Choosing a Healthshare in 2026: What Most People Get Wrong

Full Episode Transcript

Dan (00:05)
Welcome to Uninsured by Choice, we help you navigate the healthcare system without insurance. Brought to you by our sponsor, Zion HealthShare, a nonprofit medical cost sharing community that can provide you a better alternative to health insurance. I’m your host today we have a guest that I’m really excited to talk to because we’re going to dive a topic that is near and dear and applies to lot of people who are seeking these to health sharing is definitely one of the primary that a lot of people turn to and have a lot of questions so Holly Patino is the founder of healthshare101.com she helps self-employed individuals and families understand primary care and other self-pay strategies. She’s passionate about making healthcare simpler, more transparent and less intimidating. So Holly, thanks for being here with us.

Holly (00:51)
Thank you for having me.

Dan (00:54)
Yeah, of course. is, like I said, near and dear. I’m a member of is a strategy that I use in my, direct care, direct to insurance. disclosure, we have had a guest, Eric, who’s talked about health sharing in the And when he was talking about it, he was kind of comparing sharing to insurance, pros and cons, all that kind of comparison So we’ll really be diving into comparing the different health share organizations themselves. What each brand does, how they work, that type of So why don’t you kick it off a quick overview for anyone who new the idea of health cost sharing. What’s that mean? What’s that all about? than health insurance? Maybe just give us a high level overview of that kind of process.

Holly (01:33)
a health share, you’re joining a community of minded people where you send in a monthly share and that money is pulled together to share in medical costs that are eligible within that And it is significantly cheaper. And a lot of people find that when they are self pay, are saving money, they’re saving the community money and It is just another way to pay for healthcare costs.

Dan (02:00)
So it functions a little differently than insurance, but ultimately is the same which is if I have a heart attack and I get a hundred thousand dollar medical bill from the emergency room, I don’t want to go How can I protect myself against something like that? usually how people view the whole insurance industry is just a protection for expense that would bankrupt me health sharing is an alternative way to provide that peace of mind for members really well for a lot of there’s a lot of out there, a lot of health sharing organizations looking into it probably heard the term around a lot with these health share organizations. So don’t you walk us through maybe some of the major brands or organizations, kind of who they are. what they do maybe differently from each other, where you might be interested in one versus the other. Kind of give us an overview there before we dive into maybe each one individually.

Holly (02:49)
Yeah, I talk about health shares, I’m talking about all of them. But yes, there are that are more based. And in fact, where health shares their start is with the Christian community. They came together to help a pastor out and they all paid his medical bills in a short amount of time. And they were like, you know get this started. oldest health shares are would say like CHM or Christian Healthcare Ministries and Metashare, been around for to 40 years and are meaning they requirements in order to join then other don’t really have this in order to join them. And you look at all of them, a faith-based, or non-faith-based health share, pretty much anyone can join them as long as they believe in a higher power. all and cons, I would say as I dived into them, are subjective. What I consider might be a pro for someone So for example, Ministries, if I were to have a large medical community would come together and would have multiple people sending me a take care of the cost of that medical bill, assuming it’s an medical need, of And provide, handwritten notes, they’re praying for you. And that is a huge pro for a lot of people. then for other people, they might look at that and say, you know what, I just want to get one check. I want to just have the health share send one check to pay for the bill. rather than receiving it from lots of different it’s not like one’s or a pro or con. It’s just that they are different. They run differently. with those differences, there is gonna be a difference in how long it takes for bills or sharing requests to get And just gonna have a different really depends on the person, matters to them most.

Dan (04:38)
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I just met at a meetup I was at, and he has been a member of Samaritan Ministries for years or something like I was asking him about his experience and stuff like that. And loves the idea that whenever there’s another member of the community with an eligible medical he can send it straight to knows who they are. praying for them their specific need. stuff like that really heard of other people that will say, run the risk many payments and what check bounces or something like that. can have your own it’s not right or wrong, pro or that is fine. have been some bad Unity health share. think it’s down, were kind doing it the right way. kinds of bad actors something maybe people could be looking out for to make sure they’re joining a rather than one of these potentially bad actors.

Holly (05:29)
Great question. I would say beyond the member guidelines, because I’m such advocate of reading the member guidelines before you join any make sure that you’re a good fit and it works for I would say one of the most important things that people can be looking member reviews. at past reviews and current I would even read the negative reviews and just kind of get an idea of is the common concern that people are I have looked at house shares and their reviews and I see a common thread take a really long time to pay medical And if you read the member guidelines, it might say, you know, 60 days or 90 medical bills to be paid for. And when you read the member reviews, some will say, hey, it’s been six months, nine months a year, and I still don’t have this resolved. I’ve given them all the documentation needed. And so that’s a really way to if a health share is what they say that they’re doing.

Dan (06:21)
that’s a good And you sort alluded to this, I health sharing organizations are exclusively using the will only you back. So you’re still of required upfront to, whatever your medical is, you negotiate self-pay and do the best you can there and then bill and then submit a paid medical bill to us and then we will reimburse you. Some will have limits or max caps and stuff like that. Some But that reimbursement model versus some will Now, not everything’s planned, right? Go to the emergency room. We didn’t plan on it. But procedure, surgery, or something, you can plan in advance. And some will say, yeah, let’s work on prepaying for Others will say, we will reimburse. another thing to be looking at, I guess. What else in those member guidelines should people be on the hunt deciding who to join?

Holly (06:53)
Yeah. Yeah, another important thing that I would recommend looking at is there’s any caps or limitations on sharing. A lot of health shares, even the bigger ones that are more established that have been around for a will have caps and I actually don’t recommend those to a lot of everyone can make their own what they I want people to really think about caps and limitations, it sounds like a lot of money. know, some of the programs will say will share up to 300,000 a million or a million or two million. yes, that will probably pay for most I had a baby that was born three months early and he spent five and a half months in the NICU a hundred days in the doctors were like, congratulations, you have a million dollar baby. And so from that experience, I’ve seen firsthand in their 20s and would never expect a multi-million dollar hospital and it happens No matter healthy you are, no matter how, you know, how much you exercise and eat, it still happen. if you’re looking at Christian health care ministries, I usually tell people would only recommend the gold with CHM plus. Because if you look at the silver and bronze even with the CHM everyone’s capped at If you have the silver and bronze plan with CHM plus, you get an additional $100,000 year that you’re a and it’s capped at a million. So it would take nine years you to reach that million limit. in my case, I mean, if I joined, I was first married or whatever, like had to pay that difference. And lot of people don’t think about that or they don’t think it’s going to happen to them. And so I want people to think, okay, if you’re going to go with Christian healthcare look at the gold plan with CHM plus, because it’s immediately unlimited sharing. So if you were to join then two years later you have a baby, baby ends up in the have any other catastrophic health you would have unlimited sharing. want people to have a good experience with their health share, no matter which one they go with. need to keep those things in mind. And so want them to not be surprised. And think the caps and limitations is a huge one that I wish more people would look into understand before they join a health share.

Dan (09:17)
Yeah, that’s a good point because they all do it differently. will have a cap on a specific need or request. I might have a lifetime cap, an annual Some have none. it’s important to note, especially in that CHM one that you were just memberships will cost more as well. So when you’re trying to compare costs, you really need to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. because you might say, this one costs nothing gold else CHM plan costs all Well, yeah, but if this one comes sort of limitation or cap and this one doesn’t, then you’re not really comparing And so it’s really important to go through all and make of what you’re getting. I see a lot of negative reviews the health shares out often stem towards not understanding what the guidelines and did so critically important to knowing what you are signing up for,

Holly (10:07)
Yeah, absolutely.

Dan (10:08)
So pivoting now towards the brands themselves. You’ve mentioned Christian health care ministries. A lot of people know them as CHM last I believe they are the largest organization for health sharing. Metashare is kind of a close second. Now, Metashare is administered by a company or an organization. I don’t know if it’s a nonprofit called Christian Care it is very easy to confuse the two. Just know that CHM, Christian Health Care Ministries, is the red MediShare is the green one. That’s kind a good way to remember. with those two being the largest, would be maybe comparing those two? Let’s say someone’s got both of those in their sites right would those two compare with each other? Why would you maybe pick one versus the other, know, and vice versa?

Holly (10:30)
Mm-hmm. question. So with Metashare, they have no caps or limitations on sharing for their programs. CHM, if you want to compare apples to apples, where you would look at the gold program with the CHM plus. way you can compare at least the price be more similar. Metashare, you do have network restrictions. They want you to use their member ID card when you go to the provider. They want you to that they recommend in that

Dan (11:16)
Yeah, I they haven’t allowed I don’t know if it’s officially a network because I know that’s an insurance term, but they basically operate on a sort of network model. But do they have like allowed costs or something like that?

Holly (11:27)
Yeah, they use the PHCS network will pay up to like 150 % or 200 % of allowable rate. that’s what they’ll pay. So if your costs exceed that, is your responsibility to pay that difference. they are unlimited, say, Hey, we have no caps and limitations. is that caveat of, there’s a network. that you have to work with. And if you have costs that exceed they consider not fair or outside of that allowable rate, you’re responsible to pay that difference. think that’s pretty generous, the 150 to 200% allowable rate of Medicare, but it’s something that people should at least be aware of before they move forward with any of these health shares.

Dan (12:07)
Yeah. And with Metashare specifically, that’s kind a double-edged on the good side. It’s very convenient to just walk into something that you know is, unquote approved, show a card and then not worry about of that would also be doing something that’s very difficult to do in healthcare. And that’s price compare. If you know, you’re going to get capped at that 150, 200 whatever you need a knee surgery or can call people locally in probably get wildly different I’ll say 15,000. They say 30,000. Well, to get that information, can get a surprise feel capable of doing that kind of price shopping. So that’s just one thing to keep in mind is that these memberships where you of have a little bit of motivation, let’s say, to price compare, it can be difficult shop. pretty much provider, any treatment, any surgery, anything you’re thinking of is gonna be a little bit difficult to navigate that, right?

Holly (12:57)
Yeah, and let’s be honest, if you’re in the middle of a health crisis or going to the hospital, whether it’s you or your spouse or a child, don’t want to start calling up and price not something you want to do have to worry about.

Dan (13:10)
Yeah, so you’ve talked about Samaritan and they do the mailing back and forth. If I remember right, I saw them release something called, me if I’m wrong, Redeem, believe don’t know if it’s a separate organization or brand. I think it says powered by Samaritan or something, that’s their kind. digital first of the mailing of checks? It’s more of the digital option? that what they were doing with that?

Holly (13:32)
so with that, so what I was saying with Samaritan, how for some people, Kind of like me, if they have a really large medical bill, they don’t want to get 30, 50 plus checks from people and have to worry about collecting them, track of them, making sure that the checks don’t instead having to do that with Samaritan, with Redeem, they do it differently where receive the one payment from Redeem Health share so you can take care of the medical it’s definitely more simplified. Something to be aware with Redeem for the first 90 days, if you were to get kind of accident or have acute illness, they do have a limit of, I believe it’s $50,000 for the first 90 days that you’re a member. So if you join something happens in those 90 days, you’re only limited on one of those things that you just need to be aware of before you join. And that’s in those member guidelines it’s not necessarily bad. think most people, won’t affect them, but for the few, all know someone who joined a health share and then in those 90 days, something happened, not related to preexisting conditions, of course. I would hate for them to have that limitation on them because pretty low.

Dan (14:38)
it can be. I mean, it might help with most things, but there are definitely a lot expenses that can exceed that. So you bring up a really good point, The waiting periods, conditions or whatever condition coming you from joining if you have a condition, but there will be a waiting period they will share expenses related to condition. So… they all pretty universally similar in that regard? Are there some that are better than others, worse than others when it comes to those waiting periods and those pre-existing conditions?

Holly (15:08)
Yeah, so I would say generally first year membership, I would say across the board, every will no sharing available in any medical event related to those pre-existing conditions. So if you join a health share something different unrelated to your pre-existing condition happened, then that would be shareable as normal, anything related to pre-existing condition that first year will not be I think that’s kind a make or with health shares. If you have preexisting conditions, if you were to pay for those all on your own in the first year of membership, can you? if the costs exceed actually talked to someone where they were super excited. They talked to someone about a health share. wanted to join. They were like, here you go, let’s get started talking them about preexisting conditions and I found out that their medical costs, their medical bills were very, chronic, ongoing, they were having thousands of dollars a month treatments, prescriptions, doctor visits. And quickly realized the health share wasn’t a good fit for this particular person wasn’t going away couldn’t pay for those on their own And so I would say across the board, the first year of membership, not going to pay for anything. health share has a different tiered system know, in your second year of membership, they’ll pay, you know, maybe up to 15,000 or then in the third year of membership, they’ll pay up maybe is the difference that I’ll see is usually in the fourth will have it common one is about 125 to 150,000. They’ll cap related to your preexisting condition. If it’s related to that, this is the cap that you’ll have. if the health share generally has no caps or limitations. that’s There are a few health shares that will say, okay, if you’ve been with us, been a member for four or five years, related to your pre-existing condition, we’re going to share it as normal. We’re not even going to consider that a pre-existing so, on your situation, that might be… selling point for you or that might be a huge pro for you to go lean towards a health share that offers that. I think most people, they can’t get through that first year or if they can get through that first year, usually okay with those limitations later on. again, different and what their needs that’s a good way to look at it.

Dan (17:12)
Okay. So that brings up three things in my mind, two points and a question. first thing is important for people to understand their pre-existing condition. Let’s say you were a member for five you had some got cancer in year in year five, the cancer comes back. That’s not a pre-existing condition because happened during your when we say pre-existing, we really are referring to your something that happens in the middle and then comes back.

Holly (17:19)
Okay.

Dan (17:39)
wouldn’t apply. So I think that’s important that people understand. And I think insurance works similarly to that as Number two, don’t know if this is very common, but I suppose it is possible that if you really, really wanted to get out of the loop you had these big chronic you could simultaneously keep insurance health care. there. If you really wanted to, you could join health care while maintaining insurance So during that one year waiting period, you still insurance helping you. then after that year, you can drop insurance because now you know those costs are eligible for sharing with care. I don’t think that’s super common. I’ve not heard of it, but I suppose could.

Holly (18:14)
actually heard of someone doing that. were concerned and like health sharing was new for them. They were a little scared. So health insurance and a health share for one year and then dropped the health insurance and just stayed with the health share.

Dan (18:16)
okay. Well, So, I mean, that’s, it is an option. Maybe not common, but you want to look into you can know about question then is talked about the waiting period for existing in those pre membership there usually other waiting periods non membership? For example, I know with maternity, there’s usually a lot of, health chairs that will have where you have to have been a member for a certain period of time before.

Holly (18:31)
one more

Dan (18:49)
a would become eligible for sharing. Is that common, something people should be looking for?

Holly (18:54)
that’s a huge one, especially with this last, you know, last couple of months, I saw so many people that were I want to get pregnant in the next year. So that was a huge deciding factor as far as which health care they were switching to or which one they were joining for the first so, yes, with maternity, usually a waiting of them are shorter than of them you get pregnant after you join. health share usually 60 days, six months, some longer. So depending on your situation and how long you’re willing to wait to continue to grow your family, that is definitely something to consider as well.

Dan (19:30)
Yeah, read the guidelines. There might be waiting periods for more than than maternity. Most will have something for maternity, but there could be others. definitely keep an eye out for One thing that we hadn’t brought up that I think is important for people only in five specific places. Now, if you live in California, DC, Massachusetts, New Island, or Vermont, there is still an ACA requirement to carry an ACA of some kind face a tax penalty. Now, at the federal level, that tax penalty is for all intents and purposes, the mandate doesn’t exist. But in those states, if you do not have an ACA compliant health care plan of some kind, could be facing a tax health shares is that something need to be aware of?

Holly (20:13)
if you’re in one of those states, if you wanna be ACA compliant, you would wanna look at a sharing ministry, started before and earlier. you’re looking at Christian healthcare ministries, MediShare, ministries, Liberty Health share, are the ones that you would want to look into order to join and be ACA compliant. If you are in one of those states, I would definitely recommend talking to a tax professional to make sure you can be exempt joining one of those health shares. And of course, you can also call those health shares and questions. But if you read the member guidelines on their website, do say that they’re ACA those states.

Dan (20:49)
Okay, yeah, so just something to consideration of if you do live in one of those areas. Now, California, obviously, a lot of people live there, could affect a good number of people. where health services have come from. And I think where there’s kind of a misunderstanding in general, that people think this is only available to people, there are. is available to other people who are Jewish, there’s a specific health share. And then there’s those available anyone and everyone. They don’t have any kind religious requirements. So why don’t you walk us through that? are some organizations, if you are person that belongs to any kind of church or subscribes to faith, what options do you have? Is health sharing something you can participate in?

Holly (21:26)
Yeah, absolutely. You have a lot of options now, in the last 10 years, there’s been more or at least there’s no religious requirement in order to join and receive sharing within that community. so let’s talk about the Christian health shares. That’s where it started. the Christian health shares, even in those, is difference in and there’s a difference in requirements in order to join and have bills eligible for sharing. So for example, Ministries and Redeem Health Share, require you attend church weekly. I think it’s three out of four, times out of four each you have to have your pastor or out a form and submit it to Samaritan Ministries or Redeem to say, yes, this person is part of my congregation and they are attending regularly and they follow these guiding principles them to be eligible for membership. So you have to submit that I believe every single order have your medical bills eligible for sharing. And some people that’s not a big deal. And for some people, even if they are a Christian and going to church, that might not be something they want to worry There are other Christian health shares just say yes, this is what I believe, the same faith and guiding principles and I believe in the Bible passages that you’re talking about that’s all you have to do is just accept it and you could be a part of that community. Now there health shares that are specific to the Catholic religion. There’s, like you said, there’s a Jewish health share. and then multiple non-religious health shares where you believe in a higher power, but it’s not very specific on what that is. And you just want to be a part of this community and share in each other’s medical so there’s no faith based requirements. There’s no, know, proving that you’re attending church every week. And it’s a lot more inclusive and allows a lot more people be eligible to join. don’t have to worry about medical bills, whether they will be paid or not based off of whether you’re following specific principles

Dan (23:25)
it’s not just a religious requirement. There’s also lifestyle requirements. So I know some the Christian health shares, if you try to open a maternity request and you are married, some deem that ineligible. So it’s important to understand that it’s not just a profession of faith. There are going to be that they look at from a lifestyle perspective as well. I substance abuse also will come in there So question as we wrap it up then, obviously there’s a handful of the larger players that larger, older, more established health shares. There’s some of the newer ones. don’t you just walk us through maybe the top five or six options in your minds you run healthshare101.com. You are constantly teaching people sharing, health sharing organizations. Where do you find tend to gravitate towards? Where are you often referring people? What resonates with them? what would be kind of starting place generally for most people.

Holly (24:14)
would most people tend to look at, I would say healthcare ministries or CHM. is probably one of the most popular out there. I know Medishare is a big one and was just doing some analytics and data to see they have quite a few people looking into them just like Christian healthcare ministries. But if you look at the reviews for both of them, have the best reviews. I would say Christian Healthcare Ministries has been around the longest and if you were to choose the Gold Program with the CHM +, they have the unlimited sharing available and they have reviews. They have positive feedback. And so would say generally speaking from a Christian standpoint, Christian Healthcare Ministries would be one of the better ones. whether you’re looking at a non-religious health share or just all health shares, would say Zion Health Share probably one of the popular health shares see people talking about. Whenever I am different groups, whether it’s Reddit or Facebook or anywhere online, when people are talking positively about a usually Zion Health Share. And a huge testament to me that, only do they have a great product or service, however you want, or membership. on top of that, are doing what they say when it comes to paying for medical bills on time and care of their community. I’d say those two are the most popular. Yes, people are looking at Samaritan Ministries, some of the others, but I think when they go through the member guidelines, when they see the unlimited sharing that’s available or not, they look at the reviews, that’s a factor in helping people decide which health care to go

Dan (25:47)
Yeah, and Zion HealthShare is one of those that doesn’t have the religious or lifestyle requirements open to any and all. And so that’s another important consideration is if you really do want the faith-based traditional Christian health sharing experience, see that kind of messaging around Zion HealthShare. You would around Christian healthcare ministries, Medishare, all those players. just of whatever works for you. But the good thing is, The industry is established. It’s been around for a while. The models are there. These communities are growing. They’re very large and stable and you have options. And that’s what I think people really need to understand about health sharing just in general is that this isn’t some new, fringe, small, unstable thing that you’re taking a big joining a health share. Some of these are very established and lots of medical expenses being shared. I think people just need to understand that it’s not this huge risky endeavor.

Holly (26:39)
Yeah, absolutely. There has been billions of dollars for these health shares over the years. Billions. So this is not new, like you said. reviewing all of the different health shares, a huge advocate of all health shares. I want to help people find a health share that will meet their needs. And I want them to think about the things that I think are most important, which is requirements to join them. the capsular limitations, there are any conditions is a huge one. don’t want people that not a good fit joining Health Share and then they are not happy with it. I want them to be happy with their healthcare experience. so the right Health Share is gonna help with that. then of course, reading the member reviews. doing all of those things, I ended up joining Zion HealthShare and love sharing that with everyone that this is something that they can… look into and see if it’s a good fit for them. if it’s not, there are so many other health shares that they can look into and find a good fit for them and their healthcare needs.

Dan (27:36)
Yep. And wherever you’re at, there’s usually an option for you in general. So that’s, it’s a good thing to be keeping in mind. appreciate you taking the join us and share your expertise with us for anyone who would like to learn more, connect with any way. where do we direct them?

Holly (27:40)
Mm-hmm. They can find me on my website, healthshare101.com, or they can go to my YouTube channel. If they look up HealthShare101, they will find my YouTube and I have tons of videos that are talking about the different health shares and they can help help them to consider when they’re looking to join any of the health shares.

Dan (28:09)
Perfect. All right. Well, hey, thanks again for joining us. We appreciate you taking the time and enlightening. I think that’ll be really helpful for a lot of people who’ve been hearing about Health share, not really sure what it is, not sure what organizations there are. Hopefully they found this helpful and thanks for being here to help us out with that.

Holly (28:25)
Thank you. Follow us for more at uninsuredbychoice.com.