Member falls eight feet to concrete floor, sees catastrophic costs reduced by $240,000, Mistie Parks, Denton, TX

In over 20 years of marriage our family had never experienced a true emergency. Less than a year after we joined CHM, however, disaster struck and we found the ministry equal to the task of helping us put our lives back together.

In early 2017 I was transitioning to self-employment and looking for a budget-friendly healthcare solution for me and our two teens, Karis and Colin. A dear friend recommended CHM; the kids and I joined that April. Meanwhile, my husband, Glen, remained on his employer’s health insurance plan.

In September Glen was laid off and started working instead for a roofing company. At that time we added him to our CHM membership.

In March 2018 he was at a client’s home inspecting a roof repair when he fell eight feet from the top of a ladder onto the concrete below.

Incredibly, Glen had no substantial head injuries, but eight broken ribs landed him in the hospital for six days.

I rushed to the hospital after getting the call that Glen had been badly hurt. However, even before I learned he would recover, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace.

Of course, the question of cost had crossed my mind since we had never used CHM’s services before, but overriding these thoughts was a sense that I just needed to focus on Glen and that God would provide for our needs as long as we trusted Him.

Shortly after Glen was discharged from the hospital, he suffered complications and had to return for another week. After both stays I called CHM and the staff walked me through what to expect and what steps to take. They encouraged me not to worry and assured me that both hospitalizations would be part of the same medical incident. (Editor’s note: For the definition of a medical incident, see Guideline G or our glossary page.)

Each time we received a new medical bill, I called the healthcare provider’s billing office to ask for the discounted self-pay rate. I notified CHM each time and diligence paid off: more than $268,000 was reduced to less than $28,000!

The ministry shared the remaining charges and we marveled at God’s provision. During that time I worked mostly with Tina Mickunas in CHM’s Member Advocate department and Laura Mills in the Needs Processing department. I want to thank them especially for always being encouraging and quick to respond to my emails.

Today Glen is doing very well and we’re so thankful for the lesson of relying on God when things in our lives were spiraling out of control. He was walking with us every step of the way.

You never want to think about the possibility that serious medical events can happen, but when they do it’s such a comfort to be part of a program you can rely on. I wasn’t sure about the ministry at first because we’d never been part of anything like it before, but now I can say that CHM has been and done more than we ever could have imagined or hoped. Without CHM we would have paid thousands of dollars in medical costs.

Thank you, CHM, for being a testament to God’s faithfulness and provision. Being members has been a great learning opportunity for us.