Theological Education Institute



	Cultural Issues Biblical Theology Church & State The Mars Hill Society Marriage or Pansexuality The Map Project Creation & Evolution Pro-Life The Ten Commandments Education and Race Sorcery at the Right Hand of Power Islam Economic Justice		TEI Burden Sharing Cutting the Cost of Burdensome Medical Expenses as Much as Possible Introduction We have two choices in life – give and it will be given, or take before you are taken. Or to put it another way, it is either trust or distrust. The former is biblical, and the latter is not. Yet how often do our business arrangements in society fall prey to distrust in their assumptions? What models are there based on the simplicity and power of trust? Trust involves true simplicity, and this is the spirit of Occam’s razor, to “reduce needless redundancies,” to keep it simple. Sponsored by the Theological Education Institute (TEI), LLC, of Hartford, Connecticut, TEI Burden Sharing (www.teiburdensharing.com) is a moral covenant between people of like mind who choose the power of giving and receiving mutual trust. It is a work in progress, and will commence when 300 family units have signed up. It has the power to cut health care costs 40 percent or more. Anyone is invited to participate who agrees with and lives by these seven TEI Burden Sharing Principles: Truth telling. The basis for a healthy life is found in the ethics rooted in the assumptions and understanding of creation, sin and redemption, first introduced in Genesis 1-3. Healthy human sexuality equals chastity outside of heterosexual faithful monogamous marriage, and fidelity within. Healthy living includes no use of inhaled tobacco, no use of illegal drugs, no abuse of legal drugs or substances, and no abuse of alcoholic beverages. Healthy living means the pursuit of a wise diet, always preferring foods in their most natural state, of appropriate exercise, outdoor air and sunshine, and sufficient rest. Healthy living gives deliberate priority to a philosophy of proactively strengthening the body's natural self-healing processes; and only as a last resort to reactively remove ill-health by means of pharmaceuticals, surgery and/or radiation etc. Specifically, preventative measures are always embraced, and then the simplest, most natural and direct treatments for specific illnesses are preferred. Human abortion is wrong except in the extraordinarily rare cases where the mother would otherwise die. These principles are exactly that – principles to serve as a guideline for how to share one another’s burdensome medical expenses. We all fall short of our best goals, but we also pursue them as much as possible. All definitions and enforcement of the terms of this covenant are determined by the TEI, as accountable to the advice of a Board of Review. This Board consists of nine members elected annually by fellow signers, three each for three-year, two-year and one-year terms respectively, rotating off for at least one-year before running again; along with four people designated by the TEI, including a medical expert; beginning six months after the plan is formally underway. The System TEI Burden Sharing manages a system of people sharing each other's otherwise unmet burdensome medical expenses. Here are fourteen elements: As a signer of this covenant (a/k/a member), you apply to TEI Burden Sharing, stating that you agree to its Principles, and supplying three references of people who know you well. Each member must have an annual physical and dental exam, to be kept on file with TEI Burden Sharing. You will be interviewed personally, and if accepted, you will be asked how much money per month you plan to give to help meet the burdensome medical expenses of your fellow members. Acceptance depends on your level of participation consistent with your financial ability relative to an appropriate ceiling, and any pre-existing medical conditions. Also, an understanding will be reached as to what expenses are “budgetable” and what are “burdensome,” determined in general ahead of time, and specifically each time as a given need is presented to TEI Burden Sharing. This original status, and any subsequent status, is always subject to review. The interview and subsequent communications are the key to the system – where in personal relationships we can determine the fairest way for burdensome medical expenses to be shared among all members. You will need to pay three months of your planned giving up front to become active. TEI Burden Sharing uses these monies to ensure a financially strong overhead, equaling 25 percent for the first year. Then once a year thereafter TEI Burden Sharing will receive your monthly gift for overhead purposes. From the point you become active, for the next 11 months your gift will go to meet the qualifying expenses of members in the “medical expenses account.” On the 12th month it will go to a separate TEI account, thus keeping annual overhead, including any profit ratio, at 8.3 percent thereafter. When you have burdensome medical expenses, call your TEI Burden Sharing representative, notify him or her accordingly, and submit the final bill(s) to TEI Burden Sharing. TEI Burden Sharing will negotiate with the health care providers for the best possible yet honest rate. All bills will be remitted, on average, within 30 days. Members will send their financial gifts by the 10th day of each month, and TEI Burden Sharing will send a statement accordingly. If the amount of monthly giving in the medical expenses account exceeds the amount needed for a given month, the extra monies will remain there for the subsequent month(s). If the needs exceed the monies given, then any positive balance in the medical expenses account will be used to make up the difference. If there is an insufficient balance in the medical expenses account, then all members will be asked to make up the deficit to keep all needs current, or the corresponding percentage will be paid out according to the monies on hand (e.g., if 95% of the needed monies are on hand, 95% of each approved claim will be paid). Thus, this system will essentially pay out what comes in. The exact balance in the medical expenses account will always be available to members online. This way all members can monitor it, and essentially own its success corporately. If you wish to discontinue membership, you may do so at anytime; but to re-enlist, there must be either a) a one-year interim period; or b) all monthly planned giving for any shorter interim period needs to be brought current. If ever you do not meet your monthly planned giving, you will not be able to have your qualifying medical expenses paid until you meet your plan and keep current. If you are two full months in arrears, your membership and any accrued benefits will be discontinued, and you will need to catch-up and reapply. But if financial hardship intervenes, contact TEI Burden Sharing, and your planned giving amount can be decreased accordingly. And too, if financial prosperity increases in a substantial enough way, TEI Burden Sharing expects an increase in your planned giving accordingly, up to an appropriate ceiling. If TEI Burden Sharing believes your costs are a result of not conscientiously seeking to live by its Principles, or if a more cost-effective treatment of comparable medical soundness is possible but not chosen, TEI Burden Sharing may decline to share the expenses in the first case, or to pay the difference in the second. If you feel TEI Burden Sharing has been unfair in this matter, you may appeal, and decisions made in response by a majority of the Board of Review become final. And if it is apparent to the Board that you are willfully violating any of the seven TEI Principles, your membership may be revoked. Since TEI Burden Sharing is based on mutual trust, it assures the integrity of the system by consistent personal communication among its members. Every member will have a personal TEI Burden Sharing representative, with a direct email address and phone number for immediate access. All communications with TEI Burden Sharing will go through this representative. TEI Burden Sharing recognizes that overall costs are kept lowest if budgetable expenses are paid by individuals or families, and only burdensome expenses are shared. Thus, to keep things as simple as possible, trust and communication between members is the nature of TEI Burden Sharing. If extraordinary needs beyond the system become known, TEI Burden Sharing, at its discretion, can appeal to its members to help with such special mercy needs. TEI Burden Sharing will build a professional list of member physicians, dentists, nurses, practitioners, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, et al. Those listed will meet a certain set of professional standards along with commensurate reputation, and will be recommended by TEI Burden Sharing. All members are free to choose their own health care providers, if they are in good standing with their respective professional associations. TEI Burden Sharing will do everything possible to make this system of trust work, and thus the goal is to minimize, and most hopefully abolish the need for legal action by any of the parties involved. By signing the application form, all TEI Burden Sharing members agree not to file any lawsuits against the TEI Burden Sharing, or against any listed TEI Burden Sharing member physician, dentist, nurse, practitioner, hospital, laboratory, pharmacy or other health care provider. Any lawsuit against TEI Burden Sharing equals a breaking of the covenant, and immediate forfeiture of membership for that given family unit; and TEI Burden Sharing reserves the right to publish the name(s) of such covenant breakers. Malpractice insurance is a leading cause in rising health care costs. If a member believes there is just cause to accuse a TEI Burden Sharing member health care provider of negligence, the first step is to convene the Board of Review, with both the accuser and accused present (or by teleconference), to work out a settlement. The proceedings before the Board will be in the nature of a settlement conference, and these proceedings will be strictly confidential in order to encourage candor; any such confidential proceedings will not be subject to discovery if a lawsuit is later filed. If, after any appropriate expert consultations, the Board believes the TEI Burden Sharing member health care provider is at fault, and if no equitable settlement is reached, then TEI Burden Sharing reserves the right to revoke the membership of that provider and to publish this revocation. The injured party is then free to pursue a medical malpractice claim on his or her own. If the Board determines that the member health care provider is not at fault, and if the member breaks covenant and pursues a lawsuit, that member forfeits his or her covenant freedoms with TEI Burden Sharing, applicable likewise to his or her whole family unit, and this removal will be published. This accords well with the ethics of reconciliation in Matthew 18:15-17. The policing of the TEI Burden Sharing plan is best accomplished by its members who hold one another accountable to living up to the TEI Burden Sharing Principles, accountable to the Board of Review. Those who are trustworthy will find great benefit. _____________________________ I/we, the undersigned family unit, agree to the principles and details of TEI Burden Sharing as defined above. I/we clearly understand that TEI Burden Sharing is a moral covenant between like-minded people rooted in trust, and it is not a legal contract with any legal promises made whatsoever. I/we clearly understand that TEI Burden Sharing is not, nor claims to be, an indemnified insurance policy according to the laws of any of the 50 United States of America. I/we are freely choosing a moral covenant over and against a legal contract or legally indemnified insurance policy. Name ______________________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________________ (Date) _______________ Spouse _____________________________________________________________ Signature ______________________________________ (Date) _______________ Street Address _______________________________________________________ City/Town _________________________________________ Zip ______________ Phone w/area code ________________________ Email ______________________ Date of Birth _____________________________ Sex __________ Names of children who are legal dependents, each with date of birth and sex, and signatures for all those of at least twelve years of age: Child 1 _____________________________________________________________ Child 2 _____________________________________________________________ Child 3 _____________________________________________________________ Child 4 _____________________________________________________________ Child 5 _____________________________________________________________ Other(s) ____________________________________________________________ Three recommendations outside of your immediate and extended family, people who know you well and agree that you live by the TEI Burden Sharing Principles: #1 Name ______________________________________________________________ Street Address _______________________________________________________ City/Town _________________________________________ Zip ______________ Phone w/area code ________________________ Email ______________________ #2 Name ______________________________________________________________ Street Address _______________________________________________________ City/Town _________________________________________ Zip ______________ Phone w/area code ________________________ Email ______________________ #3 Name ______________________________________________________________ Street Address _______________________________________________________ City/Town _________________________________________ Zip ______________ Phone w/area code ________________________ Email ______________________