Health Sharing Plans The Way To Go Instead Of Insurance?

Due to the ACA, my family recently decided to go with a health sharing plan instead of "insurance". Our insurance went through the roof. I have to pay for insurance myself and my premiums got up to around $950.00 a month due to the ACA. My deductible was $6500.00. Pretty ridiculous, and was going to put me in a bit of a tight spot so to speak.

A friend turned me on to a health sharing plan. I was pretty reluctant until I looked into the history of the company. I decided to take the leap and go with the health sharing company called Medishare. It is a Christian based health sharing company. This is just the one we decided to go with. Although it is not technically insurance, it is what an insurance company should be. My premium is now $337.00 a month with a $5,000.00 deductible.

They don't call it a premium or a deductible but it is essentially the same thing. One downside to these companies is that you are not guaranteed that you will be able to share your health care bills with the other members, but the company I looked into had a spotless record from the early ninety's on.

I will let you guys know how the next year goes. In the meantime some of you guys may want to check out some of these companies, or not. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

While you could sign up using the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, an alternative option exists for people who cannot afford new plans – or object to buying one for religious reasons. These alternative plans, offered by health care sharing ministries, are not represented as traditional insurance, but as ministries that allow people to share their health expenses for the common good.

“A health care sharing ministry (HCSM) provides a health care cost sharing arrangement among persons of similar and sincerely held beliefs,” the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries states on its website. “HCSMs are not-for-profit religious organizations acting as a clearinghouse for those who have medical expenses and those who desire to share the burden of those medical expenses.”

According to the HCSM, health care sharing ministries currently cover 300,000 people in all 50 states.

Here is a link that goes more into these type of health sharing plans.

It might be something worth looking into for some of you.

My dad told me about this trend a few days ago.
Isn't the payout done according to a "Board" of people, who decide which healthcare costs to pay for and for whom, and the rate of approval is 75%?
What if your catastrophic injury requires a million bucks initially then tens of thousands in the years after?
What has been your findings regarding complaints people have with their Medishare plan"
Edit to add:

"goal of health care reform, though, is to ensure that people have broad coverage for health care and a protected from the financial risks of serious illness or injury. According to MIT economics professor John Gruber, health care sharing ministries violate that goal. They can go bankrupt and leave their customers in the lurch, because they aren’t required to maintain a certain amount of solvency. They aren’t required by law to cover specific services. So if the members decide the ministry shouldn’t cover something, for whatever reason, even if it’s something expensive, you won’t have coverage for it" -Link

a reply to: kkrattiger

Yes there is for sure risk in the sharing. Like I said and they openly state, it is not insurance. It's an alternative for health care coverage. It's certainly not fair to make it sound like these sharing plans will leave you hanging out to dry. All you have to do is be honest with them.

If you say you don't smoke, yet you do, then come down with lung cancer from it, guess what? It's probably not going to qualify for sharing. Makes sense right?

Or you say you don't drink alcohol, but somehow develop sclerosis of the liver......probably not going to qualify for sharing. After all, you lied essentially to the other members about your lifestyle, and now they are expected to pay the bills for your lies and bad choices? Doesn't sound fair to the other members does it? Probably because it's not.

Honestly you just have to investigate each company and the way they do things. Then weigh your pros and cons. Not every health sharing co. is the same.

If you can comfortably afford it, insurance may be the way to go.

Or if your teenage daughter didnt tell you she was pregnant, and did something really stupid like go across a border for a "back alley" abortion" which perforates her uterine wall, Medishare probably wouldnt pay.
moral superiority.
Furthermore,
Isnt this board of judges the equivalent of a "death panel"?

This is a good topic to talk about, thanks for the thread. I appreciate your evenhanded tone.
a reply to: solongandgoodnight

a reply to: kkrattiger

a death panel.............honestly, it's all a matter of perspective isn't it? insurance might be considered the same thing to some. to others maybe it's not.

Short post, gawd I feel for you folks......$900.00 plus a month! I don't belong in this thread but I had to let you all know that this really disturbs me.

My god its a scary thought just thinking about paying that much money.

Good luck to you all my American friends!
Regards, Iwinder