Business ProfileforSamaritan Ministries International

When I was injured in an accident the last thing on mind is how things would play out with Samaritan. We were instructed to tell all the medical providers we are self pay and to ask for a discount on account of it. Next my wife had to send paperwork in for need submission all of this didn't raise any problems at this time. About two months after the accident we received stating they were prorating payments on our needs because they don't have enough money to cover the expenses coming in, this was concerning to say the least especially when we have paid in for years and also unable to work due to injuries sustained. It took an extended period of time to have funds arrive to pay medical bills and were instructed to tell them all it will be a while before any payments can be made. We continued on the process satisfying the medical bills until all were taken care of, then my wife gets an email from them wanting to see that we have paid our bills, this seemed odd since we were told we were self pay and responsible for our own bill. We sent in the information they had requested just like everything else and we get a email wanting something more this went on for a period of time. At this point in the process things were odd it was obvious the representative my wife was working with was being deceptive. She sent him a statement showing we owed nothing after waiting approximately 4 weeks to get it from the hospital and that wasn't good enough. I started to look at this more closely realized that first I'm self pay and on my own when its an advantage to them and now at the end I'm an idiot and they are acting like an insurance company. All of a sudden they are telling us they looked at our account at the hospital ect ect... does HIPPA privacy laws mean anything. Now they leave threatening messages wanting money back or they will go to our church leaders,cancel our membership, ect. and then say god bless. We are in financial distress to say the least!

Dear Lance, Thank you for providing feedback. We are sorry that your experience with Samaritan Ministries International (Samaritan) did not meet your expectations. We wanted to respond to some of the comments in your original post. Samaritan Ministries is a Biblical solution to health care. It is not insurance. We deliver authentic, compassionate, and personal service in the name of Christ to enable and inspire members to provide for one another’s medical needs through prayer, encouragement, and financial support. At Samaritan Ministries, we respect our members' autonomy in choosing how to pay their medical bills. While we do not require the use of government assistance, there are instances where other entities are responsible for payment. All applicants are asked to read our ministry’s membership guidelines before joining, and each must attest that they did so before becoming a member. As outlined in those guidelines, specifically sections VI.-B.-1.-a. and VI.-B.-1., “[s]eeking assistance from government aid programs is never required by SMI and is contrary to our understanding of God’s desire for His people. “However, when members voluntarily enroll in other insurance outside of our charity, any “…[b]ills must be submitted to insurance, Medicare, Worker’s Compensation, and any other payer who may be responsible, before submitting them to Samaritan Ministries….[i]f a bill is shared and later reimbursed… the reimbursed amount must be sent on to meet other member’s needs.” Our records indicate that both a government agency paid the medical bill and fellow Samaritan members sent you funds for you to pay for your medical bills. However, because another entity paid your medical bills, your fellow members no longer needed to fund your medical bills. Despite this, you retained the money you received from fellow members, which is considered overpayment. If a third party reimburses a member, our Provider Relations Department works to redistribute those funds to other members with open medical needs. By keeping the funds provided to you by other members, you did not follow the guidelines that are the foundation of our community. Every member of Samaritan signs a release of medical information to enable our staff to negotiate discounts for medical bills, assist members with bill itemization, discuss payment status, and verify bill sharing. These best practices help Samaritan maintain accountability and ensure that members use the funds received for their intended purpose, which is to pay for medical services. Regarding your comment about proration, generally speaking, proration is a process Samaritan uses when one month has more eligible bills than Shares available. Because of this, we temporarily reduce what is shared to the amount of funds that the community has available. This reduction distributes equally across all bills. Although proration can be an additional burden to someone with a Need, fellow members can send extra money to the member assistance fund (MAF) so that members who are affected by proration can have some or all their needs met. About your specific comment and concern about your needs being prorated, our records indicate you received donations from members for every portion of your prorated Need. Finally, we would like to respond to your comment regarding feeling threatened because Samaritan staff contacted your church leaders to counsel you on returning the overpayment. It was not our intention to cause you any distress. When you signed up for membership, you were provided with our health care sharing guidelines, which state that in cases of possible misuse of funds, Samaritan may seek the assistance of the member's Christian church. We understand that this situation has been difficult for you, our staff, and the Samaritan membership community. However, we remain optimistic that we can work together to find a solution that honors God and addresses the issue of the $54,000 overpayment of member funds that you received even though Medicaid had already paid the hospital bill in full. We welcome any assistance from your church leader or anyone else who can help us reach a resolution that benefits everyone involved and glorifies Jesus Christ.