Christian Healthcare Ministries, Barberton OH

BIGGEST SCAM had the gold plan for 2 years and they didn't not cover what the plan entitles. Never would i think that a CHURCH would rob you out of money and lie. They made us go back and forth with the hospital sending letters back and forth while having a newborn for them just to say they can't help us with anything. This "church" is making millions of people that think they can trust them. So on top of paying over 8,000 for their "insurance" we still paid out of pocket over 8,000 for medical bills that we're supposed to be covered. Please do not fall for this scam.

**This is not a mistake this is a honest and real review. No I will not provide my personal information publicly so your BUSINESS can just make me go back and forth like I have for past 8 month and continue to waste my time and money on this scam. **
God bless you.

We joined CHM probably 7 years ago, when we were no longer able to afford traditional health insurance. I hoped to never really know how or 'if' they worked out; however, this past year was the test. My husband had 3 separate issues (all unrelated - shoulder surgery, hernia, and a heart attack), and all within about 6 months of each other. CHM has been wonderful to work with and we've been supported and reimbursed for all related charges (we have the gold plan + brothers keeper). I would recommend CHM to anyone looking for a different alternative. Thank you CHM!

We were members of another sharing plan for many year and liked most things about them but a couple things I didn’t care for.
A couple years ago we decided to join CHM and so far have been happy with them. I’ve only needed them one time so far but it was easier to send bills in and they sent the share a couple months later.
I’ve been having some issues with hearing and am going to a specialist, so we will see how it goes with the sharing this time. I like that with CHM I send the share every month to them and not to the family like the other sharing program I was a member of.
I see that people are upset that the monthly share has went up some, I understand that but everything has went up so they have to do the same to continue serving their members.
I’m hoping to be part of the family for many years.

Until this year, I've been very pleased with the coverage/price. Now that they've changed several guidelines and increased pricing and personal responsibilities, it's totally not worth it anymore. READ, READ, READ every page of their rules/guidelines before deciding to go with them!

My wife and I have been with CMH for 3 years. Sharing health responsibility coupled with a strong emphasis on Christian values appealed to our sensibilities. We often recomend CMH to friends and acquaintances.

The first bill that we have ever submitted for sharing was an emergency hernia procedure in Puerto Vallarta Mexico in early January of this year. The cost was approximately $3800 for laproscopic surgery, which is approximately 30% of the costs associated with the same procedure in the US.

Despite this, we have found that cost recapture is very difficult. There is a failure at the administrative level to understand that documentation in other countries may be to a lesser standard than the US. They have sent us back to get broken down pricing that is not typically provided in the Mexican medical industry. This is due to the language barrier as well as the tendency to offer" total pricing for a set amount". Adminstrative services at CHM seem to fail to understand that price is almost always a negotiated cost, as they will charge what the market will bear in Mexico. The two largest costs in a surgery in Mexico are the surgeon's fee and the hospital fee. Generally the surgeon will negotiate an "all in" cost for the hospital fees associated with the surgery and charge thier surgical fees as another "all in" cost.

In our case we were charged 40,000 (about US $ 2100) pesos for the surgery and 25,000 (about US $1300) pesos for the hospital stay. Hospital fees in a general sense cover use of the operating room, and overnight stay following the operation. Surgeon Fees relate to the actual cost to perform the procedure plus follow up visits to ensure a satisfactory outcome. Despite being 30% of the costs in the US, CMH is demanding that we have these bills broken down into details that were never meant to be individually priced. We hope this is due to a cultural misunderstanding rather than simply road blocks to refuse sharing?

We find ourselves exasperated in that we exemplified outstanding fiscal responsibity in so far that we were able to have the procedure performed at 30% of the US cost. Despite this they are sending us back to the hospital and surgeon for broken down costs that they have already been fully reimbursed for - so the incentive to be responsive to our requests is just not there, and certainly not a priority. If we knew three years age what we know now, we may have made a very different choice, and in retrospect of this particular incident, we would have been better off to get on an emergency flight to the US and had the procedure performed at three times the cost, with full documentation, to CHM's standards. I now have three holes in my tummy and a bigger hole in my wallet - I'm not sure we made the right decision.

NOTE:

AS A FOLLOW-UP TO THIS REVIEW CHM WAS RESPONSIVE AND RESOLVED OUR CONCERNS. WE HAVE ALTERED OUR RATING TO REFLECT OUR SATISFACTION. THANKS

Just as other recent reviewers have stated our family cannot recommend CHM anymore and are finding different healthshare that actually pays. CHM raised their rates and their out of pocket price per occurrence from $500 to $1000 with no explanation or informing customers. The way they get out of paying most bills is hospitals always charge per department for the same occurrence so each separate bill could be under the new $1000 limit for the same hospital stay and guess what? CHM will deny each bill and you are now in debt thousands of dollars. When they do pay it takes months and you get sent to collections. They also denied my son’s ambulance bill because they said it was not life threatening. I’m sorry I didn’t know they were doctors? He’s bigger than me and was dehydrated, throwing up nonstop and lethargic, could not stand let alone walk so I could not carry him to my car to get him to the ER. I had to call for them to get him to the children’s hospital asap because dehydration IS life threatening. Also CHM paid ALL of his previous bills for the exact same situation but refused all of these. You can imagine my surprise opening my denial letters. What a worthless scam and waste of premium money under the guise of a “Christian” company. Their underhanded policies don’t seem too Christian to me. We will take our business elsewhere and I suggest you do too.

We can't express enough gratitude and thankfulness for CHM. We are Gold level members with the Brothers Keeper added on. I have had 2 major procedures, including big shoulder surgery and PT and we've had ALL OUR BILLS PAID IN FULL by CHM! For 37 yrs we had our own business and paid$13,000/yr for coverage that didn't even cover a lot of bills. We had a huge deductible of $5000/each, plus we paid $7500 "out of pocket" (after $5K, we paid 20%) & then they would pay the remainder. They controlled who you could see, when you could see them, had limited therapy sessions, and it was always a battle for necessary tests to be covered! We are SO thankful for CHM! Our hospital offers a huge"self- pay" discount that we would never have received before! God Bless this Ministry and all who work for it! We love CHM!

Awesome way to cover health care costs in a Christian fashion while supporting other believers.

If I could do negative stars I would. Chm is the biggest snake in the grass I've ever seen. We had 7 qualifying bills and all were denied. Calling them doesn't help either. We waited one entire year with a bill waiting to be processed and it got denied. Under reason it stated "bill to old to be paid out". Now who's fault is that!? We were with them 15 months total and left when we got a mass envelope full of rejection bills.
Save your money. This place is a scam.

After a devastating divorce in 2008 I lost my healthcare coverage. On top of that a third of my home was eaten with termites. As a home schooling mom of three, I was quite overwhelmed. After much detailed research into ways to afford some type of help with my potential medical needs I turned to CHM. It has never disappointed me! When I remarried in 2012 my husband signed up too. We have both been blessed to be a part of this amazing ministry. The biggest bonus is in knowing what we give each moth goes to help our brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank you for all you do!

I've been with the CHM Gold plan (with brother's keeper) for over 10 years! CHM helped our family through a cancer journey, and a NICU stay. I've always had nothing but good to say about them, until recently. The new plans now have large deductibles! I once had full coverage (no deductibles), but that is no longer even an option. They should at least have a full coverage option, for those who still want it. I've been doing some shopping, and it looks like Medi-Share is now a better option. Still not full coverage, but much better bang for the buck. CHM is no longer the Gold standard!

So disappointed.and scared! The increasing premiums and decreased benefits put a financial burden on our family in 2023. We're in debt because less is covered by chm and they take an incredible amount of time to reimburse. I've waited as long as 5 months on some bills. There's so much legwork on the part of the customer that it's easier just to pay the bill yourself if you can. You have to call to get itemized statements and negotiate discounts and get on an affordable payment plan with the provider and the paperwork is confusing and toilsome. Not to mention getting sent to collection agency for the first time in my 63 years. Now, I don't seek medical care. It's too expensive to pay the premiums and monthly payments we owe to providers while we're waiting to be reimbursed. I just don't go unless its an emergency situation. We're sad about it because chm used to be so good. They paid 100% of all our bills until 2023. Now we're in credit card debt because they don't pay for anything under one thousand dollars. Unless its for the same condition. So if you see ten doctors for 10 different diagnoses and they charge you 1000 per visit, you will owe ten thousand dollars in addition to the 550 per month premium. We don't even submit a bill under 1000 any more because it will get rejected.

This program works for certain things but falls way short on others. For example. They say it’s a 5000 max payout for me per incident and they pay the rest. Well, I’m at over 25,000 and they say none of it qualifies for them so it’s all on me, then another 7,000 came in and they said ok, this will qualify but you just pay the first 5,000. Ummmm, so I’m sitting at over 30,000 in bills and they are doing 2,000 toward the one. How on earth do I begin to pay on 30,000 in medical bills. I thought, ok, 5000 I can handle but we are way over that. And bills are still coming in for an event that they say they have no coverage for. So I don’t see this ending well for me and caution others, look elsewhere!

Wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are not Christian and should not have that in their name. Do not trust this company.

They have consistently helped us with medical bills over the past few years at a price much cheaper than we would have paid through traditional insurance. They are a great alternative for those that are self-employed or don't have insurance benefits through work. It does take a few months typically to get reimbursed, and you do have to make sure you send in the correct paperwork, but they disclose that on their website. It's on you to understand paperwork guidelines and their payment timelines before you sign up.

We had them for 3 years and almost every time we submitted a bill we had the wrong bill submitted, had to fill out 3-4 forms and then try to get the right bill from the medical provider, which we never seemed to get. The last 2 we just said forget it and ate the $2000 in bills. Too much hassle for me. Switched back to standard insurance. They were kind enough to waive the 30 day cancelation policy.