Why The Amish Aren’T Concerned About Obamacare

[John81]

Why the Amish Aren’t Concerned About Obamacare

 

The debate over U.S. healthcare reform that has gripped the nation and led to a government shutdown is of small concern in rural Pennsylvania’s Amish country for a very simple reason.

 

Along with eschewing cars and many other modern technologies, the descendants of 18th-Century German immigrants who practice the Amish and Old Order Mennonite religions, have effectively opted out of Obamacare, along with most federal safety net programs.

 

A little-known provision of the law with its roots in a 1950s battle over Social Security exempts these communities from the individual mandate, an element of the Affordable Care Act that requires most Americans to purchase health insurance in some form.

 

But it is not the idea of health insurance the Amish reject—the close-knit communities essentially insure themselves.

 

“We have our own health care,” said a retired Amish carpenter, who like other Amish interviewed for this story, asked that his name not be used because of a traditional aversion to publicity and bringing attention to oneself.

 

“They (hospitals) give you a bill,” he said. “If you can’t pay it, your church will.”

 

The Amish system is a little more complicated than that. Some 280,000 people live in Amish communities scattered through the United States, with the largest populations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, according to research by Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

 

While practices vary by community, most Amish fund their health care through a system that merges church aid, benefit auctions and negotiated discounts with local hospitals - promising quick cash payment in exchange for lower rates.

 

http://www.charismanews.com/us/41277-why-the-amish-aren-t-concerned-about-obamacare

[JerryNumbers]

The Mennonites here do the same. They also self insure on car insurance. They do not deal with politics, they think its a waste of effort.

 

But they pay all taxes except for Social Security taxes.

[robmac68]

The Mennonites here do the same. They also self insure on car insurance. They do not deal with politics, they think its a waste of effort.

 

But they pay all taxes except for Social Security taxes.

What is different about Social Security taxes compared to the other taxes they pay?

[John81]

What is different about Social Security taxes compared to the other taxes they pay?

Since they don't accept Social Security they are not required to pay into the system, they have been exempted. They are still subject to other taxes.

[John81]

What a shame born again believers aren't caring for one another in similar fashion.

[HappyChristian]

What a shame born again believers aren't caring for one another in similar fashion.

That was my thought when reading the article.  And the lack of believers truly helping believers is the reason the welfare nonsense has taken such a stranglehold on even Christians today - so many talk about how we "need" welfare to take care of people in need, without realizing that the need in the country is directly correlated to the lack of true surrender on the part of Christians...

[JerryNumbers]

What is different about Social Security taxes compared to the other taxes they pay?

 

John answered the question very good.

 

They collect no SS benefits, they take care of their own, & do not ask the government to care for them.

 

They also have their own school, yet they still pay school taxes. They only go to school though the 8th grade.

 

As time goes on the younger one are getting more worldly. For instants, they have no TV or radio in their homes. Recently we saw a young Mennonite woman get a movie from one of those machines that set in front of a dollar store in a town about 15 miles north of here, I suppose she thought no one would see her do that & tell her pastor.

[JerryNumbers]

There's many small churches out here throughout this country that do not have the means to.

 

Yet there's many larger churches, even mega-churches that has the means yet many of their members refuse to lower their living standard & share with their brothers & sisters in Christ.

 

Plus most church teaches the America way instead of God's way.

 

Oh, many of them blame it on the government, yet in the early church they seemed to be in one accord & their government was more evil than ours.

 

Ac 2:42 ¶ And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Ac 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Ac 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

Ac 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Ac 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Ac 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

How many of today's churches actually resembles that one?

[BettyAnn]

When I was still Amish our bishop said it was a matter of conscience who wants to pay in to social security but we were still not allowed to draw from it. It was a means to help others who do take social security. I was trying to get exemption from OBamacare myself and was denied because I'm not a preset group or whichever term the last said. So I'm out of luck unless I lie and say I'm still Amish.

[Ukulelemike]

Its a shame they don't study to see that they don't owe the taxes they pay, either.

 

Myself, I DO pay, since I work for the federal government, but I receive back my social security and medicare payments each year, something anyone can do, and its completely legal.

 

And so as not to change the line here, I reject OBamacare-feh, I can't afford the payments for that junk! I haven't had insurance for many years, and I'm sure not going to be forced into an inferior scheme to make money. My wife is a nurse and she is already beginning to see the prOBlems its causing. Like, in the nursing home she worked in, the insurance will no longer pay for oxygen, so the facility has to foot the bill, and they make up the lost money by hiring less staff and paying less. It all gets passed down.

[BettyAnn]

I'm fine with paying taxes overall just because I feel convicted to. I just wish it were easier to direct where the money goes.