We didn’t know about Samaritan Ministries until after our children were born. If we had been Samaritan members we would have paid almost nothing for the birth of our children. The maternity coverage under Samaritan is better than any insurance company plan I’ve ever seen, with the exception of maybe military plans.
With a really good employer insurance plan we still paid about $1500 out of pocket for each birth. I thought it was great at the time.
Samaritan has no co-insurance, and the personal responsibility of just $300 can actually be reduced to nothing if we get at least $300 in discounts. For mothers who deliver at home they waive the $300 portion immediately regardless of discounts since home births are so much cheaper anyway.
Insurance companies don’t reduce your deductible and they don’t often pay 100% of charges after that. I’m thinking never. Samaritan publishes everything beyond that $300, and since I know my hospital’s discount policy for self-pay patients, we would have gotten at least $300 in discounts so our final tab for each birth would have been…. $0.00
What if you are already pregnant and want to join Samaritan? Glad you asked. 🙂 Insurance wouldn’t typically be helpful there at all, but Samaritan will publish the expenses for that pregnancy as a Special Prayer Need and members would send you additional money out of the goodness of their heart. Many members have had quite a bit of the amounts paid for this way, although SPNs are not guaranteed or required.
Hands down, Samaritan’s way of handling maternity needs is the best I’ve ever seen. Logical, helpful and compassionate.
(updated Nov 2016 with latest data)
Thank you so very much for your reply and detailed sharing of yours! It is so great of you that you are going to help out those with Special prayer needs with the referral credits. I will definitely mention you when I sign up 😉 I try to compare all the Christian healthcare sharing ministries, from the way they run, I really love the approach of Samaritan Ministries. I love that the members can actually care for each others by showing love.
One of the quotes from Mother Teresa which really inspired me, ‘It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.’ God bless you and your family 😉
Great quote! God’s blessings to you, too. 🙂 I do recommend that you contact Samaritan’s main office so you can ask them specific questions and make sure all processes and procedures work for you. Plus they’re just so wonderful to speak with. I am a huge fan of Samaritan, but I don’t work there and they would best be able to address specific concerns. Allow me to say “welcome” a bit early! I love sending our referral credit out to those with special prayer needs. So thank YOU for listing us as a referral when you do decide to join.
Hi there,
Thanks so much for making this website, it gave me lots of information on choosing the alternative to our traditional insurance. My husband and I do not have children yet but are very excited to start our family soon. May I ask where are you located?
We are located in CA and really do not know how the hospitals do with the self-pay discounts if I need prenatal visit each month. Can you tell me how does that 3 times of $300 personal responsibility work if I will need to go prenatal checkup? I would be very much appreciated. Thank you!!
The pregnancy and birth would be seen as a single need, so you wouldn’t have multiple $300 responsibilities for all the prenatal visits. In fact most clinics have package deals for pregnancies, and you would want to see what their deal is, what discounts they offer for cash pay and early pay, and Samaritan will let you submit that in advance of the birth so you can actually pay off that portion before baby even arrives. Once you deliver if there are extra charges from the hospital (usually are) then you submit those to Samaritan (again getting a cash pay discount) and pay it off when shares are received. Since you’re in the planning stages, I would suggest calling the clinic of your chosen prenatal doctor and find out what their maternity package is so you’re prepared. Find out about their cash pay deal. Shop around if you’re willing/able, some places are far higher than others (but don’t sacrifice physician quality). I’m in Nebraska and our clinic had a prenatal package of around $1900 at the time (delivery not included), which non-insurance mothers were expected to pay toward that amount as they went through the pregnancy visits. It usually isn’t all required up front, I would find one is cash pay friendly if you have the option. Choices are more limited where we live but the clinic was reasonable and works with people. Once a clinic finds out you’re pregnant and going to them, they will have you speak with billing right away regardless simply because of all their package deals. There are so many prenatal visits required clinics have found it far easier to have a bundled rate and then you get discounts from there, instead of having you pay for each visit one at a time. I think it also discourages women from skipping visits in order to save costs. One rate regardless, so might as well show up and keep tabs on the health of the pregnancy. 🙂