Making Samaritan Work for Us

The biggest downside to forgoing traditional insurance and using a Christian health sharing ministry like Samaritan Ministries is that you have to take responsibility for your own preventative health care.  The rationale behind this is simple. Preventative medicine is not a surprise. It's something that you can plan and budget for. You know, for instance, that your yearly well-woman exam is going to occur... well... each year. You can choose when and how much you'll pay for a flu vaccine or a tetanus booster. Those are not unexpected expenditures.  They don't catch you by surprise the way a broken arm or a viral infection do. When we had Blue Cross Blue Shield, preventative medicine was covered 100%. This meant that I could show up for my yearly exam and pay nothing! It was free, free, free! It was, however, the only thing that was free.  If I showed up to my doctor's office with a sore throat and they did a strep test I would be out $277.  So, the once yearly free visit didn't justify the $1,145 monthly premium for all of us to be covered coupled with the craptastic $4,800 family deductible we had to reach before real benefits even kicked in.

Not having traditional insurance has changed the way I "shop" for medical services. It's made me a more responsible consumer. I declined the Tdap vaccine (whooping cough booster) they give to moms of newborns at the hospital because it was $125, and wasn't part of the birth package I'd paid for since it's "preventative medicine." I made a few phone calls because I really did want to get the booster. Turns out CVS Minute Clinic gives it for $92. At Walgreens it's $64, and Kroger will administer it for $50 even. That's the same price as our county pubic health centers! And... you don't have to wait in line for a few hours.  Sometimes a few phone calls will save you $75 (or 3 hours of your day). 

Likewise, we have switched pediatricians in order to see one who is part of the "Texas Vaccines for Children" program which gives all uninsured and underinsured patients access to free or dirt-cheap immunizations.  This does mean longer wait times in their office, and it does mean adding a few miles to our drive, but those inconveniences are so small when you consider the hundreds and hundreds of dollars charged by most other offices for all those baby immunizations.