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Denominational Health Plan

The Episcopal Church’s Denominational Health Plan (DHP) is helping domestic dioceses, parishes and other ecclesiastical institutions subject to the authority of the Church control the rising costs of health care.

2017 Denominational Health Plan Annual Report

In 2017, The Episcopal Church Medical Trust (Medical Trust) continued to deliver comprehensive health benefits at competitive prices to the overwhelming majority of individuals who are eligible to participate in the DHP. Highlights of the year include the following:

Participation in the DHP was strong

  • 95% of eligible clergy and lay employees are in compliance with the DHP, which means they either participate in one of the health plans offered by the Medical Trust or they qualify for one of the opt-outs available under the DHP.

Healthcare costs were contained

  • Over the past several years, most dioceses have either received low single-digit annual increases or, in some cases, no rate increase.

Members continued to enjoy access to multiple, best-in-class providers

  • Medical Trust members were able to select coverage from the broad networks of Anthem BlueCross BlueShield (Anthem BCBS), Cigna HealthCare (Cigna), and Kaiser Permanente (Kaiser).

Dioceses have appreciated support with their planning

  • We delivered education and other support to dioceses as they made choices about their offerings.
  • We helped dioceses devise strategies for parity in funding of healthcare benefits for clergy and lay employees.

The Medical trust continued to comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and absorbed ACA Fees

  • We adopted the ACA’s required tax reporting and plan design changes.
  • We continued to pay ACA fees, saving the Church more than $3 million in total costs over time.

2018 Outlook 

The future outlook for the DHP is positive. After successfully completing our multi-year plan array strategy in 2017, we are in an even better position to offer:

  • Robust access to multiple providers
  • Affordable coverage
  • Meaningful, rather than redundant, choices

For 2018, we are offering strong choices including Anthem BCBS, Cigna, and regional Kaiser plans, and we expect that choice will continue to be part of the DHP in the years ahead.

The future of national healthcare reform is not certain. As always, we will keep watch on the status of the ACA to see what, if any, impacts it has on our plans. We are committed to providing access to cost-effective, comprehensive health benefits in a manner that is fully compliant with applicable law and best business practices.

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Health benefits are offered through plans maintained by Church Pension Group Services Corporation (doing business as The Episcopal Church Medical Trust), 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016.

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