Tired of paying too much?

We had had it with traditional insurance once we had to pay on our own when my husband switched jobs.  His prior job covered our whole family completely for insurance costs.  Once we were on our own, it seemed our rates continued to climb.  Quite frankly we could hardly afford it so we settled on major medical insurance for $400 for a family of 4 at the time with a $10,000 deductible.  We knew this was foolish as insurance would not kick in until we paid $10,000 out of pocket.  This drove us to pray and ask others what they were doing.  We switched to Samaritans Ministries four years ago, which I detail here.  We pay $405 a month for a family of 6.  We have paid $0 to have two babies and $0 for two other medical needs.  If you are unfamiliar with healthcare sharing, stick with me.  I try to detail it out below.  Feel free to ask me any questions as well!


Samaritan Ministries Philosophy of Health
We believe Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Provider for all of life’s needs. Individuals and families have the primary responsibility for their own health and decisions related to seeking health care. When they have burdens that are greater than they can bear, we firmly believe that the body of Christ, at the local church level first, and then in a broad corporate sense, should bear one another’s burdens to fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).




How does with all work?
Health care sharing can be difficult for us to understand because we are so used to thinking in terms of insurance.  Instead of having a premium, we send a certain amount of money also called a share along with a note of encouragement directly to a family with a medical need 11 months out of the year.  As a family of 6 we send $405 a month to an assigned family by the 15th of the month.  The other month, the anniversary month that we joined, we send to the office for administrative purposes.  Typically less than 10 percent of the members have a need in a given month and are receiving shares.  New members also send a start up fee of $200 to the office along with their first month's share. 


What kinds of needs do members share?  What does our monthly share pay for?
Qualified medical needs that are detailed here in the guidelines are all covered.  In a nutshell, qualified needs include needs for injuries or illnesses resulting in visits to medical doctors, emergency rooms, hospitals, etc.  They are shared on a per person, per incident basis. 


What type of needs to members NOT share?
We as members are responsible for our well care and routine visits.  Thus, we pay for yearly well visits and preventative labs.  Most needs that existed before a member joined are NOT covered as well as most optical, audiological, and dental.  However, if one of those categories becomes a burden, Samaritan's Special Prayer Needs ministries may be able to provide assistance by publishing your need in the newsletter and giving members an opportunity to send a gift of money to alleviate some of the financial burden. 


What happens if I have a need?
When a member has a health care need over $300, he receives health care treatment from a provider of his choice, collects the bills, and sends them to Samaritan Ministries. Samaritan Ministries then verifies that the need meets the Guidelines, which you can see detailed here. Once the need is cleared, Samaritan Ministries randomly directs some members to send their shares to the member with the need through the monthly newsletter. The member with the need receives the shares to pay his health care bills.

With more than 50,000 member households (more than 165,000 people) participating in the ministry, there is about $15 million available each month to meet health care needs.

What is the cost?

Currently, the monthly share amounts for the four primary levels of household participation are as follows: a one-person membership shares $180; a two-person membership shares $360 (two members of the same nuclear family); a three or more persons family membership shares $405; and a widowed or divorced parent with children shares $250.

The monthly share is reduced for heads of household age 25 or younger. Those amounts are as follows: a one-person membership shares $140; a two-person membership shares $280 (two members of the same nuclear family); a three or more persons family membership shares $355; and a widowed or divorced parent with children shares $200.

A sponsorship program exists to provide for those whose financial situation might otherwise hinder their ability to participate.

What about the new federal health care law?
This approach satisfies the federal health care law’s (Affordable Care Act, U.S. Public Law 111-148) requirement that you have insurance or pay a penalty-tax (see 26 United States Code Section 5000A, (d), (2), (B)). Members of health care sharing ministries demonstrate their exemption by using IRS form 8965 when filing their tax return.  If you are not required to file a tax return, you do not need to do anything to prove your exemption.

What does this look like practically for us?
Since we joined Samaritans we have truly learned what it means to own our own health.  We no longer go to the doctor as soon as illness strikes like we use to.  We treat illnesses at home, which I detail here.  Not only do we save tons of money this way, but we avoid unnecessary antibiotics, etc. We have learned the power of what Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."  We have seen first hand the power of herbs, essential oils, fruits, veggies, and real food in both the prevention of illness and the treatment of illness. 


As for well visits and sick visits, we have found a medical doctor in our area that actually is a member of Samaritan ministries.  He is therefore very friendly to self pay patients.   He also allows his self pay patients (which you are if you have Samaritans) to pay up front for labs saving sometimes 50% or more on lab bills.  We are in the process of switching our children to his doctor as prices are roughly $50 less per visit.  


In the past four years that we have been members, we have had four needs.  We have had two pregnancies where we paid $0 due to the discounts we received.  One son had chronic diarrhea that was covered at 100% because of the discounts we received.  I also had to have two moles removed and this was also covered at 100% due to discounts obtained.  If you receive profound discounts which a lot of times are automatic since you are self pay, Samaritans will wave you paying the first $300 toward a need. 


Why did we choose Samaritans over similar options such as Medishare? 


Honestly, our answer is quite simple- word of mouth.  Some friends of ours who had similar values and lifestyles were part of Samaritans.  We were at a point where we were tired of paying $400 a month at the time for insurance that would only kick in after $10,000 spent out of pocket for a family of 4 and we needed another option.  We prayed.  We sat these said friends down and asked questions and listened.  We joined!

Looking back over the past four years,  it has been such a joy to bless the persons we are assigned to by prayer, money to help meet their needs, and letters to offer encouragement.  We also think of the ways we have been blessed through money and letters sent our way when we had our four qualifying needs.  Samaritans truly is like no other healthcare.  They are for you.  I remember so many times calling the office of our insurance company and most times I was just a number.  When you call Samaritans, they pray for you.  They seek to minister to you.  Radically different on all fronts.  We cannot recommend it enough!