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Health-Sharing Ministries Demonstrate A Different Kind Of Health Care

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published January 28, 2020 at 12:22 PM EST
Blake Collie in the hospital after a blood vessel burst in his brain. His care was covered by Medicaid, but his family has a health-sharing plan under Samaritan Ministries, a faith-based organization.
Blake Collie in the hospital after a blood vessel burst in his brain. His care was covered by Medicaid, but his family has a health-sharing plan under Samaritan Ministries, a faith-based organization.
Blake Collie in the hospital after a blood vessel burst in his brain. His care was covered by Medicaid, but his family has a health-sharing plan under Samaritan Ministries, a faith-based organization.
Credit Courtesy of Mark Collie and WRAL
Blake Collie in the hospital after a blood vessel burst in his brain. His care was covered by Medicaid, but his family has a health-sharing plan under Samaritan Ministries, a faith-based organization.

North Carolina has the 9th highest uninsured rate in the nation. More than one million citizens do not have health insurance, and many are priced out of traditional insurance plans. Faith-based programs, also known as health-sharing ministries, are stepping in to fill the gap. The organizations help families pay medical bills but are not regulated like conventional insurance companies. WRAL Investigates dug into how health-sharing ministries work in North Carolina, spoke with North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey about the organizations and profiled one family’s experience with the organization Samaritan Ministries.

 Host Frank Stasio talks to WRAL producers Ashley Talley and Randall Kerr about their reporting on faith-based health-sharing ministries.

Host Frank Stasio talks to WRAL enterprise executive producer Ashley Talley and investigative producer Randall Kerr about their reporting.

 

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus