Recently, I hinted at some medical difficulties I had been having. I was (and still am to a lesser extent) experiencing a rapid heartbeat, heart palpitations, numbness, lightheadedness, and chest pains. My wife talked me into going to the doctor just after Christmas, and so I went. I was immediately sent to a cardiologist, and had several tests scheduled. Long story short, thankfully, blessedly, my heart looks just fine. My cardiologist indicated it couldn’t look any better. But, we still have no clue what’s causing my problems.
Now, with all of this taking place so close to the end of the year, you know what that means for insurance costs. Though my initial visit took place in December, the testing (read: expensive part) didn’t take place until January. I have insurance through the Southern Baptist Convention, so no worries on a “pre-existing conditions,” but we had just decided to change our deductible from $0 to $3000.
Ouch.
Over the preceding months, we had been looking into Samaritan Ministries for my wife and kids, as well as a supplement for me. My own health history is such that we feel the need to continue with my highly-overpriced but relatively fantastic health coverage. I read about Samaritan over on Shaun Groves’ Shlog, and we though it might be what we were looking for.
Again, to make a long story as short as I can, we knew the cardiologist’s testing would not be covered because of our new $3000 deductible. We had sent our application to Samaritan before any of this current medical stuff started happening, but our account did not “officially” begin until after my initial visit. So, when we received the bill, we figured we would have to pay it all.
In a “you have not because you ask not” moment, my wife decided to plea to Samaritan Ministries, and ask that since we had sent in, and they had received our application before my initial doctor’s visit on this issue, could this be covered under our account with them.
Samaritan responded yesterday, and informed us that they would in fact honor their receipt of our application previous to the event, as long as we were willing to pay the monthly share for December as well.
Woohoo! Deal!
So, all told, our out of pocket will be less than $600, and all further investigation into this medical mystery will continue to be covered in the future.
I suggest that all of you in ministry, or if you are just a Christ-follower looking for something better, check out Samaritan Ministries.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
