Both of our member ministries were featured in a recent news broadcast in Charlotte, NC.  You can watch the video here.

The usual push on regulation is included in the news story, but it’s a good look into how the ministries work as a flyover view.

This time in Dallas:

Bob and Paula Singleton still have the heartfelt, prayer-filled letters that came with payment for Mr. Singleton’s melanoma surgery last year.

“It is so warm and friendlier than an insurance check,” Mrs. Singleton said while reading a well-wish that read “our prayers are with yours that the cancer is totally gone.”

It wasn’t an insurance company at all that covered every last cent of his medical costs, but Christians from all over the country. It was all part of a Christian health care sharing program called Samaritan Ministries.

Read or watch the whole story here.

James Lansberry (that’s me) will be on Fox & Friends on Thursday morning (10/1) at about 6:45am EDT talking about Samaritan Ministries and health care sharing ministries.  A Samaritan Ministries family will be on the following morning.  Tune in and watch!

Faith Based Health Care for Evangelical Christians – ABC News
When Scott and Rachel Kramer, gospel music makers from outside Peoria, Ill., discovered that their son, Weston, had autism, they spent $30,000 on early-intervention therapy.All of it was paid for by strangers — fellow Christians who sent checks, cards and prayers.

“Sometimes it was just a simple note saying even though we don’t know you, we want you to know that we are thinking of you and we are certainly going to pray for your son,” said Rachel Kramer.

Samaritan Ministries and their members, the Kramers, were featured in a piece last night on ABC World News.  Certainly we expect some reaction, both positive and negative, from the story.  Certainly the segment was much too short to really capture what we do as faith based, non-insurance alternatives.  The news segment certainly does not paint us in the best light, right up to and including the truncating (obviously a mid-sentence cut if you watch it) of my last statement about our methods for protecting our members and ensuring they understand the difference between health care sharing and health insurance.

Some brief thoughts of response to the piece:

• The story talked about a ministry who years ago had been accused of embezzlement.  All of the health care sharing ministries operating now have controls in place to prevent such a thing from happening.  The ministry in the report, Samaritan Ministries, has an elected board who oversee the budget and set salaries for officers.   All of the ministries in the Alliance have an external audit performed annually.
• It is true that there are no guarantees of payment.  That is part of the faith based nature of what we do, and why only people of faith are interested in them.  One doesn’t have to watch much of the news lately, though, to find story after story of where the “guaranteed” insurers are guilty of doing what their policy holder thought they shouldn’t, or guilty of not covering something the policy holder thought was covered.  Because we’re not concerned with policies and contracts our members share in burdens.  We are less concerned about what medical care you choose than how we can help you.  Samaritan Ministries has no consumer complaints filed in any state that they’re aware of, and has file drawers full of letters thanking them for the ministry they’re providing.  No one takes the time to send a thank-you note to an insurance company.  Again–we don’t believe this is for everyone, but it is one option that we’d like to see protected.
• When the reporter was out we spent a great deal of time talking about how the health reform bills could affect health care sharing.  I was surprised that none of that footage made it in to the segment.  We remain concerned about how those who are paying their bills without insurance will be affected by the proposed legislation, and are working to protect our members as the bills are completed.
• People on the internet are already abuzz about how this might work for some cases but not big ones.  All of the ministries have shared needs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single need, and are sharing millions of dollars in needs each month.

Lastly, remember that these ministries are already succeeding in providing charitable, health care help.  Samaritan does not turn away families based on health history.  They provide a sponsorship program to help families who cannot afford the very small share of $285 per month (less for couples and singles).  The membership in a health care sharing ministry is not tied to employment and so it is portable from job to job and from state to state.   Our members are excited about what we do, and they love us.  We’re providing a viable, unique service and helping people with tens of millions of dollars of health care expenses every year.

Please feel free to contact us through the comments or our member ministries’ sites that can be found here (at bottom of page).

UC Davis News & Information :: Reckless Spending, Not Illness or Job Loss, Causes Most Bankruptcy
Overall, Zhu concluded that debt accounted for more than 50 percent of recent bankruptcies, while medical problems caused just 5 percent and unemployment led to only 13 percent.Zhu found that bankrupt households have bigger mortgages, car loans and credit card balances than solvent ones, but make less than half as much money.

It’s been the conjecture of those who think the government needs to take over the health care industry that half of all bankruptcies are caused by unpaid medical bills.  As the article above states, that’s just not true.  It’s out of control spending that leads to bankruptcies, and only 5% of them are due to health care issues.  This is another way in which the public rhetoric on health care has been less than helpful, and why we need to slow down and consider what’s working what’s not, and the causes and effects before rushing into what will be expensive “solutions” like in Massachusetts.

HT:  John Goodman

Dutch health system rated best, U.S. worst: polls | Lifestyle | Living | Reuters
NEW YORK Reuters Life – Americans are the least satisfied with their health care system, while the Dutch system is rated the best, according to new research.

This is from last week, and I did some background research on it.  For those who are reading, I just want to quickly point out one thing.  Contrast the headline with the first line of the article, both above.  According to the headline, the United States was “rated worst” among developed countries, and the Dutch the best.  A quick glance at the headline would give one the opinion that this is based on objective data.  Note in the first line of the article, “Americans are the least satisfied…”   This is an opinion poll, which is not at all objective as to best and worst.

So be careful what you read and believe–and look closely to see what is actually going on as opposed to what the publishers of such stories want you to think is going on.