HEALTH and Wellness
Getting healthier helps us all
By Jessica Vargo, CPA*
Health care costs are a concern to all and the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church is certainly not immune.
Since 2005, our costs have been significantly higher compared to the average in the nation. The Conference Board of Pensions has adjusted plan designs, changed third party administrators and even networks to keep costs even close to manageable for the conference and local churches. Our options to manage costs almost have been exhausted.
The next steps would most likely be to change to an extreme design such as a catastrophic coverage plan that would be unpopular and have significant financial consequences for the participant. The increased utilization of medical services and prescriptions by our participants is driving up our self-insured health care plan costs at a time when our local churches seem to be less able to afford it.
This concern is not isolated to East Ohio but is shared by every conference in our denomination. There has been significant time and effort made by a denomination-wide task group, of which I am a member, to analyze the sustainability of benefits, both health care and pension, by our local churches. There is much concern as to long-term viability of supporting such benefits if church membership trends do not reverse.
There is also the obvious concern that our pastoral leaders are not able to be as effective in ministry as they could if they were healthier. There are things that we could all do to get healthier. At Annual Conference last year, I told the attendees that the year before, “I was a chain drinker. I am talking about Diet Coke, of course!” At the time this article is published, I will be approaching two years of ceasing the drinking of pop and replacing that with drinking a great deal of water. It really has not been hard at all!
This year, my plan is to be successful with the new walking challenge that went into effect Jan. 1 for many of our health care plan participants. Whether you are someone who is the picture of health or someone who knows lifestyle changes are needed or anyone in between, we could all do better. If getting healthier for you is not enough incentive, then get healthier for the sake of the church because it can’t afford us not to.
**Jessica Vargo, CPA,
is the treasurer for the East Ohio Conference of
The United Methodist Church.
