I haven’t finished reading this, but I remember when I first signed up with Samaritan Ministries that I saw references to other options, including Christian Brotherhood Newsletter.
This article traces the fraud behind that ministry and its collapse and the rebuilding by the same family of another fraudulent healthcare cost sharing ministry.
It’s a real shame that these people weren’t held accountable, and it’s a scary thought that this could lead to legislation swinging toward shutting down faithful ministries like Samaritan.
Likewise concerned. Samaritan has been excellent for our family. We enjoy financially helping, praying for and communicating with the families we support, too.
At least three fraudulent ministries have been exposed in the last year, MCS, Sharity and Liberty. I believe Liberty is the only one still running since they settled that huge lawsuit a year ago. I believe they’re all still in the lobbying association Samaritan and Medishare founded to protect legitimate ministries.
I may have misspoken. They only stated that Liberty is one of the groups that is recognized by the federal government:
There are at least nine large ministries that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) has recognized as meeting these requirements. These include Altrua HealthShare, Christian Healthcare Ministries, Christian Mutual Med-Aid, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share (Christian Care Ministry), OneShare Health, Samaritan Ministries, Solidarity HealthShare and United Refuah HealthShare.
I’d still be scrubbing Liberty from that list…
They “work with 7 of the 9 HCSMs that have large, nationwide and open membership” but don’t specify which aren’t involved.
There is a separate organization that provides accreditation and has only managed to certify Samaritan and Medishare so far. I would be surprised if many more ever qualify unless total membership grows significantly.