At this point I don’t know how we’d ever go back to insurance. Being a Samaritan member has spoiled us. The thought of being on insurance sets my nerves on edge, even if the premium happened to be cheaper than our family share rate, which doesn’t sound like that’s ever likely to happen.
- Samaritan’s wait time on the phone is shockingly low. Even during their busiest times a long wait with them is about 5 minutes. Not over an hour like with insurance companies. Usually I wait less than 60 seconds. How can you beat that?
- Samaritan’s staff is astoundingly friendly. I’ve had nice insurance people, but they can’t pray with you on the phone like Samaritan does. The people at Samaritan exude a genuine caring that you can feel. I hang up with a nice warm fuzzy feeling. I think it’s called joy. 🙂
- Monthly cost is much less than insurance. Currently about 1/3 of typical insurance premiums offering a worse deductible.
- “Deductible” is much less than insurance. A personal responsibility of $300 that can be reduced to nothing? Astounding. Compare it to $4000-$12000 insurance deductibles and you can’t believe your eyes.
- If you ask someone at Samaritan if something is shareable, they can actually tell you. Unlike insurance who constantly told me they didn’t know until I filed a claim. Gee, thanks for nothing Mr Insurance Rep. I waited on the phone over an hour to be told you don’t know and can’t help me? Samaritan has the answers and there’s no guessing game. I like that so much.
- I don’t have to be angry as a Samaritan member. I don’t have any battles over miscoded treatment, test denials, treatment denials, or frustration over feeling like a number instead of a person. With Samaritan I’m not only a person, I’m a child of God and I’m treated as such. The difference is night and day.
- Samaritan introduces me to the needs of others. The monthly newsletter takes me outside of my own world view and shows me that others have a need and I can help with my monthly share and my prayers. It’s personal, and grounding.
- I can have a relationship with Samaritan. They genuinely care about their members.
- I won’t lose sleep at night worrying about costs or bills. Samaritan is there for us. Even for the really big or drawn out bills. Over and over I read member stories about how simple the sharing process is, how supportive Samaritan staff are, how helpful they are with getting reductions if needed, and how quickly members were able to pay off all their bills. What else could we really ask for?
- Samaritan follows biblical principles and stands with Christ. Its a solid foundation I believe in and can count on. Insurance stands only for profits.
- Samaritan’s website is simple, and their online account area actually works. Unlike the ACA website which blows up and puts our financial lives at risk.
- Samaritan’s guidelines are online in a readable typeface and of reasonable font size, and it doesn’t try to confuse me.
- Busy work is easier. Need to update your address or remove/add a family member from the membership? No problem. With insurance it apparently takes several months, a paper blizzard and an act of Congress to accomplish anything.
- My doctor doesn’t have to ask permission from anyone else to treat me (only I have to agree). This shouldn’t be such a big deal but with today’s insurance environment it really is. Watch the look on your doctor’s face when you tell him/her “you don’t report to an insurance company when I come see you.”  Your doctor gets to be a doctor instead of an insurance secretary/pencil pusher.
Other members could probably add to this list, but I truly feel spoiled by this ministry for the reasons above and more. The sad thing is everything should work this well and this logically. The simple truths and honest helpfulness of Samaritan shouldn’t be a surprise or a rarity. Yet they are. For that I am even more thankful to have found this ministry and had the good sense to join it.
Thanks for all of your efforts here Heather. We just signed up today, and listed you as our referral source. May God bless you and your family this Christmas season and into the new year!
May God bless you and yours, too, Michael. Thanks for the referral for the the praise about my blog. I very much enjoy helping people find the information they need. Merry Christmas!
I appreciate your website. When you say “A personal responsibility of $300 that can be reduced to nothing?” How would that work? Can you explain more in detail how the member responsibility would be reduced to nothing. Thank you
Hi Steve. When we have a need we are often able to get cash pay/self pay discounts off the billing amount. 5%, 20%, 50% or more… so when we get those discounts Samaritan will reduce our $300 personal responsibility portion by each dollar discount we are able to get. So if my $1000 ER bill is reduced by $100 to $900, Samaritan will reduce my personal responsibility to $200 ($300-$100 = $200). I would pay $200 to the hospital, the members would send me checks to share in the remainder ($700 in my example). If I get at least $300 in discounts then I owe nothing out of pocket for that ER visits and members will still share the entire remaining amount. Especially for bigger needs getting at least $300 in discounts is usually fairly easy, so many times members are left with nothing out of pocket. It’s a wonderful way to thank us for getting discounts and making the entire ministry membership pay less, beginning with the patient himself.
Thanks for that fast reply. So the negotiating with the hospital could be done either before or after the need is published? And SM would not necessarily know whether your $300 was reduced or not. Is that correct?
Thank you.
Negotiating can be done before or after or both. Samaritan will also do some negotiating for us if they think more is possible. Reductions obtained by them also count toward that $300 responsibility reduction members can get. 🙂 In order to get credit for the discounts they need to show up on the bills. All bills must be fully itemized to be shareable, and you’d want the discount to show on the bill (likely so would the hospital because they can then prove a reduction for their taxes).
Please sen me information about your health car e ministry I am a christian and extremely unsatisfied with the lack of care and coverage received from health insurances. Thank You
Hi Cynthia, I don’t work for Samaritan so I don’t have a packet of info for you, but you can request an information packet direct from Samaritan by clicking here: Get info packet. They would be happy to send you all the details. And if you have further questions you can ask here for my member perspective, or you can call Samaritan direct and ask them what you need to know. They are at (877) 764-2426. I’m sorry your insurance isn’t satisfactory, hopefully Samaritan Ministries will be! 🙂