Bonus HCSM Myth: It’s too expensive for families

From the beginning of health care sharing ministries, objections to the approach have been raised that do not accurately reflect reality. To help clear up these misunderstandings, we’re running a series of posts that dispel those myths. This is the final entry.

Bonus myth: Health care sharing is too expensive for the average family.

The facts say that health insurance is too expensive for the average family.

According to a 2011 study by actuarial consulting firm Millman Inc. that was reported by the Associated Press, The cost of health insurance for a family of four without employer contribution is $19,393.

“The employee portion of costs paid for a family of four covered by the most common form of employer-sponsored health insurance will climb to a projected $8,008 this year from $3,634 in 2002. That amounts to an additional $84 a week from household budgets for health care.”

“Employer-sponsored” insurance can also be deceiving. It sounds like a bonus, since it is a tax-free benefit that your company is providing to you, but it’s really a tax break for them that also restricts your freedom of health care choices. If the company’s share of your health care costs were given to you in cash, tax-free or not, you could spend it as you see fit.

By contrast, a year’s worth of monthly shares ($320 as of May 2011) for the basic Samaritan Ministry membership for a family of four plus a year’s membership fee ($170 as of May 2011) would be $4,010, about one fifth of the out-of-pocket costs for health insurance and half of an employee’s share of premiums for health insurance provided by an employer.

That, of course, is for the basic ministry, which has a $250,000 per need cap, so factoring in the program for needs over $250,000, Save to Share, ($399 set-aside per year for family household and less for others) with no cap per incident, would add to that. It would still, however, be much less than the cost of health insurance, whether out-of-pocket or employer-provided.