What is Samaritan Ministries International?
Samaritan Ministries International (SMI) is a Christian Health Care Ministry. It’s not insurance, though it assists members with health care expenses.
It’s a ministry designed to help Christians help one another. It also manages medical costs making them more affordable.
Christian Health Care Sharing
SMI is a group of believers in biblical community helping bear one another’s medical burdens without the use of health insurance. SMI members provide each other with prayer, emotional, and financial support in times of medical needs.
Currently over 82,000 households worldwide use SMI (Feb 2019). That amounts to over a third of a million people using SMI on a monthly basis. SMI member shares are now approaching $30 million each month.
Why Drop Insurance Coverage and Join SMI?
Under the Affordable Health Care Act and with many insurance plans there have been significant problems. This includes
1) limitations in choosing your doctor
2) premiums skyrocketing
3) increases in deductibles
These issues make insuurance very expensive or cost prohibitive for many. SMI ‘s biblical solutions for these and other issues associated with medical insurance is keeping premiums managable.
SMI Costs
With SMI the most a family of three or more would share with another family in need is currently $495.00 per month (April 2019). Cost for an individual is $220.00 and for a couple is $440.00. These plans cover up to $250.000.00 in expenses with no deductible. There is an initial $300 out of pocket expense for each need. A need includes all expenses associated with that particular need (not a $300 cost per physician or hospital visit).
The affordability of SMI is reason enough for joining this Health Care Ministry. But if you are like me, you don’t want your medical dollars supporting procedures that go against your biblical convictions (like abortions). SMI does not cover medical procedures that conflict with your biblical convictions.
How Does SMI Work?
SMI uses a simple three-step ministry. They ask each member to
- Mail a monthly check directly to another assigned member who has a medical need that month
- Include with the check a note of encouragement
- Pray for that individual that God will care for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
The monthly check amount varies with your plan while not exceeding $500 a month (at the most it would cost you $6,000 a year for a little or no deductible care plan). My previous private insurance plan was over $14,000. That’s almost a 60% reduction annually!
This is a financially responsible way the body of Christ can fulfill Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (NIV).
My Testimonial for SMI
My family has had a few medical needs and SMI has covered the need 100%. I have had to go to the hospital and so have my children. The cost of medical treatments was in the tens of thousands of dollars.
SMI representatives helped my wife negotiate each bill to reasonable levels (some bills were reduced over 90%). With the savings my wife received, SMI credited that savings to the $300 initial payout leaving us with zero out-of-pocket expenses for each medical need. That was amazing and totally unexpected.
When you call SMI they are easy to reach. You don’t get an answering machine that puts you on hold for half an hour. My wife spoke with a representative each time she called and had all her questions answered. You can even go to their website and register your need, track the progress of the checks sent to you, and receives responses into your email account.
For one of our needs, ten families were asked to send us checks that covered 100% of our medical costs. Included with those checks were words of encouragement and prayers that helped me realize the body of Christ was truly engaged with my need and Jesus was using them to show me his providential care. It was a real faith builder knowing God was actively caring for me and my family.
For More Information
If you want to check out SMI or if you are ready to fill out an application form go to Samaritan Ministries.org.
Call SMI at 877-764-2426 or go to samaritanministries.org to complete the application process. When you fill out the application for membership, please remember to attribute the referral to Jim Klukow. This will help support the ongoing free resources provided by this website. I pray SMI will be as much or more of a blessing to you and your family as it is and has been to mine.
Being a cash-pay client rather than dealing with all the frustrations associated with medical insurance claims has relieved a lot of stress in our family and allowed us to keep our medical expenses to reasonable levels. There are other Christian health share ministries, but Samaritan Ministries proves to be the all-around best choice for our family.
Check Out This Promotional Video
This video answers many questions about SMI. On their website, you will also find lots of testimonials that assure you this is a stable and growing ministry able to care for your medical needs up to $1,000.000.00 (see the Save to Share option). Here’s the contact for the video.
