We’re uninsured, but we pay our bills

A USA Today story reports that

Uninsured Americans — including those with incomes well above the poverty line — leave hospitals with unpaid tabs of up to $49 billion a year … On average, uninsured families can pay only about 12% of their hospital bills in full.

Well, Samaritan members, let’s be grateful that even though we are uninsured, we pay our bills!

Presenting information this way has the unfortunate result of classifying even health care sharing ministry members, who do not have health insurance, as being deadbeats. When stories like this come out, it’s not unusual for HCSMs to get slammed on blogs.

However, the fact is that Samaritan members are able to pay their bills thanks to God’s provision and our willingness to bear one another’s medical burdens financially each month.

Plus, as Ralph Weber of MediBid puts it:

These reported “losses” are based on chargemaster rates. When a hospital bills, they use a grossly exaggerated rate which no one takes seriously.

These “chargemaster rates” are also compared to the “rack rates” you’ll find on the back of your hotel room door, rates which nobody ever pays because hotels always discount their prices to competitive levels.

Another researcher offered this insight to the findings:

Jack Hadley, senior health services researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., pointed out that uninsured people are charged as much as two-thirds more than what insured people are charged because insurers are able to negotiate prices.

Bills for Samaritan members also are typically negotiated, either through a service like The Karis Group, or by themselves.