Nathan and Melanie interviewed about Samaritan Health

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Reading the post about Nathan and Melanie's wedding (thanks for posting that!) led me to google a bit about Nathan and Melanie, and I happened to find an article from May 2011 where Nathan comments on his family belonging to the Samaritan Health Care Sharing Ministry.

 

You can read it here: http://www.khi.org/news/2011/may/23/fai ... ans-cover/

 

Interesting that one of the reasons they chose it was price, but also there's the whole religious requirement bit, which includes not only religious requirements but also that the members not pursue various "unhealthy lifestyles."

 

 

Nathan, from the article said:

Equally important, Maxwell said, was that health care sharing allowed them to “act according to our beliefs.â€

 

He said they didn't want to send money to a company that covers abortions or pay into an insurance pool that enabled people to live unhealthy lifestyles.

 

"Somebody that would, you know, not be managing their diabetes correctly and being hospitalized over and over,†he said. “ I don't want my money to help fund that. That can sound selfish, but I didn't like the idea of enabling people that way. I'm a big fan of personal responsibility."

 

For Maxwell, that meant being willing to pay out of pocket for his family's routine health care. Other Samaritan members only step in to help pay for large, unmanageable expenses, he said.

 

[Guest Anonymous]

Heaven forbid that a gay person should get essential medical care when that money could be directed to cover the expenses of a couple who will do nothing to prevent pregnancy until menopause, despite their upfront knowledge that it could increasingly lead to the death of both mother and infant. Way to go, Nathan! :roll:

[fundiefan]

I find that rather funny. Melanie has a horrendous maternal history. Rather than stopping that unhealthy way of life and preserving her life and keeping her healthy, they continue to get pregnant and use medical services to keep her pregnant. I suppose, in a way, I agree with him. I don't like the idea of funding the reckless, irresponsible choices other people make when they can live perfectly healthy, productive, happy lives otherwise. Stop making babies. You have two, your wife is alive and healthy - for now, but she doesn't have a healthy track record in the maternity department. But, no, you keep trying to get pregnant and have recently succeeded. This will not come without medical intervention. Is this the kind of thing their Samaritan crap will help with?

[Markie]

While based on Christian tenets, such sharing plans are not open to everyone. To be accepted, applicants must attend church regularly, cannot be gay or have extramarital sex. Nor are those accepted who smoke, abuse drugs or alcohol. Sometimes applicants must have a pastor attest that they meet the requirements.

Do Nathan and Melanie attend church, or do they just pray at his parents' or the home for the Eldery?

[fundiefan]

Do Nathan and Melanie attend church, or do they just pray at his parents' or the home for the Eldery?

That totally misses the message of Christ. How can it be based on Christian tenets yet exclude certain people and limit use by qualification?

[Guest Anonymous]

That totally misses the message of Christ. How can it be based on Christian tenets yet exclude certain people and limit use by qualification?

Do you not know your Bible, funidefan?

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the financially solvent; he hath sent me to heal the personally responsible, to preach deliverance to the like-minded, and recovering of sight to the blind of faith, to set at liberty them that are content to remain where they are"

[SamuraiKatz]

How do these health share recipients get around having to declare these checks from other members as income? Nothing to stop someone from pocketing a 100k rather than paying off their neonatal emergency bills.

And in Nathan and Melanie's case, it's a good thing her dad is a doctor. I'm sure that reduces costs considerably.

[Marian the Librarian]

Samaritan Health = blatant discrimination.

Jesus wept - and for very good reason.

[lilwriter85]

]I find that rather funny. Melanie has a horrendous maternal history. Rather than stopping that unhealthy way of life and preserving her life and keeping her healthy, they continue to get pregnant and use medical services to keep her pregnant. I suppose, in a way, I agree with him. I don't like the idea of funding the reckless, irresponsible choices other people make when they can live perfectly healthy, productive, happy lives otherwise. Stop making babies. You have two, your wife is alive and healthy - for now, but she doesn't have a healthy track record in the maternity department. But, no, you keep trying to get pregnant and have recently succeeded. This will not come without medical intervention. Is this the kind of thing their Samaritan crap will help with?

This. Melanie isn't any better than diabetics who aren't effectively taking care of their conditions and she isn't better than people who smoke either.

[Sola]

Reading the post about Nathan and Melanie's wedding (thanks for posting that!) led me to google a bit about Nathan and Melanie, and I happened to find an article from May 2011 where Nathan comments on his family belonging to the Samaritan Health Care Sharing Ministry.

You can read it here: http://www.khi.org/news/2011/may/23/fai ... ans-cover/

Interesting that one of the reasons they chose it was price, but also there's the whole religious requirement bit, which includes not only religious requirements but also that the members not pursue various "unhealthy lifestyles."

This annoys the hell out of me. How on earth does he know what that diabetic person has been doing? I have a friend who I have known since being at school. When she was 9 she became diabetic. Since then she has been hospitalised many times with her diabetes, and not because of anything she has done. Her diabetes is unstable and no matter how hard she tries she cannot control it. She will get it sorted with her insulin and for a few days it will be fine, then everythign goes tits up and she is back at square one again. It is nothing to do with what or how she eats, or how much she exercises - she is not overweight, she just has unstable diabetes which around 1% of people with type 1 diabetes have. If Nathan saw her in hospital he would presume that she was irresponsible and wasn't sticking to her diet. Diabetes cannot always be managed properly, sometimes it is brittle diabetes and then nothing you do will make a difference.

[Justme]

I am suprised they belong to this, given Mel's history. I would think Nathan would have a quality insurance plan. One day they (or someone else in this "plan") is going to have a serious illness or accident that will require hundred's of thousands dollars of care.

I also agree that since they judge others on "personal responsibility", they need to practice and stop the pregnancies. If this child is born healthy, they will have 3 children. Sometimes God expects us to use our "brains" and know when enough is enough.

[lilwriter85]

I am suprised they belong to this, given Mel's history. I would think Nathan would have a quality insurance plan. One day they (or someone else in this "plan") is going to have a serious illness or accident that will require hundred's of thousands dollars of care.

I also agree that since they judge others on "personal responsibility", they need to practice and stop the pregnancies. If this child is born healthy, they will have 3 children. Sometimes God expects us to use our "brains" and know when enough is enough.

I agree that will happen someday. I'm not trying to wish bad things on anyone, but serious accidents or illnesses do happen in the fundie land. My boyfriend's mom is an occupation therapist and she has worked with people who have been severely disabled to accidents and sometimes medical bills go into the millions. I can't see Samartian Health share members being able to cover care for a ventilator dependent quadriplegic or someone with a severe brain injury.

[Clementine]

How does samaritan health insurance work? Is it voluntary to send money to those who need it and if so, how can you be sure that your medical bills are covered?

Has there been a case where somebody who has samaritan health insurance has been badly injured and have ended up with huge medical bills?

I understand that severe injuries can cost millions... I think that NieNie and her husband had a million dollar bill to pay for their burn injuries. I wonder how the fundie crowd would be able to cover that.

[Jessica]

I think you get the bill, send it to Samaritan and they let other families know about it and those families send you the money. You have to tell the doctor/hospital/clinic/whatever that you're going to self-pay and that you have no insurance, so they lower it.

[Clementine]

I think you get the bill, send it to Samaritan and they let other families know about it and those families send you the money. You have to tell the doctor/hospital/clinic/whatever that you're going to self-pay and that you have no insurance, so they lower it.

Thanks for explaining!

So are they obliged to pay their share or else will they get kicked out of the program or how does that work?

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I am suprised they belong to this, given Mel's history. I would think Nathan would have a quality insurance plan. One day they (or someone else in this "plan") is going to have a serious illness or accident that will require hundred's of thousands dollars of care.

He says in the article that Samaritan did manage to pay for their $200K worth of bills for the NICU stay and whatnot that was involved when their first daughter died 3 days after birth.

How does samaritan health insurance work? Is it voluntary to send money to those who need it and if so, how can you be sure that your medical bills are covered?

From what I can tell in that article, you make payments (which they are careful to not call "premiums") to the central office, UNLESS some member ends up needing funding, in which case you're told to send your payment directly to that member instead. Given the amount of members, and that the system goes to elaborate lengths to specifically NOT be "pooling risk" or anything else that would imply real insurance, I suspect they end up making their payment pretty much to some different random member address each month (if it weren't that way, they'd have a central office needing to send out already pooled money to "claimers" which they say they explicitly don't do - the central office only decides if you have a qualifying emergency or not, and if so, tells Member A to make his payment to Member B this month).

Also from the article, they stress that Samaritan Ministries is very adamant about their disclaimer that there IS NO GUARANTEE that you will get paid. None. It's all just purely member to member charity. Also note that it's only for emergencies - routine preventative care or small health problems you're supposed to pay for out of pocket.

So yeah, I'm impressed enough they got paid $200K, but have to wonder along with others upthread just what would happen if they had a permanent disabling injury happen to someone - there's no way that system is going to be able to pay ongoing like that.

This does sort of make me think about the Maxwell obsession with "healthy living" (what with the pushups and the walking in long skirts and all of it) in a new light, though. Also I notice he says a big reason for choosing it was that it was cheaper than his personal HMO. The guy is self-employed (well, through the usual group of Steve-O-Industries, including the one ton ramp) but he's not independently wealthy.

[gustava]

I think you get the bill, send it to Samaritan and they let other families know about it and those families send you the money. You have to tell the doctor/hospital/clinic/whatever that you're going to self-pay and that you have no insurance, so they lower it.

Yeah, the doctor/hospital/clinic/whatever lowers the bill, and someone like me with good insurance pays higher premiums. Fuck 'em.

[kpmom]

Samaritan Health only pays for big things? So every time they take the kids to the doctor they have to pay full price?

[slickcat79]

"Somebody that would, you know, not be managing their diabetes correctly and being hospitalized over and over,†he said. “ I don't want my money to help fund that. That can sound selfish, but I didn't like the idea of enabling people that way. I'm a big fan of personal responsibility."

Wait, seriously? Diabetes? I expected him to say that he didn't want to fund abortion, birth control, STIs and stuff like that, but diabetes? Plus all you have to do is replace "diabetes" with "reproductive choices" and you'd have Nathan and Melanie's lifestyle. Once again the fundies prove that irony and hypocrisy are not concepts covered at the SOTDRT :roll:

[Bella99]

When I needed surgery for a compound fracture on my finger, the hospital insisted on payment beforehand since I was uninsured. I don't understand how they access care in a situation like that (not life threatening, but a risk of permanent deformity/loss of function.

[WonderingInWA]

I found this article so interesting! I'd never heard of anything like Samaritan before and really want to know how it works. They say there is no guarantee of payment but they must have a system of sending certain members (or maybe all members?) the circumstances of one family depending on financial need? Fascinating.

I was surprised to learn N&M's first baby, Susannah, only cost them $200in hospital fees. As I recall, M was on bedrest even in the hospital, and then S was in NICU for 3 days before she passed (it was really sad -- I can't imagine going through that). I wonder if Samaritan money was spent for her funeral as well?

And then this last pregnancy, she was in the hospital for a long time on bedrest, so did Samaritan pay for that?

And while reading through the article, I wonder if he posts on the blog only during crisis to fulfill the Samaritan requirements? I'm sure that's one easy way.

I watched the video -- what a bunch of crap! Those people are sooooo happy, but I would love to know how many people have joined and received NOTHING and how THEY feel about that. The fact that the insurance commissioner from Washington State had a concern about it (and it seems to be only available in Kansas) speaks volumes to me.

Does Samaritan provide long-term care? If Stevie comes down with Alzheimer's and has to move in to a memory care unit, is that covered? What if one of the members becomes quadriplegic -- where will Samaritan be?

I'm obviously way too curious about this.

[demgirl]

The Jeub family has explained Samaritan in detail. At one point, they seemed to have lost some of the shiny happy glow w/ Samaritan b/c it wasn't clear that Samaritan would be able to cover the high costs associated with Chris' heart issues and their son's accident. I don't know if that ever got worked out, but anyway:

jeubfamily.com/2011/04/07/samaritan-ministries-theyve-always-come-through-for-us/

jeubfamily.com/2011/09/02/how-we-cover-our-medical-bills-every-time/

jeubfamily.com/2011/01/23/health-care-why-didnt-we-sign-on-years-ago/

[WonderingInWA]

Awwww, isn't that sweet that someone thanked them for their blog post and that they'd heard about it through Vision Forum?

I just have to wonder if this isn't another one of Dougie's schemes (is he at the base of this organization?).

[genericJname]

Every time I hear about Samaritan Health it sounds shadier and shadier..

[doggie]

You have to post your need through the news letter so everyone gets to read about it. Then of course you have to depend on these nasty judgermental skinflint christians to send you their money. they send the money directly to you.