KPIX-TV, Channel 5, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, has published an online story about health care sharing ministries.
Archive for the ‘In the media’ Category
Sharing ministries spotlighted by SF TV
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010Are the patients or the psychiatrists mental?
Monday, July 5th, 2010Some are wondering if it is the patients or the psychiatrists who are crazy now that the latest mental disorder has been revealed: orthorexia nervosa, meaning “healthy eating disorder.” It’s making the internet rounds, coming to a blog, Facebook post, or Youtube video near you.
Do you avoid processed foods and take vitamins? You might be crazy!
Joking aside, there certainly can be serious disorders related to eating. However, this one seems to border on the absurd, and has been mocked all over the web. Some commentators even say it’s a politically motivated attack on health conscious consumers, who just won’t go along and buy all their mass-produced food from heavily subsided multi-national corporations. Others say it’s laying the groundwork for government regulation and taxation of vitamins and supplements.
This latest mental disorder has been officially classified in the U.K., not in the United States’ infamous DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which has been the subject of heated debate among doctors and psychiatrists since it was first published in 1952.
To pick only one of numerous examples, here’s a book by two California university professors presenting the case that “the DSM applies the language of mental illness to everyday behavior, transforming ordinary reactions to life’s vicissitudes into billable pathology.”
It seems safe to say that “healthy eating disorder” is yet another example of political correctness run amok. Hopefully, it won’t come across the pond to the U.S. Keep on endeavoring to eat healthy. You aren’t crazy.
Peoria paper profiles Samaritan
Monday, June 28th, 2010The Peoria Journal Star’s Jenni Davis profiled Samaritan Ministries in the Sunday, June 28, issue. She quotes Samaritan VP James Lansberry extensively as well as member Jason Morris and shares a great deal of info about us. SMI members also defend the ministry against negative statements made in the comments section by site users.
Read the article here.
Accountability and oversight at Samaritan
Thursday, June 24th, 2010We cannot respond to every blog that purports to provide useful information to the readers about health care sharing ministries, but occasionally one comes along that is so careless in gathering facts and presenting accurate information that we think it wise to respond.
Today a blog post came to our attention that contained the following:
“There is no accountability, no oversight, and the people who participate have no protection.” …
State authorities have been slow to take action, critics say, because of the plans’ religious affiliations — and the scarcity of subscriber complaints. And since it’s not an insurance company, it isn’t governed by your state’s insurance laws. If you have a beef over a claim denied, where do you go? Perhaps appeal to a higher authority.
In addition to several confusing and misleading statements in the article, both the quote above from the Maine insurance superintendent and the closing statement in the article are wrong.
At Samaritan Ministries, we have an appeals process. If members believe that the staff here is misapplying the guidelines, they can appeal to a panel of 13 randomly chosen members. Those are members who could face the same problem as the member making the appeal, and the decision of that panel is binding on the ministry. The member gets a chance to make the appeal to other members just like him, and the ministry binds itself to their decision.
What insurance company would ever let you ask 13 randomly chosen policy holders what they should do about your claim? But at Samaritan our focus is ministry. And we are a member-led organization. Our goal is to help as many people as we can, not to maximize profits.
Being member led goes beyond the 13 randomly chosen member panels. We elect a Board of Directors who serve without pay, and who are all members of the ministry. Two of our three Board members have been members of Samaritan for more than 12 years each, and have seen the ministry grow from a hundred or so families to the 14,800+ families we have today.
Insurance companies have consumer protections in the state regulatory system. But our members get to regulate their own ministry, which, if you ask them, is a better and more faithful way of doing things.
New video posted.
Friday, April 23rd, 2010Insights with Hugh Downs released a new mini documentary about Samaritan Ministries today.
MSNBC.com posts piece on health care sharing
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010MSNBC.com reporter JoNel Aleccia published a piece on health care sharing ministries today, with a heavy emphasis on Samaritan Ministries International. JoNel’s story focused on members Mike and Mary Suitter of Hayden, Idaho.
HAYDEN, Idaho – Mary Suitter is sporting fresh bandages on her face and arm, markers of two new biopsies that may reveal yet another bout with melanoma.
Though she lacks conventional health insurance, the 57-year-old mother of four says she isn’t worried about the costs of a recurrence of her 2006 diagnosis with the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Suitter — and her husband, Mike, a handyman and builder — are members of a health care sharing ministry, a religious co-op whose participants agree to support each other — and to pay each others’ medical bills.
Also quoted were Tracy Kamprath of Texas
Tracy Kamprath, 49, of Chappel Hill, Texas, admits she had doubts about the program when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago.
“We weren’t sure, but we joined in faith,” said Kamprath, a former Christian school teacher whose family had no other option for health insurance when they signed up two years before she became ill.
The bill for her successful treatment topped $240,000, but with discounts for paying cash and some negotiations with providers, the Kampraths were able to reduce it to $60,000, which was covered by dozens of Samaritan members.
“Every penny was paid for,” she said.
and Samaritan VP James Lansberry:
The federal exemption to mandatory insurance may fuel even more interest in the health care sharing ministries. Samaritan is already enrolling 200 new members a month, Lansberry says, numbers that may grow as the 2014 deadline for mandatory insurance looms.
There’s also a poll about the value of health care sharing ministries and, on the poll page, a place for comments. Please weigh in with your opinion and add some comments if you see the need.
Thanks to the Suitters and Tracy Kamprath for agreeing to be interviewed and for representing Samaritan members.
Samaritan, other HCSMs featured in Houston Chronicle
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Samaritan Ministries and other health care sharing ministries were featured in a Houston Chronicle story by Moises Mendoza that ran April 9. Quoted were Joel Noble, who is part of Samaritan’s public policy department, and member Mark McLeod of Houston.
“Who is going to take care of you — a company or people? I’d rather put my faith in people who believe in God,” McLeod explained.
The story is part of increasing awareness of alternative ways to pay health care bills. Samaritan is expected to be discussed in a story to appear this week on MSNBC.com, and a caller to Rush Limbaugh’s show last week explained the health care sharing ministry concept to the radio host, who was unfamiliar with the concept.
Please stay in prayer that this increased exposure will be a blessing for the operation of these ministries and for our members.
Samaritan on the Web
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010Lansberry on Moody Radio
Monday, March 22nd, 2010More interviews for James Lansberry
Monday, March 22nd, 2010SMI VP James Lansberry has a full morning of interviews on health care scheduled for Tuesday, 3/23/10:
- Lou in the Morning on Legends 105.1 FM in Pensacola, FL, at 8:40 AM CT
- With the Rev. Dr. Jim Brettell, KDVW 1530 AM, Little Rock, AR, at 9:05 AM CT. Listen live at http://www.drjimtalk.com/drjimtalk.htm
- “Outside the Box” with Mitch Henck, WIBA AM-1310, Madison, WI, 10 AM CT. Listen live at http://www.wiba.com/main.html
- On KUBB 96.3 FM, Merced, CA, 9 AM PT.
- The Meeting House on WLBF, WDYF and WSTF in Alabama, 11:30 AM CT. Listen live here.
After that, we might let him eat lunch.
