Brethren Death Spiral Plan

From its beginning, the Church of the Brethren has modeled the concept of mutuality, emulating the teachings of the Apostle Paul. In I Corinthians 12:24-27 (NIV), Paul states, “But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it.”

Whereas:

• Insurance consultants have warned that the Brethren Medical Plan needs to be stabilized or terminated as it is in the early stages of a “death spiral,” a downward cyclical phenomenon resulting from increased medical costs, increased risk, and declining membership,
  
  
• The Brethren Benefit Trust Board, in an attempt to stabilize the Brethren Medical Plan, announced in August 2004 that each district would need to have 75 percent of its eligible congregations in the Brethren Medical Plan by Jan. 1, 2007; as of this date, districts will not be able to participate in the Plan until this requirement is met,
  
  
• The Brethren Benefit Trust Board will delay implementing its 75 percent participation requirement, subject to the creation of an Annual Conference Study Committee as called for below, through Dec. 31, 2008, or until the completion of the study, whichever is latest.

Resolution:
Assess the continuing need for a denominational medical insurance plan for employees of congregations, districts, and church-related agencies. Be it further resolved that the 2005 Annual Conference delegates call on every eligible congregation, district, and church-related agency to participate in the Brethren Medical Plan from 2006 through at least the conclusion of the study. The delegates also call on district and Brethren Benefit Trust staff and other stakeholders in the Plan to work together to promote the Plan to all eligible employers, including colleges, retirement home communities, and other agencies that relate to districts.

Health Care Legacy

Health Care Legacy

Andrew Speaker, Director of Hygiene for the Association of Brethren Caregivers, reminds church members that the Church of the Brethren has a long history in the field of health care.

Jesus Is My Health Insurance

Six More Weeks

Six More Weeks


If Wil Nolen sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter.

Pining For Fjords

It's Not a Dead Spiral

Insuree: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(pause)

Insuree: 'Ello, Miss?

BBT: What do you mean "miss"?

Insuree: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

BBT: We're closin' for lunch.

Insuree: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this spiral what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

BBT: Oh yes, the, uh, the Brethren Medical Plan... What's,uh... What's wrong with it?

Insuree: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

BBT: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.

Insuree: Look, matey, I know a dead spiral when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

BBT: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable spiral, the Brethren Medical Plan, idn'it, ay? Beautiful coverage!

Insuree: The coverage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

BBT: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!

Insuree: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up!

(shouting at the plan)

Insuree: 'Ello, Mister Medical Plan! I've got lovely fresh membership for you if you show...

(BBT hits the cage)

BBT: There, he moved!

Insuree: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!

BBT: I never!!

Insuree: Yes, you did!

BBT: I never, never did anything...

Insuree: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO PLAN!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

(Takes plan out of the cage and thumps it on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)

Insuree: Now that's what I call a dead plan.

BBT: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!

Insuree: STUNNED?!?

BBT: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Brethren Medical Plans stun easily, major.

Insuree: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That plan is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

BBT: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.

Insuree: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?

BBT: The Brethren Medical Plan prefers keepin' on it's back! Remarkable plan, id'nit, squire? Lovely coverage!

Insuree: Look, I took the liberty of examining that plan when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there.

(pause)

BBT: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that plan down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Insuree: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this plan wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

BBT: No no! 'E's pining!

Insuree: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This plan is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PLAN!!

(pause)

BBT: Well, I'd better replace it, then.

(he takes a quick peek behind the counter)

BBT: Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh, we're right out of plans.

Insuree: I see. I see, I get the picture.

BBT: I got a slug.

(pause)

Insuree: (sweet as sugar) Pray, does it provide coverage?

BBT: Nnnnot really.

Insuree: WELL IT'S HARDLY A BLOODY REPLACEMENT, IS IT?!!???!!?

BBT: Look, if you go to my brother's office in Bolton, he'll replace the plan for you.

Insuree: I'm not prepared to pursue my line of inquiry any longer as I think this is getting too silly!

SpiralingMerchandise

Another Way of Spiraling


Smaller. Ebbing. Waning. Another Way of Spiraling.

Embrace and celebrate the "death spiral." Shirts and more is the GM Store.

Death Spiral

Effort to Save Brethren Medical Plan from the Death Spiral

A financial crisis in the Brethren Medical Plan has prompted Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT) to initiate a new requirement for the denomination's 23 districts. BBT has instituted "The Force", a requirement that each district must have at least 75 percent of its congregations committed to participating in the plan by Aug. 31, 2006. The requirement makes church employees in each district eligible as a group. A district that does not meet the requirement, and its pastors and church employees, will not be eligible for the plan after Dec. 31, 2006.

The Brethren Medical Plan is in a "Death Spiral" created by greater numbers of high-risk participants, BBT president Wil "Skywalker" Nolen said in October when he updated the General Board about the status of the plan. Pastors and other church employees have not been signing on in great enough numbers to maintain a good spread of risk, he said. A high number of pastors in the plan are considered high risk and "aren't insurable anywhere else," Nolen added.

BBT hopes that The Force will revitalize the Brethren Medical Plan, as pastors and church employees and their families return to the plan and help stabilize risk. Mennonite Church USA stabilized its denominational medical plan through a similar 75-percent participation requirement for districts, BBT reported. Benefits of the Brethren Medical Plan emphasized by BBT hinge on key components of mutuality and "guaranteed issue": employees of Church of the Brethren congregations, districts, and agencies, and their spouses and children, are automatically eligible for coverage without having to pass risk assessment or screening for pre-existing medical conditions.

"I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home," Nolen told the General Board, emphasizing that he was confident that districts will be able to meet the requirement even as he faced sharp questions about the move. He expressed understanding for small congregations that feel unable to pay for health insurance for pastors, as well as pastors in districts that are not well represented and therefore in danger of losing insurance. Defending the requirement as "not an unrealistic objective," he reported that three districts already have met it and several others are close. "This is the church plan," Nolen said. "Each district has to own it as its plan. All the entities of the church have to use The Force to make it successful."

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills

Brethren Benefit Trust has yet again been caught with its hand in the environmentally and socially dubious investment jar. BBT holds approximately 3,100 common stock shares of the Newmont Mining Corporation. The company, which has mining operations in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central Asia and the US, has been dogged by allegations that its mines in these countries are polluting local waterways and are harming the health of nearby communities. Some local communities have protested the company's planned operations in environmentally and culturally sensitive areas. Additionally, the firm is currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice over accusations that it bribed officials in to gain ownership of its highly-profitable Yanacocha mine.

BECU Board Nominations

BECU, which will be taken over by BBT, has announced that nominations for positions on its Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee are now being accepted. For additional information on the nominating process, call the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO. The deadline for submitting your request is Wednesday, December 31, at 2:00pm. Interviews will be conducted by members of the Governance and Nominating Committee in early January.

An alternative to the nominating process is to submit a petition with the signatures of 2% of active BECU members, as of October 17, 2003. This is approximately 6,800 signatures for the 2004 nomination process. To request a petition, please contact the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO. Petition signatures must be submitted to the Credit Union by February 1, 2004.

Nominees will be voted on by BECU members at the annual meeting to be held Wednesday, March 17, 2004.

Better Investing Through Chemistry

The so called "environmentally responsible" Brethren Benefit Trust has $179,000 invested in Dow Chemical Company which left an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 people chronically ill by a gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide factory in India in 1984.