Samaritan families stand up for sharing in New Mexico

New Mexico’s insurance commissioner says health care sharing ministries (HCSMs) are illegal insurance and has forced other HCSMs to leave the state. Late last year, Samaritan Ministries filed a federal lawsuit to take the offensive and try to protect its members who reside in the Land of Enchantment from losing access to the ministry.

In a court document for that lawsuit, five couples who are Samaritan members and live in New Mexico provided statements explaining why banning HCSMs in the state would violate their religious freedom. These members also explained why Samaritan Ministries membership is valuable to them from a faith and community perspective.

The following are those families’ perspectives, as taken from a court document in the lawsuit.

Jay and Amy

Jay and Amy O’Neill live in Mesilla Park and run a small health care practice where Amy is a doctor of oriental medicine. Each month, they write and give directly to other members of Samaritan to help relieve their fellow members’ financial, emotional, and spiritual burdens associated with illness or accident.

The couple has submitted their own Needs on three occasions. One was an emergency cesarean section, and two were unexpected surgeries for two of their four children. All of their experiences were painful and stressful, but the financial, emotional, and spiritual support from Samaritan was “like a healing balm for our family,” they said.

“Our Samaritan membership is as essential to our free exercise of religion, and our spiritual well-being, as church membership,” they said in the court document. “In fact, Samaritan operates very much like a Christian church or fellowship that specializes in meeting needs of members facing accident or disease, and it does so in a way compatible with our Christian beliefs and morality. We could never join an insurance or health care program that supports activity that clearly violates Scripture.”

Samaritan does not share for abortion or other immoral practices.

“If state regulation ever required Samaritan to support such activities, it would destroy Samaritan or our role in it.”

Allan and Monette

Allan and Monette Bell of La Luz echo the sentiments of other Samaritan Ministries families from New Mexico.

“We would be frustrated if this ministry were shut down in New Mexico,” they said in the court document. "The very idea that the state might have this power is deeply troubling. It would deprive our family of a chosen form of Christian fellowship and worship. It would violate our right to religious freedom. And it would leave us with few, if any, alternatives.”

When the couple sends their monthly Share directly to another member, they include uplifting notes and prayers, writing the names of real people facing real health setbacks or crises.

“When we do this, we enter the lives of fellow members,” the Bells said. “They are burdened with sickness, fear, pain, and stress. And all that is made worse by the mindboggling and wildly expensive health care system, and all that was made worse in recent years due to COVID-19. All such burdens can make members sicker or slower to recover. These burdens affect their whole family. These burdens can cause them or their loved ones to doubt their faith or the goodness of God. We help them carry these burdens, which are spiritual and emotional as much as financial. These people are our brothers and sisters in need. They are our fellow sharers in the faith-filled community called Samaritan. We are blessed by blessing them.”

The Bells have been blessed by help from Samaritan members as well. When Allan suffered a broken knee in 2020, the couple went through difficult times filled with stress and limited access to health care as it was during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The whole knee experience was painful and expensive and unnerving, but we were blessed both through Samaritan and the medical center,” they said.

The Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center wrote off many of the bills and the remaining balance was submitted to Samaritan. All bills were shared.

“The personal checks, notes, and prayer for Allan and our family were a spiritual investment in our family,” Monette said. “It was very encouraging during a difficult time.”

Andrew and Heather

Andrew and Heather Heath of Roswell also know about trying times. Heather had four difficult pregnancies, two of which resulted in miscarriages, and their son, Isaac, endured appendicitis. Samaritan members helped carry these burdens with them.

“These were very trying times, but Samaritan was there for us, sharing our financial and emotional burdens,” said Andrew, a pastor in Roswell. “Members sent Heather gifts and gift cards for our babies. One woman who had experienced miscarriage sent Heather a book on healing the wounds that result from miscarriage.”

The couple says that participating in HCSMs is “a classic exercise of religion.” It fulfills the commands of Scripture in that:

The communal activity is a powerful form of worship that is pleasing to God,

The essential caretaking activity of members is an exercise of their faith in God and His providence rather than the promises of men or guarantees of government,

And Samaritan is a uniquely Christian ministry providing health care consistently with Scriptural morality.

“We and our fellow members cannot in good conscience participate in or support health insurance or health care programs that compel or provide coverage or procedures for abortion, sex-reassignment, and other procedures contrary to Scripture,” they said.

The Heaths said they would be deeply disappointed if Samaritan were shut down in New Mexico or made unavailable to them.

“If the state were the cause of Samaritan’s demise in New Mexico, we would be severely distressed,” they said in the court document. “Any such action by the state would contradict the very purpose of the state—which is to ‘secure’ and protect our God-given rights to the free exercise of religion and free expression guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions. Any such state action would add insult to injury and be profoundly offensive.”

Nathan and Rebekah

Nathan and Rebekah Bienhoff live in Roswell. In 2023, they submitted “great Needs, on every level” to Samaritan for sharing.

Nathan, a pastor, suffered sepsis three times because of a perforated colon and extreme diverticulitis. He was in and out of the emergency room and hospitalized several times, ultimately needing surgery to remove two-thirds of his colon. When this crisis began, the couple contacted Samaritan about the sharing process. A Samaritan staff member called Nathan back as he was pulling into a gas station.

“As Nate pumped gas, and after he finished, (the member advocate) explained how the sharing system worked. She didn’t promise or guarantee anything from anyone, but reaffirmed our common belief in God’s providence,” Rebekah said. “Nate was relieved by her clear and friendly explanations, but he was stunned with emotion when she asked him near the end of their call if they could pray together.”

Nathan wept, overwhelmed with the recognition that he and his sister-in-Christ from Samaritan together serve a faithful God who uses His people to meet each other’s needs.

Rebekah’s own crisis occurred in October 2023 after she had a hysterectomy. Almost worried sick by Nathan’s health scare and the possibility of losing him, her hysterectomy ruptured and caused a hernia from the physical strain when she was caring for him.

“It was a case of the sick caring for the sick,” they said in their statement. “It might have been comical if we hadn’t been so miserable. But God saw us through, using our Christian brothers and sisters at Samaritan. All our medical bills were taken care of. Members shared their emotional and spiritual support with us.”

Zachary and Rachel

Zachary and Rachel Cordel of Clovis have been Samaritan members for over 10 years and believe in its model of sharing health burdens with fellow believers in a like-minded Christian community.

“There is a good reason why Samaritan is called a ministry,” the Cordels said in the document. “Unlike any insurance, Samaritan requires its members to rely on their faith in God and their fellow members to contribute to needs as they arise, since Samaritan never guarantees any reimbursement. Samaritan also is unlike any insurance in how Samaritan involves giving as much as receiving.”

The couple has three children and joyfully experiences the giving side of Samaritan each month by sending their assigned Share to fellow Samaritan members. They always include notes of encouragement and pray for the members, giving them a sense of connection to the other believers they haven’t met.

“We feel our participation is a direct line into their lives, to support them materially and spiritually, just as much as if they were members of our church or discipleship group or Bible study,” they said.

The family has also been grateful to be on the receiving end of Shares. With Zachary and Rachel’s firstborn, Eliot, they decided to have a home birth with the assistance of a midwife. Samaritan provided through its members for the financial and spiritual needs of the birth. Members also sent the family notes of spiritual encouragement and prayers. In addition, the family received baby gifts and gift cards from members.

Another medical need arose for the Cordels when Eliot had a frightening episode of labored breathing and was unable to get enough air. After a visit to a local emergency room, he was diagnosed and required ongoing treatment. Samaritan members have shared the burden of that Need throughout treatment.

“We believe in the power of prayer,” the Cordels said. “Praying for and receiving prayer from others facilitates healing through encouragement, but it does much more. The God in whom we trust, and to whom we pray, hears those prayers and acts on them. There is a saying that prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of God. The healing power of prayer is unlimited.”

For this family and many others, not being able to be part of the Samaritan community would be a huge loss.

“It would feel like losing a family member or our fellowship,” the Cordels said. “It would be like showing up at our longtime church one Sunday morning to find the doors barred and a notice posted that the state has shut it down.”