As a full-time missionary ministry family–health insurance is not a given.
When Obamacare became available we bought a policy through the marketplace. We quickly learned, however, that the “Affordable Care Act” was anything but affordable. Insuring Mark and I and our then college student son required a $1500 monthly premium for a high deductible health insurance policy. Instead it should be called the “Accessible Care Act” because it did indeed cover pre-existing conditions like breast cancer which I battled in 2013 and 2014. For that we were grateful.
As we were considering our options we kept hearing about a health sharing program called Samaritan Ministries. I couldn’t imagine not having health insurance. To me that was like not having car insurance or homeowners insurance! You have to have health insurance! Yet, health insurance was becoming unreachable to us financially. We finally decided to do our research and ultimately chose Samaritan Ministries as a different way to do healthcare beginning in January 2016.
I waited to share about our health sharing decision because I wanted to get time and experience under our belt. I won’t recommend something until I’ve used it long enough to feel comfortable with the resource or product. We’re now finishing up our seventh year with Samaritan Ministries and I can wholeheartedly say that this is our new normal for managing healthcare expenses.
Here’s how it works: We choose what’s called Samaritan Classic. In Samaritan Classic the first $400 of any health incident is covered out of pocket–kind of the same concept as a deductible.
Expenses above the $400 are shared with other members. So every month we pray for and send our $591 share directly to another member who has a healthcare burden that is being shared. ($591 is the share for a family of two and $634 is currently the Samaritan Classic share for a family of three to seven members.) One month out of the year our share goes directly to Samaritan to cover administrative expenses. The other 11 months our share goes directly to another member who has a need. Samaritan matches the needs up with the shares and tells you who to pray for and send your money to each month.
Samaritan can be used alongside health insurance and because of my breast cancer history, we chose to do that for me only for the first two years we were on Samaritan. In fact, when we were trying to decide what to do, I called Samaritan with some questions. They informed me that if I did health insurance plus Samaritan, it was likely that in most situations, Samaritan shares would cover any health insurance deductible I would have.
Indeed that is exactly what has happened. I had rotator cuff surgery in early 2017. With my $6000 insurance deductible, we were looking at $6000 of out-of-pocket medical expenses. As the bills came in for my surgery and follow up physical therapy, every penny of my deductible was shared by Samaritan members. I had no out-of-pocket expenses.
Even if there is an expense that doesn’t qualify for being shared (such as a pre-existing condition, orthodontic work, oral surgery, etc), you can submit those things as a Special Prayer Need (SPN). Each month we’re assigned one special prayer need that we’re asked to pray for. We’re also given the opportunity to voluntarily donate to if we’d like. If every person who gets that SPN is able to also donate the suggested amount of $30, the entire financial need for that unsharable medical expense will be met for the member!
Samaritan also offers something called Samaritan Basic which comes with a lower monthly share amount and a higher threshold amount that is your responsibility before a need can be shared. We’re staying with Samaritan Classic, but for some folks Samaritan Basic is just what they need to make healthcare even more affordable.
We’ve been so pleased with our decision to leave behind health insurance, replacing it with a health sharing plan. If you’re struggling with affording health insurance and are looking for a different way to handle your healthcare needs, we highly recommend Samaritan Ministries.
More than 270,000 Samaritan Ministries members share over $30 million per month in medical needs directly, one household to another, without using health insurance. It’s a healthy, stable, Christ-honoring ministry that has figured out how to harness the power of community!
If you’re thinking about making a change and have any questions, please ask! We’d love to help you determine if this could be a good option for your family.
And if you decide to make the switch…tell them the Mark and Jill Savage sent you! We LOVE knowing when we’ve helped someone along the #LivingWithLess journey!
Thanks Jill!!
I am coming into this season now in the “pre-Medicare” timing and have many questions about health care. Let’s meet for coffee and chat some more.
As a fellow Samaritan Ministries member, thanks for the article! I am always amazed when I hear about other Samaritan members! What a privilege to see how the body of Christ can work together in sharing healthcare costs!
Blessings!
Hi Amy! It is truly like having a front row seat at watching God work!
Hi Jill. Thank you for your timely article. Is it correct that you can see any doctors? We are in BN too so was wondering how that worked in our area. Are doctors okay with it? Am I still able to go to promptcare if I’m sick?
You can see any doctor you want. You just tell them you’re a cash pay patient. Almost all give cash pay discounts anywhere from 20% to 50% is what we’ve experienced. We set aside a little bit of money each paycheck in a savings account for medical expenses we need to pay up front. Yep, you can go to promptcare…you’ll just need to be prepared to pay the cash pay price when you go (sometimes they bill you and sometimes they require payment at the time of the visit.
Thank you Jill! I had never heard about these health sharing companies before so was afraid to jump in, but so glad I stumbled on this blog post just a few days and to see it was from a local user. Definitely helped answer some questions for me. Enjoy your holiday. God Bless.
Hi Jill
Do you know if they operate outside of the USA?
I see they support overseas missionaries but do you then have to be a US citizen?
I live in South Africa.
I can’t find an email address on their site to pose this question directly to them.
Thank you
Kay
Kay, you do not have to be a US Citizen but you do need a stateside contact that can send and receive shares on your behalf. Samaritan recently made online sharing through Paypal available but not everyone is signed up for that and many folks still send checks for their share.
I’m retiring at the end of this year. I’m looking for insurance that will take me because I have Crohn’s disease and psoriasis And I take medicine for them. For the crohns one I take Entivo and for the psoriasis I take otezla. I looked on other insurance companies. Could you see if could help me.
Kim, it probably wouldn’t be the best match for you with your pre-existing condition.
So if you have any medical conditions they won’t take you. I called them the other week and I was so emotional when I heard how they help others but my daughter last week was taken to the emergency room she had always been healthy and I job in la few months ago and I didn’t know what to do
I wanted to follow up with a doctor to make sure everything is OK and they said they won’t cover her. I just began to cry. What a great program that won’t help people who really need help
Donna, I’m so sorry that it might not be a good fit for you. It’s not that they won’t take you, but pre-existing conditions are not able to be traditionally shared. They do qualify for special prayer needs and they are often covered that way. We have friends who are members and their adopted kids have pre-existing conditions like spinal bifida and they still find Samaritan works for them.