Most things in the medical world are the opposite of fast. Everything seems soooo sllooooooow. Long waiting room times, long waits to see a specialist, healing often takes weeks, and insurance claims can feel like they take forever. I think Samaritan Ministries is the answer to those of us who want to inject a little quickness into that process..

I’d like to give you our experience a Samaritan members who have submitted a medical need for our family and detail just how fast our entire process was.

I will admit, I’m not known for being a patient person. I’m trying to do better (and frequently pray for patience), but when it comes to health care I want quick attention to the illness/injury, quick testing, quick healing and quick payment so we can get on with regular life and not have it hanging over our heads. We are very fortunate to have a Samaritan membership because it sped up the medical process for my husband’s surgery in more ways that one.

We didn’t have to wait long for our initial appointment, and there was no insurance approval wait time. We could see who we wanted. Once in the doctor’s office (with same day testing and results), he offered us an almost immediate surgery date (only 3 days later for a non-emergency) because he wasn’t bound by insurance time restriction rules and happened to have an opening (ok, so that was even faster than I was mentally prepared for, but it ended up being a great thing). Also, he offered to do both surgeries at once (both hands affected), again because insurance rules didn’t apply as Samaritan members so we didn’t have to drag everything out for several weeks like his insurance customers. Start to finish, NOT having insurance shaved months off the timeline for dealing with this medical event. Months.

The surgery was in early December, we submitted the bills to Samaritan online in mid-late December (a super fast process), and checks started arriving in February. In the world of medical payments, that is amazingly quick. Most insurance companies don’t even process and pay that fast. Government medicare and medicaid certainly don’t pay that quickly.  No one wants to wait 5 months to a year for payment or fight with insurance companies who deny and delay as long as they can. Not with Samaritan! They knocked it out of the park! Everything about Samaritan Ministries was friendly, supportive, prayerful, comforting, efficient and as a result….fast. I didn’t even have long wait times on the phone like I did with insurance. I believe the power of prayer even sped up healing as his recovery time from the surgery was far shorter than I expected.

Especially since it was our very first need I was curious if the reviews I’d read for years would also be true for us. I had faith, but I also wondered. Would the process go well? Would it be smooth? Would we get shares from members fast enough to cover the cost? It was so wonderful to have all of those answers be YES.

Whether we pay up front or make payment arrangements for our medical bills, the ultimate goal is to get the bills paid as quickly as possible. The last thing we want it a bill hanging over our head with providers calling us to find out when we’re going to pay. And nobody wants a ding on their credit history, so on-time payments are important.

I really appreciated Samaritan’s attention to our need, both financially and spiritually. Talking to their staff is like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket. It just soothes your heart during a time of great stress. And having cards arrive in the mail from members is like having the greater church knock on your door to say, “We’re here to help. God’s got this, He sent us.” Everything about the experience is what medical care should be for the entire country, yet somehow the support, comfort and speed has been lost in the mire and muck of insurance and government control. If you’re longing for something different and better, look into Samaritan Ministries. We Love It!

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