Celebrating40Years

We’re grateful you’re sharing content about Christian Healthcare Ministries! To help make the most of our partnership, please use this guide as a helpful tool and resource as you share your CHM story.

Below you’ll find important information about messaging, programs and solutions, and more. You’ll also find examples you can use to craft your own pieces!

Talking about CHM

Since CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry—not insurance—we wanted to give you this guide to use when creating content about our ministry.

Terms to use

These terms are great ways to explain how CHM works. Feel free to use these in any combination to cater them to your writing/content style. The bolded terms are words that are helpful to include and should be used in their current form:
  • Health cost sharing ministry
  • Original health cost sharing ministry
  • First health cost sharing ministry with independent accreditation
  • Medical bills are submitted for sharing
  • Eligibility is determined by the CHM Guidelines
  • CHM has members, a biblical community of believers
  • CHM members give monthly contributions
  • CHM operates on a unit system.
  • Members are in a covenant, not a contract, with each other.
  • CHM members have a personal cost that they must pay on their own, up to a set Personal Responsibility / Qualifying Amount
  • Faith-based healthcare solution
  • Programs (CHM Gold, CHM Silver, CHM Bronze, CHM SeniorShare™, CHM Plus)
  • Maternity Care Solution
  • Virtual Care Solution
  • Advantages or perks

Terms to avoid

Because we aren’t insurance, legally, the following terms can’t be used when explaining CHM:

  • Christian insurance/business
  • Plans
  • Claims
  • Cover/coverage (can be used when referring to traditional insurance only, see below for more details about these distinctions)
  • Clients
  • Premium
  • Deductible
  • Out-of-pocket
  • Contract
  • Benefits
  • Other insurance references (unless making an appropriate comparison as defined in the section below)

Comparisons to insurance

  • As you create content for your audience, you may want to explain the differences between traditional insurance and CHM. This is welcome in these specific situations: Where you are sharing facts about your personal story, AND the distinction between CHM and traditional insurance is made clear. CHM isn’t insurance; it’s a ministry that meets members’ healthcare costs. In every instance a comparison is made, it must be stated that CHM isn’t insurance. This distinction is legally necessary and must be included.  “CHM isn’t insurance: it’s a voluntary health cost sharing ministry, where members share each other’s medical costs.”
  • “Though not insurance, CHM shares 100% of qualifying medical bills, more than the typical 70% or 80% of medical bills paid by insurance companies.”
  • “With CHM, though it's not insurance, members could save more on healthcare costs compared to current traditional insurance rates.”
  • “Personal Responsibility works somewhat like a deductible, but is different since CHM isn’t insurance, giving you the advantage of…”
  • “CHM shares 100% of qualifying medical bills, unlike some insurance plans that may only cover 80% or 70%...”
  • “CHM is an affordable, faith-based alternative to health insurance.”
CHM cannot be presented as insurance in any way, nor have any information that may mislead prospective members to believe CHM is insurance. For instance, these phrases are unable to be used:
  • CHM is Christian insurance. [CHM is not insurance.]
  • CHM acts like a Christian insurance. [CHM does not act like insurance.]
  • CHM is better than insurance—it’s biblical! [It’s not listed here that CHM is not insurance.]

Sharing your story

As you think about creating content that reflects both your brand and CHM’s ministry, there might be in-depth topics you’d like to address. If one of those topics isn’t found on this page, please reach out. We’re happy to help you create content that supports your story and creativity! 

You're welcome to share why you sought an alternative to your previous solution, what you like about CHM, and how it makes sense financially for your family, etc.

We know that you want to be authentic with your audience, and we want to support you in that effort. That’s why it’s vital that readers, viewers, or listeners to a CHM message not be given the unintentional impression that CHM operates like insurance. 

Framing CHM as insurance (or a type of insurance in any way) could cause distrust in your audience and their perceptions of your content. CHM is not, and will never be, health insurance, and cannot be referred to as such. In that vein, insurance terms (deductible, benefit, premium, etc.) should never be used to describe CHM’s services to members.

Pre-existing conditions

Due to the context-specific nature of pre-existing conditions, we encourage you to refrain from going in-depth about how pre-existing conditions can be shared. Instead, please encourage your audience to reach out to us with these types of questions. With that in mind, here is some general information you can share:

CHM has two options to share maintained pre-existing conditions: Gold Schedule and CHM Give. For detailed information regarding pre-existing conditions, as well as the definition of maintained vs. active conditions, please reach out to CHM. You can also check out the CHM Guidelines for more information.

Programs

CHM has four different programs, plus an add-on for catastrophic illnesses.

Programs

CHM Gold

$299 per unit, per month

CHM Silver

$169 per unit, per month

  • Shares medical incidents totaling above the Qualifying Amount of $3,000 per unit (as long as all other Guidelines are met), up to $125,000 per illness.
  • Annual Personal Responsibility (PR) of $3,000 per unit.
  • Maternity has a separate Personal Responsibility of $5,000, which can be reduced by $500 if members call CHM within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.

CHM Bronze

$115 per unit, per month

  • Shares medical incidents totaling above the Qualifying Amount of $6,000 per unit (as long as all other Guidelines are met), up to $125,000 per illness.
  • Annual Personal Responsibility (PR) of $6,000 per unit.
  • Maternity has a separate Personal Responsibility of $9,000, which can be reduced by $500 if members call CHM within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.

CHM Plus (formerly known as Brother's Keeper)

$42 per unit, per month

CHM Plus is a program for medical bills exceeding the $125,000 per-illness sharing limit in our regular three programs.

CHM SeniorShare™

$119 per unit, per month

As healthcare costs increase, it’s wise to be ready if a medical event occurs. Though Medicare Parts A and B likely will cover the majority of your healthcare costs, it’s not uncommon for seniors to find themselves with large dollar amounts of unpaid medical bills.

As CHM members approach retirement age, they can have great comfort in knowing that CHM participation can continue without interruption into the next phase of life. If you have Medicare Parts A and B, you’re eligible for this comprehensive CHM program at a senior-friendly price.

Solutions

CHM Care Solutions are perks included in your CHM Membership. It's a collection of specialized care solutions that help with medical needs such as virtual primary and urgent care, maternity, surgery, cancer, and more. Discover out-of-pocket savings, superior treatment options, and spiritual support.

Virtual Care Solution

CHM’s Virtual Care Solution (VCS), powered by HealthTap, provides easy access to same-day or same-week virtual visits with board-certified doctors.

With primary care appointments at your fingertips, you can pick one doctor you trust for ongoing care. Additionally, CHM members can also video chat with an on-call doctor in the virtual urgent care clinic for minor, acute issues, even on weekends and holidays.

The best part? Both types of virtual visits are included as part of CHM membership.

It’s your doctor, just one tap away. Learn more about the perks of VCS here.

Prescription Care Solution

With our Prescription Care Solution (PCS), we provide tips and resources for CHM members to save money on prescriptions.

Complete Surgical Care Solution

CHM members who have a diagnosis and a surgery recommendation can reach out to our Complete Surgical Care Solution (CSCS) experts. They’ll help you find high-quality providers, coordinate your care, arrange travel, and pay your provider directly.

In fact, members who use CSCS experience a number of perks, including quality healthcare, out-of-pocket savings, and a simplified experience.

Maternity Care Solution

Join before conception to have your pregnancy bills shared in full. Find the best care in your area with access to our experienced nurse and maternity resources. If you call us within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, you also get $500 off your Personal Responsibility (PR).

Our Maternity Care Solution resource provides the essentials for your maternity journey. If you’re ready to grow your family, we also encourage you to check out this page.

Please note: Women must have joined CHM at least 300 days before the estimated delivery date for bills to be eligible for sharing. Please see the CHM Guidelines for more information.

Cancer Care Solution

At CHM, we recognize that cancer is not just a medical condition—it is a life-altering journey that affects the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. That’s why our Cancer Care Solution (CCS) offers a simplified experience, out-of-pocket savings, and staff who will walk alongside you throughout your cancer journey.

Sharing Process

Here is a simple way to talk about CHM’s sharing process. Feel free to copy and paste this as you create content.

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1. Choose a healthcare provider

The freedom to choose quality care — no network needed.

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2. Submit eligible bills

Answer a few simple questions and upload medical bills within minutes. 

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3. Receive funds

Your CHM family takes care of your eligible medical bills. It's that easy!

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*The average process varies, but the “clock” begins the day CHM receives all necessary medical documents for the incident or illness.

 

CHM is here to help

As you create content, your audience will likely have questions about how CHM works. If you ever receive a comment or direct message and you’re not quite sure how to answer, please tag our account (@iheartchm) or message us directly. We’re happy to assist you! If you receive tricky messages, we ask you to reach out to us first prior to responding. We’re here to help.

If in doubt, please ask and submit content or responses to us for review. Your personal CHM experience is well-known to you; however, if you’re working on a piece and a question comes to mind, send it over and we’ll be happy to provide support. Additionally, there may be times when your pieces delve into nuances of CHM’s practices. For your protection, and the ministry’s, reviews for all types of content creation are required to make sure inadvertent miscommunication doesn’t occur.