Annuity Board to offer more variety in costs and benefits

New and expanded medical plans for Southern Baptist ministries, church and denominational employees and seminary students will be offered by the Annuity Board for 2004.

The new plans were announced by Annuity Board President O.S. Hawkins and trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention entity during an Aug. 4-5 trustees meeting in San Francisco.

“The plans will offer a wide variety of costs and benefit levels,” Hawkins noted. “With input from churches, organizations and individuals, we’ve redesigned all of our self-funded medical plans.”

The wider range of plan option, Hawkins said, “will better meet the health care and financial needs of our pastors as well as Southern Baptist employers and their employees.”

Benefits of the new preferred provider organization (PPO) plans include co-pays for doctor’s office visits, a variety of co-insurance levels and deductibles ranging from $0 to $3,000.

Anyone currently participating in one of the Annuity Board’s self-funded medical plans will be required to select a new plan for 2004. The Annuity Board will provide extensive information on the new plans and allow existing participants to enroll in a new plan for 2004 and then transfer to any other available Annuity Board plan the following year without providing proof of good health.

“A family may be able to save money by choosing a plan with a higher deductible or higher co-insurance level but a lower monthly rate,” Douglas D. Day, the board’s executive officer for benefit services, said. “By allowing individuals to move to a new plan after a year, we hope participants will feel comfortable trying out our new medical plans.”

“Our concern has always been for the pastor at the crossroads,” Hawkins said – “that pastor who is out there serving in a smaller church, striving to be a good steward of the money his church provides for him. It has been a top priority for the Annuity Board to make coverage affordable and accessible to those pastors and their families. They have been foremost in our minds as we’ve restricted our medical plans.

“We believe we have some helpful solutions for those who previously did not have access to a network or could not meet underwriting guidelines,” Hawkins also said. For more information, call 1-800-262-0511.

(BP)