Health Insurance Plans Purchased as a Church Body

Health Insurance Plans Purchased as a Church Body

The Church could rise to the challenge of health care while taking steps towards the unity that Christ desires. Church members could purchase health insurance through their church. Christians could pool together to purchase health insurance.
Possible Benefits:
health coverage could be obtained for the uninsured as the rest of the church body pays the premium for those that can't afford it
the church body could become more united as members that were more audience than active see a highly visible mutual dependency
the church body in clearly caring for the poor and uninsured will show it's love
church members are both motivated and able to encourage each other to adopt healthy practices as each has a financial stake in the health of the congregation
there would be motivation for different churches to pool participants into one plan

Possible Challenges:
members that already have employer sponsored health coverage would be paying a full premium instead of just what their employer doesn't cover.
there would likely be more church politics as everyone has a financial interest. This could be particularly problematic if the members are particularly far from being or wanting to be followers of Christ.
people would be motivated to join the church just to get insurance. This could make the program financially infeasible without safeguards. With the proper measures this motivation could be a tool in helping the church reach the community and make disciples.
infighting amongst pooled churches could make more headlines than any good work those churches do