Exemption for Christian Sharing Plans

Christian sharing plans are exempt from health reform. I get why -- we should allow religious freedom. But I had a case in which a participant in a Christian sharing plan was maxed out. It didn't cover long-term care or rehab. The family was desperate, trying to find an answer. One option was to join the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), which was created by the health reform law.

If the logic is that everybody has to have coverage to avoid free riders who don't buy insurance and whose expenses then become the burden of the taxpayers when they end up in a hospital, then why are Christian sharing plans exempt when their benefits are limited and their members may end up on the taxpayer's dollar?

I mean, I get religious freedom, but is that license to be less responsible than the rest of us? I would exempt a Christian sharing plan that really covers people in need, but not one that does not.

And how does this not beg the question of Jewish sharing plans, Hindu sharing plans, Muslim sharing plans? How does this not have us tied up in which religions are legitimate enough to get the exemption? Hmmm. Jennifer