| Health insurance changes adopted By John Coleman Jr.UMConnection Staff Following the most debate on any issue at the annual conference session, members approved proposals to increase health insurance premiums paid for by clergy and lay employees. A separate motion passed that now requires 10 years of service in order to receive full health benefits. The changes were made to protect the conference health coverage plan against skyrocketing co sts. Health insurance proposals for 2004 presented by the Rev. Daniel Wright, chairman of the Baltimore-Washington Conference Board of Pension and Health Benefits, included: - Payment of at least 10 percent of the active plan rate in Medical Expense Plan premiums by everyone. This would amount to roughly $28 a month for an individual and $60 a month for a participant and spouse, if based on 2003 premiums. Participants who currently pay a pro-rated premium will pay that, plus the 10 percent.
- A requirement of 30 years of participation in the plan in order for retirees to have their premiums subsidized at 90 percent.
- A required minimum of 10 years of service for retired and disabled participants to receive any coverage. The current minimum is five years.
- A requirement that all churches sign annual adoption agreements to offer the Medical Expense Plan to eligible full-time lay employees and deacons.
Several members, arguing against the 30-year requirement, cited a covenant they said exists between full-time pastors and the conference in which the conference promised to provide insurance and pension benefits to compensate for low salaries, itinerancy and loss of equity as a result of living in parsonages rather than purchasing homes. Im in midstream, and now youre changing the rules, said the Rev. Laura Schultz of Bellville UMC. She said she was deeply disturbed by this breach of covenant and seeming disregard for the economic stresses on clergy families, as well as an unfairness against second-career, older pastors who cannot accumulate the required 30 years of service. Many of us left potentially lucrative fields and these promised benefits are supposed to compensate for ridiculously low salaries, said Schultz. While most respondents acknowledged the covenant and several spoke against the changes, others pointed to the struggling U.S. economy and escalating medical and prescription costs in defending the proposed changes as necessary. We are adjusting the playing field because economic realities cannot be ignored, said the Rev. Charles Knoll of Wesley Freedom UMC in Eldersburg. If we do ignore them, the situation will get worse. We have to do the best we can to honor our promises. This (change to the current plan) seems like a good balance the most humane solution, Knoll added. We are not cutting benefits; we are asking participants to participate at a higher level, Wright said. | 
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