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Sunday, February 26th, 2023

A Christian Health Nonprofit Saddled Thousands With Debt as It Built a Family Empire Including a Pot Farm, a Bank and an Airline

Author:     Ryan Gabrielson and J. David McSwane
Source:     ProPublica
Publication Date:     Feb. 25 2023 | 5 a.m. EST
 Link: A Christian Health Nonprofit Saddled Thousands With Debt as It Built a Family Empire Including a Pot Farm, a Bank and an Airline
Stephan:  

Last week it was Roman Catholics, yesterday it was the Latter Day Saints, today it is the evangelicals. When I was a boy the main thing I learned about religious organizations was that what made them different was that they fostered wellbeing, and their morals and ethics were unimpeachable. I think that is what most people thought. And in the 1950s and 60s, the role of churches in the civil rights movement seemed to confirm this. As the last few days have made clear: Things have changed.

Photo illustration by ProPublica. Portrait illustrations by Brian Lutz, special to ProPublica, photos by Andrew Dolph

Bonnie Martin kept the bleeding secret for as long as she could. Her sisters, boyfriend and sons knew nothing of her illness until suddenly, during a family gathering in October 2018 at a diner in Annapolis, Maryland, she began hemorrhaging.

A tumor had burst through the wall of her uterus. Doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy and removed what cancer they could reach. She needed multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, expensive stuff. As her family grew fearful, Martin walked that fine line between resilience and denial — she’d beat this, she said. She focused instead on fun things ahead, a trip to Ireland with her boyfriend and sisters, for instance, and a Rolling Stones concert.

Luckily, or so Martin thought, she had placed her trust — and her money — in Liberty HealthShare. Liberty is what’s known as a health care sharing ministry, a nonprofit alternative to medical insurance rooted in Christian principles. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on such organizations […]

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