We've talked before about Medi-Share and Maternity and I wanted to give a current update on this important topic.

My wife recently gave birth to our second child. We did a home birth with midwives, and as a slight aside, I would highly recommend considering that route if you anticipate a low-risk pregnancy. Home births are more comfortable, treat pregnancy/birth as a significant family event rather than a purely medical one, have lower c-section rates, and tend to be much less expensive. 

Whether you choose to consider the home birth option or go the traditional hospital route, the process is similar in terms of billing.

You begin by letting Medi-Share know that the mother is pregnant.

Medi-Share sends you a Maternity Packet and sets up a call to discuss any questions you have on how billing works.

As you go along, bills are sent directly to Medi-Share. This includes blood work, ultrasounds, and the global bill at the end.

They negotiate the best discount they can, and you'll then receive a bill for the remainder if you're under your AHP (deductible). Otherwise they pay the bill for you.

The baby is automatically a member from birth so long as the parents are members. The only thing you need to do is fill out a form at some point in the month after the birth. 

The amount you pay per month will increase if it's your first child, and usually stay the same if it's your second or more child. 

I've talked elsewhere in this blog about Medi-Share's negotiation of discounts for member bills, and it's impressive. All bills show up as soon as Medi-Share receives them in your online member's portal. The bill below is an example. It's for a lot of the early blood tests including a Complete Blood Count from Quest Diagnostics which is part of the PHCS network. 

What's it like once you join Medi-Share? There are many customer service options for speaking directly with representatives over phone or email. With that said, most of what you'll want to do on a day-to-day basis is done either automatically or through their member's portal.

The easiest way to make your monthly payment, for example, is to have it automatically debited from your bank account. Here's the most recent payment for our family:

​$177 per month is all that we pay for our family of three, and we have it set to be paid each month from our Bank of America account. 

When you go to Medi-Share logged in as a member, here are the options you see in the Member Center:
​

​See a Doctor Now: Free 24/7 Online Doctor Appointments as discussed here.

Find a Provider: Search easily for an in-network doctor or specialist near you as discussed more here.

EFT/Auto Payments: Setting up the automatic payments we talked about earlier in this blog entry.

Forms: For example, if you'd like to change your AHP (deductible) at any time there is an online form for this.

Guidelines: If you're unsure about whether a particular type of medical expense will be eligible for sharing, find out right away in the guidelines section.

ID Cards: You can print out extra copies of your main Medi-Share Christian Health Insurance card or Dental/Vision card.

Medical Bill Status: As soon as Medi-Share receives your medical bill, they will add it to your member portal for you to be able to see what you were charged for, how much of a discount they negotiated, and and any amount that you still have to pay (such as before you've reached your AHP).

Refer a Friend: Medi-Share's referral program. My family and I are part of this program by the way, and if you or any friends/family are considering joining, we would be so grateful if you used our link to learn more information.

Medi-Share runs a charity program to pay for the medical expenses of families in need. It's called Extra Blessings. Our referrals allow us to make a monthly donation to fund this program as well as to continue maintaining this Medi-Share Reviews Site.

I had several emails recently with Sandy N. of Stuart, FL. With her permission, I share our correspondence.

Sandy

I wanted to write in and thank you for your review of Medishare. I became a member in August of last year after finding your site and getting the information packet that told me exactly how it worked, and what we would pay, in simple clear language. We used to have health insurance through my husband's job, but then he was laid off and we lost it. Now he works two part-time jobs and I wanted to find something we could afford.

The cheapest I found online was about $700 a month for the two of us and we couldn't afford that. 

I looked at Medishare options, and saw we could pay just $158!

They were so nice too. But still, I didn't know how it would work when I actually had medical expenses. So let me tell you what happened. The next month I needed a checkup and blood test. I gave them my card and they sent the bill directly to Medishare.

I didn't expect to save any money, because we have a high annual household portion (their version of the deductible). But when I got the bill in the mail, they had negotiated a huge discount for me. I called them to ask and was told that is just part of the service they provide and they will always do that for their members.

I am so happy I went with Medishare.

Me

Hi Sandy, thank you very much for your email. I am very happy to hear about your great experience with Medi-Share. Could I publish it in my blog? And could you tell us exactly how much you saved with this discount?

Sandy

Sure, and I'll tell you what, I don't have that first bill anymore but here's the most recent one. (I just blacked out all the personal information). You can put that on your blog so everyone can see. This is for lab work that's not covered under we have, so I expected to pay the full amount.

​But they got almost 90% knocked off this bill, and that has been common for me so far. I'm not sure how it works, but even paying so little a month and having a high deductible, our out-of-pocket payments have been lower than they were with our normal insurance before.

​From my experience, everything Sandy says is exactly right. MediShare goes to bat for their members and routinely negotiates discounts of 70-90% off the normal bill.

How much do you save on your medical bills with MediShare?