Reader James S. of Pensacola, FL was kind enough to write in telling me his family joined Medi-Share at the start of this year after seeing our main Medi-Share review. He writes:

"So far everything went very smooth. We get to see all our same doctors in-network. Our deductible is high but that means we pay something like $2000/month less than we would with Obamacare insurance. Plus Medi Share lowered most of the bills we've gotten by at least half just like you said."

Besides this great report about his Medi-Share experience, he also asked me about a quote from Senator Rand Paul. I hadn't seen it before but was immediately interested as I'm a fan of both Dr. Rand Paul and his father Dr. Ron Paul. Both are conservative men of faith who are also doctors and significantly more qualified to speak about health and medicine than the average DC politician.

While it comes from a couple of years ago, Sen. Paul's quote is particularly apt today. He says:

"That's why I am big on these buying plans. You know there are Christian organizations where people join together. I think it's Medi-share—join together and they get cheaper prices. I want everybody in America to have access to something like that."

​The article says he wants more competition and for consumers to be king again. These are both vital goals. If you go to a mechanic, you can find out exactly how much something will cost beforehand. They compete for your business and reviews. It should be the same with healthcare. Doctors need to compete for our business.

Health being most important is an argument for competition rather than against it. And Dr. Paul sees Christian healthcare sharing ministries such as Medi-Share as being vital in this process of putting the power back in the consumer's hands.​

When our daughter was born, her head had an elongated shape. This type of cone-headed appearance is apparently very common and usually goes back to normal soon. 

At age 3 months, however, our pediatrician said she had plagiocephaly and torticollis. These two difficult-to-pronounce words--indicating issues with head shape and neck movement--weren't what we wanted to hear! But in addition to having faith in God's plan, we were also very glad to hear that these conditions were correctable. We needed to get her a cranial band (sometimes called a cranial helmet, although hers was not a full helmet) that she would wear for a few months. 

The cranial band is a specialized type of treatment requiring advanced imaging techniques and has a very limited number of providers. The best one, from our research, was a company called Cranial Technologies. We drove her three hours to the nearest Cranial Tech location in Orlando where an extremely nice woman named Kristina took measurements. Sure enough, the measurements strongly supported the band. 

Let's skip ahead for a moment and look at a picture of her sleeping outside while wearing her band:

So all turned out well, but before then something very interesting happened with insurance. 

Cranial bands to treat plagiocephaly are a very time-sensitive treatment. After the baby is several months old, time starts working against you as babies' heads become more set and making changes becomes increasingly difficult. If you know you need to use a cranial helmet treatment, you want to start as soon as possible. 

We were surprised, then, when Cranial Tech told us the next step was usually a 2-week wait for insurance company approval. In particular, they contact the insurance company and try to convince them that the band is a necessary medical procedure. Most insurance companies ultimately refuse to pay for this specialized treatment, but if you just get the treatment when it's needed without prior authorization from the insurance company, then you have no chance of being reimbursed. 

My wife said, "Colin, we drove 3 hours here for a reason. Instead of weeks delay and another trip, let's just call Medi-Share and see what they say."

When I called, a Medi-Share representative was on the line with me in around 90 seconds. She told me that Medi-Share doesn't have any requirement of prior authorization. She believed the expense would be fully eligible for sharing (covered), and although she couldn't give a definite answer without seeing the bill and how it was coded, getting the treatment now we would be just as eligible for reimbursement compared to waiting. 

We told Cranial Tech and they scheduled us in right then. We wrote the first of potentially eight $500 checks and got the first treatment (a comprehensive imaging used to custom-design the band) that same morning. Medi-Share received the bill and contacted us to let us know it was fully eligible for sharing. Not only did they pay the rest of what we owed, but they sent us a $500 check to reimburse our first payment! 

With conventional insurance, we would have faced a very difficult choice. Do we:

(A) Delay a needed treatment for our daughter by weeks, but potentially have insurance pay for it?

OR

(B) Get the treatment right away, but risk paying $4,000 out of pocket unnecessarily?

With Medi-Share, however, we got her the treatment she needed immediately and had the entire process paid in full for us.

Medi-Share was such a tremendous blessing. Our daughter only ended up needing the band for around 6 weeks, which went by very quickly. Now her plagiocephaly and torticollis are cured. When you're a parent, these situations can be very stressful. Having an insurance alternative that really cares about you and your family is invaluable, more so than even the financial savings.
 ​

I recently received an email asking if there were healthcare sharing ministries available for those of different religions.  As you must be Christian to join MediShare, this is certainly a reasonable question.

While I can't endorse either of these, there are two that I have found and may be worth further research for those interested.

Liberty Healthshare.  Instead of requiring that members be Christian, Liberty Healthshare requires belief in their set of principles.  To quote from the site:

For more on how their program works, see the FAQ.

Altrua Healthshare.  The eligibility requirements for Altrua make no reference to religion.  Instead, members must agree to the following:

For more on how their program works, see the FAQ.

The other healthcare sharing ministry we have discussed is Samartian Ministries International, which is also only open to Christians.  See this previous post for a comparison of Medi-Share with SMI.

Do you know of any other healthcare sharing ministries?  If so, please let us know in the comments.

Hi, my name is Colin, and I'm launching this site because I wanted to help others looking for affordable healthcare, Christian health insurance, and other alternatives to Obamacare.  

Perhaps you're like me:

Do you believe that it should be your decision how best to provide for your family's healthcare?

Do you believe that conventional health insurance is too expensive and too impersonal?

Do you believe there should be affordable medical care for you and your family?

I believe all these things.  That's why I was very happy to discover that there is an excellent alternative to conventional health insurance, called Healthcare Sharing Ministries (HSMs).  

I plan to discuss this topic in much more depth in future blog entries.  But as a starting point, here are some of the benefits of healthcare sharing ministries:

1. Belonging to an HSM will immediately exempt you from Obamacare and the highly punitive Obamacare penalty.  More on this in the next blog entry.

2. Most will pay substantially less compared to conventional health insurance.

3. You will become part of a personal and caring network of fellow members.  

4. Access to a vast network of doctors.  

5. A convenient system where bills are automatically submitted for payment.  

The reason this site is called "MediShare Reviews" is because the particular HSM my wife and I joined is called MediShare, and we have loved it so far.  I would like to find and publish others' experiences with MediShare and compile many reviews.  So please get in touch if you're also a member.  

The other goal of this blog will be to discuss other HSMs and alternatives to conventional health insurance.  I hope you keep reading!