Alternative to traditional health insurance

There is a lot of talk about Obamacare, healthcare, insurances, and such lately. Health insurance just puts a bad taste in my mouth, personally. After Nathan was in the hospital in Missouri for a week during our "vacation" and battling insurance for six months before anything was settled, I became really frustrated with the idea of "insurance". I know that some people have really good health insurance, so if you do, this is not for you. But if you are looking for an alternative to health insurance, here is one that I have recently joined...

Christian Healthcare Ministries -- www.chministries.org This organization is based on Galatians 6:2 (Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ) and Acts 2 and 4. Their mission statement is: The mission of Christian Healthcare Ministries is to glorify God, show Christian love, and experience God's presence as Christians share each other's medical bills.

Qualifications are simple:
 • be Christians living by biblical principles
• abstain from the use of tobacco and the illegal use of drugs (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
• follow biblical teaching on the use of alcohol
• attend group worship regularly if health permits (Hebrews 10:25)

And on a side note, everytime I had to call about a question, I was sent directly to someone who could help me, and they were friendly, helpful, and very personable. So, how it works (per person):

There are three levels in which you can choose from. 1) $150 a month -- $500 personal responsibility per unit, per year. Anything over $500 will be covered 100%. Of course, there are certain things, like annuals, that they will not cover, but if you are interested, you can find out for yourself. This plan does cover maternity, however. 2) $85 a month -- $1000 per unit per incident -- covers mainly major incidents 3) $45 a month -- $5000 per unit per incident -- covers mainly major incidents

Here is the cool part. You can go to ANY doctor, ANYWHERE. There is no one telling you which doctor or hospital to go to.

There is a pre-existing clause, meaning if you have a pre-existing condition, it will only be covered a certain percentage, the percentage growing after each year you are a participant. I think after 5 years, it is fully covered...I think...don't quote me. But here is another cool part about that. There is a monthly newsletter sent out, and inside of it, it shares all the pre-existing conditions and financial burders that members have (for example, heart surgery due to a heart condition previously had before joining CHM). They ask members to contribute (in addition to their monthly giving), if led to, to these members that need extra help. It's amazing to read how reductions, discounts, and donations make a difference in these bills! Many times, these people end up paying a few hundred on a surgery that cost thousands -- and this is not coming from CHM but directly from members paying over and beyond their monthly giving.

Another interesting thing is they have medical consultants that you can speak directly to that will give you advice about whatever you need as well as contact doctors/hospitals to get discounts and reductions that we could not do ourselves.

  I just gave out a lot of information but if anyone is interested and have questions, you can email me (rnea1982@yahoo.com) or look up the website yourself. If you happen to join, put my name in as a referral. It will help me out ;)

Also, another ministry that is similar and just as good is Samaritian Ministries -- http://samaritanministries.org/