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In this post, I am going to do a comparison of Samaritan Ministries and Zion HealthShare.
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), preventive sharing, pre-existing or pre-membership conditions, maternity, turnaround time to pay medical bills, and any special considerations to be aware of.
Member Responsibility Amounts
Samaritan Ministries Initual Unshareable Amount (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.
Zion HealthShare Initual Unshareable Amount (IUA): The initial unshareable amount, or IUA, is the amount that a member will pay before the Zion HealthShare community shares in medical expenses. The IUA is also known as your personal responsibility. Zion HealthShare has three primary levels of personal responsibility: $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000. The lower your personal responsibility (or IUA), the higher your monthly contribution will be.
All qualifying medical expenses submitted after the IUA is met are shareable with the Zion HealthShare community at one hundred percent. There is no annual or lifetime limit. For each separate sharing request, the Zion HealthShare community will share medical costs after the IUA is met. You will not need to pay the IUA for a single sharing request again until you are symptom free for 12 months. Additionally, you will not be responsible for more than three IUAs in a rolling 12-month period.
Monthly Contribution Price Range
Samaritan Ministries: $119 to $865
Zion HealthShare: $111 to $856
Statement of Faith
Samaritan Ministries: Must agree to their Statement of Faith. Must attend church regularly (3 out of every 4 weeks). Must have your pastor or Christian church leader sign a statement confirming that you meet their requirements.
Church denominations not allowed to join Samaritan Ministries: Church of Scientology, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Unitarianism.
Zion HealthShare: None – They accept people of all faiths.
Preventive Sharing
Samaritan Ministries: Routine care (dental, vision, yearly wellness checks, 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.
Zion HealthShare: Immediately after becoming a member, Zion HealthShare will share in one Annual provider visit (not including lab work, unless it’s related to a specific sharing request). After six months of membership, they will share in colonoscopy, mammogram, and youth immunizations. While Zion HealthShare encourages members to use providers in the PHCS network, there are no network limitations for preventive services, so you can go to any provider of your choice.
Pre-Existing or Pre-Membership Conditions
Samaritan Ministries: Needs that result from a condition 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.
Zion HealthShare: During the first year of membership, there is a waiting period for all pre-membership conditions. During the second year of membership, Zion HealthShare will share up to $25,000 for pre-membership conditions. During the third year of membership, they will share up to $50,000 for pre-membership conditions. During the fourth year of membership and beyond, they will share up to $125,000 per year for pre-membership conditions.
Maternity
Samaritan Ministries: Maternity needs are shareable in Samaritan Classic provided there are at least two family members in the same membership program prior to conception. A maternity need will be shared at 100% after the IUA has been met and has a maximum shareable amount of $250,000.
Zion HealthShare: Zion HealthShare has specific guidelines for maternity sharing to help members plan for pregnancy and delivery.
Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA):
$5,000 Household IUA → $5,000 Maternity IUA
$1,000 Household IUA → $2,500 Maternity IUA
$2,500 Household IUA → $2,500 Maternity IUA
Eligibility & Waiting Period:
- Conception must occur after 6 months of continuous membership (confirmed by medical records).
- Members must submit requests within 6 months of the first date of service.
- Members must submit bills within 6 months of service.
- Exception: memberships started before April 1, 2025, and employer group memberships are not subject to the 6-month waiting period.
To get more details, check out my full Zion HealthShare review.
Caps and Limitations
Samaritan Ministries: 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.
Zion HealthShare: Zion HealthShare does not have annual or lifetime caps on eligible sharing requests (except with the phase-in sharing for pre-membership conditions).
Turnaround Time for Paying Medical Bills
Samaritan Ministries: 60-90 days
Zion HealthShare: 5-10 Business Days
Process for Paying Medical Bills
Samaritan Ministries: Once you have an approved medical need, depending on the size of your medical bills, you can have multiple people in the community sending you money. After you have received money from everyone, you can then pay your medical bills.
Zion HealthShare: Zion HealthShare provides an organized and simple way for members to share in each other’s medical sharing requests. Once you have paid your member responsibility amount (IUA), Zion HealthShare handles any negotiations on your behalf and takes care of all of the eligible medical bills for you.
Samaritan Ministries vs Zion HealthShare
At first glance, you may think I’d lean towards Samaritan Ministries because they appear to be the better deal (they cost less each month, right?). But when you go through the details, I have found that I prefer Zion HealthShare over Samaritan Ministries for a few reasons:
- Samaritan Ministries does not share in any preventive sharing requests. Zion HealthShare will share in annual wellness visits immediately and additional preventive services after just six months of membership. You do not have to meet your IUA before you take advantage of the preventive services and there are no network restrictions.
- Samaritan Ministries has a cap of $236,000 (Samaritan Basic) or $250,000 (Samaritan Classic). Zion HealthShare does not have annual or lifetime caps on eligible sharing requests.
- Samaritan Ministries has members waiting to receive multiple checks from different people before they can pay their medical bills. Zion HealthShare makes processing medical bills easy and pays the medical bills for you.
- Samaritan Ministries can take 60-90 days for medical bills to be paid. Zion HealthShare is known in the industry and to its members for processing medical sharing requests quickly – often within five to ten business days once all receipts and bills are submitted.
- Zion HealthShare will negotiate your medical bills for you – big or small. This means that the bigger medical bills have less of an impact for the entire community. For smaller medical bills that are less than your Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) and not normally shared within the community, you are not on your own! Submit that medical bill to Zion HealthShare and they will work to negotiate that price down for you, so that you can pay less money out of pocket.
- Samaritan Ministries shares differently between their two programs. With Zion HealthShare, members get to choose which IUA amount they want with the same amount of sharing available to them.
- Zion HealthShare is a Nationwide Health Share, so you can live anywhere in the United States and become a member.
- Zion HealthShare will share in medical costs when on a vacation or serving a mission outside of the United States.
- Members can work with providers of their choice – without network restrictions.
- Samaritan Ministries specifically excludes members of certain faith from joining their Health Share. Zion HealthShare includes people of all faiths, as long as members agree to live a healthy lifestyle.
Which Health Share Plan Should You Join?
Choosing a Health Share plan is a very personal decision. Feel free to check out Samaritan Ministries Reviews and Zion HealthShare Reviews. I provide a lot more information on each Health Share and you can read reviews from other members.
There are so many different Health Share plans to choose from, which is great, but it can also be overwhelming! To help narrow down your choices, I wrote an 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.
Health shares are not insurance and do not offer insurance coverage. Membership in a health share does not guarantee the payment or reimbursement of medical expenses. Each organization operates under its own membership guidelines, which determine what expenses may be eligible for sharing. This publication is for informational purposes only and is not provided by an insurance company. For state-specific notices and full program details, please visit the respective health share’s official website.
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