Samaritan

Last Friday and Saturday I invested many hours into first researching the cost of health insurance premiums and then different Christian medical sharing plans. I narrowed it down to three choices - Medi-Share, Christian Healthcare Ministries, and Samaritan Ministries. The most appealing aspects to Medi-Share were that we could have access to free virtual doctor appointments (which could result in a prescription being given if needed), free virtual counseling appointments, and they negotiate discounts with providers. I didn't choose Medi-Share because if I chose a monthly premium that was similar to the other two, the deductible would have been $6,000 per year for the family. I realize that this deductible is lower than what we would have if we had chosen traditional health insurance, but still it seemed a bit steep. The other two programs were very similar so the choice was harder to make. I personally know at least three families who have used or are currently using CHM. I chose Samaritan over CHM for the following reasons: the premiums are a little less than $100 a month cheaper, Samaritan will pay 100% for qualifying bills that exceed $400 (it's $500 with CHM at the "gold" level which is what we would have chosen if we went with them), Samaritan covers some things that CHM doesn't, and CHM requires you continue paying the premium until you have received payment for an eligible bill. I read of some people who went back to traditional health insurance and ended up having to pay double premiums for upwards of four months while waiting for bills to be paid. Samaritan doesn't have that policy. Saturday night I submitted the application and forwarded something to one of our pastors as they must verify our church attendance. I'm hoping that our coverage with Samaritan will go in effect on December 1. I wasn't surprised that Christian sharing programs don't cover fertility treatments as our health insurance didn't pay for them either, but I was shocked to see that CHM is so opposed to IVF that they won't even cover a pregnancy that results from IVF. I can understand that Christians don't want "unwanted" embryos to be destroyed or left frozen indefinitely, but what about those families (like us) who were committed to using all our embryos? That wasn't a factor in my decision making progress considering our ages. 

The good part of being a part of a medical sharing plan is that if we encounter large bills (hospitalization, surgery, etc.) we will get reimbursed. The bad news is that none of the Christian sharing programs provide coverage for preventative expenses. The exception would be that Medi-Share does cover an annual physical plus a little bloodwork IF you have already met the $6K deductible. So in addition to paying the monthly premium for Samaritan, we will be responsible for paying for physicals, immunizations, mammograms, colonoscopies, and such each year. I already wasn't looking forward to having a colonoscopy, but if we also have to pay thousands of dollars for it? We shall see when I actually have my first colonoscopy. I will also be calling around and finding out what different providers will charge us as a patient who is paying cash. Ian has a pediatrician appointment next month for his physical and twelve-year-old immunizations, but I might be changing that appointment if I find another doctor will charge a lot less in light of us paying cash. For the last several years all of those appointments haven't cost us a penny. Similarly, I have a mammogram appointment for next month, but I might be cancelling that as I found out they cost over $1K.

In light of the mammogram and Ian's physical, I considered keeping our awful health insurance for the month of December in addition to the plan with Samaritan. I called the insurance today and asked what my cost would be for a mammogram. Over the phone they told me it wouldn't cost me anything. When I asked if I could have that in writing, she said I should just access their website. According to the website they will only pay $60 for a mammogram. I also asked what my cost would be for Ian's physical and immunizations. She said I would have to pay $25 for his physical and that the immunizations would be free. According to the website, they won't pay anything for physicals or immunizations. If what I was told on the phone was accurate, it would be worth it to pay for one more month of coverage, but I have a feeling I'll be cancelling the policy later this week because of what it says on their website. One good thing regarding the insurance was they did cover the x-ray that I had two weeks after the surgery. They also sent me a check for about $11 with that EOB??? Hopefully that means they will also cover last week's x-ray. 

I have made a lot of progress over the last five days with walking. I went from not being able to walk at all to being able to walk while holding on to something (such as my walker) to being able to walk without holding on to anything. Friday I needed to use a walker to get into the shower, but I was able to take a shower standing rather than in a shower chair for the first time in 6 weeks. By Sunday morning I didn't even need the walker to get into the shower. I must hold on to the banister and have both of my feet go on every step, but now I can walk up and down the stairs. My gait when walking is not normal. I generally just plop my right foot down rather than using a heel/toe motion. My right ankle is still very stiff. I am optimistic that I will be able to resume driving on Friday. As of yesterday, it has been 10 weeks since I drove. If I stand or walk for too long, my ankle becomes rather swollen, and the pain level also increases. I'm definitely not back to normal, but I'm walking on two legs again after hopping on one leg for a long time. I've been able to do some of the cleaning and organizing projects, and I took a photo with my good camera today for the first time in probably close to two months. I took less than 10 pictures with the cell phone over the past seven weeks, which is far fewer than normal for me; today was the very first picture I took in November and it's already the 22nd of the month!

Hopefully we won't get surprised with being asked to pay any gigantic medical bills once we're in the Samaritan program, and hopefully we'll be healthy and not need any surgeries or hospitalizations for as long as possible! I haven't been hospitalized since Oliver was born in August 2012. Nadia and Ian haven't been hospitalized since they were born, and Ian hasn't had any surgeries for 9.5 years. Aside from the colonoscopy, Paul has never had any surgeries or been hospitalized (and he'll be turning 53 years old in 42 days). Oliver's last hospitalization was in February 2018. This ankle surgery was definitely an aberration from the norm as my last non-pregnancy related surgery was in 1994. It was awful timing considering it happened 12 days after our health insurance changed.