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.

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.

Another_way_of_Spiraling

Church of the Brethren Membership Falls Again in 2004

Overall Church of the Brethren membership continued to decline in 2004, according to year-end figures collected by the "Church of the Brethren Yearbook," published by Brethren Press. The denomination reported a net loss of 1,280 members last year, down just under one percent from the previous year. It is, however, a smaller decline than in 2003, when the Church of the Brethren had a net loss of 1,363 members.

The declining membership has been described as a death spiral. A query will be coming to Annual Conference requesting that 70% of the couples in the Brethren denomination should be required to have three or more children in order to reverse this trend.

RYC

New Resources Created in Effort to Save Regional Youth Conference

The recent Regional Youth Conference (RYC) held at Manchester College continued a downward participation spiral, having only 85 youth attend. Of those, most were from Indiana with only 6 youth traveling from the adjacent Illinois/Wisconsin district.

Manchester College (Ind.) is making new resources available as part of its effort to save Regional Youth Conference (RYC). The plan is for Church of the Brethren pastors and church employees, district employees, and employees of Annual Conference agencies, and affiliated agencies and institutions, and their youth. A video addressing questions about the conference, a power point presentation on the history of the conference, information about scholarships, and information about all of the Brethren colleges, are being made available free of charge. Manchester College has also worked with the Midwest districts, agencies, and Ministers' Association to create an advisory panel for the conference and is training advocates to promote the conference in districts.

The Regional Youth Conference is in a "death spiral," a downward cyclical phenomenon caused by decreased attendance and the reduction of the length of the event to two days. In districts that have more than 75 percent participation among eligible youth, the scholarship ratio is such that the conference should be able to survive, RYC reported. In districts where there is less than 75 percent participation, the scholarship ratio is such that, left unchecked, the conference could cease to exist within several years.

Revitalization of RYC will come through increased attendance. Manchester College has reinstated a requirement of 75 percent participation among eligible youth in each of the Midwest districts, for districts to continue in the conference. If a district does not have commitments from its congregations by Aug. 31, 2006, to meet that goal, all youth in the district will be ineligible for the regional conference on Jan. 1, 2007. The college states that the 75 percent requirement was part of the RYC Plan when it began in the 1950s, but "fell by the wayside" in the early 1980s. "The conference must regain an appropriate attendance in order to continue."

Manchester College has begun training advocates to work in each district to promote the conference with congregations and church youth. The advocates will use the new video to help rebuild participation in the conference. A first group of seven advocates was trained on March 7-8. As of March 17, 12 of the Midwestern districts had named advocates. More advocate trainings will be held in late spring.

An April 18 follow-up meeting between Manchester College and the Council of District Executives will be held in Richmond, Ind. It was requested by the district executives and will include members of Manchester’s board and staff, executives of the Annual Conference agencies, representatives of Annual Conference, and members of COBCOA. This summer RYC will be a major topic of discussion at Annual Conference in Peoria, Ill.

To order the video in DVD or VHS format, or to receive any other resource mentioned above, call 800-555-1505 ext. 374 or e-mail cobyouth@brethren.org.

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."