Client Voice: Addressing Health Plan Access

Responding to General Convention Resolution 2022-D034, The Denominational Health Plan (DHP) Task Force—of which CPG’s Chief Operating Officer Frank Armstrong was a member—undertook a thorough review of healthcare access across the Church and found that certain Indigenous clergy and lay employees could not afford it, particularly in The Episcopal Church in Navajoland.

Following the DHP’s Task Force Report to the 81st General Convention this past June, GC81 passed Resolution 2024-A101, urging The Episcopal Church Medical Trust to, among other things, adopt a pricing structure that would ensure that the dioceses of Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota and the Navajoland Area Mission could provide affordable health plans to eligible employees and their dependents.

We found a way to meet the health coverage needs of these clergy and implemented adjustments that went into effect on January 1, 2025.

The Rev. Dr. Lauren R. Stanley of the Diocese of South Dakota expressed her gratitude for CPG’s response to Resolution 2024-A101:

The work CPG has done under Frank Armstrong’s leadership is truly astounding; after A101 passed at the 81st General Convention, I warned people that its implementation could take another year or more. But no! When the new health plan rates came out in late August, I had such a hard time believing what I was seeing that I called our Canon for Finance & Property and asked her to look at the chart. Her response: “You had better call New York. We need to confirm this!”

So I did call New York. I called the Rev. Clayton Crawley [then CPG’s Chief Church Relations Officer] and laughed my way through a conversation with him. I then called Frank to thank him for the astonishing news. I also talked with Jackie Quarnberg, our Senior Relationship Manager. All three assured me the lower rates I was seeing were correct and would be implemented on January 1st.

It is hard to recruit people to come serve [in South Dakota], especially among the Native people in their sovereign nations. This adjustment in rates for our healthcare is nothing less than a blessing.

Pictured above: The Rev. Dr. Lauren R. Stanley of the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota. © 2025, Photo used with permission of the Rev. Dr. Stanley. All rights reserved.