We here at Medi-Share Reviews have a tremendous amount of respect for Christian personal finance guru Dave Ramsey. His advice on home ownership, investing, budgeting, and taxes is well-informed and comes from an honest and knowledgeable Christian perspective.

Reader Luke H. has written in to point out that Mr. Ramsey has in fact discussed Christian healthcare sharing ministries, and Medi-Share specifically, on his site.

After praising Christian healthcare sharing ministries in general, calling most of them "very reliable," Mr. Ramsey singles out Medi-Share's "great reputation."

He then points out correctly that Christian health insurance alternatives are not insurance and don't face the same regulations as insurance companies. What this means is that you need one that has a long track record of serving its members, such as the 28 years that Medi-Share has been providing affordable healthcare sharing. 
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​By the way, in case Mr. Ramsey's post isn't available when you click on it, here are his exact words:

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The reason why Mr. Ramsey correctly advises his readers to be careful is because Christian healthcare sharing ministries are not insurance, a point that we talk about more in our post: "What is Christian Health Insurance?" As well as our main YouTube MediShare review, we also have our newer YouTube video specifically on Medi-Share Reviews and Dave Ramsey.

If you believe in Dave Ramsey's advice and are looking for an inexpensive health insurance alternative, please request your free info packet directly from Medi-Share, providing many more details and telling you exactly how much you would pay each month as a member.

What is your favorite Dave Ramsey wisdom?
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Enter the election of Donald Trump. The President-Elect has stated that he will repeal Obamacare. Whether he will actually do that, and eliminate compulsory insurance, remains to be seen. While we certainly hope that happens, Mr. Trump has previously stated that he is in favor of universal healthcare, and subsequent to being elected, has begun praising aspects of ObamaCare -- such as the “prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of patients' existing conditions.”

As discussed in the Chicago Tribune article mentioned in the first paragraph, measures such as requiring insurers to grant full coverage to those with existing conditions, and limiting how much the elderly can be charged, may sound both positive and charitable. But unfortunately someone has to bear the cost, and the average person pays significantly more for insurance as a result ... often a completely unaffordable amount for hard-working middle class families.

What do we advocate instead?

The one true solution is a free market with transparent pricing where doctors and hospitals compete for our business with better service and lower prices. We should know how much we'll be paying in advance, and have control over our own healthcare. Let us also all contribute to charities we like that help provide medical care to those who can't afford it for themselves. But such contributions should be voluntary.

We will see in the coming months exactly what President Elect Trump intends to do. We hope that in addition to ending any form of compulsory health insurance, he also works toward a freer market in healthcare and lower prices.

If you do not want to pay the skyrocketing costs of conventional insurance, or potentially thousands of dollars per year in penalties to the government, consider healthcare sharing. See what you would pay with Medi-Share compared to conventional insurance. Call them up and see how easy it is to talk with an actual human who wants to answer your questions and help you.

Christians can opt out of the failed system like so many others want to do, but without paying the high and increasing Obamacare penalty. And in the process, we can have significantly more flexibility, pay much less each month, and become part of a system that genuinely cares about its members.



(Blog Image Credit to Gage Skidmore)

The term "Christian health insurance" is an interesting one because it doesn't mean what it appears to: health insurance for Christians. The reason is that it isn't traditional insurance. 

​Here are the benefits of Medi-Share compared to traditional insurance or being uninsured:

• You will save an average of about 63% per year compared to normal insurance. 
• Even if you haven't met your AHP (deductible), Medi-Share will negotiate a discount of up to 80-90% on your bill.
• Free 24/7 online doctor appointments
• No Obamacare penalty for being uninsured
• Prayer, help, and guidance from Medi-Share itself and fellow members as desired.

For more details, please read our main Medi-Share review, or watch the Medi-Share video review, providing complete information on how Medi-Share works. ​​If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them as a comment on this blog and I'll be happy to reply and answer. 

Medi-Share has just made a very big announcement.

First, they have added significant discounts on dentist visits, eye exams, lenses, hearing aids, and LASIK. All members have been sent new cards to use for dental, vision, and hearing services. 

The biggest news is that they now offer instant online doctor appointments, and this service is available 24/7 to every member at no cost. Simply go online, login to your account, and a list of doctors comes up. You can select them based on their background, specialty, whether you prefer a man or a woman, or any other criteria.

This is what it looks like when you first log-in to the service: A list of doctors all licensed to practice in the state you're in. They can not only diagnose and help you with symptoms, but even prescribe for you. The prescriptions are sent electronically to your pharmacy as soon as the appointment is over.

When you find a doctor you like, you can learn more about their background and what they specialize in before booking. For example, if I click on Dr. J Douglas Adams I see a page with all of his credentials and available appointment times:

Those appointment times were all same-day, with many doctors available to talk immediately. The doctors appointments are provided directly through MDLive, one of the highest rated online doctor appointment companies known for their exceptional service. 

If you wanted to get an instant doctor's appointment through MDLive, the normal rate they charge people is $49 per visit. For Medi-Share members, these appointments are now completely free.

This is a very big development and we will continue providing information about it in future posts.

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?

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.

A recent article on health insurance becoming more expensive is titled: "More than Meets the Eye in Health Insurance Price Hikes."  I would suggest that such price hikes are exactly what meets the eye.

In a discussion of these substantial price increases, they quote Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri:

The article goes on to state that such price increases are not a significant concern because they may be reservered, and because other healthcare plans have price increases of only 6-10%.

I believe the lesson is instead that Obamacare has taken already high-priced insurance and increased the cost even further.  Coupled with the planned penalty increase for 2016, those without employer-provided health insurance will face a larger and larger burden unless they enroll in a healthcare sharing ministry.

At a recent July 4 family gathering, we got on the topic of why health care is so expensive.  It's a little off-topic from the focus of this blog, but I'll share my opinion on this.

The simple answer I would give is too much government intervention.  

First, doctors have increasingly high costs imposed on them through frivolous lawsuits.  Almost half of lawsuits brought against doctors are estimated to be frivolous.  Doctors have been sued for health problems in patients they've never seen; making (successful) life-saving decisions during surgery without the patient's consent; and for a variety of discrimination-related claims lacking any evidence. 

As a result, doctors have to pay increasingly high malpractice insurance premiums, sometimes 6 figures per year.  These costs are passed on to the patients.

Second, doctors and hospitals face a tremendous regulatory burden.  This article estimates doctors spend 22% of their time on paperwork not directly to their patients' medical care.  The alternative to working at a lower hourly rate is to charge patients more.  Apart from necessary medical records, doctors should be able to focus their efforts in the care of patients.

Third, there is a government-granted monopoly on the provision of healthcare.  To practice medicine, you must be a member of the AMA and a graduate from an accredited medical school.  Of course, we want our doctors to be of the highest quality, and current requirements make it likely that only good candidates get through.  

However, any monopoly will tend to result in much higher prices, as well as lower quality in the form of worsened customer service.  How long do you normally wait for a doctor or hospital visit?  How easy is it to contact your doctor at other times with questions?  How much time are they willing to give you when you're there?  

The alternative to our increasingly socialized healthcare system is to lower or eliminate government intervention in health care.  Allow competing medical certifications, with the free market deciding the cost of care based on the qualifications and reviews of the doctor.  End the regulatory burden that doctors face.  Eliminate frivolous lawsuits, with liability only extending to medical error.  

I believe the result would be a much wider array of choices for health care, including many significantly less expensive options, as well as doctors who actually have time for their patients.  


Please feel free to chime in with your opinion.  I'm always happy to hear from my readers.

I received an email from Steve in Corpus Christi, Texas, in reply to an article I wrote for the conservative site LewRockwell.  In his email, Steve talked a little about his own experiences with MediShare.  I asked him if he could expand what he wrote and turn it into a guest post, and he was kind enough to do that.

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My family and I have been in the Medi Share program since January 2012.  We started when I quit my job to start a small construction business and lost the insurance I had with my job.  Joining and getting setup with the program were real easy.  

I'm 45, my wifes 38, and our kids are 14 11 and 9.  We pay $387 a month, and the cheapest decent option I found for normal insurance would've been about $850 so it was pretty clear to join.

In your review, you say it's basically like normal insurance just with different terms for the deductible etc. I'd definitely agree with that.  The only thing that's real important, and we didn't fully understand at first, is that nothing "routine" is covered.  So what that means is that physicals and normal stuff for the kids aren't reimbursed, which is a downside but we still end up paying a lot less overall.

Other than that, we have no complaints.  There are doctors for everything, and we've never had to go out of the network (you pay extra for that but its never been an issue for us).  Getting your bills submitted is easy since they do that for you and there haven't been any surprises.

The health plan I had through my job was with Cigna.  I had a lot of bad experiences with their customer service, wrong reimbursement amounts etc.  Dealing with MediShare has been a lot easier.  Their customer service is really good and there haven't been any surprises in terms of unexpected expenses or hassles.  

One other thing that's nice is the prayer they have when people are sick and my wife is very involved with that.  Also we've had a few hundred taken off our bill from friends signing up.  

So that's it, we've been real happy with it.

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Thanks for chiming in Steve!

The two largest healthcare sharing ministries (HCSMs) are MediShare and Samaritan Ministries International (SMI). We'll compare these alternative healthcare options using five important criteria, deciding which has the advantage for each.  

Monthly payments in MediShare range from roughly $30 to $800.  Monthly payments in SMI range from roughly $180 to $405.  Of course, you're getting different benefits depending on which HCSM you choose and which plan.  But one nice advantage to having lower-priced options is that if you are signing up to avoid the ObamaCare penalty, you can do that very inexpensively through MediShare (often for less than the 2016 penalty would be).

Advantage: MediShare

     

Technically this is inaccurate, as neither program is standard insurance with copays and deductibles.  But the two HCSMs function similarly to insurance with different structures.  In MediShare, different plans have different deductibles (called an annual household portion), and the copay (called a provider payment) is always $35 for doctor/hospital visits, and $135 for emergency room visits.  In SMI, you pay a flat $300 per visit, and the rest (up to $250,000) is covered.  This is like having no deductible and a $300 copay.

Either of these types of plans could be better depending on your particular situation.

Advantage: None.

If you belong to SMI, you must send in your medical bills yourself.  Whereas your health care provider sends the bills directly to MediShare for processing.

Advantage: MediShare

MediShare has a large network, but if you want to see a doctor outside of that network, you must pay a fee to do so.  With SMI, there is no network and you can see any doctor without penalty.

Advantage: SMI

MediShare has no maximum amount per claim, whereas the maximum is $250,000 for SMI -- above that you have to pay yourself.  So with SMI, this could leave you open to a very large bill in the event of catastrophe.

Advantage: MediShare



So which is the better HCSM overall?  I believe the answer is MediShare, but only you can judge for yourself and your family.  

Which HCSM do you belong to, and are you happy with them?