Posted on 02/01/2015 11:04:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind
WHEN Theresa Bixby, 63, learned that she had breast cancer four years ago, she reacted as many Americans do. “One of my first thoughts was, ‘will they pay?’ ” she said. But she wasn’t talking about conventional insurance plan. She lost hers when she left her full-time position for part-time work at her church in Greenville, S.C. She was worried about the program that she had joined six months earlier: Christian Healthcare Ministries.
Christian Healthcare Ministries is not an insurance company. It is a nonprofit “health care sharing ministry” based in Barberton, Ohio. The cost of membership is far lower than the rates of traditional insurance policies — $45 a month for the cheapest plan — but the ministry makes no guarantees of payment. Members send their monthly “gift” to an escrow account, which disburses payments for eligible medical bills, excluding costs like routine physicals, continuing treatment for pre-existing conditions or procedures that members have voted to exclude, like care for pregnancies outside wedlock.
Each time Ms. Bixby visited her hospital for tests or chemotherapy, she explained that she was a self-pay patient and a member of a cost-sharing ministry. Sometimes the receptionist nodded; sometimes she got a blank stare. The hospital never denied her treatment, but “I was getting a two-inch stack of bills every month, and threats that they would take me to collections,” she told me.
Christian Healthcare Ministries assigned her case to a “member advocate,” who negotiated discounts on her fees. These counted toward Ms. Bixby’s $5,000 deductible, so she paid out of pocket only for office visits. In the end, the ministry persuaded the hospital to lop $220,900 off a bill of $301,540 and reimbursed or paid directly the remaining $80,640.
Despite stories like this, organizations such as Christian Healthcare Ministries claim a modest membership.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The New York Times is running a scare article. Your “ministry care” is not all-inclusive, like ObamaCare. That’s what they want you to think.
The truth is that there are things they don’t cover but they are largely connected to things ministers shouldn’t engage in like alcoholism, drug abuse, gay diseases, sex change operations, etc.
So, obviously, the premiums are lower because it is expected you will have a smaller range of claims.
RE: The truth is that there are things they don’t cover but they are largely connected to things ministers shouldn’t engage in like alcoholism, drug abuse, gay diseases, sex change operations, etc.
_______________________________
That’s what insurance is all about in all other areas of life. It is not supposed to cover every singles possible things happening in your life, but only catastrophes. We don’t pay insurance for every single thing that goes wrong for instance, to our cars, we PAY for routine maintenance, oil changes, etc. OUT OF POCKET.
In my opinion, before ACA, one would try and stay as healthy as possible for lower premiums. When ACA forced pre-existing conditions to be covered, it only aids those prone to not care what their actions cause in their bodies to see if it’ll kill them as premiums are no longer adjusted to how you care for yourself and your lifestyle. Anything goes so it is expensive to pay for that liberty. Obama and his company are goofballs who benefit from stupid legislation.
Back in the 1990’s we had a similar Christian medical bill sharing membership. My wife had $55,000 in bills for gall bladder/liver surgery which we sent in to the group headquarters in January. Our “need” was published in the February newsletter. It was assigned to the Single members, whose monthly donation was $50. One month’s donation went to headquarters to pay operating costs and the other 11 monthly donations were sent directly to an assigned member.
By the end of March, we had received 1,100 checks for $50 each from Single members and paid all of our medical bills in full.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.