@Wellspring Yes, these are ACA compatible options (no fine back when fines were a thing) open to faith based (Christian) individuals and families that form more or less a (large) group of folks meeting each others (major) health needs. We do not need any additional health insurance as covered incidences are met at 100%.
BIG NOTE: Since they are faith based, not all incidents are covered - anything involving drugs/alcohol, outside of marriage pregnancy, or self inflicted being biggies when one is thinking about college students so some schools require separate health insurance for college students. Many schools are ok with it though, esp after a couple years ago when the NCAA considered them acceptable for coverage.
I believe there are three or four groups out there. Some require more of a Christian lifestyle than others. I’m only really familiar with ours (Samaritan Ministries) as it’s been over a decade since I compared them and many shifted some once ACA came about. I believe some don’t really require much. Perhaps Liberty? (That name comes to mind, but I haven’t googled to check.)
For our group, (most) pre-existing conditions aren’t covered, nor are single incidents < $300 or regular maintenance things like mammograms and physicals. Regular use prescription meds aren’t either (short term use and cancer drugs are). Our monthly cost ($495 covering our whole family) leaves enough savings to more than beat the cost of insurance even with doing maintenance at full pay since our main income is self-employed via H making us responsible for 100% of insurance cost as opposed to some jobs that include paying for all or part of it as a perk.
It was also super useful when I had my brain tumor that all expenses were covered at 100% considering insurance would have come in at just 80% after a 5K annual deductible until a 12K+ (also annual) OOP was reached - AND - most insurances wouldn’t cover the type of radiation I had (according to JH). SM didn’t bat an eye. If the doctor thought it best, then yes, it was ok. Over the two years of high involvement, we easily saved 30K - more once one adds there were more than 2 years of any involvement. I suspect if I added it all up the savings would be closer to 50K OOP due to the deductible and 20% co-pay - more if we had to pay for that radiation OOP to have “the best” instead of “what insurance will pay for.”
There are no networks or pre-authorizations needed and coverage is world wide. This helps us when we travel, but we haven’t needed it overseas yet. It’s still nice to know it works and we don’t need separate insurance. (When scuba is part of life - domestic or overseas - we often sign up with DAN for specific extras if needed. Scuba folks will know what that is. It doesn’t apply to anyone else. We would get that with insurance too, so nothing is “different” there.)
Individual and family needs are different, so everyone who has an interest has to look closely at their situation and cost to see what’s best. With the positive experiences we’ve had, we’d stick with Health Share (SM) even if it were more expensive, but we found them due to the lower cost originally. (We’ve had 4 or 5 different incidents over the years including youngest developing a teen onset form of epilepsy and H blacking out in our horse pasture.) I’ve been part of too many “insurance” conversations at work and with friends to want to enter that world, but it certainly isn’t the best choice for everyone. It takes a bit of comparison if cost is the main issue.
PS Since they don’t need to deal with insurance, most of the doctor offices/medical testing groups I’ve dealt with have absolutely loved it. Only Johns Hopkins was the exception. It took them some time to adapt, but once they did (after seeing the system work), all was fine there too. Still it was definitely super odd to see the resistance at first, so one should note that could happen elsewhere.
ACAs are becoming far more popular than ever before as insurance costs are rising, so more places should be used to them I would think.
That’s the basics for our group as it applies to us. If anyone would like more info, 'tis probably best to switch to pm.
We’re just Pinellas fans ourselves. We were 20+ years ago when we lived there (my lads are all FL natives) and still are when we return to visit. It has to do with the water/beaches/parks (and dog track) for us. Tampa is just a city we need to drive through to get to our location - or the occasional trip to Busch Gardens. (H used to work in Tampa and commute to Pinellas in the “old” days - along with the gazillion others who share our preferences. He certainly doesn’t miss the commute!)