It's no secret that America's health
insurance system is broken.
If you think about it too hard, you'll
give yourself a panic attack that feels like a heart attack,
lined up in the ER with a bill that gives you a real heart
attack, get a bigger bill, decide to fake your death,
escape out the window, accidentally fall
into the hospital brambles, and get a whole other bill
to pay for new brambles.
Even with insurance, medicine things sure are expensive.
There's got to be another way!
It's a little known loophole in the law
that authorized Obamacare.
No health insurance but you don't
want to pay the IRS penalty for not buying health insurance?
No problem-- if you're a Christian,
and you join a health care sharing ministry.
Every month, people put money into a communal medical fund
instead of towards traditional insurance.
We're about 80,000 believers in Christ
spread across the country that simply
share in each other's medical bills every month.
OK, but what do you do if one month god blows all the money
on a wicked new jet ski?
Why walk on water, when you can shred on it?
In a health care sharing ministry,
members pay a set amount every month--
usually far less than regular insurance, with the expectation
that the ministry will cover their medical bills
when they need it.
But the problem is they're totally
unregulated, and under no legal obligation to pay.
It's really up to the whims of the person
reviewing your claims.
And you don't know if you're going
to get a good Christian, a bad Christian,
or a Sister Christian.
Worthless if you're sick, but sick as hell at karaoke.
Unfortunately, members are finding out the hard way
their care isn't covered.
KIRO 7 has since talked with a half dozen people, who all
thought they were signing up for health insurance with Aliera,
only to have their claims denied.
Denied, denied, denied.
10-year-old Lola Gray Seegers is healthy, just four
months after brain surgery.
Doctors removed a softball-sized brain tumor.
But last week came the bill from their health
plan, Aliera companies.
$325,624.
We had a life threatening emergency.
The Seegers say Aliera even rejected
Lola Gray's emergency room bill, saying
headaches aren't an emergency.
Oh, [BLEEP] off.
Calling a brain tumor a headache?
I'm glad you believe in hell, because you
are definitely going there.
[APPLAUSE]
Members of health sharing ministries
often have to sign a Christian lifestyle agreement.
For example, Altrua members must agree
to not smoke, do drugs, get drunk, or have
sex outside of marriage.
Basically, you need to have a pre-existing condition
called being a nerd.
Though for an extra premium, they do offer an option
that allows butt stuff.
Since the Affordable Care Act passed,
Christian health sharing ministries
have blown up, enrolling an estimated million plus people.
But many of them don't realize it's
not actual insurance, because it's
often marketed like insurance.
They even mimic real plan tiers, like gold, silver, and bronze,
with names like diamond, emerald,
and sapphire-- though they really
should be called dog shit.
It's so confusing.
Even health care ministry employees aren't
clear on what they're selling.
Through a public disclosure request,
we got a hold of this training video, where even the speaker
calls their service health insurance before quickly
correcting himself.
We're finally applying health insu--
health care in a market--
That was their video!
If someone in a Burger King training film
dropped all the Whoppers, Burger King would not leave that in!
We already know we're eating floor Whoppers.
We don't need them to say it.
Some ministries prey on members' generosity
by sharing personal stories from the people who will
receive their contribution.
Who wouldn't rather send their payment to a real person?
Real insurance companies should do that.
If Geico sent a bill that said my payment would pay
for that gecko to get braces, it would
be a pleasure to pay that bill and fix
his jacked little teeth.
But it's not entirely clear how members' money is being used.
In one case, regulators found that only 20% of contributions
went toward members' medical bills.
Not only did some ministries pay commissions
to third party brokers, they also make some banger ads.
I'm getting jerked around up here, trying
to sign up for health care.
Have you looked at the Liberty Health Share?
They have programs starting at $199.
No, I haven't.
Didn't think so.
Hope you're all right.
No, Chad, he's dead.
The man is dead, and you're just standing there.
Ministry members get none of the protections mandated
by the Affordable Care Act, including
coverage for mental health, birth control,
or pre-existing conditions.
And their concept of pre-existing conditions
is pretty extreme.
When one couple adopted their first child,
they were shocked to discover that Samaritan, the sharing
ministry they paid into for years,
would not cover any condition an adopted child
has prior to being adopted--
making adoption a pre-existing condition.
Yeah, I think it's time we started
blaming the kids for taking so long to be adopted.
Drop those maps, kids.
Go find a home.
All health care ministries are risky for their members.
But one-- Aliera--
seems to be an actual scam.
A lawsuit filed last month by the Texas AG on behalf
of the Texas Department of Insurance
claims Aliera did not qualify as a health care
sharing ministry in the state.
The lawsuit alleges the company is operating as an insurance
company without the right to.
What we saw and what we're aware of at this time,
it's clearly a scam.
Let me repeat that--
Aliera didn't even qualify as a health care sharing ministry.
Even when they were full of shit, they were full of shit
about the shit they were full of.
It's full of shit inception.
We spoke with Sheri Lewis, a dance teacher in Seattle
who signed up for Aliera after her previous insurance dropped
her.
When I had signed on, I'd already had one hip replacement
two years before from a car accident,
and I was having problems with my hip.
I was having a lot of pain.
So I went to the surgeon.
They said you absolutely need surgery.
And we scheduled it.
And then they came back and said we won't cover
it because it's pre-existing.
The cost to have it out of pocket in the United States
was going to be like $80,000 out of pocket.
The only reason someone should spend $80,000 on hip surgery
is if they're getting a surgical transplant of Shakira's hips.
Not plastic surgery, her actual hips.
While some states have taken action against Aliera
for particularly deceptive practices,
they can't regulate other ministries because they're
not real health insurance.
It's both a catch-22, and also the worst catfish
since that time I thought I was in an online relationship
with Mark Paul Geissler, but it turned out
I was chatting with Dustin Diamond,
and it was after he stabbed that guy.
The philosophy behind health sharing ministries
is a nice one.
We should all want to share resources
and help carry each other's burdens.
It's certainly the Christian thing to do.
And also, for the record, the democratic socialist thing to
do.
If Jesus were around today, he'd probably
be a hot boy for Bernie.
[CHEERING]
Health care ministries take advantage of the people
who are desperate for help.
They're a scammy offshoot of a larger problem.
Everyone deserves access to health care,
regardless of income.
It's what this hot boy would have wanted.