It’s no secret that the healthcare system in the United States is beyond broken. What’s worse, Congress does not seem capable of fixing it anytime soon. Despite spending far more per capita than any other country on medical care, the United States does not even rank in the top 50 countries for life expectancy. This is exactly why health care sharing is growing exponentially in recent years! People are FED UP.
Attempts to fix the problems have only seemed to make matters worse. Medical costs have continued to explode since the creation of Medicare in the mid-1960s despite new regulations being periodically enacted over the years to attempt to control costs.
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the latest attempt to “control” costs and bring sanity to the healthcare insurance industry. Unfortunately, as of this writing, health insurance premiums continue to increase with individuals and families required to pay for an ever-larger share of their coverage even when employed by large companies, companies which only a few years ago, covered most or all of the cost.
A full-time teacher I know recently confided that her out of pocket expenses for health care through her employer more than doubled (same company, same coverage) with the recent launch of the Affordable Care Act, a law which has yet to live up to its name.
For those following a healthful diet and lifestyle who rarely if ever require a doctor’s care, the frustration with healthcare insurance is two-fold. First, the sobering realization that the rapidly rising expense for medical coverage is due in large part to the GMO-ridden Standard American Diet and high stress/low activity lifestyle of a consenting majority suffering from a plethora of serious health problems being “managed”, never resolved, by overpriced pharmaceutical drugs.
Secondly, the knowledge that in the event healthcare insurance is ever needed, that conventional drugs and surgery would be the only treatments covered by insurance with any holistic or alternative treatments paid for out of pocket.
This reality hit home with me a few years ago when I tried in vain to have a preventative breast thermogram covered by my medical insurance instead of a cancer-causing mammogram. You can read about that saga here.
In essence, relying on healthcare insurance is being caught between a rock and a hard place. Not only is it very expensive, but even in the event of serious illness, you won’t get the coverage and treatments you desire if you are alternatively minded.
For example, let’s say you or a loved one is diagnosed with colorectal cancer. With healthcare insurance, you would in all likelihood be forced into surgery/chemo/radiation even if you have identified a different treatment protocol with a higher probability of success with less toxic side effects.
Makes no sense does it?
Rather than continuing to flush money down the toilet every month paying for healthcare insurance we felt was throwing good money after bad, my husband and I decided to seek out a completely different approach to meeting our family’s health care needs.
What we discovered is a concept that is very new, but at the same time, very old.
Health Care Sharing: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Our primary goal was to identify a financially sound approach to meeting our family’s health care needs that preserved our freedom of choice when it came to treatment options. We started to investigate the historical concept of “mutual aid societies,” organizations that were crucial to American life up until the beginning of the last century. In 1910, an estimated one in three Americans belonged to such an organization, which provided temporary help to those who became ill or lost a job, for example.
The rise of government programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment insurance and welfare gradually caused the disappearance of mutual aid societies and the insurance model to take its place.
In the 1990s, the concept of a mutual aid society formed the basis for the development of a new model for meeting an individual or family’s health care needs: Health Care Sharing. It is important to understand that health care sharing it is not healthcare insurance, but rather a way to meet health care needs by balancing them with the shares the members fund on a monthly basis.
Why We Switched to Healthcare Sharing
After much investigation, thought, and discussion, we ultimately decided to take the bold step and cancel our healthcare insurance with Humana and enroll with Samaritan Ministries, founded in 1994 and the largest of three health care sharing organizations in the United States. When I originally wrote this post in March 2014, Samaritan had 105,000 members (33,000 households) in all 50 states. As of February 2017, these numbers have more than doubled to more than 224,000 members and 68,000 households.
Our decision to switch was primarily based on the positive testimonials from friends who were longtime members of Samaritan and had used it for everything from heart attacks to births of babies. In addition, my husband who is from Australia was very keen on the idea as mutual aid societies similar, but not identical, to the concept of health care sharing are popular in his home country and he had used one for years for medical coverage prior to moving to the United States.
While the monthly cost of Samaritan is not significantly different than the $450/month family policy we had with Humana, the peace of mind knowing that when and if we have a medical need, we get to choose our health care provider and course of treatment with 100% of the need being met is priceless. In addition, Samaritan members share in needs starting after the first $300 spent (Samaritan Classic), while the Humana policy we used to rely on had a very high deductible.
Another big plus is the tremendous satisfaction of knowing that our health care dollars are not going to support treatments and therapies that we don’t philosophically agree with.
Different Samaritan Policies
Note that Samaritan offers different policies. Our family has Samaritan Classic, where the monthly cost never exceeds $495, but there is also Samaritan Basic where the monthly cost for a family is $250-400/month.
In addition, policies start at $100/month for a single-person membership with the oldest head of household 29 or younger. To compare both plans and the monthly cost based on household size, download an information packet or go to this online calculator.
Health Care Sharing vs Obamacare or Group Insurance
Perhaps the best news of all is that health care sharing societies such as Samaritan Ministries is a cost-effective alternative to ObamaCare and individual insurance policies. It’s even cheaper than the group insurance offered by large companies in most cases.
If you are in a similar quandry about your health care situation, I would encourage you to investigate the concept of health care sharing for yourself.
Click here for more information or to download an information packet.
*Please note that Samaritan Ministries is not for everyone. Depending on where you live and your religious affiliation, you may not meet membership criteria. However, if you know of other organizations with a health care sharing philosophy, please include this information in the comments section.
UPDATE on our Samaritan Experience
We’ve now been with Samaritan Ministries for almost 7 years and couldn’t be happier or more satisfied. We still often wonder why we didn’t switch sooner. We would have saved so much money and stress! Our Samaritan policy is even covering one of our children now in college!
graphics used with permission of bestnursingmasters.com
interesting idea.
thanks
…..But even if the vast majority of Samaritan members stick with the organization, it can be damaged by even marginal declines in its membership rolls. Samaritan merely administers the bill sharing and it doesn’t directly collect money or set aside extra funds on good months. So in order to function at its best, each month membership dues have to equal or exceed the total cost of all qualifying medical bills. Otherwise Samaritan has to pro-rate its payout, which leaves patients to cover a larger portion of their own bills out of pocket. The larger the pool of members, the more predictable their monthly medical needs will be in the aggregate, making it possible for Samaritan to calibrate accurately its membership dues with monthly needs. If the membership pool shrinks, there could be more pro-rating, which will create more dissatisfaction among members, making them more likely to defect—a process that could feed on itself……
….. The demise of Samaritan and other outfits like it would be cause for concern. Subsidized health insurance plans through the exchanges provide richer benefits than a membership in Samaritan, but they do away with incentives that over time are the key to driving down prices and driving up quality. With the “silver plan” on the health care exchanges, when patients get a routine physical they’re responsible for no more than $45 out of pocket and insurance pays the rest. Samaritan members pay the entire cost of a routine visit out of pocket and they can only submit their bills for reimbursement that exceed $300……
……Through the health plans available on the exchanges, patients can get a whole range of routine preventive services, including mammograms, colonoscopies, vaccines, and blood tests, and pay nothing out of pocket. When Samaritan members get these same procedures, they have to pay the entire bill themselves unless they’re directly related to an existing illness or condition.
….. Lansberry points out that many members care deeply about what Samaritan doesn’t cover. “Do you support abortion, sexual immorality, drug & alcohol abuse with your health insurance?” reads the cover of one Samaritan pamphlet. Joining with “unbelievers” to cover the “health consequences of sinful living,” it warns, “is not a way of showing the love of Jesus Christ.”…..
No birth control coverage, no abortion under ANY circumstances, and how are they going to determine your religious affiliation? Signed note from your pastor? Or considering the need to keep its membership numbers high based on how they are organizing their financial management of healthcare costs, does this “exclusive” Christian insurance suddenly not become so exclusive as long as the membership doesn’t find out about the hypocrisy that they aren’t really excluding anyone because they need the additional sinners money to make the Christian insurance plan work?
The article link below. It is a VERY interesting overview and review comparison to the Affordable Care Act.
http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/10/01/the-real-problem-with-obamacare-a-case-s
Your hero Obama, and the “Righteous” Democrat Congress, were the ones who added the health-care sharing exception to the Unaffordable Care Act. So take up your argument with them.
Your comments seem to ignore the fact that the standard health insurance pretty much only pays for ineffective drug use, not the natural treatments which not only work, but are cheap.
Nice propaganda piece. This is America. The Soviet Union collapsed because systems like yours don’t work. They enrich the few will limiting options for the many. False advertisement above folks. Get wise to government, your healthcare is too important to sumbit to breadlines and DMV-like treatment,
http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/samaritan-healths-avalanche-of-woe/
Your link appears to be discussing Samaritan Health Services (hospitals) which is different than Samaritan Ministries. Unless I am missing something, these are two different organizations.
Jennie – Thank you for taking time to respond to my explanation point-by-point. I was not attempting a debate; I only wanted to clarify because I thought you misunderstood. Health sharing ministries are not right for everyone and are clearly not a good fit for your family. I wish you the best.
The health care exchange is an insurance pool people. The more young and healthy people that sign up the better the rates. Cheap insurance rates went up when your insurance company had to meet a minimum level of care. So you inexpensive insurance was basically junk. With the ACA insurance companies have to use the bulk of premiums for care. You don’t have to use the exchange to find coverage. Is it the best it can be.. no. Is it way better than before. .yes.
Here’s some information you may want to know.
Association of Insurance Commissioners told us that “as a general trend across all carriers in a state … there’s about a 1 to 2 to 3 percent increase” in premiums in the individual market due to the health care law. If the legislation hadn’t been enacted, the bulk of the reported premium increases still would have occurred.
rate changes requested because of the health care law are expected to be less than 5 percent, while increases in premiums due to rising medical costs average 13.12 percent for individual plans and 15.54 percent for small-group plans.
Premium increases are due in large part to rising medical and prescription costs. High rates of use, technology, and changes to federal and state regulations also have an impact on premiums.”
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/11/the-truth-about-health-insurance-premiums/
During President Bush’s eight years in office, annual premiums for a family increased from $7,061 to $13,375, an increase of $6,314 or, on average $789.25 per year. Adjusted for inflation, costs went from $9,313.50 to $14,653.21 or $667.46 per year.
When President Obama took office in 2009, annual premiums for a family were $13,375 and four years later have risen to $16,351 for an average of $744 per year. Adjusting for inflation, costs started at $14,653.21 for an average increase of only $424.45 per year
http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/09/debunking-the-republican-lie-that-health-insurance-costs-have-skyrocketed-under-obama.html
Jeannette,
You’re utilizing data that has already been proven incorrect by the OMB; which has now informed the American public that ACA is impossible to budget given ongoing unconstitutional changes by President Obama. These changes – under the U.S. Constitution – must originate in the U.S. House of Representatives. Regardless, as of July 2014, insurance policy holders are receiving cancellation policies in the mail stating that their policies are either terminated or are increasing; in many cases up to 400%, which is the case for myself. I already have a $6,300.00 deductible and have not utilized my insurance, other than yearly physicals. This is also the case with millions of other healthy individuals with insurance policies that must meet ACA requirements. It sounds to me as if it’s the Democrats that want to be involved with my health care decisions between my doctor and myself. They also want the government to keep all my personal conversations with my doctor in a government database! This alarms me! We’re all wanting the best healthcare, but the ACA isn’t workable and has only made healthcare far more expensive and unusable for lower income and the middle class public.
Your statement that all the inexpensive insurance was junk and the ACA is “way better than before” is completely inaccurate, as demonstrated by my situation: I was paying $120/mo for a High Deductible Plan with a $2500 deductible that covered my preventative care and contraception, and I was able to contribute monthly to an HSA. I’ve just received a notice that this plan, which has been a great fit for me, will be cancelled effective 12/31/2014, and I will be put into “the most comparable ACA plan”, which is a Bronze level plan for $240/mo with a $6400 deductible. The Obamacare sanctioned Bronze Plan offers me less than half of what I had at double the cost, and I have searched and searched and can’t find anything nearly as beneficial for me as my old plan. Thanks a lot!
ACA raised my health premiums by 20% AND i get less for it! I’m in NC.
It’s time for Single Payer, or Medicare for All. Like the rest of the civilized world. Our current system is pure bungled, convulted, profit-driven idiocy.
I worry about the solvency of health sharing groups.
Also, they have pre-existing condition exclusions. Who doesn’t have a pre-existing condition?!?
Health care sharing won’t reject you because of a pre-existing condition like insurance companies will. You just won’t get covered for it. No one in my family has a pre-existing condition. Many people don’t.
The pre-existing conditions clauses are extreme. You can’t have diabetes or asthma or any condition with an ongoing medication. Even if in a controlled state. So it will be of no use to anyone with one of these already in place. I can understand the financial end of that. You have to become a member in a completely healthy time of your life. That’s how their manual reads to me.
Exactly what we did. Our premiums went from 374 a month to 1120 for a family of five. We went with CHM and love it.
Unfortunately, the Samaritan plan only applies to Christians. But the concept is a promising alternative.
I don’t think Liberty Healthshare requies a person to be a Christian.
I don’t like the religious affiliation of Samaritan, but I also refuse to pay hundreds of dollars for health insurance that wouldn’t cover any therapies we would use, anyway. Right now my kids are covered by the state, but the new baby will not be.
I go to my first Dr. Appt today. I am excited since I have not had heath care since I was on welfare for 6 months (2005) waiting for a non-compete to die off. Before that, living in the state of Florida, I had health care in 1988.