Sharing Guidelines

I. Foundational Overview

A. Principles of Ministry

We believe the following Biblical principles are basic to the life of every believer, and are therefore foundational to our health care sharing ministry:

Jesus Christ is our Provider for every need.
As the Creator of all things, He is the only One with all the resources necessary to meet every need.

Our needs are more than physical.
Human beings are more than just a collection of cells, and we have needs that go beyond the physical body. Our members come together to meet the financial, physical, and spiritual aspects of each medical need.

God has made us stewards of His resources.
As a first line of defense, members of the Body of Christ are responsible for using the resources that God has provided to care for themselves, their families, and others.

Our local Christian church offers us support.
We seek to support and supplement the local Body, not replace it. We depend on local Christian church leaders to provide accountability for the REDEEM™ members under their care.

Mankind is the crown of His Creation.
Because we bear the image of God, we are to respect all human life at all stages of development. Therefore, we live according to Biblical principles in all aspects of our lives by treating our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit.

B. Membership

To become a member of REDEEM HealthShare, a division of Samaritan Ministries, you must meet all the requirements of this section and apply, and submit a church Accountability Verification Form. If you continue to meet these requirements and fulfill all membership responsibilities, your membership will continue.

We believe the following membership requirements benefit you and other members by being Scriptural, and by minimizing medical risks and costs, ensuring proper accountability, and encouraging good health practices. REDEEM HealthShare retains the discretion to remove from membership any member whose behavior violates Biblical standards such that they may bring the ministry into disrepute.

C. Membership Requirements

  • Be a professing Christian living by Biblical principles. Every adult on the membership must affirm the following member Statement of Faith:
    • I believe in the triune God of the Bible. He is one God Who is revealed in three distinct Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

      GEN 1:26 | LUKE 1:35, 3:21-22 | 2 COR 13:14 | MATT 28:18-20
    • I believe Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and continues to be such even after His resurrection—fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, was bodily resurrected on the third day, and now is seated in the heavens at the right hand of God the Father.

      ISA 7:14, 9:6 | MATT 1:22-23, 26:64 | MARK 16:19 | LUKE 24:38-40 | JOHN 1:1-2, 1:14, 1:29, 2:18-21, 5:18, 8:46 | ACTS 2:32-33 | 1 COR 15:3-4, 15:20-21 | 2 COR 5:21 | COL 1:15-20, 2:9 | HEB 1:1-4, 4:14-15, 7:26, 9:11-14, 10:10-12 | 1 PETER 2:22-24 | 1 JOHN 3:5
    • I believe that all people have sinned and fallen short of God's glory and can be saved from eternal death only through faith in Jesus Christ, Whose atoning death and resurrection secure for us eternal life.

      JER 17:9 | JOHN 3:3, 14:6, 20:30-31 | ROM 3:9-11, 3:23, 5:12-21, 10:8-13 | EPH 2:8-9
  • As a community of Christians helping other Christians with their medical bills, every adult on a membership must attend a Biblical, Christian church regularly (at least three out of four weeks per month that your health or weather permits). If it is not possible for you to regularly attend a Biblical, Christian church, please submit a letter giving the details. HEB 10:25
    • Fellowships, churches, temples, wards, and denominations that fall outside of Biblical, Christian faith—such as the Church of Scientology, Unitarian, Jehovah's Witnesses, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints— do not qualify for the church attendance requirement.
  • Believe you are to bear one another's burdens. GAL 6:2 | PHIL 2:4
  • Believe that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and that abusing any substance is sin. Empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are committed to living a holy and consecrated life in which you abstain from illegal drugs, legal or prescribed substance abuse, recreational marijuana, and tobacco (a rare celebratory cigar or pipe is allowed). ROM 13:1 | 1 COR 6:12
  • Believe that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and that drinking to drunkenness is sin. Empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are committed to living a holy and consecrated life in which you limit consumption of alcohol to moderate amounts and do not drink to drunkenness or cause another brother or sister in Christ to stumble. EPH 5:18
  • Believe that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, that God gifted you your biological sex, and that manifesting any identity outside of your God-given biological sex, and any sexual activity outside traditional, historically Biblically orthodox marriage as designed by God between one biological man and one biological woman, is sin. Empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are committed to living a holy and consecrated life in which you live a life in conformity with your God-given biological sex, and abstain from any sexual activity outside of traditional, historically orthodox Biblical marriage. GEN 1:27, 2:24 | MATT 19:5 | 1 COR 6:18
  • Agree to practice good health measures in accordance with the principle that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 COR 6:19-20
  • Keep your membership active by ensuring that your monthly Share is deposited into your Share Account each month. A notice will be given to members who are late in sending shares, and they will lose eligibility to have their own needs shared until the issue has been corrected. If financial need is the cause of these problems, assistance may be available through the Sponsorship Program (Section IV.M). LUKE 16:10
  • Agree that when you have a dispute with a fellow Christian, and your fellow Christian is willing to submit that dispute to fellow believers for resolution, you are not to sue each other in the civil courts or other government agencies. A person initiating a legal proceeding against REDEEM HealthShare Ministry or Samaritan Ministries International would disqualify himself from membership. 1 COR 6:1-8
  • Submit your Membership Continuation Agreement each year, confirming that you are still meeting the membership requirements. PROV 10:9
  • Have someone to whom you are accountable (pastor, elder, church official, small group leader, accountability partner, etc.) and sign a church Accountability Verification Form confirming that you meet the above requirements. HEB 13:17
  • Agree to these requirements when you apply for membership and provide background information including your date of birth. Annually, you will need to reconfirm that you still meet these requirements along with submitting an Accountability Verification Form.

Nationality or Citizenship Requirements:

The following individuals can join REDEEM HealthShare:

  • U.S. Citizens
  • Those who possess a U.S.-issued Social Security Number and a valid Identification Card issued by a U.S. government agency
  • Those who possess a U.S.-issued Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and who also have a government-issued Identification Card issued by Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, or the United States and who have a United States mailing address

If at any time you no longer meet all these membership requirements, you must notify REDEEM HealthShare immediately, and your membership and all privileges will be suspended unless otherwise indicated.

Your health status has no effect on your eligibility for membership. However, there are limitations on the sharing of needs for some conditions that existed before membership. For a detailed explanation of the types of needs that are shared or not shared by the members, see Sharing of Expenses (Section III).

To be eligible to submit bills for sharing, you must meet all the requirements of membership including being up to date with all monthly Shares, and the expense must not result from behavior that violates membership requirements.

D. Health Care Sharing in General

REDEEM HealthShare programs are designed for sharing eligible medical expenses related to conditions resulting from a new illness, injury, or accident.

To participate, members voluntarily contribute a monthly share amount according to the age of the oldest participant on the household membership, the sharing level, any optional programs chosen, and the number of participants on the household membership.

REDEEM HealthShare is not liable for the payment of a member’s medical bill. The REDEEM community of members pays for individual members’ medical expenses through share contributions. Members pay providers from share contributions they receive from other members. Medical bill funding does not come from REDEEM HealthShare itself. Members have no legal obligation to contribute toward another member’s medical bill. It is a sharing community.

REDEEM HEALTHSHARE MINISTRY IS NOT AN INSURANCE COMPANY. HEALTH CARE SHARING IS NOT INSURANCE OR A CONTRACT FOR INSURANCE.

THE ASSISTANCE WITH MEDICAL BILLS BY MEMBERS THROUGH REDEEM HEALTHSHARE MINISTRY OR OTHERWISE IS NOT GUARANTEED IN ANY WAY.

CHECK FOR YOUR STATE’S LEGAL NOTICE REQUIREMENTS IN SECTION VIII.D. NOT ALL STATES HAVE A NOTICE REQUIREMENT.