Homebirth and health insurance
Traditional Health Insurance
Health insurance is a hot issue today. Everyone seems to agree that it's a great idea if you can get it. Some of us get it through our employer. Sometimes we have to contribute toward it, and sometimes our employer picks up the entire tab. Either way, it's not cheap. If your employer is paying for it, it's still not free. After all, your employer considers the cost of your insurance as part of the cost of employing you. It's money they pay on your behalf, and money that could go into your paycheck instead.
Others don't have it, at least in the traditional form.
We've had traditional health insurance in the past, and we were thankful for it. But you know what? We never really benefited from it. We did use it a few times, but we aren't a sickly family, and that Catastrophic Thing that everyone worries about never happened. It was a huge drain on our budget with very little tangible return, and we weren't even footing the whole bill.
Our biggest medical costs have always been births. We have had all our children at home with midwives, so the cost of our births was far less than a typical hospital birth, but they actually cost us much more. We found ourselves paying our health insurance premium but still paying a significant portion of our own medical bills. For some reason, traditional insurance companies are very reluctant to cover midwifery fees. This is strange, since statistics show that for low risk groups of women, a midwife-attended homebirth is actually a safer option for both mother and child.
A Better Choice For Us
We finally found our solution several children ago: Samaritan Ministries.
This is not insurance, but we have found that it costs far less and works far better for our family. Rather than paying out a hefty premium to a faceless corporation every month, we are able to bless Christian brothers and sisters during their time of trouble. We know their names and their needs, and we can pray for them when we send our monthly share directly to them.
In the same way, we have been tremendously blessed by the outpouring of cards, letters, prayers and Godly advice from other Samaritan members each time we have submitted a need. Not to mention that fact that all of our midwifery charges have been 100% covered.
How Samaritan Ministries Works
This is a well thought-out system, not some silly pyramid scheme where you send money to strangers and hope strangers will send money to you. When you submit a need, your need is usually published the following month, so you can expect payment within about 45 days. Each month, members receive a mailing telling them where to send their share and why, and encouraging them to pray and send a note as well. Anyone with a published need that month receives a checklist telling them who it should come from. If a member doesn't pay, the need is reassigned and the negligent member is courteously notified by the central office. I know just how that works, because we've been late several times. We also reported a few nonpaying members when we submitted needs; the money was simply paid by other members the following month.
If you're ready to join, you should know that the requirements are very different from traditional insurance. There's no physical, but you do need your pastor to vouch for you. You must attend church at least 3 out of 4 weeks each month; you must not be a smoker; must drink alcohol in extreme moderation or not at all; must be married or sexually abstinent. In short, this is a Christian ministry and members are required to live according to Biblical guidelines.
Not surprisingly, this tends to make for a low-risk group with less medical needs than average, which is why the cost is so low. A single person would pay $120/month. Our family of 11 pays less than $300/month, and unlike traditional insurance premiums, we feel that the money we send to other Samaritan Ministries members is money well spent.
There are other rules, caveats, and differences from health insurance. Take a look at the FAQ, read my other posts about Samaritan Ministries on my personal blog, take time to peruse the membership guidelines, or just call them to ask questions or request an info packet.
Oh, and if you do decide to join please tell them KimC sent you.
They have a generous referral program, so your referral will help with our monthly cost!
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10 Responses to “Homebirth and health insurance”
February 11th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
And some insurance companies are very happy to pay for homebirth midwives!
When I birthed the big girl at home with a CPM in 2004 my husband went to the benefits administrator at work and showed him on paper how much money we saved his employer by birthing at home with a midwife.
You see, in our county I would have been forced to have a scheduled c-section birth since our local hospitals didn’t have 24-hr anethesiologists on staff and at that time ACOG required them for VBACs.
The insurance company, when faced with the savings were happy to pay our midwife as if she was an out-of-network healthcare provider. We paid our small deductible and that was all.
My advice for other moms who birth at home is to stop trying to talk to the insurance company and talk instead to the employer who contracts with the insurance company.
February 11th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I know this post is about home birth and insurance, but I’m going to throw in my two cents worth anyway. Before a family decides to go the non-traditional route with health insurance, they need to very carefully and prayerfully weigh all the options. My husband, who was always very healthy, was diagnosed with an ultimately incurable form of cancer (multiple myeloma) and resultant kidney failure four years ago, at age 51. No family history, no warning. If we hadn’t had traditional health insurance, we’d be sunk. We would have lost our home, and quickly gone through our savings. I can’t imagine how many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid out on his behalf.
Obviously, we cannot know the future, but simply because you’re not a “sickly family” now doesn’t mean that the same thing that happened to my husband won’t happen to a member of your family. We are so fortunate that, although my husband has not been able to work since getting sick, his former employer allowed us to stay on their insurance plan, as long as we pay the premiums.
These types of decisions are not easy. Pray long. Talk much. And then make the best decision for your family.
February 12th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Ginny,
Samaritan covers needs up to $100,000 and offers an inexpensive additional option to cover up to $1 million, which is not an uncommon cap for traditional insurance companies. I don’t think we’re taking any chances in the case of disaster. My point about not being a sickly family is that we don’t often have office visits so the $300 deductible is not a problem for us.
On the bright side, we don’t have any copays at all, so in the case of larger bills, Samaritan Ministries would save us money over many or most traditional insurance policies.
February 12th, 2010 at 8:37 am
kari,
This is good to know. We did have some insurance companies pay for part of our midwife’s bill, but *if* they did it was as an out-of-network provider so they paid a much smaller percentage, usually 60% instead of 80% or more. Samaritan pays 100% and even waives the $300 deductible since homebirths save everyone money.
February 12th, 2010 at 10:42 am
we don’t have health insurance either and we are a growing family. We have worked ourselves out of debt and we have savings for emergencies. We also have the Lord and rely on Him to provide for all our needs, be it healing or paying for a medical bill. We have had 3 births, 2 at the hospital, my husband had a hernia surgery that we paid from our own pocket. We only go to the doctor when we really need and we have had 2 ER visits in 9 years that we have negotiated the bills down and paid in full.
I think each person needs to pray and decide what is best for them. I do think that relying on the government to pay for your health bills is NOT the answer for anyone. Charities and churchs are there for this reason.
I have never seen anyone go without even when they didn’t have health insurance. Where I live I have seen people come together to pay for liver transplants, multiple births, cancer bills and other medical situations. None of these patients lost houses or went without. They struggled for a bit, but the community came together to help and provide for them.
I think America needs to find their sense of community again and stop relying on faceless controlling government for their provision.
I think in that sense Samaritan Ministries is a good choice since people get involve with each other.
thanks for sharing this.
February 12th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
the answer to our healthcare insurance problems was to join the military..and stay for a minimum of 19.6 yrs and retire with benefits…now, this is not free insurance-a retired veteran earned this insurance through his or her service and dedication to country. my husband is the retired military vet and what medicare does not pay for tricare for life does..as his wife i pay $228.00 a year in premiums and a small co-pay for services rendered by drs. and pharmacy…unless, i go to the military base clinic and then my care and meds are free. anyway, if there are retired military vets out there without insurance then the fault is theirs. we have dealt with cancer, heart disease and other things and were mighty glad that we had this when we needed it. when i go out on soc.security then my health insurance coverage will be the same as my husbands and medicare will be supplemented by tricare.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
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February 12th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
I would urge anyone interested in Samaritan Ministries to carefully read and evaluate the guidelines.
If you sue Samaritan Ministries you are severed from coverage and may find it impossible to get traditional insurance coverage in the future.
Pre-existing conditions such as cancer, diabetes, etc. are not covered for a period of 5 years. If you marry someone with a pre-existing condition you may need to carry traditional insurance for that person for an extended length of time.
This coverage seems to cover the “Chosen Few” who fit into their narrow guidelines and health situations. Please make an informed decision.
February 14th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Thanks for the info. I had no idea programs like this existed.
It’s probably not a good fit for us right now (I’m asthmatic) but who knows what the future holds.
Knowing about all the options is always a good idea.
M
February 18th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
My mom and dad are members and we just applied! I was thrilled to see that homebirths get the deductible waived (our last three were born at home).
Glad to know others who have used Samaritan!
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