What I Wish I Knew Before Joining Samaritan Ministries

Several years ago, before we had any kids, our family made the switch from traditional health insurance to Samaritan Ministries. At the time, I had plenty of questions. I understood the basic concept of health care sharing, but I had never actually used it, and there is a pretty big difference between understanding how something works on paper and trusting it when you’re sitting in a doctor’s office with an actual medical need. I wondered what it would feel like to be considered self-pay, how we would handle medical bills, and whether the whole process would feel complicated when we actually needed it.

Since then, we’ve had all three of our babies while being Samaritan Ministries members. We’ve used it through pregnancies, births, illnesses, injuries, and most recently, a broken arm this summer. At this point, the process that once felt very unfamiliar has simply become the way our family handles health care. And looking back, there are a few things I wish I could tell myself when we were first considering making the switch.

Being a cash-pay patient isn’t nearly as strange as I thought it would be.

This was probably one of my biggest mental adjustments when we first joined. Samaritan Ministries is not health insurance, which means that when we go to a doctor, hospital, or other medical provider, we let them know that we are self-pay or cash-pay patients. Before we joined, that sounded much more intimidating to me than it has actually been. Medical offices work with self-pay patients all the time, and when we need care, we simply choose the provider we want to see, receive the care we need, and work directly with that provider regarding the bill.

One habit we have developed over the years is always asking about cash-pay discounts. Not every provider offers one, of course, but we have found it consistently worthwhile to ask. In some situations, we have been able to significantly reduce our medical bills simply because we are paying directly rather than having the provider bill traditional insurance. I didn’t realize before joining Samaritan how different the price of medical care could sometimes be when you’re paying for it yourself, and learning to ask questions about pricing has become a normal part of the process for us.

I would spend some time understanding what is—and isn’t—shareable.

One of the important things to understand about Samaritan Ministries is that it works differently from traditional health insurance. Under our membership, routine preventive appointments are expenses our family pays for ourselves, while eligible medical needs can be submitted to Samaritan for sharing according to the ministry’s guidelines. Once I understood that distinction, the process became much easier to wrap my mind around.

When something happens—a pregnancy, illness, injury, or another medical situation—we can log into our Samaritan account and open a need. We provide information about what happened and, as we receive bills from our providers, upload the documentation related to that need. Samaritan reviews those expenses according to the membership guidelines and lets us know what is eligible for sharing.

If you’re considering joining, this is one area where I would really encourage you to do your homework ahead of time. Read through the membership guidelines and think through the kinds of medical expenses your family typically has. And if you have questions about a specific situation, call Samaritan and ask! Their customer service has been one of my favorite parts of our experience, and I have found it incredibly helpful to be able to talk with an actual person who can explain what the guidelines mean for our particular situation.

The paperwork is much more manageable than I imagined.

When I first heard phrases like “submit your medical bills,” I pictured myself surrounded by stacks of paperwork trying to figure out some complicated reimbursement system. Thankfully, that has not been our experience. When we have a medical need, everything related to it can be managed through our online Samaritan Ministries account. As bills come in, we upload them to that need and can keep track of the process there.

Of course, there is some responsibility on our end. We communicate directly with our providers, pay our medical bills, and submit the documentation Samaritan needs. But after doing this through three pregnancies, three births, and various medical needs over the years, it has become a pretty normal process for our family. What once sounded like one of the most intimidating parts of health care sharing is now something I hardly think twice about.

The monthly share has become one of my favorite parts.

Every month, our family sends our membership share directly to another Samaritan Ministries member with a medical need. We receive an email telling us where our share has been assigned, and then we log into our account and either mail that member a check or, when available, send the share electronically. There is also an opportunity to send a note of encouragement or prayer along with it.

This is one of those things that made sense to me intellectually before we joined but that I appreciate much more now that we’ve experienced both sides of it. Month after month, we get to know that our money is helping another family pay an actual medical bill. And then eventually, the roles reverse. We have a baby, one of our children breaks an arm, or our family experiences another eligible medical need, and suddenly we’re the family receiving those shares.

Other Samaritan members are assigned to send money toward our medical expenses just as we have done for other families. Sometimes those shares arrive with handwritten notes telling us that someone we’ve never met is praying for us. There is something remarkably personal about receiving help that way, especially in a season when your family is already dealing with something unexpected.

I understand the word “ministries” differently now.

When we were first researching Samaritan Ministries, I was mostly thinking about health care. I wanted to know how much our monthly share would be, what would happen if we had a baby, what kinds of expenses could be shared, and whether the whole thing would actually work when we needed it. Those were good questions, and I would absolutely encourage anyone considering Samaritan to ask them.

But years later, one of the things I appreciate most is something I wasn’t really thinking about at the beginning: the ministry aspect of the model. That doesn’t mean every medical expense is shareable or that you shouldn’t carefully read the membership guidelines and make sure you understand what you’re joining. But it has changed the way our family experiences paying for health care. Instead of simply paying a monthly premium and forgetting about it, we’re regularly reminded that there is another family on the other side of our monthly share. And when we’re the ones facing a medical need, we’re reminded that there are other believers on the other side of ours.

Would I make the switch again?

After years of membership, three babies, and plenty of trips to doctors along the way, I am so thankful that our family made the switch to Samaritan Ministries.

If you’re considering it, I think the best thing you can do is learn exactly how it works and decide whether the health care sharing model is a good fit for your family. Read through the membership guidelines, think through how you would handle routine medical expenses, ask questions about any particular medical needs your family has, and call Samaritan Ministries if there is anything you don’t understand. That was helpful to me when we were first considering joining, and it continues to be helpful when new situations come up for our family.

Years later, the process that once felt uncertain has become incredibly familiar. We’ve walked through it while welcoming babies into our family and while sitting in the doctor’s office with a kid who broke her arm, and through all of those seasons, I’m still glad we made the switch.

If you’ve been curious about Samaritan Ministries, you can learn more about membership here. And if you have questions about what our family’s experience has actually looked like, drop them in the comments and I’ll try to answer!