UPDATED FOR 2023 – Hello and welcome to our website of Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM) reviews by David and Rebekah Schroeder. Our family have been active members with CHM for over 17 years. We created this blog to further inform other Christians who may be considering to get a CHM sharing type health coverage.

Considering the recent news and changes in the health care world, things can be overwhelming to say the least!

YES – CHM does qualify under the The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare signed in 2010.

We had all our 3 children Sophia, Charlotte and Henry using CHM the entire duration. They were very pleasant to work with and we were able to pay our medical bills in a timely manner.

Our first hand experience vouch for the excellent support, payment response time and coverage with CHM. One of the best things we like about Christian Healthcare Ministries is the ability to choose which ever doctor you like. Most traditional health insurances are so limiting in regards to which doctor you can see and also when! They give us so much more flexibility. Traditional health insurance is so managed and limiting that it can really be annoying. CHM has three different coverage options you can choose from.

There is such great flexibility and choice which is great! We have been members of CHM for over 10 years and have had excellent results and would recommend their services to anyone. We have referred several satisfied friends and family to CHM over the years. Feel free to make any comments or post any question you have below and we’ll be happy to respond. We trust our CHM reviews have been some help to those looking to join CHM.

Real Time CHM Example:

Here is a real time example of how CHM works. A member of our family had a suspicious growth. We paid out of pocket with credit card at time of service for the following: initial doctor visit; follow up visits; pathology; surgical removal; surgical center; anesthesiology and a few other miscellaneous visits. Being CHM is not insurance we were able to pick any doctor of our choice. We negotiated each and every bill being ‘self pay’ at time of service and paid with credit card. Then all you do is list out all the fees on the CHM worksheet with date of service and a copy of receipts. Be sure to have receipts listing CPT codes from the doctor with relative fees. Once all is submitted wait a few weeks and CHM will send one check with lump sum amount. It’s that simple!

A few highlights to note is with CHM you can go to any physician of your choice. No need to worry about in or out of network. All doctors are ‘in network’.

In the grand scheme of things CHM likely ends up being more affordable than traditional medical insurance. If you consider the cost of insurance monthly premiums plus any deductible you need to pay out of pocket plus copays for services. In the end you’ll likely end up paying more using medical health insurance vs Christian Healthcare Ministries.

In addition it would be hard to find the type of coverage for a family of 5 at a price $615/mo with traditional medical health insurance.

CHM wins!

There are a few highlights a things to consider in your search for health coverage.

Watch these videos to learn more:

As Christians, we don’t need to be afraid. “For I have overcome the world,” Jesus tells us. And as CHM members, you don’t have to be worried about medical bills from the coronavirus! Charity Beall, our Chief Financial Officer, explains how we are continuing to take care of members, even while we aren’t physically at the CHM offices. This is great news for CHM members and you can see the further benefits of Christian Healthcare Ministries taking care of its members!

10 cool things you may not know about CHM:

Whether you’re a longtime member or recently joined the ministry, here are 10 interesting things you may not know about CHM.

1. Earn a free month (or two, or three, or more): Through the Bring-a-Friend referral program, you can earn a free month of CHM participation for each new membership you bring to CHM, a value of up to $516 per month. Those who refer a new family each month can be part of CHM for free! (See chministries.org/bringafriend.)

2. No or low Personal Responsibility: For medical incidents totaling over $500, through our Gold program CHM shares (or reimburses) 100 percent of medical bills eligible according to the ministry’s Guidelines. Personal Responsibility is $1,000 per incident for Silver members and $5,000 per incident for Bronze; however, these amounts can be offset by discounts you obtain on your eligible bills. Every medical incident presents the opportunity for every member to have zero out-of-pocket costs. This feature is unique to CHM. (See chministries.org/programs for an example.)

3. Big prescription discounts: Every family or individual who joins CHM receives a CHMRx discount prescription card. There is no guarantee or set discount amount, but the card is effective: the overall prescription savings in 2016 were 62 percent. However, only about seven percent of CHM member families use the card. (See chmrx.com to learn more about prescription savings or to request a replacement card.)

4. Low administrative cost: CHM administrative costs for several years have been one percent, freeing up funds to fulfill the ministry’s purpose of sharing fellow Christians’ medical bills. Our aim is to be excellent stewards of the funds members entrust to us, recognizing that it’s God’s money to be used for His purposes. In addition, CHM hasn’t raised monthly financial gift amounts in nearly 10 years!

5. Maternity at no extra cost: For women who join CHM at least 300 days before the expected due date, maternity expenses are shared as part of the program you choose (Gold, Silver or Bronze), with no additional costs. (The Gold program is the best option for women who may become pregnant; see chministries.org/maternity.)

6. CHM has your back: The sole purpose of CHM’s Member Advocate department is to work with healthcare providers to make sure you receive the care you need at the best possible price. These CHM staff members are knowledgeable, experienced and compassionate. In addition to operating behind the scenes through direct contact with providers, the Member Advocate team is available to help coach you on how to interact with your providers, request discounts and apply for financial assistance.

7. CHM’s model keeps healthcare costs down: CHM’s model of operating supports medical price transparency—helping patients understand what their healthcare costs and making informed decisions accordingly. By encouraging members to take control of their healthcare by shopping for the best medical prices, the ministry promotes competition in the marketplace. For example, an MRI might cost $2,500 at a hospital but only $700 at a standalone imaging center a few miles away. A standard blood test could be $350 if performed at a doctor’s office but $50 at a nearby walk-in clinic. This pricing disparity is common and often has nothing to do with the quality of care. (See healthcarebluebook.com to view fair medical pricing in your area.)

8. Choose your own providers: You can receive care from any doctor, hospital or clinic you prefer, as long as the treatment falls under the CHM Guidelines. You can select specialists and hospitals known for being the best in their field without concern of being penalized for going outside of a network. However, if you’d like some guidance choosing a provider, CHM has compiled a list of national, regional and local healthcare providers and services at chministries.org/providerlist.

9. Members stay in touch: With each monthly billing statement, members receive a prayer card listing the name and contact information of a fellow member with a prayer request. Members reach out to these brothers and sisters in Christ by praying for them and sending encouraging cards, letters or emails. Likewise, the CHM monthly newsletter lists member prayer requests and features a section devoted to pre-existing medical needs (the Prayer Page).

Members frequently report receiving dozens or even hundreds of messages from fellow members and often say that the encouragement they received from their fellow Christians came at just the right time and meant as much—if not more—as the funds sent to share their medical bills. From time to time, the CHM staff hears of members who don’t know each other becoming pen pals or meeting in person because of the prayer card ministry or the newsletter. One member even told us she was thrilled to reconnect with a long-lost relative after seeing his name on the Prayer Page!

10. CHM works with groups: CHM may be a healthcare cost solution for your church or ministry. CHM has hundreds of participating groups—all of which are Christian organizations with all-Christian staffs. Under the healthcare law, groups must follow specific requirements to join CHM; however, our staff can guide you and refer you to competent and knowledgeable tax and employee benefit professionals. See chministries.org/groups for info.

Below are some pricing charts you may find interesting. You can find more information on the pricing here. 

The nice thing to remember is regardless how many family members there are in your family, you never pay more than 3 (three) units.

Example: A family of 3 (or greater) would still be charged for 3 units = $205/unit x 3 = $615  (gold plan). Updated January 2022. 

Christian Healthcare Ministries guidelines PDF

Please note recent updates affect April 1, 2020:
1. Maternity expenses will be eligible for sharing on the Gold level only. Silver and Bronze members who incur bills for pregnancies conceived before or on April 1 will be shared on those levels; all other CHM Guidelines apply. Please see chministries.org/maternity or the CHM Guidelines for more information, such as: Women must be on the Gold level at least 300 days before the doctor’s estimated due date for the pregnancy and delivery to be eligible for sharing. See Guideline R.1 for more information.
2. Silver level personal responsibility will become $2,500 per incident. There is no change to personal responsibility for Gold and Bronze members.

Other CHM UPDATES:

• • We had our 3rd child, Henry last fall. We used CHM the entire process and it was a very pleasant experience. We simply submitted all our bills as they came in from the doctors and hospital. CHM has an online submission process which really streamlines this process. We would then receive an email stating that CHM had received our bills for review. After a little time we then receive a check in the mail for the amount of all the submitted invoices. The nice thing is they send one large check covering the amount of all the smaller invoices together. This is nice rather than receiving a bunch of smaller checks. Thanks Christian Healthcare Ministries for the great services you offer our family. We continue to support CHM and encourage friends and family to sign up. If you sign up, please be sure to use our CHM Member ID: 112668 as your referral. Thank you!!
  • CHM now has a new website design and interface. Each user now has the ability to log in and create their own account. Within each users account you can now upload invoices directly to CHM via the internet. There’s no need to mail paper statements anymore as this can all be done online via upload interface. This is very nice and streamlines everything making it much easier to use. They also provide a status of the statements you upload whether ‘pending’ or other.
  • CH Ministries offers Brother’s Keeper. Brother’s Keeper is a supplemental coverage that covers medial needs in excess of $125,000 per incident. This is an add on type coverage CHM offers to members if they so chose.

• Christian Healthcare Ministries has a calculator that can give people an ‘instant quote’. You can use this cool feature to quickly enter the number of people in your family, the level of membership you wish to have and then it will give you your monthly share amount. This will tell you exactly how much your monthly share amount will be. Look for the RED button in top right of page that says Instant Quote.

We’re glad that we have the CHM plan once again as we embark on another journey with our new baby. We sure are glad to have maternity coverage on our plan with Christian Healthcare Ministries.

Thanks again for checking out our review of CH Ministries. I’m sure we’ll have great support from them as we did with our first baby.

That’s right, you heard it…Sophia now has a baby sister – Charlotte Rose! She was born naturally and healthy in our local hospital. Once again, CH Ministries was there the entire duration. For those of you who many be new to CHM, let us give you some tips if you are planning to have a baby and use the maternity coverage of CHM.

We would recommend switching to the GOLD coverage. There have been a few changes in CHM policy since our 1st child that we learned about. Basically, the GOLD plan will cover everything in regards to the delivery from start to finish. The GOLD plan will also give you much more flexibility in regards to where you seek healthcare and who you want to use. The Silver and Bronze will only cover your bills that are services rendered in the hospital. This is something to take note of.
In addition, if you do decide to switch plans, be sure you switch ahead of time. CHM will make changes effective the 1st of the following month you request the change in plan. So be sure your ‘conception’ date is within the month you have the coverage you so desire.
We would recommend you speak with a representative from CHM to answer any questions you my have regarding the maternity coverage.

Is Christian Healthcare Ministries insurance?

Christian Healthcare Ministries is not an insurance company. CHM is a nonprofit health cost sharing ministry for Christians who can voluntarily share each other’s medical bills. It is not an insurance company. CHM premiums are much less than traditional insurance companies which makes it quite appealing to Christians looking for an insurance alternative.

How much is Christian Healthcare Ministries?

Gold membership is $205 per unit/month; Silver is $125 per unit/month; Bronze is $85 per unit/month. One unit per individual with a maximum 3 units charged per family. There is an optional add-on called Brother’s Keeper $40 setup fee and quarterly variable payments to maintain.

What is Christian Healthcare Ministries?

Christian Healthcare Ministries is a Christian organization where fellow believers share each other’s medical bills. It is not an insurance company. CHM is an eligible option covered under the national healthcare law for people of the Christian faith to have healthcare coverage for potential medical expenses.

What is CHM Insurance?

CHM Insurance is not technically insurance. CHM Insurance is a Christian based organization where you share medical bills with other Christian members. CHM Insurance does qualify under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed in 2010.