Committee advances bill allowing agents to market health care sharing ministries, prompting consumer-protection debate

The Senate Judiciary Committee reported favorably on the committee substitute for SB 834 after extended questioning from senators and competing testimony from industry representatives and consumer advocates.

Sponsor Senator Jerry Yarbrough said the bill would repeal language that prevented licensed insurance agents from partnering with or marketing for nonprofit health care sharing ministries (HCSMs), restoring what he described as free-speech protections and consumer choice. "It would give the agents the opportunity to help market and sell this, senator," Yarbrough said, adding that safe-harbor disclosures would remain so consumers are told HCSMs are not insurance.

Senator Polsky pressed the sponsor on several practical and consumer-protection questions: which entities qualify as HCSMs, whether agents would receive higher commissions and thus have perverse incentives to push non-insurance products, and whether any registration or commission caps would be imposed. "Wouldn't there be an incentive for an insurance agent who has the trust of the consumer… to say I think you should go with this product… and then they make a much larger commission?" Polsky asked.

Proponents included Lindsey Swindle (policy director) and Joel Noble of Samaritan Ministries. Swindle described the bill as restoring an agent's ability to discuss lawful faith-based alternatives, pointing to existing statutory definitions. Noble—representing a large, national HCSM—urged the committee to reject the bill in its current form and asked for better language, warning that using agents and brokers can cause consumer confusion and that enforcement tools against agents are limited if the ban is lifted.

Industry speakers and allied witnesses argued existing state oversight (Attorney General, Department of Financial Services, Office of Insurance Regulation) and required disclosures provide accountability. Opponents highlighted studies and reporting suggesting some ministries spend a small fraction of funds on medical costs and noted that several states have taken enforcement actions against bad actors.

The committee recorded a favorable report on the substitute by an 8–2 roll call. Senators Berman and Polsky voted no; sponsor Yarbrough and other senators voted yes.

Committee members asked the sponsor to research commission rates and registration/qualification mechanics; the sponsor said he would follow up. No amendment to cap commissions or impose a registration requirement was adopted in committee.

The measure now moves to the next stage of Senate consideration.