We'll waive the initial unshareable amount and any future prorated amount for Needs where a documented fair price was achieved!

The reward will only affect future proration. However, members have donated to help one another, so if you are struggling with a current prorated amount(s), please contact us to request proration assistance.

Healthcare Bluebook™ strives to keep information as current as possible. Please notify Healthcare Bluebook if you notice anything outdated. When possible, we encourage you to call the provider and verify a fair price before your procedure.

If you get a Fair Price™, you are still eligible to receive the fair-price reward by submitting documentation showing the amount was a Fair Price according to Healthcare Bluebook. If Healthcare Bluebook shows a certain provider offering a Fair Price for your procedure and then the provider over charges, it may still qualify for the fair-price reward if you submit documentation from Healthcare Bluebook displaying that the provider offers a Fair Price.

We understand there are still some areas where facilities do not offer fair prices according to Healthcare Bluebook™. Even when this is the case, there are steps you can take to work toward a better price, possibly earn the fair-price reward, and help contain members’ overall rising costs:

• Work directly with the facility to secure better pricing. Show the Fair Price listed in Healthcare Bluebook and see if they will give you the same or better price. Samaritan’s Provider Relations team can also help with this process—contact us for help.
• If possible, look outside of your immediate area to find fair prices.

No matter which facility you choose for treatment, if you can demonstrate the facility is giving you the Fair Price shown in Healthcare Bluebook, you may still qualify for the fair-price reward. Take a screenshot of the Fair Price as shown on Healthcare Bluebook and submit it together with your final bill (after discounts).

You are welcome to search other ZIP codes within your surrounding area to find a Fair Price™ facility for that service. When you submit a screenshot demonstrating you got a Fair Price at your chosen facility, you may still be eligible to receive the reward.

A “fair price” is a price that has a fair market value for a service. While asking for discounts is a good practice, providers should have a fair price to begin with. Once you find a provider that gives you a fair price, then you can ask for a discount to get the best price possible.

Thank you for asking for a discount! This is always a great idea to get costs down—please keep asking for discounts!

However, before you get that discount, we are asking you to first start with a fair price. Here’s why…

If your provider’s original charges are higher than a fair price for the services you receive, their discounted price might still be significantly higher than the fair price.

That is why Samaritan started offering the fair-price reward. If you use Healthcare Bluebook™ and find a fair price, the final cost of your medical service is often lower than it would be with a discount alone.

So…first find a provider who will give you a fair price, then see if they have a cash-pay discount.

If you get a fair price for your medical services, that means the dollar amount of the bills you submit to Samaritan will be lower. If members like you continue to work toward good stewardship by keeping medical costs down, that could mean lower Shares for both you and all other members in the future.

Each month in our newsletter, Samaritan Ministries presents a brief report called the "Classic/Basic Sharing Summary” that shows the dollar amount of bills received versus the dollar amount of Shares members send to one another. Sometimes the Shares are higher than the bills, and this results in a surplus. If there is a high enough surplus for a few months, Samaritan can lower the Share amounts for the next month!

Bluebook CareConnect™ is a service in which a Healthcare Bluebook™ team member helps you find high-quality providers, schedules your care, and transfers medical records in preparation for a procedure. This service is available to you free of charge as part of your Samaritan Ministries membership. Please call Healthcare Bluebook to see if your procedure qualifies for Bluebook CareConnect—they may be able to help you obtain the Samaritan fair-price reward. Go to Health Resources in your Dashboard. Healthcare Bluebook is the first option. Click Visit Website.

Below are two examples of what a screenshot for a certain procedure might look like. In this case, we searched for “tonsillectomy” (removal of tonsils).

Your screenshot must include one of the following sets of information.

Option 1 – Just the procedure

You can use this option if you cannot find a Fair Price™ facility (as listed in Healthcare Bluebook) in your area. However, if you can show that the facility you used gave you the Fair Price for your procedure as shown in Healthcare Bluebook, then you can still get the reward.

Include these in your screenshot:

• The ZIP code
• The name of the procedure
• The Fair Price for that procedure

or

Option 2 – The facility and the procedure

You can use this option if you received a Fair Price from a facility that’s listed in Healthcare Bluebook. Include these in your screenshot:

• The facility name, address, and phone number
• The procedure
• The Fair Price for that procedure

The fair-price reward will be applied to the Need within 10 business days; the Need will also become exempt from any future proration.

No, there are some restrictions. The fair-price reward is available only for shareable procedures, tests, and services listed on Healthcare Bluebook™.

Doctor’s visits, lab work, medical equipment, X-rays, and therapy are not eligible for the fair-price reward because the greatest cost savings are related to facility charges for medical procedures.

Emergency room charges are not eligible for the fair-price reward, though procedures that occur during an emergency visit could be eligible.

Please note you may receive only one reward per Need, even if you choose Fair Price™ facilities for several different bills on that Need.

No. Supplements and prescriptions are not eligible for the reward.

When you have an emergency your priority should be getting medical attention as soon as possible.

However, you can prepare for an emergency by using Healthcare Bluebook™ to compare hospitals based on price and quality in your area. That way you will already know which you might prefer to use in the event of an emergency.

If you undergo a qualified test, procedure, or service at a Fair Price™ facility as part of an emergency visit, you may receive a fair-price reward. But emergency room charges and emergency personnel professional charges will not qualify for the fair-price reward.

Absolutely! We encourage you to use Healthcare Bluebook™ as a resource to find a quality facility at a Fair Price™, regardless of whether you have a shareable Need or if the bill qualifies for the fair-price reward. Healthcare Bluebook has proven to be an excellent stewardship tool, whether it’s saving you money directly or helping the membership generally by keeping Share amounts as low as possible.

Yes, if the bill is shareable and you submit the fair-price documentation within one year of the bill's date of service, it is eligible for the fair-price reward.

Yes, your bill is still eligible for sharing as long as it meets the Guidelines.

In order to steward the Shares of fellow Christians, we encourage all members to attempt to find a fair price (or when not possible, to obtain discounts). We understand that there are times when it is not possible for you to receive the Fair Price™ listed in Healthcare Bluebook™.

We are committed to protecting you from unfair and unreasonable charges. We can help with managing the costs of your health care—if you need help with this, please contact us so that our Provider Relations team can help.

We are so thankful that members are engaging with their health care, as discounts help all of us steward the limited resources within our community. Every effort helps!

You can qualify for one reward per shareable medical Need.

If you have more than one fair-priced procedure on a specific Need, you qualify for only one fair-price reward for that Need.

However, if you are undergoing a qualifying fair-priced procedure, test, or service on more than one Need, you can receive a fair-price reward on each Need.

Yes, you can get a fair-price reward for your home birth or VBAC Need. Include with your bills a screenshot from Healthcare Bluebook™ showing the Fair Price™ for a local hospital birth to demonstrate your bills have a comparable or lower price.

Yes! We’d love to give you the fair-price reward, as long as the final invoice amount is within the Healthcare Bluebook™ Fair Price™ range.

Once you make the Medicare or insurance payments, the final invoice amount is what you would submit to Samaritan. Look up the procedure in Healthcare Bluebook. Take a screenshot of the Fair Price, then submit it along with your bills to Samaritan. If the final invoice amount you submit to Samaritan is a Fair Price according to your Healthcare Bluebook search, we will be very happy to give you the reward!

No. With no network restrictions, members in Samaritan Ministries have the freedom to choose the facility that’s best for them. Healthcare Bluebook is a tool Samaritan offers to help members find quality facilities at a fair price.