Christian healthcare ripoff

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It seems that there are allegedly Christian groups out there who are setting up cooperative health care systems that, when it comes down to it, are ripping off their people. These outfits are not insurance, so they escape regulation. They charge a monthly fee but pay little and tell their folks to just "trust God."

 

Here are a couple of quotes from the story:

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“Just trust God,” the nonprofit group, Samaritan Ministries, in Peoria, Ill., said in a statement about its coverage, and advises its members that “there is no coverage, no guarantee of payment.”

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These Christian nonprofit groups offer far lower rates because they are not classified as insurance and are under no legal obligation to pay medical claims. They generally decline to cover people with pre-existing illnesses. They can set limits on how much their members will pay, and they can legally refuse to cover treatments for specialties like mental health.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” said Dr. Carolyn McClanahan, a physician who is also a financial planner in Jacksonville, Fla. “You have to depend on the largess of the program.”

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The story cites one case where a family paid over $500 per month into the program but was left with over $100 thousand in bills after an emergency. There are more examples in the story, which is here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/health/christian-health-care-insurance.html?searchResultPosition=1

[★ Citsonga ★]

Yeah, I've been hearing some about this. It's quite pathetic how they're ripping people off, knowing damn well that people trust them more because of supposedly being godly organizations. 

 

I've always had access to medical insurance through work, so I've never dealt with that sort of program on the medical side of things, but I did have auto and home "insurance" plans for a couple years through a religious organization like those. Thankfully, I never had to submit any claims, but after seeing this stuff I'm glad they never had a chance to screw us over (I'm not saying they definitely would have, but it's obviously a possibility).