We have successfully used Christian Healthcare Ministries for 7 years!

Members of CHM who refer a friend using their member number receive a free month! Over the last few years we have referred 20 friends and once they have been members for 3 months we receive a free month! I won’t lie, it is so nice to have one less bill a month when that happens. What is the most satisfying is knowing that we helped someone lighten their financial load by joining something that has blessed us time after time. If you or someone you know decide to join CHM please use our member # for referral! It’s 222956. Once you are a member you can start referring friends and family too! Please reach out with any questions, and don’t forget to use our member #222956 if you decide to jump in and start saving on your medical expenses like we have.

Have You Ever Wondered if Your Insurance Really Gives You Bang For Your Buck?!

I’ve written about our experience with Christian Healthcare Ministries before and I have some info to update, so I figured I would rework my original post a bit to answer some frequent questions I get!

Instead of traditional health insurance, our family uses Christian Healthcare Ministries, a health cost sharing group. We have been CHM members for 6 years. I’ve had 3 miscarriages, one emergency ectopic pregnancy surgery, 1 c-section, and 1 emergency room visit using CHM. We have put CHM to the test! We have saved well over $30,000 by being Christian Healthcare Ministry members. It’s truly the cheapest way to cover your family!

I’d like to share with you how CHM works, and explain more about how we have saved so much on our medical bills. I have a lot to say, and will try to explain the ins and outs as best I can, but feel free to reach out personally if you have any specific questions. I am also not a healthcare professional, so I can only share my personal experience. I will link the CHM website below and encourage anyone to do their own research as well.

https://www.chministries.org/default.aspx

*CHM is a faith based ministry and we did have to agree that we were Christ followers and had a home church as well as sign off that neither of us were smokers.*

Plans:

Christian Healthcare Ministries is different than typical insurance. There are 3 plans under CHM. For the first time in 11 years the plan prices increased last year. The increase was small and unlike typical insurance plans the price had been the same for 11 years! That’s impressive and reassuring to me! The Bronze Plan is now $78 per unit per month. The Silver Plan is $118 per unit, and the Gold Plan is $172 per unit. Our family of 4 is made up of 3 units and we are Gold Plan members and pay $516 total a month. This is significantly less than any other insurance plan we have priced out for our family.

CHM members do not have deductibles or co-pays, but rather “responsibilities”. As Gold Plan members we are responsible for all bills under $500 per incident or illness. The Bronze Plan has a $5,000 responsibility per incident, and the Silver Plan has a $2,500 responsibility per incident. All 3 plans have a cap of $125,000 per incident/illness, but there is a program called Brother’s Keeper that allows Gold Members to have unlimited bill sharing with no cap.

Example 1: A well visit for our children never comes close to $500, so we pay those bills and don’t report them to CHM. We do however, ask for a self-pay discount before we pay. I’ve had up to 40% discounted on well and sick visits.

Example 2: My OBGYN has a self pay program for pregnant self pay patients. With this program the total for all prenatal office visits and standard testing during my pregnancy as well as postpartum checkups was around $1500. CHM sent me a check for the full amount because it was over my $500 responsibility. I paid $0 for my pregnancy and postpartum and it was paid in full before my 3rd trimester.

Example 3: When we had Vann I received a check in full for my hospital bills surrounding my pregnancy and delivery. At 35 weeks I had to have a non-stress test, biophysical profile, fetal fibronectin test, and observation at Labor and Delivery. 4 days before my c-section we were concerned my water had broken so I spent several hours in Labor and Delivery for testing and monitoring. Both of those hospital stays and testing, and my c-section and hospital stay for myself and the baby after delivery were covered in full by CHM. My hospital has a 70% discount for self pay patients and so I have been reimbursed every penny for all of my hospital care!

Since CHM is not typical insurance, it does require a bit more effort on the member’s part. Instead of a doctors office or hospital billing the insurance company, the member is responsible for requesting a self pay discount and an itemized bill reflecting the discount and new total, and then responsible for scanning the bill into the online CHM Member Portal. In my experience it has been very easy to receive self pay discounts on each and every medical bill we’ve had, and the Member Portal is simple to use. Any questions I have ever had have been answered with clarity when I call to speak to a CHM representative. The savings are worth the effort every time!

When CHM sends me a check they enclose a letter saying that this money was not given to me because of a contract or binding agreement, but that it’s the body of Christ surrounding our family in our time of need. I cannot think of a bill I am more thrilled to pay every month than our CHM payment. This is why I tell anyone who will listen about our experience. This is why I want to share. CHM might not be the right fit for every family, but I’m convinced it can be a blessing to so many.

Medications:

In general, CHM does not pay for prescriptions or vaccinations (there are exceptions). The few times we have needed a prescription we used goodrx.com to see which pharmacy could provide us with the lowest price on that particular drug. It has always been a significant discount and affordable. Vaccinations also can be discounted for self pay patients depending on your provider. Regardless, the monthly savings by being CHM members has always outweighed the extra costs. Even if you have maintenance prescriptions, don’t rule CHM out. Sometimes just by not having typical insurance your prescriptions will be even more affordable just by using goodrx. It’s worth looking into.

Networks:

There are no networks with CHM! I pick the doctor and hospital I want. It’s that easy. If I were to have any questions about a bill being shared for particular appointment or procedure I would call CHM to talk through my options and get any information I might need to proceed.

When I had my ectopic pregnancy I was diagnosed in Athens, but decided to drive back home to Dalton to be operated on by doctors and nurses who knew me by name, and so I could be cared for by family. I never had to worry about if my switch of provider would be covered. To make a long story short, my bills surrounding that pregnancy and surgery were over $24,000. I received a steep discount for being self pay and my bills ended up totaling around $14,000 of which I paid $0 in the end.

Bill Sharing:

When I scan my itemized and discounted bills into the Member Portal I can expect to receive reimbursement within 12 weeks. That sounds like a long time to have bills posted on the fridge, and it is. As a CHM member it is my responsibility to set up a payment plan with each provider and pay on the bills until I receive a check from CHM. Practically, this looks like me paying small amounts ($75-$150) on my bills per month. For bills greater than $500 (per incident), CHM will send me a check for the entirety of the bill 12 weeks after I turn the bills into the online portal. I deposit that check into my bank account and then promptly pay off all the remaining portions of my bills, reimbursing myself for what I already paid on the payment plans.

In the end, doctors are getting paid. Hospitals are getting paid. The discount only reflects the markup providers give to insurance companies. This is not scamming providers. My midwife from home has asked for CHM information to give patients. The finance counselor at my OBGYN office in Athens has requested info for patients, because she saw how CHM worked for me.

*If a bill needs expediting in order to receive a steeper discount CHM is happy to do so. I received my ectopic surgery check in 2 weeks so we could save a higher %.

“There is no peace like knowing that your family’s healthcare needs are covered!”

Pregnancy:

Under the Gold Plan all maternity and delivery bills are sharable. There is a time frame of early membership where you cannot be pregnant (around 3 months).

Brother’s Keeper:

Brother’s Keeper is CHMs program for unlimited bill sharing above and beyond the $125,000 per incident cap for Gold Members. Our family is a part of the Brother’s Keeper program. We pay $40 total every January for our family to be members. The cost for Brother’s Keeper quarterly depends on the needs submitted quarterly from Brother’s Keeper members.

Example: one quarter the needs equaled $25 per unit for each Brother’s Keeper membership. So we paid $75 that quarter. Another quarter we paid $40 per unit. That’s it. We have never paid more than $160 per quarter for Brother’s Keeper, and it is well worth the added cost knowing we would be supported if something catastrophic happened to one of us.

Tax Documentation:

On the CHM website there is a tax form to print and submit with our yearly taxes that keeps us from being penalized due to the Affordable Care Act.

Pre-existing Conditions:

I could never properly explain the details regarding pre-existing conditions, so refer to the website here. https://www.chministries.org/preexistingconditions.aspx

Bring a Friend:

Members of CHM who refer a friend using their member number receive a free month! Over the last few years we have referred probably 10 or more friends and once they have been members for 3 months we receive a free month! I won’t lie, it is so nice to have one less bill a month when that happens. What is the most satisfying is knowing that we helped someone lighten their financial load by joining something that has blessed us time after time. If you or someone you know decide to join CHM please use our member # for referral! It’s 222956. Once you are a member you can start referring friends and family too!

Please reach out with any questions, and don’t forget to use our member #222956 if you decide to jump in and start saving on your medical expenses like we have.