If you’re looking for a way to avoid buying health insurance andnot pay a fine, you better find God.

Read: 4 things to know about health care sharingministries and PPACA

The Wall Street Journal reports that the number ofpeople who are members of health care ministries run by religiousgroups has more than doubled since the implementation of thePatient Protection and Affordable CareAct, from roughly 200,000 to roughly 500,000.

Such groups operate outside the traditional insurance industry,and are not subject to the same regulations as traditionalinsurers.

But they do serve the same basic function, which is to poolmoney to share the cost of its members’ health care.

Christian Health Ministries, the first such group,requires members to be Christians “living by biblicalprinciples.”

Unlike traditional insurers, it does not have a contract withits members, but points to its three decade record as evidence thatit can be trusted to help cover a share of its members medicalexpenses.

Thus, some groups specifically bar their members from suing overuncovered bills.

PPACA allowed such groups––those thathave been operating continuously since 1999––to continue theiroperations exempt from the new law’s regulations.

The exemptions are notable; some do not cover preventative care,for instance.

The Journal reports that the ministries are particularly popularamong Amish and Mennonite communities, both of which havehistorically taken great lengths to separate themselves from othercivic programs or institutions, such as public education or themilitary draft.

Some regulators have long voiced concerns that such ministriesare treated differently, and PPACA hasn’t changed that.

In fact, in their attempts to bring down premiums for plansoffered through the private insurance exchanges by getting morehealthy people to sign up, state insurance commissioners may lookat health care ministries as an obstacle if it appears that theirmembers are disproportionately younger and less sick.