Samaritan Ministries helps its members save thousands in health care costs by using Fair-Price Providers. It can help cut your health costs too. Here’s how…
In one example—just one example out of many—a Samaritan Ministries member who formerly assumed healthcare provider charges were “always fair and reasonable,” used Samaritan Ministries recommendations and saved $20,000 by obtaining treatment from provider down the road, without sacrificing the physicians he trusted.
He was shocked.
In case you’ve not yet heard of it, Samaritan Ministries International (often referred to as “Samaritan Ministries”) is a leading health care sharing ministry that helping its members save thousands of dollars in their health care costs by sharing the burden of costs among members.
Taking savings–without sacrificing quality of care– to a new level, Samaritan Ministries has introduced an online tool, available only to members, to discover the fair market value of the health and medical services they receive.
Samaritan now takes members to Healthcare Bluebook — an online guide for comparing provider prices and quality — which then guides them through the process of selecting quality care at fair prices.
What are the results?
In the example below, Samaritan member Charles Johnston saved nearly $20,000 by comparing his projected hospital bill against Healthcare Bluebook.
A hernia procedure prompted Johnston — who is one of 273,000 Samaritan members, from more than 83,000 households — to compare his providers’ prices with those of other providers.
“I’m a bit old-fashioned, and probably naïve, when it comes to doctors and health care costs,” Johnston said. “I assumed that what medical facilities charged for various procedures was always fair and reasonable.”
Johnston learned that his bills for the procedure, including those from the surgeon and anesthesiologist, would top $25,000.
This time, he decided to follow Samaritan’s advice and check Healthcare Bluebook before going forward. What he discovered shocked him. He discovered that the market price for the same services should be 80% less than the price he was given.
“What I found out was astounding,” recounts Johnston. “I learned the total ‘fair’ cost for my procedure should be in the $5,000 to $6,000 range, not $25,000!”
Like Kelley Blue book but for medical costs
By checking Samaritan’s Healthcare Bluebook, Johnston applied the consumer habits he uses in other areas of life, such as finding a car price, to his health care decisions.
“I’ve used Kelley Blue Book for cars, but didn’t know that similar information is available for health care,” Johnston continued.
Eyes newly opened, Johnston called Healthcare Bluebook to help him choose a fair-price provider for his procedure. A worker named Jami answered the phone.
“Jami was wonderful,” Johnston said. “She went right to work and found a local surgery center that would do the surgery for $3,400 — an astounding $20,000 less than what the local hospital quoted. What made this so wonderful was that the same surgeon would do the surgery and the same anesthesiologist would be attending.
“Jami made all the arrangements with the surgery center, including payment. She kept me well-informed of who she had been in contact with and where she was in the process.”
The total cost for the surgery ended up being $5,522.67 — right in the range of what Healthcare Bluebook suggested it should be.
“I thank God for Samaritan Ministries and for leading me to Healthcare Bluebook,” Johnston said. “This was such a blessing!”
Through Samaritan’s effective, God-honoring ministry, this growing Christian healthcare sharing community shares approximately $30 million in medical needs person-to-person each month.
Over the past 25 years, Samaritan Ministries members have shared more than $2.3 billion in needs, praying and encouraging one another with notes along the way.
For the remainder of 2020, Samaritan is rewarding members with $250 per health care need for demonstrating that they obtained health care from a facility Healthcare Bluebook rates as a “fair-price provider.”
Learn more about Samaritan Ministries here.
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