Best/Recomended Biblical healthcare sharing program?

[VERN in IL]

GuideStone, Medi-Share, Samaritian Ministry. Biblical, non-insurance approach to health care needs, anyone have experiences with them or other entities? Looking for recommendations, thanks.

[Teri]

We have used both Medi-Share and Samaritan and both are good. We're now covered by my husband's employer, but if I had to choose I'd go back to Samaritan.

[Awnry Abe]

I have a good friend that was just diagnosed with some rare bone cancer. Samaritan is covering costs of treatment for him. I have no details, but by his description it sounds like a good outfit.

[TenBusyBees]

We've been with Samaritan for 18 months now and have NO plans of switching back to traditional insurance.

I am floored how much money we have saved since switching and have not compromised the quality of our health care...and we really did get to keep our doctor.

[Belfrybat]

I was with Christian Medi-Share for 5 years before it got way too expensive for a single individual. It's a great program for families, but they really ding singles in that the deductible is the same for one person or a whole family, so my deductible was $1250.00 and my member share (ie. premium) was $300.00 before I switched.

I switched to Christian Healthcare Ministries ( http://www.chministries.org/) and can't speak highly enough of them. Due to having pre-existing conditions I chose the gold plan at $150.00 a month, as that is the only plan that covers pre-existing. But there are cheaper plans. $500.00 deductible, and 100% pay after that. Plus any reductions you get goes against your deductible. I had pneumonia, was hospitalized three days and ended up paying a total of $230.00. I could have submitted that on the "prayer page", but didn't as I could afford to pay.

CHM also has a great drug discount card. I was getting better prices than I currently do with Medicare Advantage program.

[VERN in IL]

Originally Posted by Belfrybat

I was with Christian Medi-Share for 5 years before it got way too expensive for a single individual. It's a great program for families, but they really ding singles in that the deductible is the same for one person or a whole family, so my deductible was $1250.00 and my member share (ie. premium) was $300.00 before I switched.

I switched to Christian Healthcare Ministries ( http://www.chministries.org/) and can't speak highly enough of them. Due to having pre-existing conditions I chose the gold plan at $150.00 a month, as that is the only plan that covers pre-existing. But there are cheaper plans. $500.00 deductible, and 100% pay after that. Plus any reductions you get goes against your deductible. I had pneumonia, was hospitalized three days and ended up paying a total of $230.00. I could have submitted that on the "prayer page", but didn't as I could afford to pay.

CHM also has a great drug discount card. I was getting better prices than I currently do with Medicare Advantage program.

I am single! Thank you.

[jingle5616]

We too are members of Christian Healthcare Ministries for about 2 years now. We have never had a need to a for assistance with the ministry. But I know others who have asked their medical bills be shared by the ministry. They were taken care of.

It isn't insurance and I think it would be a mistake to treat it as such. But for us, we were pretty sure our insurance plan was going to be made "unwelcome" with Obamacare and we could see the writing on the wall. We jumped over with CHM praying and working for good health. I must say I trust Christians much more than a federally mandated insurance policy. Only time will tell if we made a good choice. I think we did.

[Belfrybat]

Originally Posted by jingle5616

We too are members of Christian Healthcare Ministries for about 2 years now. We have never had a need to a for assistance with the ministry. But I know others who have asked their medical bills be shared by the ministry. They were taken care of.

It isn't insurance and I think it would be a mistake to treat it as such. But for us, we were pretty sure our insurance plan was going to be made "unwelcome" with Obamacare and we could see the writing on the wall. We jumped over with CHM praying and working for good health. I must say I trust Christians much more than a federally mandated insurance policy. Only time will tell if we made a good choice. I think we did.

You are right in that it is not insurance, and doesn't pretend that it is. However, I disagree that it is a mistake to treat it as such. Also, if you enroll in Brother's Keeper, you'll be covered for just about any health condition at 1 million per occurrence -- not life-time max but occurrence. Early last year there was a person on the prayer page who had over $100,000. in medical expenses that weren't covered due to the pre-existing clause. It took about 5 months, but every penny of her costs got covered through donations and bill reductions. And I saw that time after time with people. I wish I could still be a member because it was better in many ways than the Medicare Advantage program I currently am on.

[Rick]

Thanks for starting this thread, Vern!

[Teri]

BTW, in order to join you have to have a form signed by your pastor that you are a practicing, regular church-attending Christian. I think you also must sign a form to the effect that you will not smoke and only drink in moderation. I liked Samaritan for their emphasis on wellness/prevention. They also publish a very nice monthly newsletter. I think we paid around $400/month for a family of 8.

[Belfrybat]

Teri- it depends on the program. I did have to have a pastor's signed form for Medi-Share, but didn't for Christian Healthcare Ministries. Some will not accept anyone who drinks-period, others (Medi-Share and CHM) state either in moderation or in keeping with your church's teaching. Smoking is an exclusion on all the programs I looked into.

[VERN in IL]

Originally Posted by Belfrybat

You are right in that it is not insurance

Can you explain this? I understand there is no huge for-profit corporation backing the plan, that the systems are more "co-op" like.


I understand that these plans exempt us from King ObamaCare "mandate"(tax)

[maddy]

Vern, the main thing that distinguishes these programs from "insurance" is that there is no contractual obligation. If you submit a need, and your fellow members don't pay, you can't go to court and force them to pay. It's purely voluntary. As a practical matter, any member that doesn't pay according to the guidelines is going to have consequences, so perhaps "voluntary" isn't the best word for it. But regardless, there is no legally enforceable obligation.

Another difference, in the case of Samaritan (and possibly all of the others) is that payments go directly from one member to another. The company merely administers the sharing arrangement.

[Westexas]

Thanks for sharing this information, y'all. I looked into CHM and signed up immediately. Much more Peace of mind than the $1100 a month BC/BS individual policy with the high deductible that won't pay for what I need!

[Belfrybat]

Insurance is regulated by the state and there are all kinds of regulations they have to follow -- the Christian medical co-ops aren't. The Christian ones do not cover what they call lifestyle ailments -- such as AIDS, abortions, smoking consequences, etc. Plus as Maddy stated, the sharing is voluntary and there's no guarantee that your health needs will be shared and met. But the three I'm familiar with have met all the qualifying needs since they've been in existence.

Although some have a direct member-to-member sharing set-up, and I chose the two I did because they didn't. I did not want the "personal contact" by having to send my share to a person, nor did I want to receive dozens or even hundreds of checks from individuals in case of a health need. Both Medi-Share and CHM act more insurance like in that they take the monthly shares and then pay out from a common pot.

I chose to go the route of the Christian co-ops due to the cost, not due to any strong ideological mindset. But I really liked the fact that we prayed for each other's needs, and when I called with my only claim, the attitude was "what can we do to help this need be met", rather than "what is the very least we can do or pay out".

[Belfrybat]

Originally Posted by Westexas

Thanks for sharing this information, y'all. I looked into CHM and signed up immediately. Much more Peace of mind than the $1100 a month BC/BS individual policy with the high deductible that won't pay for what I need!

If you didn't do so, Brother's Keeper is a great program to add to the basic membership. $40.00 a year, and then a quarterly payment -- the most I paid when I was a member was $18.00, but most of the time it was zero because there were no needs that went above the standard cap.

[Nancy]

We have been members of Samaritan Ministries for 7 years. They have been wonderful in every way and the price for us, a couple is only $300.00 a month.

[VERN in IL]

Originally Posted by maddy

Vern, the main thing that distinguishes these programs from "insurance" is that there is no contractual obligation. If you submit a need, and your fellow members don't pay, you can't go to court and force them to pay. It's purely voluntary. As a practical matter, any member that doesn't pay according to the guidelines is going to have consequences, so perhaps "voluntary" isn't the best word for it. But regardless, there is no legally enforceable obligation.

Another difference, in the case of Samaritan (and possibly all of the others) is that payments go directly from one member to another. The company merely administers the sharing arrangement.

Hmm, how do they prevent fraud? I know there is a lot of robbery going on in the Insurance profession.(Doctors offices charging as much as possible under the "plan", "errors" on medical bills,etc.)

[Belfrybat]

All of them have strict ethical guidelines. I think you'd find more fraud in traditional insurance than in a Christian sharing group.

From the CHM site:
We at Christian Healthcare Ministries are committed to glorifying God, helping fellow Christians and doing the right thing for the right reasons. CHM abides by the following internal controls:
• Independent Board of Directors
• A stringent Board of Directors conflict of interest policy
• Regular review of financial statements and budgets by Board of Directors and management
• Annual certified audit conducted by an outside independent public accounting firm
• Employment of a highly qualified Chief Financial Officer
• Abides by the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
• Checks and balances on the receipt and disbursement of member finances, check preparation and reconciliation of bank statements
• All disbursements reviewed by the President and Chief Financial Officer
Christian Healthcare Ministries also is a Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity. CHM financial statements are available by contacting the chief financial officer. For detailed information on CHM controls, see the CHM Guidelines.