Do a google on these, and you’ll get some good basic information. I really like this concept, although I’ve only briefly looked into it. It’s an alternative to health insurance, and the costs are very, very affordable. Some families are taken care of for as little as $109.00 a month. That’s because they select only those with basically healthy lifestyles in which users are non-smokers, non-drinkers (some may accept very light drinkers), non-drug users, along with not being obese or overly obese. They will check your waist measurements. They generally cap their plans at $250,000.00 also. I don’t have any problem with any of this thus far.
Their medical share plans are also exempt from getting health insurance under the latest health care bill that was passed. This also has benefits by not having to deal with all of the government mandates. Most don’t cover psychiatric problems. Every plan is different, but I seen where they don’t cover acupuncture treatments either, which is fine by me, since I think most know it is a pseudo-science, much like the other alternative medicines.
Unfortunately, all that I have found thus far though are Christian organizations that are doing this of which participants must live their lives based on so-call biblical based lifestyles of which I won’t even get into.
So, I’m wondering are there other medical share plans that would target basically the same people who work on a healthy lifestyle, but without all of the Christian baggage attached to it?
Here’s an article from the Dallas Morning News about such things. As for the “Christian baggage,” the article mentions, “Page 128 of the 906-page law signed in March exempts members of health care sharing ministries from complying with the insurance mandate. The law says the ministry must be registered as a nonprofit. It also says members of the ministry must ‘share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs and share medical expenses among members.’” So it sounds like the baggage is part and parcel of the deal.
Thanks for the link, Dewey. I’m rather disappointed in this. This would prevent anyone else who might try to find other like-minded folk who share a healthy lifestyle, and may even share an ethical belief system, but unfortunately, not unless it is religious based. Also note from your link that these groups were grandfathered in at the end of December 1999.
I see discrimination written all over this. Personally, I’m all for these groups existing, but our government shouldn’t prevent others from forming similar groups without having to belong to some religious organization.
So this is basically an insurance pool for the young and healthy? I wonder what happens as the members age. Either the aging members are going to be dropped, and then will have to find other insurance, or the rates for the entire pool will increase.
Haven’t there been stories in the past about pools, where as the membership ages, the rates go up, so the youngest/healthiests move on, leaving behind those who are more expensive to insure? Now your pool is smaller and uses more health care, so the rates go up. Rinse and repeat.
I don’t think they have any age barriers, but older people will pay more as would any insurance policy would too. And the best I can tell, it’s not even a guaranteed contract agreement. They don’t have to pay anything if they don’t want to. Or at least they thought so. They have been successfully sued in some states. Other states they have won. Here’s some more about that.
And it’s actually insurance is what they are selling, but they avoided that word and other insurance terminology such as deductibles by calling it something else.
It definitely isn’t for just anyone, but I would like to join a similar health care group if there was one for us infidels. Evidently the largest Christian medical share provider will not let you sleep with your girl friend. Never mind I’m 52 years old. You have to be married to her before you find out if she’s any fun or not between the sheets. So, I’m out!
Just some of Medi-Share’s eligibility requirements.
razncain and Tastes of Chocolate, here are a few clarifications for you about Samaritan Ministries, one of the health care sharing ministries you’re discussing:
–Age of members. There are no age restrictions for membership in Samaritan. In fact, members over 65 get a $30/month discount on their monthly share.
–Costs. Our monthly share for the basic ministry has never been more than $320/month for a two-parent family, even less for other types of households. We are currently sharing about $4 million per month in needs among 16,000 households. Members send their shares directly to each other. Only administrative fees are sent to our office.
–Our main ministry program has a $250,000 limit per incident or need. Those who join an additional program, Save 2 Share, set aside an additional amount of money per year, but have no limit per need.
–Samaritan Ministries is not insurance. It is an arrangement in which Christians assist one another with medical expenses through voluntary giving. We are not licensed or registered by any insurance board or department, since we are not practicing the business of insurance. We do not assess applicants’ health risks, because neither the ministry nor the members are assuming financial liability for any other member’s risk. Unlike insurance, the focus of Samaritan Ministries’ need sharing is not on what you can receive financially if you have a need, but on how you can help others with the needs they have right now (Acts 20:35). Samaritan members try to build authentic Christian community through prayer, encouragement and support.
–Membership. Samaritan turns away no one for health reasons. Some pre-existing conditions are not shared unless symptoms have been lacking for a certain number of years, depending on what the condition is. Needs not related to pre-existing conditions are shared as long as they meet the ministry’s Guidelines.
[RIGHT][EMAIL=“mikemiller@smchcn.net”]Mike Miller, communications specialist at Samaritan Ministries International[/RIGHT]
A $250,000 cap is awfully low, and while healthy people will tend to spend less in terms of routine care, you’d be in big trouble if you had a fall down the stairs, a ruptured appendix, or any other incident unrelated to how healthy your lifestyle is.
People who participate in these plans are gonna overpay for routine care, and be left dangling if something serious happens. It’s lose-lose.
$250,000 cap would suit me just fine. I mainly want it for emergencies or in case I got cancer. If I was to come close to capping out, I would simply cancel out, and out-source my medical care to India, Costa Rica, etc. But at least this medical sharing plan would cover me till I got something else. It’s better than what I got now which is nothing.
Thanks for that info, Mike. Good to hear from somebody that is connected to such a program. It must be nice to participate in such a thing even though it would exclude me for not having faith. It’s also a shame that it appears that only fundamentalist Christians are allowed in. It looks like your eligibility requirements are very similar to Medi-Share and the others I’ve read about.
The way I understand everything is that the law says they don’t have to be Christian, but with the way it was grandfathered in, every organization I know that is doing this seems to be fundamentalist Christians that qualify. The reason I say only they qualify, and that moderate or liberal Christians are also excluded is because of the guidelines I read from your site, and also under Medi-Share’s statement of faith one has to profess.
There is no guarantee of help - it’s not insurance. Participants contribute a certain sum per month to assist participants who are in need. In any given month , there may be more needs than contributions or vice versa. With Samartian, at least, the help is prorated- if there is funding available to cover 90 % of the need, then each eligible need will be funded at 90%. And if the funding covers 10% of the need, then each eligble need will be funded at 10 %.
I suspect that many, if not most , participants in these plans also have ordinary insurance- Samaritan at least has provisions regarding insurance coverage -
It’s really just a much bigger version of a congregation or any other organization taking up a collection or allocating membership funds to assist in paying a member’s hospital bill.
I took a look at the websites of some of these programs, and it looks like there is no guarantee of payment. One of them (Medi-Share) stated explicitly that you are legally on the hook for everything, and that if the person who is assigned by the program to contribute to your bills fails to do so, then you have no legal recourse.
Some tightly knit fundamentalist groups have fully “socialized” care. I believe that the Amish are an example.
But my point was that it won’t be enough to help in the case of emergencies, and certainly not if you got cancer. I assume your outsourcing comment is a joke. At least I hope it is.
It’s not better than what you have now. If you’re in good health, you’re better off saving the $100 a month, using those towards whatever medical expenses you do have, and pocketing the difference. You’ll never get more out of a sharing plan than you put in, because this is basically a pyramid scheme.
Not a joke at all. I’m thinking of emergencies as if my appendix were to burst, or if I got some kind of infection, or perhaps a serious accident of some kind. I realize if the accident was really bad, the $250k may not cover it, but I think it would cover most things, and would at least hopefully get me in the door faster, and that more doctors would consider taking care of me as opposed to those that come in with nothing.
If I was to get cancer, it would at least let me start getting treatment now in America while I considered other options. If I needed further treatment, I have found that outsourcing is a viable option that often costs about one-fifth of that in the US, and if you do your homework the quality is every bit as good as American doctors. I would not be in as big of a hurry since I was getting treatment now.
Whether or not I’m better off or not with what I have now depends on which seat you’re sitting in. This was easier for me to say when I was young, and didn’t have much in the way of material possessions to pass on to loved ones. I’m 52 now, all of my grandparents are gone, and some of my aunts and uncles have passed on, those that haven’t are often not in the best of health. I also see many people in my own age group who have had an accident or are getting sick, and it has ruined a few of them financially, with or without insurance.
I have one aunt that got cancer, but is still living. She was also a RN. She also had nearly $300,000 in savings. About seven years later, even with her insurance, her savings has been almost entirely depleted. This was one of the better policies that her hospital offered up too.
I have a medium size business that I built up that only I run; no employees. It’s not much, but it is something; and if I was to get seriously ill, I would have to consider giving it up, which is my only source of income. Nor do Iwant to be faced with the same decision that my aunt had to be faced with, which was to sell or refinance her home to get the operation and help she needed, or to die. She chose the latter, so that her daughters could inherit her estate. I have decided I will do the same if I’m still of sound mind and some major stroke hasn’t wiped out most of my mental capabilities.
If one is rich, it’s not much of an issue; one can afford the best of what is out there. If one is poor, they generally will always find a way to work the system. The middle class folk that have accumulated a few things have tougher decisions to make. If I get seriously ill, they are not going to operate on me for free. They will take care of you initially, but those forms you fill out are not necessarily because they have your best interests in mind. They want to know what you own on paper. Doctors and hospitals want to get paid, and rightfully so.
I’ve been very lucky thus far. I do try to take care of myself, but that can only take you so far. If I absolutely have too, I’m going to get health insurance, but I’m very disappointed in what you get and the astronomical costs that go with it. So, that’s why I’m looking at all options, including possibly moving out of the country that does have more affordable and quality healthcare.
I didn’t get my edit done in time, but to clarify so that there isn’t any misunderstanding, I’m talking about two different aunts with what each of those were faced with.
In my estimation, in 99% of cases you’ll pay more for insurance than you would if you paid for doctor’s visits and prescriptions out of pocket. If you have a minor accident or illness, the insurance may help out. But a real serious illness or injury will only be partially covered by insurance.
And frankly, I don;t see any difference between this and the sharing plan you describe, except that insurance is subject to federal laws that require certain levels of coverage.
I am an American citizen who was a resident of Canada for some years. I qualified for the Canadian (specifically, the Quebec) health insurance program while I was living there.
ETA: To be perfectly clear, I was not visiting, I was a permanent resident, what I think in Canada they call a “landed immigrant”.
Sure, but my point is that you can’t just show up asking for free health care. To be a landed immigrant, you have to be a skilled worker sponsored by a Canadian business, be a business owner investing in Canada, or have a family connection.
And if that’s the OP’s plan, so be it. But waiting until he’s in the midst of a medical emergency to head north isn’t a great idea.
Anson, there are still many health care options that ex-pats qualify for in the countries I’ve looked at. You can also buy into international health care insurance policies, but forget all of the details and costs. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seriously looked into any of this. Seems like I remember them being affordable and these covering you in just about every country, with nearly always one exception, and that was America. No surprise there though. It seems like nobody wants to have anything to do with our healthcare system. I think some allowed coverage in America hospitals, but these were very expensive.
Every country is different, but it’s not too overly difficult for ex-pats to qualify for residency programs. I would consider Mexico since it is so close to my home state of TX, if only it wasn’t so damn violent. Some parts are supposedly safer than others, I dunno. I do know Mexico wants to keep the violence as hush hush as possible because it does affect tourism significantly. I’ve spent more time on studying Costa Rica and Uruguay, I like both, and they are not difficult at all to move to. It’s very reasonable on monthly income requirements or a set amount of money you can deposit in a Costa Rica bank that gets the ball rolling.
This guy probably has the best site for the Real Costa Rica that I have found, and will give you the pros and cons of living there, residency laws, health care options, etc. That site is very comprehensive, and also goes into detail of the health care aspects.
Since it looks like these medical share plans in America only allow fundamentalist Christians in, I’ve been looking at some health insurance policies that my sister-in-law sells. She quoted me a US Standard policy that would cover 100% of all of my medical expenses after the deductible was met. There were several options on the deductible I was considering, both the $5,000, and the $10,000 deductible. This brings the monthly payment down to a reasonable price, or at least I think so. The cost was $208.00 a month for the $10,000 deductible, and $258.00 for the $5,000 deductible. Maybe if I get that, it won’t cause me as much mental anguish of not having anything at all. I’m still exploring all options though.
Anson: Members of our Save 2 Share ministry, who set aside a few hundred dollars a year for additional sharing, depending on the size of their household, have no limit on their individual needs, and there is no lifetime limit. We have shared needs of members who have had heart transplants, a variety of forms of cancer, and other types of large needs.
We aren’t a pyramid scheme. We’re a 501(c)3, not-for-profit ministry. Our financial records are on file with the IRS and available from our office. Each household sends their share each month to a household with a verified medical need. Only an annual fee and the first few shares of new members come to the office for operating expenses. We share upwards of $4 million in medical needs per month among 16,000 households.