but it’s a good look into how the ministries work as a flyover view.

The Virginia house, with bipartisan support, passed Senate Bill 417 which legislatively pushes back against a federally instituted individual insurance mandate.  It is legally protecting the right of Virginia residents from being forced to purchase health insurance.

You can find the text of the bill, which Governor McDonnell is now expected to sign into law here, and more about national efforts to protect health care freedom through states acting under the 10^th amendment here.

We applaud these efforts because they will also protect our members’ right to use non-insurance options like health care sharing .  Americans need to have freedom of choice in their health care solutions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach that will limit innovation and liberty.

Even before an array of national groups and taxpayers mounted a brave and seemingly unwinnable challenge to nationalized health insurance, an Arizona doctor began the fight to strengthen protection for health care freedom at the state level.  Three years later, his idea has spread like wildfire.

The Goldwater Institute has a great writeup on one doctor who started the health care freedom efforts that led to the Arizona ballot initiative and now the Virginia Senate passing the recent bill I mentioned last week.

Health care reform legislation at the federal level includes an individual mandate that would require all U.S. citizens to buy health insurance or face fines.

The Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, which would release residents of a state from such a mandate, has already been filed or prefiled in 30 states. A question on whether to guarantee freedom of choice will be on Arizona’s ballot this fall, and lawmakers in five more states have announced their intentions to file the legislation. A citizen-led initiative has also been announced in Colorado.

It’s encouraging to see state legislatures pushing back against a one-size-fits-all approach to health reform. When a patient is freed up to choose providers, to choose the design of his own health care methods, at that point there is better health care and better cost.

We applaud the legislators standing up for freedom rather than a centrally controlled choice.

The states in which the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Commission, has been introduced to release residents from an individual mandate are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

States in which legislators are considering introducing the act are Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Utah.

This time in Dallas:

Bob and Paula Singleton still have the heartfelt, prayer-filled letters that came with payment for Mr. Singleton’s melanoma surgery last year.

“It is so warm and friendlier than an insurance check,” Mrs. Singleton said while reading a well-wish that read “our prayers are with yours that the cancer is totally gone.”

It wasn’t an insurance company at all that covered every last cent of his medical costs, but Christians from all over the country. It was all part of a Christian health care sharing program called Samaritan Ministries.

Read or watch the whole story here.

HR 3962 was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 7^th, but there is much more that will need to happen for this bill to become law.

First, the bill must next be approved in the U.S. Senate. For it to pass, it will have to overcome significant opposition and is unlikely to pass in its current form.

In addition, the current health care bill in the Senate, HR 3590, provides an exemption for members of health care sharing ministries.

Even if an unfavorable bill should eventually pass in the Senate, and then be approved by both houses, the requirement to purchase health insurance in the current legislation is not scheduled to take effect until 2013. That will give significant time to continue seeking exemptions and other legal protections.

We believe that there has never been a better time to be part of a health care sharing ministry, and this political development can be a good opportunity to tell fellow believers and unbelievers alike about the importance of putting our faith in God and not in a government. He is the only One Who can provide everything we need.

The health care “reform” process is far from over. There are still many ways for God to intervene. We need to continue depending on Him and taking action where we can.

It promises to be close.

We’re opposing it right now because it does not include protections for health care sharing ministries.  There are protections in the Senate Finance Committee bill, but we’re concerned about them surviving conference committee if they’re not in both bills.

So our members are praying this evening for the bill in its current condition to fail, so that it might come back with a better version for our ministries.

Health reform is necessary.  But it needs to happen without destroying the non-profit, non-insurance solutions that are already working.

Here’s a NICU that’s engaging and using the parents as caregivers for sick children and it’s working!

Leading Intensive Care for Newborns – WSJ.com
Now, thanks in part to Dr. Cole’s lead, the focus in many NICUs has shifted from simply keeping the tiny infants alive to ensuring that they and their families thrive, physically, socially and emotionally.”This is a very, very hot topic in newborn intensive care,” says Beverly Johnson, president of the nonprofit Institute for Family-Centered Care. It’s the subject of annual conferences, and a major emphasis of both the March of Dimes and the Vermont-Oxford Network, a collaboration of 800 NICUs around the world.

More on Healthcare Sharing Ministries « The Enterprise Blog
Earlier, I wondered about the fate of private “Healthcare Sharing Ministries” such as Samaritan Ministries International under healthcare reform. I have now learned that these organizations are treated differently in different ObamaCare proposals floating around Congress. At the moment, there’s an exception for them in the “conceptual language” of the Baucus plan passed by the Senate Finance Committee.