California sues ‘sharing ministry’ health insurance plan

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is suing what the state’s attorney general calls a sham health insurance company operating as a “health care sharing ministry.” It says the company retained as much as 84% of its members’ payments. Wednesday’s lawsuit names The Aliera Companies and the Moses family, which founded Sharity Ministries Inc., formerly known as Trinity Healthshare Inc. The state says Aliera collected hundreds of millions of dollars in premiums from thousands of Californians and others around the U.S. The lawsuit alleges that the company routinely denied claims and spent just 16 cents of every dollar in premiums on health care expenses. Aliera did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.