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If you are looking for information and reviews about Samaritan Ministries, you have come to the right place.
If you have already joined Samaritan Ministries, I invite you to share your experience with Samaritan Ministries below by writing a review.
In this summary of Samaritan Ministries, I will go over member responsibility amounts (what member’s pay before the community shares in any medical bills), monthly costs (this is dependent on age, individual/family memberships, and the Member Responsibility amount you choose), preventative sharing, pre existing conditions, maternity benefits, turnaround time to pay medical bills, and any special considerations to be aware of.
About Samaritan Ministries
Samaritan Ministries is a Biblical solution to health care. It is not health insurance. Samaritan Ministries is a Christian health sharing program that pays for other members medical expenses.
Samaritan Ministries delivers authentic, compassionate, and personal service in the name of Christ to enable and inspire members to provide for one another’s medical needs through prayer, encouragement, and financial support.
How is Samaritan Ministries Different than Traditional Health Insurance?
Samaritan Ministries is not a traditional health insurance company, which means they do not offer health insurance of any kind.
While they are different, Samaritan members are happy about the differences and appreciate them. There’s a reason they left regular insurance for a health care sharing program.
A health sharing program allows fellow members to sharing in each other’s health care costs in a simple, affordable, and effective way.
Additionally, there are no network restrictions. When medical care is needed, you choose the health care provider, hospital, and pharmacy that works best for you.
How Does Samaritan Ministries Work?
Members have a monthly share amount that they send to Samaritan Ministries every month. When other members (or themselves) require medical care, eligible medical expenses are shared with the Samaritans Ministries community.
What are the Different Plans at Samaritan Ministries?
At Samaritan Ministries, you can choose between the classic or basic membership plans. For sharing medical needs, medical bills related to the same condition will be shared as one need.
Samaritan Classic Plan
Here’s what’s included in the Samaritan Classic Plan.
$400 Initial Unshareable Amount. Sharing starts once a need exceeds this threshold.
100% Sharing Percentage. The amount shareable for a need above the initial unshareable amount.
Maternity Sharing: A Two-person membership, or its equivalent, is required for maternity sharing. The maximum that can be shared for a maternity need is $250,000, unless the member is enrolled in Save to Share™.
Limit Per Need up to $250,000: The maximum amount that can be shared for a need. Save to Share™ is an optional program for sharing catastrophic needs exceeding $250,000.
Samaritan Basic Plan
The Basic plan is a lower cost option designed for those who want a reduced monthly share amount.
$1,500 Initial Unshareable Amount: Sharing starts once a need exceeds this threshold. The initial unshareable amount (IUA) can be reduced or eliminated dollar-for-dollar by discounts received.
90% Sharing Percentage: The amount shareable for a need above the initial unshareable amount. There is a maximum cumulative co-share of $13,500.
Maternity Sharing: Maternity needs have a $5,000 sharing limit. The maximum 10% co-share amount of $13,500 applies to prevent medical expenses from becoming a burden.
Limit Per Need up to $236,500: The maximum amount that can be shared for a need. Save to Share™ is an optional program for sharing catastrophic needs exceeding $236,500.
Is Samaritan Ministries ACA Compliant?
Members of health care sharing ministries, like Samaritan Ministries, are exempt from the federal Affordable Care Act and California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island’s Individual mandate.
How Much Does Samaritan Ministries Cost?
The Monthly contribution price ranges from $99 to $682.
When a medical event occurs, the member would need to pay their IUA before Samaritan ministries shares in any eligible medical needs.
What is the IUA?
The initial unshareable amount, or IUA, is the amount that a member will pay before Samaritan Ministries shares in medical expenses.
Your IUA amount will depend on which program you decide to join.
For the Samaritan Basic, your IUA amount is $1,500.
For the Samaritan Classic, your IUA amount is $400.
If you want to change your program, there is a $100 fee to do so.
What are the Requirements to Join Samaritan Ministries?
Unlike health insurance, Samaritan Ministries is a Christian organization and was created to benefit Christian families or individuals only.
But not every Christian faith will qualify.
Church denominations not allowed to join Samaritan Ministries: Church of Scientology, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Unitarianism.
To become a member of Samaritan Ministries, you must agree to their Statement of Faith.
You must also agree to their Membership Agreement, which includes: attend church regularly (3 out of every 4 weeks), having your local pastor or Christian church leader sign a statement confirming that you meet their requirements, and reconfirming that you meet these requirements annually.
What about Preventative Sharing?
Routine care (dental, vision, wellness visits, yearly check ups, colonoscopies, etc.) is generally not shared by Samaritan members.
If a shareable condition is discovered because of a routine visit, those related medical expenses can be shared.
What about Pre Existing Conditions?
If you currently have a pre existing condition, any health needs or medical expenses related to it will not be available for any health sharing.
Medical needs that result from pre existing conditions that existed prior to membership are only shareable if the condition has been symptom, treatment, and medication-free for 12 consecutive months.
Some pre existing conditions, such as cancer, heart conditions, and hereditary diseases, have a five-year period before they are eligible for sharing. If you have any of these pre existing conditions, proceed with caution.
What about Maternity Benefits?
There are different sharing benefits, depending on which plan you are on.
Both plans require members to become pregnant after they are already member in order for a maternity need to be shareable, otherwise it’s considered a pre existing condition.
Classic Plan
A Two-person membership, or its equivalent, is required for maternity sharing.
The maximum that can be shared for a maternity need is $250,000, unless the member is enrolled in Save to Share™.
Basic Plan
A Two-person membership, or its equivalent, is required for maternity sharing. Maternity needs have a $5,000 sharing limit.
The maximum 10% co-share amount of $13,500 applies to prevent medical bills from becoming a burden.
Must be Married to Receive Maternity Benefits
Part of the Membership Agreement is to “Abstain from any sexual activity outside of traditional Biblical marriage as designed by God between one man and one woman.”
This means that any unmarried women who becomes pregnant (such as a teen daughter or an unwed couple living together) do not qualify to receive any maternity benefits from Samaritan Ministries.
Caps and Limitations
Samaritan Classic has a $250,000 maximum limit per medical need and the Samaritan Basic has a $236,500 maximum limit per medical need.
If you want additional sharing available, you can pay extra to join the Save to Share™ program.
In addition to the annual administrative share, each participating household must set aside funds that will be dedicated for use in the program. As of March 2021, the current annual household amount required to be set aside is $133 for one person, $266 for a two-person membership and single-parent family, and $399 for a three or more person family.
Process for Paying Medical Bills
Needs are assigned
Each month you are notified with the name and sending information of a member with a medical need.
Send your share
Send your share with a note of encouragement and pray for the member in need.
Verify you’ve sent your share
Mark your share as sent on the online member dashboard.
Pray
Continue to pray for the member with a medical need, knowing that when you have a need, someone will pray for you.
Turnaround Time for Paying Medical Bills
The expected time for Samaritan Ministries to share in your eligible medical needs is 60-90 days.
If you or one of your family members has a large medical need, you will need to wait on dozens of people to send you their monthly share so that you can pay for your own medical bills.
This direct sharing approach makes you reliant on other members to send in their monthly share, which means your medical bills may not always be paid in a timely manner.
Considerations
Before you join Samaritan Ministries, you need to understand that this is not an insurance company and does not provide you with a health insurance plan.
Samaritan Ministries is a community of other Christian families that agree to follow their understanding and interpretation of the Bible.
While this community can be such a blessing for many, you need to understand that if you have a medical need that results in not following these Christian principles, your health care costs will not be eligible for health sharing.
Do I recommend Samaritan Ministries?
I really want to help people find a great health share that cares about providing good customer service and financial relief when large and unexpected medical bills come their way. Health Sharing is a good option for those who are looking to save money and find an affordable alternative to health insurance.
I recommend looking at my article on the Best Health Share Plans. You will find which health share plans I recommend to help you on your search for affordable healthcare.
Write a Samaritan Ministries Review
Are you a current or former member of Samaritan Ministries? If you have any experience with Samaritan Ministries, please write a review!
Reading other people’s Health Share experiences is a huge when trying to make a decision about which Health Share to join. In fact, over 90% of people will read online reviews before they buy a product or service! Please consider writing a review!
It’s been great
One slight downside which they are very upfront about is that you depend on others to send you money. That can be hard to track. But I don’t think it takes away from the ministry because well it is a ministry. It builds community. And it doesn’t pretend to be insurance. It’s real people supporting real people.
Otherwise it’s excellent. Customer service is always incredibly polite and caring and informed. When there’s a miscommunication, no one points the finger at you or accuses you of not sending your share: issues are resolved in a way that always gives you the benefit of the doubt.
The price is great for a family, though it could be a lot on an individual. And I’ve saved so much money just by using their free blue book service. I couldn’t believe how different prices can be at different providers. For example, I paid 150$ for diagnostic imaging at a university imaging center after getting quoted over 600$ at my local Christian hospital. Without Bluebook I would have had to pay the whole unshareable amount (400) and then take funds from someone else to cover the rest.
The ministry teaches you how to be considerate of others, exposes you to the real life needs in our community, and takes care of you when you need it.
Samaritan Ministries is an excellent alternative for Christians whom understand and support how it works
This cost sharing ministry is run faithfully by an administrative organization that is honest and guided by holy scripture. Our serious medical need involved a brain aneurysm, a big deal, and a large medical expense. God saved our family member from suffering, with a full recovery – Praise Jesus. In all – the medical cost was covered and paid for by faithful members – along with notes of encouragement and blessings for complete recovery. We received payments directly from fellow members – so Samaritan Ministries is not holding millions of dollars like some other cost sharing organizations that have made headlines for embezzlement (I’ll refrain from calling them “ministries” ). What I experienced first hand is what I was completely prepared for from Samaritan Ministries guidance all along. I took responsibility and the time to follow the guidelines, ensure I was getting all available discounts for self pay, used SM resources for searching out reasonable cost labs and specialists, basically taking an active role in managing the cost of the medical need to the best of my reasonable ability. Kind of like what you do for other expenses in life. That’s not for everyone – and most of the complaints I’ve read really center around people for a variety of reasons, not taking on self responsibility to follow the protocol as clearly provided by Samaritan Ministries. It is disappointing to read disparaging remarks from those in the faith criticizing Samaritan Ministries administration for what, following the rules of the program? I don’t think so for the most part – wellness checks like colonoscopy’s, momograms, pap smears, physicals, etc.., are simply not covered. This program is for unplanned medical needs as the result of sickness or accident. And, SM administration has every obligation and right to trust and verify that monies received from members is indeed being used to expediently pay off the medical expense by contacting medical providers directly – it is not intended for any other purpose – why anyone complains about this is baffling unless there is something going on that should not be going on. Again – it is not your money. Not getting your “payments” fast enough? Every medical provider offers generous no interest payment plans and will happily work with a patient to stretch out a bill over several months, or years in the case of a hospital or surgery. Waiting 3-4 months to receive your complete allocation of shares from other members is never a problem – be factual, there is no need to launch untruths about how slow the process is. It is not. Receiving lots of checks or electronic payments directly from members being a big bother – really?? How about the sincere prayerful notes that often accompany these “payments”. If you’re the type of person or family that wants nothing to do with self managing your medical cost in time of need, nor the time or organizational skills to deposit payments (shares) from other members, or paying your providers as early as possible, and would rather look to a 3rd party for this administration, then conventional insurance is more appropriate for you. But be forewarned that ACA healthcare insurance cost for those of us self employed is 4 to 5 times the yearly share allocations through Samaritan Ministries. Healthcare premiums through ACA providers is a huge out of pocket cost- and for what, high deductible plans that what, don’t cover routine wellness exams! You can not have the best of both worlds – but why unjustly issue complaints about a program you really don’t understand? I think we can all agree that the cost of medical services is unbounded and frankly, out of control. I have many examples, even an 11 mile ambulance ride is nearly $2000. Yeah – unbelievable – no sense of reality when it comes to medical cost.
Not a great experience
Staff wasn’t supportive during some of the most challenging medical traumas of my family’s lives. To much is put in the member to manage large medical needs, during a time of crisis and heartbreak, you shouldn’t have to track down medical bills, negotiate with providers for discounts, and rely on other members to send you shares. I am happy to be moving in from Samaritan and using actual insurance for my family.
