Donna Hogan, Cincinnati, OH

For years, my husband Jerry experienced pain in his left knee. Then the healthcare law went into effect and our options became limited. We knew we wouldn’t be able to meet the high deductibles of the insurance plans available to us. We searched for alternatives and joined CHM in 2016.

Several months later Jerry’s pain worsened and we learned he had a choice: either get a full knee replacement or quit his full-time job. We reviewed CHM’s Gold level pre-existing conditions sharing policy* and decided to proceed with the surgery.

I called CHM several times and asked what I needed to do. Each time I called, staff was extremely kind and helped me understand what to do to make things go smoothly.

Per their advice, I talked with the surgeon’s office, hospital and anesthesiologist to ask for discounts and arrange payment plans until CHM shared our bills. The hospital’s financial counselor strongly encouraged us to complete the financial assistance application.**

We were pleased to receive 80 percent in discounts on our hospital and therapy bill, a 70 percent discount on our surgeon’s bill and a 60 percent discount on our anesthesiologist’s bill. The CHM staff’s direction on how to request discounts made this happen. I wouldn’t have known how else to proceed. Also, our discounts were credited our Personal Responsibility amount.

After discounts of nearly $55,000, CHM members shared $15,000 through the Gold program’s sharing schedule. We felt we could handle some of our smaller bills above that amount, so we chose not to participate in being listed on the CHM newsletter’s Prayer Page for additional help. Jerry didn’t want to burden other CHM members with expenses we knew we could bear.

Since surgery, Jerry is doing much better. He returned to work part-time for two weeks and increased to six hours per day the following two weeks. He is now back to working full-time.

During his recovery, God taught us patience. Jerry hoped he would be doing better than he was after the first six weeks, but he still shows continued improvement each day. Doctors say recovery often takes a full year.

Thank you, CHM, for your financial support. We often recommend the ministry to others.

*Editor’s note: Information about CHM’s two programs for pre-existing conditions—the Gold sharing schedule and the Prayer Page—is in Guidelines Z and AA (chministries.org/guidelines).

**CHM is secondary to all other payment sources according to CHM Guideline N.2. Therefore, applying for financial assistance is a membership requirement.