By Michael Wacht

LAKELAND — Florida Conference churches will pay $745 a month beginning Jan. 1 for health insurance for each full-time, appointed, itinerating clergy person. That’s a 38 percent increase over the $540 churches are paying this year.

The main reason for the rise is a 46.57 percent increase in the rates charged by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, one of two insurance providers serving the conference, according the Rev. David Dodge, executive director of the conference’s Division of Ministry. Cigna is the other provider.

The increase is due to a combination of factors, according to the Rev. Rod McClarnon, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Titusville, and chairman of the conference’s Board of Pension and Health Benefits. "We are what’s classified as self-funded…and because we’re self-insured, our rates are determined by our claim history," McClarnon said. "Next year’s rates are dependent on last year’s claims."

The Florida Conference’s total health insurance claims have been high in the past year, McClarnon said, adding it was not the result of "one or two large claims," but the combination of claims. Florida Conference clergy are also an "aging population," which costs more to insure.

Another factor in the higher rate is the general increase in health care costs, which Dodge says is approximately 20 percent per year.

McClarnon said prescription costs and usage by clergy were also contributing to the increased insurance costs.

The increase is not as high as originally anticipated, however, according to Dodge. Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s first proposal was a rate increase of 58 percent. AON Consulting, an insurance consulting firm, helped the board negotiate the lower rate increase.

The conference Board of Pension and Health Benefits discussed dropping Blue Cross/Blue Shield from the 2002 insurance plan, but decided it would "be unfair to the vast number of people covered" by that plan, according to McClarnon.

He said most of the people using Blue Cross/Blue Shield are in smaller communities and rural parts of the conference and would have more difficulties finding a doctor who accepted Cigna.

The decision made at last October’s special Annual Conference session to offer churches a "blended rate" on insurance coverage is benefiting those churches that use the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan, McClarnon said. The blended rate is a mix of the rates for single, married and family coverage and the rates for the two providers. Since Cigna’s rate increase was significantly less, the overall rate increase was eased.

McClarnon said board members understand the struggle churches face in meeting their financial obligations and are working closely with the bishop and cabinet to find solutions.