June 21, 2010 issue
Uninsured take care of their own
Mutual aid covers medical bills — and costs less, too
By Paul SchragAmerica’s 46 million uninsured include the Amish and plain-sect Mennonites, but they’re hardly typical.
Wanting to trust God and help each other in times of need, they forgo medical insurance for reasons of faith. Yet they pay their bills in full, promptly, and get a discount from doctors and hospitals.
Using a system of mutual aid — and, in some cases, getting help from non-Amish to negotiate with health care providers — they’re able to cover even six- figure bills.
For at least 50,000 Amish and Old Order Mennonites, help comes from Immergrün, a Holland, Ohio-based organization that negotiates affordable health care services for plain Anabaptists.
“If you tried to do this with the English [non-Amish], you couldn’t, because we don’t have the support system,” said Cindy Siedler, administrator for Immergrün, which means “Evergreen” in German. “They have a system of taking care of one another. You have to admire them for it.”
The nonprofit company charges a 7 percent fee to cover its costs, including the salaries of three employees. In 2009 it paid out $4.8 million, serving as a bridge between plain churches and health care providers.
In eight years, Siedler estimates, out of more than $16 million in medical bills, Immergrün’s clients have defaulted on only about $2,300.
It’s a winning formula for hospitals and patients.
“The hospital’s incentive is that we pay them 100 percent within 30 to 45 days,” Siedler said. “And they’re not negotiating with every single church any longer.”
The Amish and conservative Mennonites’ incentive is that they pay out of their own pockets rather than through an insurance company, and they save a lot of money.
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