I recently had the privilege to visit Medi-Share headquarters in Melbourne, FL. I was invited to discuss how Medi-Share had worked for my family, as well as this site and my mission to help show new members the program.

Exiting from I-95, it's only a short drive before you reach Medi-Share.
​

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.
 ​

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.

Today's topic is the Trump tax plan and the removal of the individual mandate. This change would mean that there would no longer be a requirement to have health insurance or be a member of a healthcare sharing ministry, and those choosing to remain uninsured wouldn't have to pay an Obamacare penalty. 

Reader Geoff R. from San Diego, CA wrote in to me with a question; with his permission, I share it here and offer my reply.

I've been looking into Medi Share and see on their site and yours that it's not insurance. I read the explanation but still don't quite get it. If you join, you pay a certain amount every month, and then they pay your medical bills. In what way is this not insurance?
​

What we need instead is a free market in medicine and healthcare, instead of an artificially limited supply of doctors who bill overly-regulated insurance companies. Doctors should be incentivized to care about their patients, and provide transparent and competitive prices. Higher taxes and subsidies will not solve this problem. 

In the meanwhile, Medi-Share continues to offer a health insurance alternative with lower cost, greater flexibility, and a wider array of doctors and specialists. It opts you out of penalties and the bureaucratic health insurance labyrinths. Until we have genuine change to the system, that's about as good as we can hope for. 
​

Today we go to a reader question. Steven from San Diego, CA writes:

"I'm thinking of joining Medi-Share but do you know if they cover counseling / anti-depressive?"

Looking at the Medi-Share guidelines, I'll try to provide the best answer I can to this question. First, psychiatrists are definitely doctors. When you go to search for a provider, one of the options you can select is specifically to locate a psychiatrist near you.

The one limit to this is that while psychiatric care and evaluation are eligible for sharing, there is a maximum of 6 months of sharing per new condition. Most forms of counseling, such as those for learning deficiencies, aren't eligible for sharing. If you have a specific type of counseling, medication, or mental health treatment you are interested in, the best option is to contact Medi-Share directly to ask.

(A benefit to Medi-Share not making all forms of expenses eligible for sharing is that this lowers the monthly cost for all members. Members get to vote on this so you have a say as a Medi-Share member for which expenses should be eligible for sharing.)

Steven, I hope that answers your question, please feel free to get back in touch if you have more information I can help with. 

Before the main topic of today's post, I've gotten some more questions recently on how healthcare sharing ministries work. If you still have questions, I suggest taking a look at this detailed explanation of Christian health insurance. It explains the topic very well.

In our last blog, we talked about Medi-Share and maternity. Today we're going to talk about both prescriptions and dental work. 

Prescriptions are mostly like normal medical expenses eligible for sharing. So long as you start the prescription once you're already a member, the cost will be paid. The only caveat is that there is a maximum length for the prescription, which is usually 6 months. So you will want to call their customer service if you have a prescription that may last for longer than this. 

For seeing a dentist, these expenses are not eligible for sharing like normal medical bills, but there is a discount program. 

Here is a link to the full list of discounts, which includes (as an example) root canals for under $600. 

The most important thing with Medi-Share is that if you have any questions you can't find out online, just call and ask. They are always happy to help members and prospective members any way they're able. 

Having a family is an incredible blessing. 

The process of navigating maternity healthcare, however, can be very difficult. The ultrasounds, doctor appointments, and lab work can easily cost $5,000 or more. Then the actual birth, typically costing at least $10,000. 

Medi-Share can help with maternity in three important ways.

Maternity Bills are Eligible for Sharing. So long as you're a member of Medi-Share at the time of conception, in a Christian marriage, then your maternity bills are eligible for sharing. What this means is that if you have paid more than your AHP (Annual Household Portion -- like a deductible), then your bills we be paid by Medi-Share. Even if your AHP is the highest level of $10,000, you will almost certainly exceed this amount during the pregnancy and have all subsequent bills paid in full.

Negotiation of Discounts. We have detailed elsewhere that Medi-Share will usually negotiate significant discounts from your bills before you have reached your AHP. This is the same with maternity. Blood work and ultrasounds, for example, are often discounted by 50% or more. 

​Ease of Use. If you're required to prepay for treatment, Medi-Share will still reimburse you (or have the provider reimburse you) if it's an expense that qualifies for sharing. If an unexpected procedure is necessary, you don't need pre-approval like most insurance companies require. And there is a dedicated Maternity phone number to answer any questions that you may have.

If you are considering starting a family, that is another good reason to look into joining Medi-Share.

The Medi-Share network of doctors and specialists (known as a PPO) is called PHCS, which stands for Private Healthcare Systems. It includes over 700,000 healthcare professionals. I can tell you from experience that if there is a particular doctor or healthcare facility that you normally use, the odds are very good that it is part of the PHCS network. 

When you join Medi-Share, you will have instant access to their online member's center. If you click on Find A Provider, you are brought to this page:

Notice that besides ​finding a doctor, you also have options for dental and vision, as well as the 24/7 online doctor's calls done over phone or webcam.

The first option is to find a doctor. You're able to search for specific doctors, or any who meet the criteria you set who are also near you. You can specify that the doctor must have a certain specialty like occupational therapy or pediatrics, be male or female, or speak a certain language.  You can also specify how close the doctor must be, such as 1 mile or 5 miles. 

From there, you get a comprehensive list of all doctors meeting your criteria. For example, searching for pediatricians within 1 mile, I get 9 results starting with:
​

So this is how you can use Medi-Share to find the right doctor for you and your family.