Elizabeth sent me the following questions about Samaritan Ministries.  Since I thought others might have similar questions, I asked her permission to share our correspondence.  Here it is, slightly edited for accracy and clarity.

My husband and I are really considering Samaritan Ministries. We have been looking into this option (a medical share plan) for over a year now. I had looked into other plans, but then I heard about Samaritan on your blog, and it seemed different from the rest. To make it more urgent, Obama winning a second term constricts our choices within our insurance, and our insurance premium has gone up, and is now higher than the share for Samaritan. What is most disturbing to us, and began this search a year ago is that we don’t want to continue to pay into things we feel support lifestyles which aren’t in line with God’s Word. We feel to support them financially would be wrong. We want to opt out of the World’s Solution for medical bills, and into one that is more from a Biblical perspective. We’ve looked into other options as far as medical share plans, and so far this one is looking the most probable, and the most navigable. We still have questions that aren’t addressed on the website though. Things like:

1. How do pre-existing conditions work? (I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, but it hasn’t been treated in over 3 years. I haven’t even seen my Rheumatoligist. I’ve been managing with herbs, diet, and exercise.)
2. How do things like dental, eye etc work?
3. Check ups aren’t covered, right? (we have 3 children, one on the way.)
4. I understand things under $300 aren’t covered either?
5. When a need is submitted, do we also submit a copy, or the original bill with the form stating what need we have?
6. And, as far as the doctors and hospitals go, we are ‘self pay’ correct?

And there are a few more, but my pregnant brain isn’t remembering our discussion from this morning! Too far away! Haha!
In any case, do you know who we would call to get these specific questions answered, and what we need to apply? (a recommendation from a Pastor, etc etc.) We are REALLY interested, and have almost decided on Samaritan Ministries, but my hubby feels we ought to be prudent and settle these questions first. It’ll be a big step for us, but frankly, we are more interested in participating in a program that honors God than anything else, and with our finances facing a bit of a precarious situation, the fact that per month it is cheaper makes it all the more compelling.

My answers to Elizabeth:

I’ll answer the best I can but they do have their complete guildelines available online, and customer service is helpful and friendly so I really suggest you call to get the best and most accurate answers.

1. Pre-existing conditions: You are never excluded, but the treatment of pre-existing conditions may be excluded. Some have a time limit after which expenses can be shared. Most are publishable if you have gone 12 months without symptoms or treatment.
2. Dental and vision needs are not shared. We have separate dental insurance (less than $100/month for a good policy) and Perry gets his eyeglasses from Zenni Optical for about $10/pair. :)
3. Routine checkups are not shared. Those who feel that routine checkups are necessary generally find that Samaritan plus the cost of checkups is still cheaper than just the premium for traditional insurance. Of course you’ll need to do the math and decide what fits your family best.
4. Needs under $300 are not shared, but if you have multiple visits for the same illness or incident, the cumulative total is what counts. Example: Perry went to have his heart checked out a few years ago. His heart was fine, but it took about 3 office visits and 2 rounds of bloodwork. No single visit was over $300, but the total was $1100. It was entirely paid by Samaritan members!
5. When submitting a need, you first request a form from Samaritan. Then you’ll just fill in the blanks (a few lines – it’s easy), get your elder or pastor to sign it, and attach original bills or copies of the bills.
6. Yes, we are considered self-pay. Because they don’t have to deal with an insurance company, many doctors and hospitals will give you a discount – especially if you are able to pay up front and wait for Samaritan members to reimburse you.  This savings is part of what keeps the cost for Samaritan members so low!

To join, just visit the website and print an application (http://samaritanministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Member-App-201210.pdf) or call and request an info packet (888-268-4377). You’ll need to fill in the form and have your pastor or elder sign it to verify that you are members in good standing at a Trinitarian church. It’s simple.
I’m happy to answer any other questions you have. I love reassuring people about how well it works, because I was nervous about making the switch from traditional insurance, and now I would *hate* to go back!
Kim

How about you? Questions? I strongly suggest contacting customer service for the most accurate answers, but I’m always happy to tell what I know and share about our own experience with Samaritan Ministries.

If you decide to become a member of Samaritan Ministries, please tell them you heard about it from Kim Coghlan!

Q. I was wondering how you handle your maternity bills with Samaritan Ministries. We just found out that we will be having our third blessing in Nov! We have been members with Samaritan since Oct 2011 & have never had to process a need. It seems like my doc & the hospital just don’t get what we’re doing & I think our bills are going to suffer for it (we have always paid our bills on time – early actually, so it saddens me that they bristle now that we are “self pay”).

We’ve been happy members of Samaritan Ministries for about 6 years, and I have received many different versions of this question, so when I answered her privately I asked if it would be ok for me to share the response here as well.  Of course she agreed.

If you decide to join Samaritan Ministries, I would love for you to tell them that you heard about it from Kim Coghlan!

A reader asked why we have our babies at home. The short, easy answer is because my parents had most of their children at home. It was the most comfortable place for me to give birth.

Of course, that’s not the entire basis for our decision! We did some research and learned that even according to the CDC (where one might expect to find negatively slanted statistics), for low risk pregnancies, home births attended by a trained midwife have a statistically better outcome for both mother and child than do comparable low risk hospital births.

So having established that birthing at home was a safe and reasonable choice, we moved on to weighing the reasons to do so:

• I’ve never enjoyed hospitals. Quite frankly, they give me the heebie jeebies. There’s just too many needles there.
• Labor is uncomfortable. I had no desire to hop in the car for a long bumpy ride during labor.
• I wanted to avoid unnecessary interventions and procedures that would likely slow my recovery, such as an episiotomy. Especially since an espisiotomy would require the application of needles to certain areas of which I am highly protective.
• Hospitals are generally for sick people. I don’t want to think about all the germs floating around there, and I don’t want to bring a healthy baby into an environment full of sick people and pathogens.

We really only saw one reason for us to consider a hospital birth, and it simply wasn’t enough to outweigh all of the reasons above: for most of our children, our health insurance did not cover the midwife’s charges at all, or only provided minimal coverage. Nearly every birth at home cost us more than a hospital birth would have cost. Until we became members of Samaritan Ministries, that is. Now we don’t pay a dime.

And so…we birth our children at home. Each labor has been uncomplicated, but our midwives over the years have had a strong medical background, up-to-date training, and the equipment and knowledge to handle most emergencies. They also have a very low rate of transport to hospitals, a very low rate of c-section outcomes, and they know their stuff. And we don’t forget this part: God is in control. Man proposes, but God disposes. We do our best to make a wise decision, and rest in the sovereignty of our Lord.

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

“There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.”

Proverbs 19:21