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2009-10-20 issue:

The Corinthian Plan will launch in 2010

Application deadline extended to Nov. 15; plan will provide $500,000 in aid

by June Krehbiel for Mennonite Church USA

Print Article

The Corinthian Plan will become a reality Jan. 1, 2010. The health-care access plan of Mennonite Church USA reached its revised goal, and project director Keith Harder expects that nearly 70 percent of the denomination’s eligible, credentialed pastors will be on the new plan.

“I am especially grateful for the assistance that will be going to more than 50 congregations and their pastors who currently have no health-care coverage,” Harder says. The 450-plus congregations expected to participate will generate more than $500,000 for the Fair Balance Fund that will provide assistance for these pastors. Some congregations will contribute to this fund even if they will not be full participants in the plan.

Harder reports “a flood of enrollments and inquiries” the last two weeks of September as congregations anticipated the Oct. 1 deadline.

To facilitate this interest, The Corinthian Plan Project Team has extended the enrollment deadline to Nov. 15. This will give congregations just now learning about The Corinthian Plan or beginning to consider its possibilities more time to make informed decisions. Applications for assistance also will be received until Nov. 15 or until the fund is exhausted.

While the original participation goal of 80 percent of all Mennonite Church USA congregations will not be met, The Corinthian Plan project team, including MMA staff and actuaries, agreed that there is sufficient participation to have a plan that will have a solid financial foundation.

“We believe that we have adequate participation to create a strong and viable plan,” Dave Gautsche, MMA representative on the project team, says. “Plus it will meet the goal for access that the denomination set out to address.”

Harder reports that more than 250 congregations have yet to decide about The Corinthian Plan; 190 congregations have indicated they are unlikely to participate. For more information about The Corinthian Plan, contact Keith Harder at 866-866-2872 (toll-free) or keithh@mennoniteusa.org.

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