Our Sincere Medi-Share Overview after 14 years

My Medi-Share overview under was initially written in 2009 after I was investigating them however has been frequently up to date (now for 2023) as I”ve been utilizing them for over 10 years.  Hope it helps!  

In case you are in a self-employed state of affairs like myself or simply in search of a Christian medical insurance different, you could need to think about Medi-Share. 

It’s the different to medical insurance that I’ve been utilizing for a few years and for these questioning Medi-Share IS exempt from the Obamacare mandate. 

Whereas it primarily serves the identical function as medical insurance, they’re very clear that it’s NOT insurance coverage. They name it, “Christian Healthcare Sharing.” It presents primarily the entire advantages of medical insurance, however with decrease premiums.

They are saying the everyday household saves $500/month after switching.  

What’s Medi-Share?

Medi-Share = Insurance coverage?

Individuals are at all times asking me whether it is Christian Medical Insurance coverage.  Merely put, no Medi-Share isn’t insurance coverage, however most individuals wouldn’t actually be capable to inform a distinction. In keeping with their web site:

“Medi-Share shouldn’t be “Christian insurance coverage.” Fairly, it’s a well being care sharing program facilitated by Christian Care Ministry (CCM) by way of which a neighborhood of believers voluntarily come collectively to share the price of each other”s medical payments.

Members select to share with one another, ruled by member-voted tips. Though there isn’t any assure of sharing, Medi-Share members have been faithfully sharing one another”s medical payments for greater than 20 years, trusting the Lord to supply of their time of want by way of the voluntary items of different believers. Since 1993, greater than $1.5 billion in healthcare prices have been saved by way of sharing or discounting.”

How does Medi-Share work?

Every month all of the members pay their “share” (a set quantity relying on the plan you choose) into an account with their title on it to America”s Christian Credit score Union.

The funds in all of these accounts are what pay the member”s medical payments every month.

“Every plan primarily tallies medical claims every month, then divides by the variety of members, officers say. After subtracting for overhead and administrative bills, the remaining goes to pay claims.” 

The Medi-Share program is versatile with a number of decisions of program ranges, advantages, and naturally out-of-pocket expense. You might be given the choice of selecting your personal docs and hospital, however there are reductions accessible for utilizing networked professionals. 

In keeping with their web site:

“Members open their very own Sharing Account with America”s Christian Credit score Union. Every member family voluntarily contributes their Month-to-month Share into their Sharing Account.

For every member with eligible medical payments to be shared, Christian Care Ministry identifies a number of different members with ample funds of their accounts. CCM electronically transfers funds from every sharing member”s account into the account of the member with whom they’re sharing. CCM processes cost from the member”s account.”

From my expertise utilizing them, this sounds extra complicated than it really is.  

They do all this behind the scenes, in order a member I’m not concerned in any of that course of.

Our Up to date Medi-Share Overview

Extra updates are listed under, however Linda and I simply recorded a fast video answering a variety of widespread questions that we get:

Our Medi-Share video overview and what we pay every month

Is Medi-Share the Answer to Your Well being Insurance coverage Wants?

Until you might have a very good employer-sponsored medical insurance plan, otherwise you”re on Medicare, you”re most likely involved about your medical insurance.

A significant purpose is the price of premiums. They’ll simply be over $1,000 per thirty days for a household, and even for a pair. And that”s even if in case you have a excessive deductible. 

My spouse, Linda, and I really feel like we discovered an answer, or not less than one which works for us. It”s this Christian well being sharing ministry, known as Medi-Share. We”ve had it for our household since 2009, and have used it ever since. 

For these used to conventional medical insurance, it”s a bit unconventional. As I stated, it”s a Christian well being sharing ministry, which suggests it isn’t conventional medical insurance.

Nevertheless it fills the identical function, and in our expertise, it does it at solely a fraction of the fee. And simply as essential, it”s a service that”s in line with our religion values. We get a variety of questions on it, and that”s what I’d like to debate in our Medi-Share overview right here.

So what’s a Christian Well being Sharing Ministry?

As a Christian well being sharing ministry, Medi-Share is predicated on the religion neighborhood values and practices of the early Church. It was given throughout the neighborhood that every member would share each other”s burdens. In that method, members of Medi-Share share each other”s medical burdens.

They try this by contributing to this system by way of month-to-month contributions, known as “shares”. The contributions go right into a pool, the place it”s accessible to pay for the medical prices of members in want. Along with cost of a member”s medical prices, the neighborhood additionally help one another in prayer, and generally with private help. 

Medi-Share is a nonprofit group, and conducts this system alongside biblical rules.

What occurs whenever you go the physician?

They really do have a very good community of taking part docs, and in the event you use one the method is easy because the docs” places of work know the way it works. 

Nevertheless, we usually use docs from outdoors the community. That may add an additional step as a result of a variety of docs don’t understand how Medi-Share works. However we desire going to docs that we really feel comfy with, so we”ll make the additional effort. 

However even out-of-network, we merely clarify Medi-Share to the physician, they perform a little little bit of digging, after which invoice Medi-Share. Medi-Share will then negotiate a reduction on the providers, and we”ll pay the distinction out of pocket. 

For us, out of pocket is widespread, as a result of we use the best deductible plan Medi-Share presents. As is the case with conventional medical insurance, we do that to maintain the month-to-month contributions as little as doable. 

This isn’t a significant downside in our household, as a result of we largely go for routine checkups. There”s solely been one or two occasions the place we had to return for one thing a bit bit extra sophisticated. Similar to conventional medical insurance, the excessive deductible works effectively whenever you don’t go to the physician that always. 

Like talked about above, the only choice is to remain in-network together with your docs, however in the event you can’t, it simply requires a bit extra effort in your half. 

Right here is how they clarify it:

“When a medical occasion happens, you merely choose a community supplier from the Personal Healthcare Programs (PHCS) PPO community, which presents 700,000 suppliers nationwide! (Notice: Members might choose any supplier of their selecting, together with out-of-network suppliers, however in doing so might not profit from discounting of medical payments as with an in-network supplier.) Present your Medi-Share ID Card to the supplier, and pay your supplier charge–$35 preliminary cost for physician visits, $135 for an Emergency Room go to.

The physician”s workplace or hospital sends your payments to Medi-Share immediately. PHCS negotiates reductions, a mean adjustment of 30”“35% by staying in-network. Your Supplier Payment of $35 or $135 can be deducted from the full invoice. Medi-Share processes the payments for sharing and notifies you of any quantity you will need to pay immediately as a way to meet your Annual Family Portion.

For any quantities to be shared, Medi-Share transfers ample funds from different members” accounts into your account. Medi-Share notifies the sharing members of the recipient of their month-to-month share quantity. Share quantities are used to pay suppliers. As soon as the {dollars} are transferred, Medi-Share processes cost to the physician or hospital from the member”s share account.”

Medi-Share Price

How a lot does Medi-Share price anyway?

That is clearly a typical query, and the reply is for nearly everybody Medi-Share prices quite a bit lower than conventional medical insurance. They are saying that the everyday household saves about $500/month in comparison with medical insurance.

Once we switched from medical insurance to Medi-Share, our month-to-month contributions fell to solely about 50% of our earlier medical insurance premiums. And that”s with our household of 4. 

Now I stated now we have taken the best annual deductible to attenuate the month-to-month contribution. Our deductible is $10,000 per 12 months, which suggests Medi-Share doesn’t start paying our prices till we cross that threshold. 

However because of this, our month-to-month contribution is about $230. It”s based mostly on the age of the oldest member of the family, and that”s the contribution we”re paying with me at 37 years previous. 

The screenshot desk under offers you a fundamental thought what the month-to-month contributions are with various deductibles (known as the “annual family portion”). It”s based mostly on a household of 4, through which the oldest member is 40.

Discover that there are seven deductibles, starting from $500-$10,000.

On the far proper facet of the desk, you”ll see a heading, Wholesome Month-to-month Share. 

Medi-Share offers you a contribution low cost of as much as 20% in the event you meet sure well being requirements. These must do with very particular metrics for blood stress, belly circumference and physique mass index. So in the event you”re tremendous wholesome, your month-to-month contribution shall be decrease nonetheless.

What Are the {Qualifications} for Medi-Share?

One of the basic necessities of Medi-Share is that you will need to adhere to a biblical way of life to affix. As an example, they gained’t cowl abortions. Nor will you be lined in the event you”re injured in a drunk driving accident.

You should additionally abstain from using tobacco or unlawful medicine. That you must know these limitations, however you have to be good to go so long as you adhere to a biblical way of life.

Does Medi-Share Cowl Being pregnant and Adoptions?

We get this query quite a bit, and it”s a very good one. Merely put, your being pregnant associated bills shall be lined so long as you”re making your month-to-month contributions.

How lengthy do it’s a must to wait to get pregnant?

From the horse”s mouth:

“Pregnant Members with an Annual Family Portion (assume annual deductible) of $1,250 or larger who’ve faithfully shared from the month of conception by way of the month of supply are eligible for maternity sharing.”

We haven’t been by way of the being pregnant expertise, however now we have been by way of two adoptions with them. They do cowl sure bills there as effectively. Adoptions could be very costly, and we received about $4,000 again on our first one 4 years in the past. On our second adoption we solely received again $1,500, however by then we had opted for the upper deductible.

What About Buyer Service?

Once we first began working with Medi-Share, the wait occasions to get customer support would run 40 minutes to an hour. They”ve improved on this fairly a bit since. However what now we have discovered is that they”re constantly useful anytime we converse with them. 

We additionally sometimes discover that they pray with us on the finish of the dialog. As Christians, we discover this comforting.

Why we go for the excessive deductible plan

That is actually a private factor. As I stated earlier, we set the deductible excessive to maintain the month-to-month contributions low. And since we”re a reasonably wholesome household, it”s been working effectively up to now.

Lots of people are doing that now with conventional medical insurance as effectively. We work across the excessive deductible by budgeting a certain quantity every month for out-of-pocket medical bills.

It”s form of like an off-the-cuff well being emergency fund, prepared if we want it. You just about have to try this if in case you have a excessive deductible with any program. In a method, it”s a bit like self-insuring, not less than for the primary $10,000.

Nevertheless it”s comforting to know that Medi-Share pays 100% of medical prices above that annual deductible.

What we like about it

• With typical insurance coverage, you pay a month-to-month premium, however don’t know the place the cash goes. With Medi-Share you might be knowledgeable of who you might be sharing with every month ”“ you’ll be able to then pray and ship letters of help for these members.
• For many members, there’s a substantial price financial savings over medical insurance. Most households can save $2,000 a 12 months.
• They assist cowl adoption bills (they despatched us a examine for $3,000 after our adoption!)
• They’ve been working for 25 years.
• The members vote and make the foundations. So annually the members vote on what is going to and gained’t be lined.
• There isn’t a restrict on the quantity of payments that may be shared by members.

Medi-share vs different well being sharing ministries

Once we had been purchasing round for a health-sharing service there have been just a few keys that we had been in search of that in the end led us to Medi-Share:

1. They needed to have been round a very long time and had an extended historical past of paying payments.

I needed to be very assured that no matter medical payments we had can be lined. Medi-share was the very best that we discovered for each of these objects.

2. I didn’t need to be mailing checks to different members. 

In idea, I appreciated the thought of members bodily mailing checks to one another to cowl payments, in actuality I used to be rather more fascinated with one thing that functioned just like the medical insurance that I used to be used to. With Medi-share we simply give our “insurance coverage card” to the physician or often ship a invoice to Medi-share they usually care for the remaining.  No mailing checks to members each different day or coping with checks not displaying up after I want them.  (If you happen to would like that, take a look at this comparability of Medishare vs Samaritan ministries)

3. It needed to be easy.  

Medi-share has achieved a surprisingly good job of protecting issues easy. Within the medical insurance world (and sharing ministries) there are sometimes so many complexities with plans, deductibles, copays, and many others. they usually have made the entire course of comparatively easy.

Different elements that set Medi-share other than different Christian well being sharing ministries:

• Just one AHP (aka deductible) per household
• No caps, no annual or lifetime limits
• No requalification for membership
• 98% buyer satisfaction
• They use a Nationwide PPO Community
• 24/7 Telehealth service included without spending a dime

Issues to concentrate on

In case you are researching them you might be most likely questioning what are the disadvantages of Medi-Share? Effectively, listed here are some issues that I see that you have to be conscious of…

• You need to be accepted into this system not everyone seems to be accepted.  And you will need to conform to their Assertion of Religion.
• You should adhere to residing a Biblical way of life as a way to preserve your membership. Not doing so can get you expelled from this system and can doubtless nullify any claims you might have as effectively.
• “Medi-Share doesn’t share in all prices. All members vote on a yearly foundation what prices to share. Routine physicals and well being upkeep prices are at the moment not eligible for sharing.”
• Membership shouldn’t be denied attributable to pre-existing situations; nonetheless, there are tips in place regarding pre-ex-that restrict sharing of pre-existing situations.

Closing Ideas on Medi-Share

Linda and I are each very comfy with Medi-Share.

Greater than anything, it’s largely a matter of getting comfy with one thing completely different. Certainly one of our greatest issues once we had been contemplating it was that we’d be going through an enormous medical invoice and that the members would simply resolve to not “share” with us to cowl it. 

After speaking to the Medi-Share consultant, it appears like that isn’t a lot of a priority in the event you observe the foundations. She defined that within the final 24 years each eligible want has been lined (shared or discounted). However “eligible” is the important thing phrase right here. 

For instance, she informed me a narrative of a member who was in a nasty automotive accident requiring a number of medical work, however because the individual was intoxicated once they received into the accident, the expense was not lined by Medi-Share. On one hand, I feel you need to give the man a break, however on the similar time, it’s the strict guidelines and insurance policies that make this system work.

The entire level is that by residing a Biblical way of life you’ll be more healthy, subsequently have fewer medical bills. From what I perceive, they usually use leftover funds to even assist cowl ineligible bills like these as a gesture of grace. 

It looks as if this system is ideal for wholesome Christians who’re dedicated to the Biblical way of life. If you have already got many well being situations or are susceptible to lapses into substance abuse, it could not be price it. In case you are fascinated with studying extra simply click on the hyperlink under to get pricing data from them, and I’d counsel calling them to ask every other questions that you’ve got.

$100 Medi-Share Signup Bonus

As a member of Medi-Share they offer us a bonus for referring new members, so in the event you resolve to enroll and allow them to know that Bob Lotich referred you I’m pleased to share that bonus with you! 

I’m pleased to ship you a $100 Amazon present card as a thanks! Simply e mail me right here in the event you do. 

I’d love to listen to different Medi-Share critiques from different members so if in case you have had expertise with Medi-Share, please share about it within the feedback I lately chatted with a buddy of mine who makes use of Samaritan Ministries as their medical insurance different and you may pay attention to that dialog under to listen to the variations between them and Medi-Share!