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This bill gives taxpayers who use health care sharing ministries clearer tax parity and potential tax savings, but it may encourage substitution away from comprehensive insurance—raising health risks for vulnerable people—and modestly reduce federal revenue.
Taxpayers who join health care sharing ministries can deduct membership fees and shared medical payments as medical expenses, lowering taxable income for those who itemize.
Members of health care sharing ministries gain clearer, more explicit tax treatment and parity with traditional medical expense deductions, reducing uncertainty about deductibility.
Taxpayers who shift from comprehensive insurance to health care sharing ministries may face higher uninsured risk because ministries are not regulated insurance and may not provide comprehensive coverage.
People with chronic conditions or disabilities who rely on ministries may face higher out-of-pocket costs or gaps in coverage despite receiving a tax deduction, increasing financial and health risk for vulnerable individuals.
Expanding deductible medical expenses to include ministry payments could modestly reduce federal tax revenue, with potential downstream effects on deficits or funding for other programs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Treats payments to health care sharing ministries as deductible medical expenses and clarifies such ministries are not insurance for tax purposes.
Allows payments for membership in a health care sharing ministry — including the ministry's medical expense sharing and administrative fees — to count as medical expenses under the tax code, so they can be deductible as medical expenses when taxpayers itemize. Also adds a new tax-code provision saying a health care sharing ministry is not to be treated as a health plan or insurance for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code. The changes apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.
Introduced February 20, 2025 by Theodore Paul Budd · Last progress February 20, 2025