A Montana congregation’s well-intentioned effort to provide their new pastor with health insurance has ended in unpaid medical bills and financial stress, after the company they purchased a policy from turned out to be unlicensed and offered coverage that was little more than a discount plan.
The case is among several complaints that prompted Montana State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner James Brown to issue a cease-and-desist order against Strategic Limited Partners (SLP) on April 1, halting the company’s operations in the state.
The church had purchased what they were told was an ACA-compliant policy through SLP — one that “covered everything a family could need,” according to the commissioner’s office. Only after the pastor incurred significant unpaid medical bills did the congregation discover the plan offered only discounts on a limited number of services.
“Needless to say, this experience has been a source of stress for the consumer’s family, the congregation, and the authorized representative who purchased the policy,” Commissioner Brown said.
The church case is one of several complaints Brown’s office has received against SLP, which is not licensed to issue insurance in Montana. A separate Montana resident was left with a $90,000 hospital bill the company refused to cover. SLP has also drawn 136 complaints with the Better Business Bureau over the past three years, covering failures to pay claims and false representations that its plans are ACA-approved.
Regulators say the deception runs deeper than misleading marketing. To sidestep Montana consumer protection laws, SLP and its affiliated entity — RFA Group, Inc., a dissolved Texas corporation — classified policyholders as “employees” or “limited partners” of the sponsoring company. None of the affected consumers were aware of that designation, officials said.
Following the cease-and-desist order, SLP stated it had stopped issuing new policies in Montana and indicated it would cooperate with the commissioner’s office on outstanding complaints.
Brown warned that other unlicensed companies may be operating similarly in the state, urging Montanans to scrutinize any plan offering unusually low premiums combined with promises of full or unlimited coverage.
Churches and other religious bodies may want to consider using a health sharing ministry, which while not regulated as insurance and not offering insurance products, does offer a pooling of resources among like-minded communities.