10/8/14
Dear family, and friends, and all others concerned,
Greetings on this glorious day that the Lord has made! I hope that you and the loved ones are in good health and are getting along. Good health is such a wonderful blessing from the good Lord, our Creator Lord! How is your spirit on this glorious day? Please remember that we humans are more than flesh and blood. Please remember that we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in His image, for HIS glory! Let's call on our Creator Lord, our wonderful, faithful, perfect Creator Lord and ask for His help at this time, and in the future! Let's try to repeal, or change all the problems with, the new Health Care Law. It's a shame that many don't know what's in the new law (it's over 1,000 pages long!), and it's also a shame that people don't want to change, or do away with, all the problems in the new law (and to say that there aren't any problems in the new law is like saying that there aren't any problems here in the United States!).
Government shouldn't ration health care. Also, government shouldn't be allowed to pay for abortions. Rationing health care is not protecting life. Rationing health care is not supporting life! Also, abortion is the destruction of life - life given as a gift from the Lord, our Creator Lord! The Holy Scriptures tell us about our Creator Lord, and how we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in His image, and how we should value life, and how we should protect and support life, and how our Creator Lord loves us so much that He sent His only Begotten Son Jesus into this world to shed His blood and to die on the cross for us sinners, so that we might have eternal life! The Holy Scriptures are pure, perfect, powerful, profitable for doctrine and teaching, and cannot be broken! Our Creator Lord is faithful! Our Creator Lord is true! Our Creator Lord cannot lie! He can be taken at His Word!!! Jesus is the Word of God! Our Creator Lord is good! Our Creator Lord is good all the time!!! Our Creator Lord is love! Love always hopes. Love always protects. Love always perseveres. Love does not delight in evil. Love rejoices with the truth. Love is the commandment from the beginning.
Any Health Care Law should protect life, support life, and should further the healing of human life and do no harm to human life, and should not force anyone to dishonor the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We humans are created by our Creator Lord, in His image, for His glory! We humans are more than flesh and blood! Any such Health Care Law should be discussed by, supported and agreed upon by, independents, republicans, and democrats alike and should be presented to the public before voted upon Congress and signed by the President of the United States. Any Health Care Law should show the public that all those involved with the writing of the Health Care Law value human life - life made in the image of our Creator -life given as a gift of the Lord.
The House of Representatives voted to repeal the new Health Care Law, and the Senate has not chose the right path at this time (perhaps in the future they might!). Please help to repeal, or change all the problems with, the new Health Care Law!
Thank you very much for all your help! Hope that you and the loved ones have a joyous and peaceful day. Please remember to pray for our leaders, and the leaders of the world! Hope that you call on our Creator Lord for help at this time, and may the good Lord, our Creator Lord, bless you and the loved ones with love, joy, peace, and patience, and with the wisdom and understanding needed to help to repeal, or change all the problems with, the new Health Care Law! !
In hope, peace, and love,
Ken Miller
Main St. Rm. 103
still one of the working poor - if only in spirit!
We love, because He first loved us.
God is love.
Jesus is the Holy One of Israel! Jesus is the Living Water!!!! Jesus is our Rock!!!
With God, all things are possible!
All glory, honor, praise , and thanks be to our Creator Lord - maker of heaven and earth - Messiah and King!!!!
How about justice for the unborn children??? Let's seek justice for the unborn children - the preborn children !!!!
Let's call on our loving, gracious, merciful Creator Lord's help, and help to repeal, or change all the problems with, the new Health Care Law!!!
The Holy Scriptures tell us about our Creator Lord, and how we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in HIS image, for HIS glory, and how we should worship our Creator Lord and HIS Beloved Son Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and how we should value life, and how we should protect and support human life, and how our Creator Lord loves us that HE sent HIS only Begotten Son Jesus into this World to shed HIS blood and to die on a cross for us sinners, so that we might have eternal life! The Holy Scriptures are pure, perfect, powerful, profitable for doctrine and teaching, and cannot be broken! Our Creator Lord is faithful! Our Creator Lord is true! Our Creator Lord cannot lie! Our Creator Lord can be taken at HIS Word! Jesus is the Word of God! Our Creator Lord is good! Our Creator Lord is good all the time! Our Creator Lord is LOVE!
10/8/14
Dear
family and friends, and all others concerned with justice,
Greetings
on this glorious day that our Lord has made. I hope that you and the
loved ones are in good health. Good health is such a wonderful
blessing from the good Lord, our Creator Lord! How is your spirit
on this glorious day? Please remember that we humans are more than flesh
and blood. Also, please remember that we humans are created by our Creator
Lord, in His image, with inalienable rights! I am very thankful to our
loving, gracious, merciful Creator Lord for being able to get out of bed, and
for this opportunity to write to you. Please let me know why women aren't
being told about the link between abortion and breast cancer? It seems
that there is a concerted effort to keep information - valuable information -
away from women. Please contact The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer,
P.O. Box 957133, Hoffman Estates, IL. 60195-3051, or call toll free @
877-803-0102, or e-mail them @ response@abortionbreastcancer.com,
or contact them on the web @ www.abortionbreastcancer.com.
Thank
you very much for all your help. Hope that you and the loved ones have a
joyous and peaceful day. May the good Lord, our Creator Lord, our
loving, gracious, merciful Father bless you and the loved ones with love, joy,
peace, and patience!
Sincerely,
Ken
Miller
Main
St. Rm. 103
kmillerbloggerablogbyken@gmail.com
kmillerbloggerablogbyken@gmail.com
still
one of the working poor - if only in spirit!
Love
one another.
Jesus
is Lord! Jesus is the Light of the world!!!
Jesus
is the Living Water!!! Jesus is the Bead of Life!!! Jesus is our
Rock!!!
Love
is the fulfilling of the Law.
Jesus
is the Holy One of Israel!
All
glory, honor, praise, and thanks be to our Creator Lord - maker of heaven and
earth - Messiah and King!!!!
How
about justice for the unborn children??? Let's seek justice for the
unborn children - the preborn children!!!
With
God, nothing is impossible!!!
Our
Creator Lord is faithful!
Our
Creator Lord can be taken at His Word!
Jesus
is the Word of God!
Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:
and they shall be one flesh. Gen. 2:24
Jesus
is our Rock!!!
Jesus is our Righteousness!!!
Jesus
is the Holy One of Israel!!!
Jesus
is our Refuge!!!
Jesus
is our Hiding Place!!!
10/8/14
Below is an article from LifeandHope Quarterly Update, April - June 2014.
To find out more about the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network write them at
P.O. Box 521, Narberth, PA 19072, or phone them at 855-300-HOPE (4673), or
email them at info@lifeandhope.com, or visit them at lifeandhope.com. No
financial gain, nor any other gain, was received for posting this article, nor
were there any promises of any future gain given - the article is being posted
to advance the Gospel of Peace - the GOOD NEWS.
Ignore
the Advancing Euthanasia Culture at Your Peril, Your Loved Ones May be Starved
to Death
By Bobby Schindler / Washington, DC /
LifeNews.com / June 11, 2014
I wonder if we are paying attention
to some of the more recent stories that have been reported in regards to
euthanasia and assisted suicide. Arguably, the most troubling of them
have been reported overseas, however things here in our country are getting
worse, as well.
Just within the past few months we have seen Israel trying to approve assisted suicide, while Quebec has already pushed it through. In Switzerland where assisted suicide is permitted, the Swiss went one step further by officially approving assisted suicide on the grounds of "old age". In Belgium, physicians are averaging the killing of five patients per day by aiding in their deaths.
Not to mention how these Belgian docs are giving themselves the "ok" to kill ICU patients. And let's not forget the children. The Belgian Parliament, in an 86-44 vote, did the unthinkable by legalizing euthanasia for children with disabilities. But it's not just Belgium targeting children; it was reported that British doctors were killing terminally sick children by secretly giving them deadly overdoses.
Back home, it was reported that
last year there were more than 100 physician aided deaths in the state of
Washington, where physician assisted suicide has been legal for years. In
New Jersey, an assisted suicide bill has just been approved by the NJ Assembly
committee. A New York Times story reported that cost of of
treatment is now having an influence on doctors and the care they give to
patients. Then, there was the story out of Massachusetts General and how
their ethics committees were imposing unilateral DNR's on patients.
Finally, according to Wesley J. Smith, a leading voice on medical ethics and the euthanasia issue, bioethicists are suggesting that nursing homes and hospitals should be "legally required to starve patients who can eat and drink, if they have serious dementia and have ordered their starvation deaths in an advance medical directive." This is referred to as VSED, an acronym for "voluntary stopping eating and drinking" and according to Smith is, "the latest craze among the 'death with dignity' crowd."
Again, this is what is happening in just the past few months! Talk about the Slippery Slope!
Indeed, these are stories that mostly concern assisted suicide, and they should cause deep concern for every single one of us. However, the sad truth, and one that rarely gets mentioned, is the countless number of medically vulnerable being killed every day in health care facilities by having their basic care, food and water (via feeding tube), deliberately removed. Certainly, it is safe to say that most Americans are aware that it was the 1972 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling decriminalizing abortion that paved the way for abortion on demand in our nation throughout a woman's pregnancy.
Most Americans are unaware, however, that it was a 1990 Supreme
Court decision, Cruzon v. Director, Missouri Department of Health that
in effect redefined food and water (via feeding tube) from basic and ordinary
care to what is now defined as "medical treatment". Similar to
the Roe decision, this ruling changed our nation in a profound way,
opening the flood gates for the removal of food and hydration from an untold
number of medically vulnerable patients. Unlike Roe, this decision
received no real attention and therefore the general public would have no way
of knowing its implications (and consequences), or how many vulnerable persons
would subsequently be placed in the cross hairs of an aggressive euthanasia
movement.
It is impossible to know how many patients are being purposely starved and dehydrated every day in our nation - we have no way of collecting the data. Indeed, I sometimes still wonder why my sister, Terri Schiavo, received all of the national and international attention, because long before Terri's case, patients were having their food and hydration removed for the purpose of killing them. If we did this to an animal, incidentally, we'd go to prison.
If you take a look at the tens of thousands of health care facilities (hospitals, nursing homes, hospices) that are operating in our country, and combine that with how widely accepted (and legal) it is to starve and dehydrate a person, you begin to get a sense of the potential magnitude of people being killed in one of the most inhumane ways possible. Not even taking into consideration the effects of Obamacare and how they are targeting these same classes of people.
It is no coincidence that we are getting an increase in the number of calls at Terri's Life and Hope Network form families who are facing pressure from health care professionals not wanting to treat or administer basic medical care to their loved ones.
The sad fact is the people and organizations behind the culture of death will not stop advancing their agenda in the most aggressive and devious ways possible. And when you combine the current climate of our culture, the government taking over our health care system, and no real organized effort or system in place to fight for the protection of our elderly, disabled, chronically sick and countless others, the number of our medically vulnerable who will be killed will increase, and I believe, increase exponentially.
end of article ....... but not the end of the struggle
Let's call on our loving, gracious,
merciful Creator Lord's help, and help to end euthanasia and assisted suicide
today my friends.
10/8/14
Abhor evil, cling to what is good.
Love
always hopes.
How is our Health Care System? How can we improve it?
Below
is an article about a travesty of justice - here in the United States!! How did
this happen - what can we do to stop it from happening again?
The
following is an article from life and hope, a publication of the Terri Schiavo
Life and Hope Network, volume 6 / 1st Edition / www.lifeandhope.com, pg. 8.
Nine Years Ago My Sister
Terri
Schiavo was Dehydrated
and Starved to Death
As Our Health Care System Continues to Worsen
by
Bobby Schindler / Washington DC / LifeNews.com
/ March 20, 2014
It
was nine years ago, March 18, 2005, that the feeding tube of my sister
Terri Schiavo was removed by order of Pinellas County Florida Court
Judge, George W.
Greer. It was by Greer's order that Terri would slowly die by way of
starvation and dehydration. It took almost two weeks.
Since Terri's horrific death, the non-profit organization established by my
family, the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, works every day doing what we
can to educate the public, raises the desperately needed awareness on this
widely misunderstood issue of euthanasia, and more importantly, helps families
that contact us. The vast majority of families who do reach out to us are
faced with situations where their loved ones are in jeopardy of having their
life sustaining treatment denied.
What has become painfully obvious is that it seems like almost every day, more
examples of families' medical rights are being denied when it comes to
decisions they are making for their loved ones.
Indeed, we receive calls similar to what our family experienced - a domestic dispute over the care of a family member. However, more and more, we are getting calls from people who are fighting physicians, ethic committees, or health care facilities where their loved ones are being treated.
Indeed, we receive calls similar to what our family experienced - a domestic dispute over the care of a family member. However, more and more, we are getting calls from people who are fighting physicians, ethic committees, or health care facilities where their loved ones are being treated.
It can go as far as, if you can believe it, families having their
loved ones stripped away from their care by the hospital, losing complete
custody.
When this does happen, there appears to be a certain pattern that begins the process.
When this does happen, there appears to be a certain pattern that begins the process.
First, the hospital physicians, nurses or even the staff will
create or exaggerate a situation involving the family, most times without any
real evidence, or they will fault the parents or loved one who is the caregiver
with some type of mishap with the patient.
Often times what follows is the family member(s) who were making medical treatment decisions are vilified, or accused of being the problem. This gives the hospital a reason to intervene and subsequently take action to deem the family incompetent as the caretaker.
Often times what follows is the family member(s) who were making medical treatment decisions are vilified, or accused of being the problem. This gives the hospital a reason to intervene and subsequently take action to deem the family incompetent as the caretaker.
The hospital can then go as far as restricting visitation rights,
or completely stopping any family member from visiting their loved one,
claiming that they are a "threat" to the care of the patient.
The hospital can then go to court in order to gain control of the patient by requesting that a guardian be appointed or even the hospital itself, in place of the family members who were caring for their loved one.
The hospital can then go to court in order to gain control of the patient by requesting that a guardian be appointed or even the hospital itself, in place of the family members who were caring for their loved one.
The family who was once in the position of taking care of their
loved one is now on the outside looking in - having no legal rights or any ability
to help or even visit them.
If you think this cannot happen, then you haven't heard of three cases currently taking place where the family has been removed as the care givers of their child and / or spouse. The cases of Justina Pelletier in Massachusetts, Bret Bohnin in Alaska, and the Gary Harvey case in New York. All you need to do is look them up.
If you think this cannot happen, then you haven't heard of three cases currently taking place where the family has been removed as the care givers of their child and / or spouse. The cases of Justina Pelletier in Massachusetts, Bret Bohnin in Alaska, and the Gary Harvey case in New York. All you need to do is look them up.
In each situation, the facility contends that these patients were
not being properly cared for by their family member and as a result, the patients
were removed from their custody. Although these cases have their
differences, there is one common denominator. Despite the reasons
specified, it appears that in each instance proper care was being given.
And in all of these situations, the care of their loved one has been put in the
hands of strangers.
There have been countless warning signs with the state of our
health care system and its perilous direction when it comes to caring for those
who are unable to speak for themselves. Perhaps much of it started with
the death of my sister, Terri.
It is because of this that over the next two weeks, Terri's Life and Hope Network website will post stories of the events that occurred on each of those horrific days of Terri's inhumane death. Not only to remember Terri, but also to keep in mind the countless people who, as we speak, are suffering slow, agonizing deaths in hospices, nursing homes, and hospitals in America and around the world.
Every one of us needs to understand that no longer are we the ones who will be making medical decisions for our loved ones if we ever find ourselves in a situation where a hospital decides it knows better.
It is because of this that over the next two weeks, Terri's Life and Hope Network website will post stories of the events that occurred on each of those horrific days of Terri's inhumane death. Not only to remember Terri, but also to keep in mind the countless people who, as we speak, are suffering slow, agonizing deaths in hospices, nursing homes, and hospitals in America and around the world.
Every one of us needs to understand that no longer are we the ones who will be making medical decisions for our loved ones if we ever find ourselves in a situation where a hospital decides it knows better.
end
of article .........
Bobby
Schindler is the brother of the late
Terri
Schiavo, and the Executive Director
of
the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network,
at
www.lifeandhope.com
Find out more about Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network @ www.lifeandhope.com
, or write them at P.O. Box 521, Narberth, PA 19072, or phone them
at 855-300-HOPE (4673).
New
note (added info. Not from the article):
Any Health Care Law should protect life, support life, and should further the
healing of human life and do no harm to human life, and should not force anyone
to dishonor the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We humans are created
by our Creator Lord, in His image, for His glory! We humans are more than
flesh and blood! Any such Health Care Law should be discussed by,
supported and agreed upon by, independents, republicans, and democrats alike
and should be presented to the public before voted upon Congress and
signed by the President of the United States. Any Health Care Law should
show the public that all those involved with the writing of the Health Care Law
value human life - life made in the image of our Creator -life given as a gift
of the Lord.
Let's call on our loving, gracious, merciful Creator Lord's
help, and help to repeal, or change all the problems with, the new Health Care
Law!!!
The Holy Scriptures tell us about our Creator Lord, and how we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in HIS image, for HIS glory, and how we should worship our Creator Lord and HIS Beloved Son Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and how we should value life, and how we should protect and support human life, and how our Creator Lord loves us that HE sent HIS only Begotten Son Jesus into this World to shed HIS blood and to die on a cross for us sinners, so that we might have eternal life! The Holy Scriptures are pure, perfect, powerful, profitable for doctrine and teaching, and cannot be broken! Our Creator Lord is faithful! Our Creator Lord is true! Our Creator Lord cannot lie! Our Creator Lord can be taken at HIS Word! Jesus is the Word of God! Our Creator Lord is good! Our Creator Lord is good all the time! Our Creator Lord is LOVE!
The Holy Scriptures tell us about our Creator Lord, and how we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in HIS image, for HIS glory, and how we should worship our Creator Lord and HIS Beloved Son Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and how we should value life, and how we should protect and support human life, and how our Creator Lord loves us that HE sent HIS only Begotten Son Jesus into this World to shed HIS blood and to die on a cross for us sinners, so that we might have eternal life! The Holy Scriptures are pure, perfect, powerful, profitable for doctrine and teaching, and cannot be broken! Our Creator Lord is faithful! Our Creator Lord is true! Our Creator Lord cannot lie! Our Creator Lord can be taken at HIS Word! Jesus is the Word of God! Our Creator Lord is good! Our Creator Lord is good all the time! Our Creator Lord is LOVE!
10/8/14
The
following is an article from life and hope, a publication from the Terri
Schiavo Life and Hope Network, volume 6 / 1st Edition / www.lifeandhope.com
Recent Case ...
Recently
the Life and Hope Network received a call from a young man in his 20s. His
fiancee experienced an asthma attack and went into cardiac arrest two weeks
prior to him contacting us. Physicians initially diagnosed her as brain
dead and she needed a ventilator to help with her breathing. According to
the young man, physicians re-diagnosed her after she began to show signs of
improvement.
Despite this, her parents asked
physicians to remove her from the ventilator, with the understanding it would
lead to their daughter's death.
The physicians were wrong.
When her ventilator was removed, she began to breathe on her own and at that
point, was only being sustained by food and water (via feeding tube).
According to her fiancee there were times when she was attempting to
communicate.
In spite of the signs of progress
this young woman appeared to be making, and the desperate pleas from her
fiancee, her parents made the decision to remove their daughter's feeding tube
and she was subsequently administered morphine and Ativan.
We received a message just
recently, letting us know that this young woman had died. Just one more
example of how euthanasia is being practiced every day.
end
of article ...........
This
is sad and tragic and is occurring in the United States, and throughout the
world!
Below
is an article published in life and hope, a publication of the Terri Sciavo
Life and Hope Network volume 6 / 1st Edition / www.lifeandhope.com. This
is posted for no monetary gain, or any other kind of gain, and for no promise
of any kind of gain.
Unilateral
Non-Resuscitation at Massachusetts General
By
Wesley J. Smith
National
Review Online / 05/12/14
Can this have something to do with Romney/Obamacare?
According
to a medical study, since 2006, Massachusetts General Hospital's Bioethics
Committee has forced people to not receive wanted resuscitation by imposing
unilateral DNRs. And apparently, it's all done in Star Chamber
secrecy. From Thaddeus Pope's blog (quoting from a medical symposium
presentation).
"Unilateral Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) orders are a specific type of medical futility decision in which clinicians withhold advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the event of cardiopulmonary arrest despite objections of patients or their surrogates. There is little information on how often and to whom unilateral DNR orders are applied. The ethics committee at Massachusetts General Hospital has had a unilateral DNR policy since 2006.
We investigated the incidence, sociodemographic and clinical predictors, and outcomes of patients with unilateral DNR orders.
If I read this correctly,
thirty-eight percent of those upon whom the unilateral DNRs appear not to have
been at the end stage of a terminal disease:
Patients for whom unilateral DNR was recommended were more likely to have conditions judged to be endstage rather than potentially reversible (62% versus 41 %, p=0.05)"
And who can be surprised that
non-whites were more likely to have an involuntary DNR imposed?
This is medical tyranny. People are refused potentially life-saving treatment based on the secret views of strangers in committee who have given themselves the power to so dictate. Litigate!
end
of article ...................................
(WAS) Upcoming Event ...
October 8, Philadelphia, PA
Please check our website for all upcoming events!
www.lifeandhope.com
The Holy Scriptures tell us about our Creator Lord, and how we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in HIS image, for HIS glory, and how we should worship our Creator Lord and HIS Beloved Son Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and how we should value life, and how we should protect and support human life, and how our Creator Lord loves us that HE sent HIS only Begotten Son Jesus into this World to shed HIS blood and to die on a cross for us sinners, so that we might have eternal life! The Holy Scriptures are pure, perfect, powerful, profitable for doctrine and teaching, and cannot be broken! Our Creator Lord is faithful! Our Creator Lord is true! Our Creator Lord cannot lie! Our Creator Lord can be taken at HIS Word! Jesus is the Word of God! Our Creator Lord is good! Our Creator Lord is good all the time! Our Creator Lord is LOVE!
The Holy Scriptures tell us about our Creator Lord, and how we humans are created by our Creator Lord, in HIS image, for HIS glory, and how we should worship our Creator Lord and HIS Beloved Son Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and body, and how we should value life, and how we should protect and support human life, and how our Creator Lord loves us that HE sent HIS only Begotten Son Jesus into this World to shed HIS blood and to die on a cross for us sinners, so that we might have eternal life! The Holy Scriptures are pure, perfect, powerful, profitable for doctrine and teaching, and cannot be broken! Our Creator Lord is faithful! Our Creator Lord is true! Our Creator Lord cannot lie! Our Creator Lord can be taken at HIS Word! Jesus is the Word of God! Our Creator Lord is good! Our Creator Lord is good all the time! Our Creator Lord is LOVE!
10/8/14
Paying
Their Share
by Connie Marshner
and Karla Dial
When
Congress was debating the health care overhaul now colloquially known as
Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi famously told her colleagues in the House of
Representatives that "we have to pass the bill to find out what's in
it." Since the bill became law in 2010, revelations about what's in
it have emerged a little at a time. But when a pivotal clause requiring
everyone nationwide to purchase individual health insurance plans took effect
last October, the American public began to feel its effects for real - and they
were shocked. The president's promise that "if you like your
insurance, you can keep it" turned out to be hollow. More than five
million people have had their health insurance policies cancelled since Oct. 1
because they didn't include the top-of-the-line, soup-to-nuts coverage that
Obamacare demands.
And even worse: The time to find a new policy, or buy one for the first time,
runs out on March 31. After that, they're subject to a series of
escalating annual fines.
What about everyone else? They've got plenty of pain too: "Our
premiums were going to go up by 21 percent." "My employer cut
me to part-time hours and took away my benefits." "I don't want
to subsidize abortion, but my insurance company makes me."
But as bad news continues to worry families and empty wallets, a growing number
of people are finding a welcome respite in the form of health-care sharing
ministries (HCSMs). Instead of buying insurance, each participating family
contributes a set monthly amount to help others pay their bills, and receives
help from others when they have medical need.
There are three such national Christian ministries: Christian
Healthcare Ministries (CHM), established in Ohio in 1981; Medi-Shares,
headquartered in Florida since 1993; and Samaritan Ministries, established in
Illinois in 1994. Since Oct. 1, their membership applications have
tripled - and for good reasons.
The Old is New Again
"We do not have to purchase health insurance and will not be subject to
fines or jail for not doing so," explains Joe Guarino,a 50-year old
Virginian whose family of seven has belonged to Samaritan Ministries for the
last nine years.
There are only nine such exemptions under Obamacare, which made
sure the cost-sharing model would not proliferate as Americans staggered
under the federal law's newly revealed price tags: The exemptions apply only to
those groups that have been continually operating since at least Dec. 31, 1999.
"The Amish have been taking care of themselves in this way for hundreds of
years," Guarino explains. "If their church can't take care of
it, they go to their bishop and it gets shared among the other churches until
its paid. The concept of small communities pitching in to help each other
pay their medical bills is not really new - it just got overtaken by what we
call health insurance. And now it’s coming back."
Though HCSMs operate with a high level of trust between the ministry and
members, fraud prevention is an obvious concern. But each ministry has
its own methods to control that, which have proven quite effective.
Medi-Share members simply submit their card at the doctor's office in the same
way they would an insurance card, and the doctor bills the ministry
directly. Once members reach their annual household portion (similar to
an insurance deductible), all eligible bills are shared 100 percent. At
CHM and Samaritan, members submit original bills themselves.
"I cannot send copies or a receipt - it has to be the original, fully
itemized bill," says Guarino. "And any bill over $1,000, they
call the provider to verify. They follow up. So that makes it very
difficult for fraud to occur."
It Pays to Negotiate
Just as savvy consumers
buying a big-ticket house-hold appliance know they can usually get a discount
by paying in cash, some patients know they can use the same tactic at the
doctor's office to get a lower price for the service. Between 20 and 35
percent of doctor's fees are overhead used to process insurance claims; when
patients avoid the claim process altogether by paying for their own services,
doctors will usually pass that 20 to 35 percent savings on to them. And
many prefer them.
"The medical associations love health care sharing because they know
they're going to get paid in a timely fashion. So they don't mind giving
discounts," Guarino says.
Samaritan and CHM provide tips to members on negotiating deals, and Samaritan
and Medi-Share will also help negotiate a discount when the bill arrives.
Medi-Share usually maintains its own preferred-provider network of some half a
million doctors nationwide; those doctors give automatic discounts of 26
percent to members. Patients are also free to go out of network, as they
would with a regular PPO, though they may wind up paying slightly more.
Since its inception, discounts have saved Medi-Share members $235 million in
medical bills.
In 2012, participants in the three ministries shared over $151 million in
health care costs. Last October alone, they shared $17.1 million in
medical bills.
Medi-Share President Tony Meggs tells Citizen that "since 1993,
every medical bill that was eligible that we've published has been shared 100
percent" - including a liver transplant in 2013, which cost nearly $1
million.
Sharing costs, says CHM President Howard Russell, "is infinitely more
reliable than any insurance regulation." Discounts for CHM members
typically average about 59 percent after the ministry negotiates bills.
HCSMs in Action
When Michele Gano, a former biology teacher in Columbia, S.C. discovered in
2007 she had contracted Lyme disease, she decided the best doctor for her was
in New York City. Through her Samaritan Ministries membership, she was
able to go to New York, and her bills totaling $4,000 were completely
paid. She considers herself fortunate, especially compared to friends who
have to worry about "in-network" and "out-of-network"
providers and "pre-approvals." With HCSMs, if you like your
doctor, you really do get to keep him.
Susan and John Willings, who serve as missionaries in South Korea, have been
Medi-Share members since 2001. That became a life-saver in 2007, when
Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer: The Medi-Share community helped
pay more than $140,000 for her surgery and chemotherapy while the couple
continued with Korean children.
"It was a relief knowing I didn't have to worry about my medical
bills," Susan says. "I was also comforted knowing the community
was praying for my recovery. The wonderful news is that today I am
cancer-free and the ministry my family worked to establish in Korea is
thriving."
When Larry Huff, a marketing executive from Greer, S.C., became self-employed a
few years ago, his family lost the great benefits he had when he worked for a
large company. With three children, he and his wife LeAnn didn't dare go
without insurance. The plan they purchased had premiums of about $1,000
per month with a $5,000 deductible. As it happened, that year the
family's out-of-pocket medical expenses came to only $4,800.
"We spent just shy of $17,000 out of pocket for zero benefit," Larry
tells Citizen, "and we were making half of what we had made
before. This was absurd!"
So they investigated HCSMs and eventually joined Samaritan Ministries, where
their monthly share level is about one-third what their insurance premium once
was.
"I can tell you it's a lot less painful writing a $370 check every
month than a $1,000 check. And you're writing a check to a real family so
it feels so different," Larry says.
"My daughter saw a check come, and it really impressed her that Christians
would take care of each other like this," says LeAnn. "And
every month we pray for the family (receiving) our check."
What's the cost of a life? Fifteen years ago, doctors told a CHM member
with a cardiac problem to abort her baby or she would die. Instead, she
got a heart transplant. So far, CHM participants have shared $800,000 for
her care, after discounts, fully paying all bills. Because she helped
negotiate discounts, her initial out-of-pocket cost was $0 - and today, her son
is a teen.
Such enormous costs are rare. Samaritan Ministries Executive Vice
President James Lansberry tells Citizen less than one-half of 1 percent of
medical needs exceed $200,000 at self-pay rates - and in Samaritan's history,
"only three or four dozen needs have exceeded $250,000."
Nonetheless, HCSMs make provisions for hyper-catastrophic medical needs.
For example, Samaritan has an optional "Save to Share" program.
Should it become necessary, Save to Share members may be asked to share bills
above $250,000. Lansberry says Samaritan Ministries participants
collectively have more than $8 million in their accounts ready to share with
Save to Share families, in the unlikely event they have hyper-catastrophic
needs. Med-Share doesn't have a lifetime limit on sharing needs.
What's the Catch?
If all this
sounds too good to be true, you may be wondering how many caveats you'll have
to look out for. The answer is: Very few. There are of course, some
conditions and necessary limits., which vary from ministry to ministry,
detailed on each Web site and in their respective application forms. Each
ministry has an application fee and different ways of handling administrative
costs.
But what they all have in common is an element of trust, present from the very
beginning of the relationship: Applicants describe their medical status and
history on brief forms. No physical exams or corroborating health records
are required.
All the sharing ministries require from participants a signed document saying
they believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, regularly attend worship and are
committed to a healthy life-style. All members pledge to engage in sexual
activity only within marriage and to abstain from illegal drugs. If they
use alcohol, they promise to do so in a Biblical manner. And to increase
accountability, CHM and Samaritan also have participants' pastors sign the
documents.
With all HCSMs, families are responsible for their own maintenance care (annual
physicals, semi-annual dental cleanings, etc.). All the families
interviewed for this story indicated that they are health conscious in terms of
diet and exercise.
Samaritan Ministries is the only HCSM that has members send money to each other
directly. Administrators randomly pair a sender with a receiver each
month at predetermined share levels, and both parties report back
afterward. However, all three ministries keep records: When senders don't
comply administrators contact them; if they go three or four months without
sharing, the ministry no longer accepts medical needs from those individuals'
families.
The Way Out of Coercion
Joe and Dawn
Coletti of Cary, N.C. had been clinging to a grandfathered individual-purchase
insurance plan for their family for the last few years. But when they
received a letter last fall saying Obamacare was going to force their premiums
up another 13 percent, they made the switch to an HCSM. Joe admits they
might not have had the faith to do it a few years ago, but is glad that
"we can finally live through our values now" - including the
relational component.
"There's no personal connection with the people who benefit from your
paying taxes," he notes wryly. "The way out of coercion is if
you're able to cooperate. Being a Christian makes that easy."
But there is a deeper reason why HCSMs are growing. "If we do
a good job," says Meggs, "we really can affect the culture, and
reflect the love of Christ for the world to see."
Connie
Marshner is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Focus on the Family does not endorse any particular approach to
health care; each family should carefully investigate all options, as this
story is intended solely for informational purposes. To learn more about
Christian Healthcare Ministries visit www.chministries.org.
For more information on Medi-Share, visit www.medi-share.org.
Details about Samaritan Ministries can be found at
SamaritanMinistries.org. For more information about negotiating costs
with health care providers, visit selfpaypatient.com. Valuable
information about this approach can also be found on the website of the
Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries, healthcaresharing.org.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -MINISTRY COMPARISON - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MINISTRY FOUNDED
NUMBER
OF SHARING
LEVELS
PERSONAL
MEMBERS
COMES FROM OF SHARE RESPON-
AT
END
AMOUNT SIBILTY
OF
2013
AMOUNT
Christian
1981
60,000
indirect; from Gold:
$150/unit/
$500 per unit,
Healthcare
individuals other
families
month
per year
Ministries
via
escrow Silver:
$85/unit/
800-791-6225 account
month
Bronze:
$45/unit/
month
*
"unit" gener-
ally equates to one
person
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Medi-Share 1993 67,213 Personal
Depends
on
Annual House-
individuals
account at several
hold Portion
800-772-5623 ministry
variables [AHP]
options
there are 1,900
vary from $500
different
share
to $10,000
amounts,
with the
average being
$300/month
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Samaritan
1994 93,690 Direct from
$165/month/
Member pays
Ministries individuals other
families single first $300 for
888-268-4377 $315/month/ first incident
couple
$230/month/sin-
gle-parent
family
$370/month two
parent family
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The
above article is from Citizen magazine, March 2014 Vol. 28, No. 2
issue. For more info. contact: 800-A-FAMILY or 8605 Explorer Drive, Colorado
Springs, CO 80920. Email: Citizeneditor@family.org, or find them online at CitizenMagazine.com
end
of article .........
Please pray for our loving, gracious,
merciful Creator Lord’s help to help repeal, or change all the problems with,
the new Health Care Law. Please pray for
our wonderful, faithful, perfect Creator Lord’s help to help end the
destruction of life!!!
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