Keith Harder, the director of health care access for pastors as part of the Corinthian Plan, fielded questions on Friday from concerned delegates in the morning session.

The Corinthian Plan is a proposed group insurance plan that would provide health care for all pastors of Mennonite congregations, and also for employees working 30 hours per week or more at a Mennonite congregation.

The project is currently in an enrollment period, which will end Oct. 1.  If enough congregations do not enroll in the plan, it may not be possible to see it through. But if the initiative succeeds, the Corinthian Plan could provide health insurance to even the poorest congregations, whose clergy currently go without insurance.

Many delegates expressed concern over the looming October deadline, but Harder is convinced that the church must reach a timely decision.

“The rationale is that we will have to determine whether or not we have enough participation to have a viable plan,” Harder explained. “Since the plan is slated to begin January 1st, we need that period of time to either make alternative plans or put into place all the details to have this plan up and running.”

Another point of contention was the fact that congregations who do not sign up for insurance through the Corinthian Plan are still asked to pay $2,300 into the fund.  This money goes toward health-care coverage for impoverished congregations that cannot afford to insure their pastors.

“This is the real cost of group insurance,” Harder said. “So many of us have been asking someone else to pay part of that cost. We haven’t really been paying the full cost of what it costs to maintain a group plan.”

Delegates also questioned whether the Corinthian Plan is losing its place in the church’s missional vision and turning into a purely business proposition.

During open mic time, Tim Yoder, a delegate, asked, “How do we get this out of stewardship and finance committees, and get it to other committees that have more of a missional approach?”

Harder responded later to the multiple concerns over the Corinthian Plan’s mission.

“What we’re trying to do is help congregations understand that the cost of the insurance is more than just pure insurance,” he said. “When they get the health coverage through the Corinthian Plan, they are also helping other congregations that don’t have insurance for their pastors.  Many of those congregations are growing, dynamic congregations. Many of them are recent immigrants or located in economically depressed areas that don’t have the resources to buy that benefit.”

A final question that was raised was why the Corinthian Plan will be self-funded, rather than organized as a group plan through Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the provider that will handle claims for Corinthian.

“It gives us maximum control over eligibility and rating and how the plan actually functions,” he said, “whereas if we contracted with another carrier we would lose that control.”