By Randy Hultgren for TOWNHALL
Vermont is on the verge of making a serious constitutional error.
The Vermont House of Representatives has approved the language from H. 102, a bill that was defeated in 2025 but whose language was resurrected and quietly embedded as Section 10 of H. 585, a health care omnibus bill. This measure would subject Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSMs), federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit charities, to regulation by the state’s Insurance Division. The bill now heads to the Senate.
If it passes, the state will find itself embroiled in a costly legal battle it cannot win — one that tramples the First Amendment rights of hundreds of Vermont families already members of Health Care Sharing Ministries.
I know these communities well. I served in the U.S. Congress representing Illinois for eight years, and during that entire time, my family and I chose Samaritan Ministries over the Congressional insurance exchange because it aligned with our faith and values. For more than 12 years, I’ve experienced firsthand what makes health care sharing different: when I submit a medical bill, other members don’t just send money, they send cards, notes and prayers. This is not insurance. It is a voluntary community of faith.
