Chris and Mercy King: Why SMI?

Chris and Mercy King didn’t wait until he left the military to share health care burdens with fellow Christians.

“We were dual-enrolled for a while in both Samaritan and military health insurance,” Chris says.

The Kings joined Samaritan Ministries in 2010, before dropping military health insurance.

“I wanted to go ahead and get on board with Samaritan,” he says. “We had known about it, heard about it, for a couple years prior.”

Chris encourages people who are in one plan but planning to switch to health care sharing to do the same: Don’t wait, share now.

“Looking back, I probably should have signed up even sooner, especially now seeing how it works,” he says. “I would have, if possible, just used Samaritan apart from the military program because it functions so much better. It’s a much better network of folks to share our burdens with instead of simply just looking at it as a monetary thing. There’s obviously the need for prayer and being able to share with one another, not just the financial aspect.”

Sharing through Samaritan has worked “just great” for the Kings, both for the birth of their daughter Rebekah and for emergency surgery for Mercy’s ectopic pregnancy late last year. One of Mercy’s tubes had ruptured, and the Kings lost the child.

“Having our needs met through Samaritan was a very painless process,” he says. “Folks came alongside us.”

Health care sharing plays an important role in discipleship and living out the Christian life, Chris says.

“It helps in the sense of being faithful to our calling,” he says.