Posted on 01/28/2020 8:51:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind
I heard this company advertising a ton on Sirius Satellite Radio. Have no first hand experience myself but my caution light always goes on when I hear some outfit selling a good or service under the guise of a ministry. They might be perfectly legitimate, but I don’t think I’ll be giving up my employer plan to find out....
RE: I don’t think I’ll be giving up my employer plan to find out....
Don’t replace your employer plan for a health sharing ministry. This is only for those who DO NOT HAVE HEALTHCARE from an employer.
No financials backed up by any state or federal protection laws is enough of a red flag.
They can drop your coverage without any warning leaving you with unpaid bills.
All states have a guarantee fund so that if a insurance co goes bankrupt the fund will pay off your claims, annuity or life insurance benefit.
When Hubs lis2t his job and insurance we checked them out. The claim that you save lots of money per month is true enough, or can be, but each member pays an ANNUAL member fee of $10,000 and more.
These days, thanks to 0 care, many people pay well into five figures for crappy insurance.
Our family of 6 has been with them for 18 years, thru several surgeries, numerous other medical cost of just living. Saved thousands and thousands of bucks. Zero problems dealing with medical providers. Same for other extended family and friends.
The description in article is accurate in our experience, it really is a community of 400,000 caring Christian people.
It works and is less expensive because its a communty of people following the Christian faith. As a whole they are much healthier than a random sample of the population.
May not be for everyone. But they are who they say they are.
I can personally vouch that this works.
I had to have cataract surgery in 2018, members all reimbursed me.
This is the way to go if you attend Church weekly and are self employed.
Mine is called Samaritan Ministries.
What I don’t like is even the revised tax code doesn’t allow us to deduct what we pay for others healthcare, aka the same thing the rest of the world calls premiums.
but each member pays an ANNUAL member fee of $10,000 and more.
We`ve been members for 18 years, I’m 61 my wife 59, we share
$717/month for total of $8604/year with a total combined deductible of 4250. Raised 4 kids using them, our experience better than dealing withinsurance company.
What I don’t like is even the revised tax code doesn’t allow us to deduct what we pay for others healthcare, aka the same thing the rest of the world calls premiums.
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That’s true, but you can only deduct if the healthcare cost is more than 7 percent of income, I believe. Plus the cost savings way outlway the lost deduction. We’re with Christian Care Medishae-Share
"They can drop your coverage without any warning leaving you with unpaid bills."
Do you have any examples of "dropped coverage"??
We've had all of our needs met at 20% of the cost of the best standard insurance policy.
The Doc's love it because their staff doesn't have to waste time processing claims.
The cash discounts we get for tests and x-rays are amazing!
Where do you get that notion??
“They can drop your coverage without any warning leaving you with unpaid bills.”
You have zero state safeguards. If those Medi-share companies start losing money they can pull out of your state and there is nothing you can do.
Read the fine print. They say it is possible they may not have the money to pay your claims. It’s not guaranteed.
Health Insurance companies have to by law have safeguards in place and have so much in reserves to pay claims.
“The cash discounts we get for tests and x-rays are amazing! “
I bet you are paying more than what a negotiated rate is with say Blue Cross or United Health Care
Hmmm... I could be wrong , it may have been another Christian medical cost sharing plan. You may be grandfathered into a different plan??
Just looking the website now there’s this:
“Instead of an insurance deductible, each member’s household selects an Annual Household Portion (AHP) that they must pay during a 12 month period based on the date their membership began. After the AHP has been paid, provider bills for services rendered during that 12 month period may be eligible for sharing. For additional information, see Share Amount Details below.”
Perhaps, considering it’s January now, and when I looked at it 2 years ago it was July - the 6 month payment schedule was accelerated to meet the annual cost in a shorter time?
But in any case, running the numbers listed now, it is between $13 - 14,000 a year for fees.
We have been with Christian Care Medishare for TWENTY-ONE YEARS. It is less expensive than health insurance. There is a code of conduct (so to speak) and other requirements and certain limitations.
I can understand the reasons why some would be opposed to it. It is not perfect. It is very good alternative for a lot of people. They are more responsive and more helpful than your big insurance companies.
No one forces you to join Medishare (or the similar sharing ministries).
BTW - if the NYT said it was a good thing wouldn’t you be suspicious?
We did end up buying the second cheapest plan on the NY Marketplace (what utter crap) and it cost us $800 a month with a $7,000 deductible.
Any hospital or other medical bill would cost us 50% until the out of pocket of ... $14,000+?? was met.
And we had no income and were not eligible for any financial assistance.
It was less expensive than the Christian medical sharing program we looked at.
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HA!.....$26 for a chest x-ray!
Let me know the first time that happens.
Our COBRA for so-so company insurance is about $1,600 a month...just for comparison sake.
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