COVID-19: A Clarion Call for Health Care Options
Our first line of defense against COVID-19 is personal and community responsibility, neighbor helping neighbor. That’s also the foundation of one of America’s fastest growing health care choices – health sharing.
Health Sharing is a revolution in health care. Its rapid growth demonstrates Americans’ desire for options different from traditional insurance that are less costly and more firmly embrace religious and ethical concepts of trust, tradition and personal responsibility. That’s not only a philosophy, it’s one of the core components setting Health Sharing apart from health insurance. Health Sharing ministries believe in caring and compassion rather than the big business of corporate calculation. It is a distinction with a difference.
Health Sharing is a microcosm of the current debate over how we should handle the next phases of the battle against COVID-19. One road leads to millions of Americans helping their friends and neighbors stay healthy. The other leads to the heavy hand of government regulation.
Health Sharing ministries started small. Small faith-based organizations serving small numbers of members. But times have changed. Today Health Sharing ministries are growing at a rapid rate and serve a nationwide constituency … proving both the popularity and the validity of the Health Sharing concept. Its success has attracted not just more members – but the appropriate attention of state and federal officials. Today it is essential that Health Sharing ministry operations and procedures (financial disclosures, communications, cost sharing methodologies, vendor relationships, etc.) advance and mature in line with its growing role on the national health care agenda.
We firmly believe that the best way to avoid restrictive and burdensome government regulation is for the Health Sharing community to honestly and robustly regulate itself.
Health Sharing ministries must be accredited by a legitimate third-party organization. “Accreditation,” according to the dictionary, is “the action or process of officially recognizing someone as having a particular status or being qualified to perform a particular activity.” It also means standardization of best practices. In today’s environment, adoption of defined high standards and best practices isn’t an option. It is a practical business necessity. Accreditation will allow health sharing ministries to be more trusted by regulators and law-makers and better prepared for serving more members in more communities across the country.
In a survey by the Public Health Accreditation Board, 98% of respondents agreed that accreditation prompted their organization to improve quality and performance. The mission of NOAH (the National Association of Accredited HealthShares) is to ensure that Health Sharing has the opportunity to become a strong and trusted health care option not for thousands of Americans – but for millions.
Regulation and accreditation are not identical. Regulation involves rules that must be followed while accreditation is a seal of approval from an independent accrediting body, certifying that an organization (or individual) meets specific professional standards. The mission of NOAH is to help raise the level of professionalism within the Health Sharing community through the definition and adoption of best practices, educational programs and a national “Health Sharing Ministry Seal of Approval.”
Sturdy and vigorous third-party accreditation will provide a platform for developing the best practice tools and techniques necessary to perform our mission in the 21st century. It will also help to ensure that Health Sharing ministries conform with all state and federal laws and criteria. The best way for the Health Sharing ministry movement to grow is on a firm foundation of 21st century operational standards. Honest accreditation drives quality and delivers regulatory assurance to government and confidence to our member community.
Peter J. Pitts, is a former FDA Associate Commissioner and President of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Dale Bellis is a founder and past president of Liberty HealthShare. Both serve on the board of NOAH (the National Association of Accredited HealthShares).
