This article was originally published by Cedar Health Alliance.

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Churches preparing their 2027 budgets may be facing another unwelcome reality: healthcare is getting more expensive again.

Average employer healthcare costs are projected to increase 9.5% in 2027, according to Aon, pushing the average cost to more than $19,000 per employee. It would mark the fourth consecutive year of healthcare cost increases approaching double digits.

For churches and ministries already working within tight budgets, increases like these are difficult to absorb. And the usual options aren’t particularly attractive: find more room in the budget, reduce benefits, or ask employees to shoulder more of the cost.

But new research points to an important question for church leaders: What if shopping for a better premium isn’t enough?

The problem is bigger than the premium

A recent study published in JAMA Health Forum examined insurance premiums and healthcare spending between 2011 and 2024. Researchers found that health spending growth accounted for more than 90% of the increase in insurance premiums during that period.

In other words, premiums are rising largely because the underlying cost of healthcare is rising.

That’s an important distinction.

For years, employers have responded to increasing healthcare costs largely through the insurance plan itself: negotiating with carriers, changing networks, raising deductibles, adjusting employer contributions or moving employees to leaner plans.

Those strategies can change who pays the bill. They don’t necessarily change the bill itself.

For churches looking for long-term sustainability, the better question may no longer be simply, “Can we find cheaper insurance?”

It may be, “Can we find a better way to purchase and access healthcare?”

A different approach built specifically for churches

That is the idea behind Cedar Health Alliance (CHA), a new health plan created specifically for churches and faith-based organizations.

CHA brings participating churches together around a healthcare model designed to address both the cost of care and the experience of receiving it.

Instead of relying solely on the traditional healthcare system, CHA incorporates coordinated care, direct-pay healthcare arrangements, transparent pharmacy strategies and alternative purchasing models. The goal is to give churches and their employees more ways to access high-quality care without automatically defaulting to some of the most expensive pathways in the healthcare system.

For employees, that can mean a very different experience of using their benefits.

Through CHA’s coordinated care model, members have access to $0 options for many common healthcare needs, including virtual primary and urgent care, more than 1,900 generic medications, diagnostic imaging and certain procedures and surgeries.

Members also have healthcare advocates who can help them find appropriate care, understand their options and identify high-quality, cost-effective pathways.

These aren’t simply added benefits around the edges of a traditional health plan. They’re part of a broader strategy to change how healthcare dollars are spent in the first place.

Giving churches another option

Church leaders can’t control medical inflation. But they can take a closer look at the healthcare model behind their benefits.

For many churches, renewal season has become an annual exercise in reacting to whatever increase arrives: compare plans, adjust deductibles, shift contributions and try to make the numbers work for another year.

Cedar Health Alliance offers churches an opportunity to approach that decision differently.

Cost matters when choosing a health plan, and CHA is designed with greater efficiency, transparency and smarter healthcare purchasing in mind. But the premium on the first page of a proposal is only one part of what churches should consider.

Churches should also be asking what their healthcare dollars are buying, how employees will actually access care, what resources are available to help them navigate the system and whether the model is built for long-term stewardship.

For churches facing another year of rising healthcare costs, now may be the right time to ask a different question:

Is there a better way to do healthcare?

Cedar Health Alliance is currently working with churches and faith-based organizations as it prepares for a January 1, 2027 launch. Churches interested in evaluating CHA can learn more at CedarHealthAlliance.com.

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This article was originally published by Cedar Health Alliance. Cedar Health Alliance is a new initiative of The Nicene Network, Design Health, and Stoneford Partners. Stoneford Partners has a Strategic Service Provider Partnership with BGAV.