FFRF: Beware health care sharing ministries — they’re not health insurance!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is warning that in their quest for affordable insurance Americans should take care not to be duped by health care sharing ministries.

With premiums set to double, triple or even quadruple after the Affordable Care Act subsidies lapsed on New Year’s Day, health care coverage for more than 20 million Americans is at risk. While Congress is set to resume its fruitless debate over the issue that caused the government shutdown last fall, FFRF reminds the American public of the dangers posed by health care sharing ministries.

Imagine an insurance company that doesn’t cover routine care or medications, can drop coverage or kick someone out for almost any reason (including a preexisting condition), has a lifetime cap on benefits, isn’t regulated, doesn’t have to possess any cash reserves and can hide information about coverage, payouts, terms and conditions.

This sums up the modus operandi of health care sharing ministries. In such entities, members — who are required to share a system of religious or ethical beliefs — make monthly payments to cover health expenses of other members. Health care sharing ministries do not have to comply with the consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act, do not guarantee payment for medical claims and provide limited benefits for their members.

In short, health care sharing ministries are a form of noncompliant junk coverage. In fact, they are not insurance, so there is no guarantee that claims will be paid even for expenses that meet membership guidelines for “covered services.” They generally do not have to cover preexisting illnesses, for example. (It goes without saying that abortion and contraception coverage is a nonstarter for most of these outfits.)

Through a combination of lax regulatory structures, selective payment of benefits, religious exemptions and the high cost of medical coverage, health care sharing ministries have become extremely profitable. News stories continue to emerge about how consumers are being duped into joining these organizations.

And health care sharing ministries have been receiving legislative help. Through 2024, 30 states passed so-called safe harbor provisions, touted by the conservative lobbying group ALEC as the Health Care Sharing Ministries Freedom to Share Act. Colorado in 2022 became one of the states to buck the trend and pass laws to curb some of their most egregious practices. But federal legislation introduced by Congressional Freethought Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Jared Huffman to rein in the worst abuses has not been passed. For instance, there are no federal protections or accountability requirements for disclosure of the percentage of claims denied, financial reserves or explicit explanations about when the ministry is not required to pay claims. Until the federal government and all states pass such protections, many hurting Americans will be left vulnerable to misleading claims from health care sharing ministries, particularly because they are promoted as having far more affordable premiums.

“We greatly sympathize with the millions of Americans who have been left in the lurch by the shameful inaction of Republicans in Congress to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “But it’s terribly important to get out the message that health care sharing ministries are a scourge — rather than the answer to the affordability crisis.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

The post FFRF: Beware health care sharing ministries — they’re not health insurance! appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Federal officials openly violate the U.S. Constitution by pushing Christian messaging on citizens

Anne Landman Blog
By Anne Landman

The post Federal officials openly violate the U.S. Constitution by pushing Christian messaging on citizens appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Sarah Sanders stands up to atheists after shutting down state offices to celebrate ’Christ the Savior’

LifeSite
By Charles Richards

The post Sarah Sanders stands up to atheists after shutting down state offices to celebrate ’Christ the Savior’ appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Sanders Defends Faith, Reassures Atheists Jesus Loves Them

Spreely News
By Erica Carlin

The post Sanders Defends Faith, Reassures Atheists Jesus Loves Them appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Officials respond after religious decoration removed from SC school

ABC 15 News (Conway, SC)
By Alex Kesler

The post Officials respond after religious decoration removed from SC school appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Here’s an easy 2026 resolution for Oklahoma lawmakers: Stop creating do-nothing advisory boards

News From the States
By Janelle Stecklein

The post Here’s an easy 2026 resolution for Oklahoma lawmakers: Stop creating do-nothing advisory boards appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF has S.C. school district remove nativity scene door decorations

A holiday season door-decorating contest in South Carolina’s York School District 1 was not hijacked for religious purposes, thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

A concerned district community member informed the state/church watchdog that for Hunter Street Elementary School’s holiday door-decorating contest, one teacher displayed a Christian nativity scene on her door along with the verse, “For Unto Us A Savior Is Born.”

FFRF wrote to the district to make certain that this First Amendment violation was corrected.

“To protect students’ First Amendment rights, the district must ensure this display is removed, as well as any other religious displays it becomes aware of in its schools,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude stated in the letter. “The district cannot allow promotion of religion on the walls of its schools.”

The district breached the Constitution when it allowed its schools to display religious symbols or messages, FFRF emphasized. It is well settled that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion. By permitting the display of explicitly religious imagery and a message declaring Jesus was born for “us,” York School District 1 violated this basic constitutional prohibition by signaling clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion, and Christianity over all other faiths.

Nearly a quarter of the state’s population is not Christian, with 16 percent identifying as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” FFRF points out.

Thankfully, it did not take long for the district to listen to FFRF and rectify its mistake.

Just two days after FFRF’s letter, Superintendent Heath Branham emailed back, confirming that action had been taken.

“The display referenced in your letter has been removed,” Branham wrote. “We appreciate you notifying us and consider the matter resolved.”

FFRF is proud to see its work make another school district a more welcoming place for all students.

“By using the door-decorating contest as a means to push her religion, one teacher turned a fun event into a proselytizing environment that signaled Christian students were favored over all others,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “Young and impressionable elementary school students are a captive audience whose right to be free from religious indoctrination in the public school setting must be scrupulously honored.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in South Carolina. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

The post FFRF has S.C. school district remove nativity scene door decorations appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The United States Was Not Founded As A Christian Nation

The post The United States Was Not Founded As A Christian Nation appeared first on Secular Coalition for America.

The Wall or the Cross: America at the Tipping Point

This Ain’t No Culture War
Eric Lane

The post The Wall or the Cross: America at the Tipping Point appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Freethought Radio – January 1, 2026

Actor, comedian and broadcaster John Fugelsang describes his new book, Separation of Church and Hate.

The post Freethought Radio – January 1, 2026 appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.