Christian Healthcare Ministries the group my wife and I are members of was founded in 1981... and allowed people to share over a billion dollars in healthcare expenses. I would assume that in the 36 years that the organization has been in existence that the average age of the members stabilized long ago. I do not think that this is the explanation as to why the "premiums" are so much lower for the "coverage" received.
for example the individuals might be more willing to forgo the last few months of heroic treatment for cancer as an altruistic strategy for the greater good.
No one is being asked to forgo heroic treatments for any conditions that I am aware of. I am not sure that you have a great understanding of where the true waste is in our healthcare system. For whatever reason... health cost sharing ministries are able to offer far greater benefit for far less expense than traditional insurance. Maybe just maybe this should be explored further by our brilliant leadership?
Christian Healthcare Ministries the group my wife and I are members of was founded in 1981...
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I’m curious as to whether you or anyone you know has had to use them for a major illness. I got the impression that for one of them, a person would receive checks from other members to pay for a major illness. That would be a tremendous burden for a seriously ill person to keep all of it straight.
A quick GOOGLE indicates the CHM requires participants 65 and older to Carry Medicare A & B, which would largely address my concerns about any possible upwards drift in the average age of participants - it would appear that for these members CHM is in effect similar to Medicare supplemental plans.
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CHM’s financials are available “on request”, but apparently are not routinely published on-line - and this would be the place to start in understanding the economics of the program.
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In the case of health care coverage, “The Devil is in the details”, for example it appears that coverage for birth defects and congenital conditions is limited to $25,000, and these are potentially some of the most expensive conditions to treat. Nothing wrong with this exclusion - as long as members are aware of it - but it is an example of an important type of coverage limitation allowed because this is not “insurance”.
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I wasn’t suggesting that any particular Insurance Plan would encourage members to choose palliative care over heroic EOL measures, rather that the the membership of *any* such mutual aid society might be more likely to “be on the same page” (whatever page that is) than a similar group of insured drawn from the public at large.