Posted on 10/09/2013 7:15:17 AM PDT by kimtom
GORDONVILLE, LANCASTER COUNTY — — The debate over U.S. health-care 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. 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 by January or face tax penalties.
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 Lancaster County.
While practices vary by community, most Amish fund their health care ........
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.mcall.com ...
Amish are also behind alot of the anti-photo-ID proposals for voting.
Initially I was thinking it was a good idea, but when my PA MIL asked about it, she went on about how Amish are against it because they don’t want photos.
Having this connection to the Amish always puts me in my place and get perspective.
While I glibly was pro-ID, honestly I don’t know why we need it. All you need is proof that XXX is your residence by means of a few items showing your name attached to the address.
I just became a non-practicing Amish! No Obamacare for Me!
Amish aren’t stupid. They know what the Fedzilla is all about. “Thanks but no thanks. We aren’t into self-destruction”
You say you're sick.
Well the doctor will see you now.
No kidding. Caring for each other the way Jesus intended. What a concept. There is no reason why we can’t do this too, especially our churches.
No offense to the Amish, but why on earth do they receive preferential treatment? I would love not to have to pay SS tax or 0-care. They cannot claim sovereignty as Native Americans. Has anyone challenged this on 14th amendment equal protection grounds? Why can’t someone decide to become Amish and create their own rules? Who actually decides who is Amish?
This is really preferential treatment and it’s time not to take this issue lightly.
Amish don’t wear buttons on their shirts or belts on their trousers (especially belts with shiny buckles). I’m just sayin’.
We’re all Amishy, now ;)
“..Caring for each other the way Jesus intended. What a concept. There is no reason why we can’t do this too, especially our churches....”
actually that is what our early social welfare programs originated......
(not Government)
They may not receive all the “government benefits”,
but then... they take care of themselves.
... Germans -> smart people - - ... just sayin’
. . . and -> Catholic Bishops, eat your heart out, dummies !
They don’t cut their hair short like the guy on the right either.
Truth is, the “Amish” reality shows are fake and the same actors show up in all of them, sometimes with different names.
Christian Health Ministries.org
From the website:
Anyone who is a member of a health cost sharing ministry is exempted from penalty under the national health care bill (Affordable Care Act) signed into law on March 23, 2010. Christian Healthcare Ministries meets each of the qualifications set forth for health cost sharing ministries in the U.S. health care legislation.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28, 2012, does not alter CHM members' ability to meet each other's health care costs. The ministry will continue to provide affordable, quality health cost sharing support.
They may not receive all the “government benefits”,
Great, I’ll forgo benefits if I don’t have to pay into SS and even Medicare, or buy 0-care. Why should only the Amish have this option?
Meanwhile, the “Amish” (in FRLingo)
are “going their own way” as well.
Getting other people to subsidize their premiums.
I had no idea the Amish vote in government elections
Just looked it up and some do (seems hypocritical)
Thousands of benevolent societies existed before progressives insisted that government could and should replace them in providing assistance to the needy.
Every American should be able to apply the Amish exception to themselves, as far as Obamacare or anything else goes, and win in the Supreme Court, as individuals who hold the same beliefs as the Amish about self-reliance and limited government and limited government interference in their lives.
Either the Amish ARE entitled to those beliefs, and if they are we all are, or the heavy hand of Washington will be forced to stamp out the Amish way of life and bring them into conformance with its dictates.
I prefer the original lingo, which made more sense. Masking 1 religion with another. Happened right after 9-11. Sometime later someone incongruously tied it to Holder’s people.
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