Christian health sharing is a faith-based alternative to traditional health insurance. It’s an option worth considering for American Christian families.
As an American organization founded on the conviction that health protection is personal and not a one-size-fits-all strategy, America First Healthcare is determined to help American families find a health plan that aligns with their faith, values, and preferences.
In this article, faith-based health coverage is explained simply. Read on to learn about Christian health sharing for families and how Christian health coverage alternatives work so you can determine if Christian health sharing is for you.
Key Takeaways
- Christian health sharing is a faith-based alternative to Marketplace and private health insurance.
- It relies on a community pool of funds or member sharing to help members with significant medical expenses.
- It emphasizes personal responsibility, with families covering routine care costs while relying on the community for unexpected, catastrophic needs.
What Is a Christian Health Share Program?
A Christian health share program is a membership health protection arrangement that involves Christians coming together as a group and contributing money into a common fund. The group uses that to meet health-sharing requests from members.
A Christian health share program is obviously for Christian members, but there are also non-faith-based or secular health share programs. The only requirement is that members share a common value or principle. In the case of Christian health-sharing groups, the Christian faith and Christian values are the common denominator.
Health shares have rules and policies on:
- Who can become members
- How much money members need to contribute
- How members pay their contributions (send money directly to members in need or into a common fund)
- Which medical expenses are covered
- How to submit health sharing requests
- How to determine which medical sharing requests are approved and which are not
The Core Principles of Faith-Based Health Coverage, Explained
Christian health-sharing plans are designed to provide protection against massive medical expenses.
For instance, a member suffers from a stroke or a heart attack, and the surgery costs, hospital bills, and doctor’s fees start piling up, going beyond what their family can afford. Another example is a member getting diagnosed with cancer and requiring financial support for chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Health sharing reflects the following core principles:
- Personal responsibility: Families are responsible for their wellness, for getting preventive care, and wellness checkups. Therefore, families are expected to pay for these costs and rely on health protection plans only for unexpectedly large medical bills.
- Freedom of choice: Families must be free to see the doctors and providers they want, instead of being forced to go to network hospitals, clinics, and medical centers affiliated with their insurance providers.
- Tailored options: Health protection must be tailored to a family’s specific requirements. Fairly healthy families living healthy lifestyles must be able to get relatively inexpensive health protection because they need fewer benefits and require no coverage for preexisting conditions.
- Limited government intervention: The government must not impose health protection thresholds and coverage. Government intervention often leads to generic plans that ignore the innate differences in individual circumstances and requirements (e.g., a man paying for a plan that includes maternity benefits).
- Faith-based: Some Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace health Insurance plans support abortion and gender-affirming care, which are contrary to the Christian faith. By choosing a Christian health-sharing plan, Christians avoid inadvertently contributing to procedures that are in conflict with their beliefs.
- Brotherhood: Christian sharing plans also provide Christians with a ready avenue to practice their faith, allowing them to help their brothers and sisters in times of need.
Christian Health Sharing for Families: How Christian Health Coverage Alternatives Work
Christian health sharing plans usually work this way for member families:
- Health sharing: Members send a set contribution per month to the program administrators. There are also health-sharing arrangements where members send their money directly to members with approved health-sharing requests. After contributing, members send proof of their contribution to the plan administrators.
- Requesting assistance: If a family needs help paying medical bills, they submit a request to the health-sharing administrator. If the request meets health-sharing guidelines, the administrators disburse the funds from the common pool or direct the sharing request to the body so members can give directly.
- Prayers and well wishes: Members may also pray for ailing members and send them notes of encouragement and well wishes. Christian health sharing provides a valuable sense of community, gives Christian families opportunities to practice their faith, and empowers them to support fellow Christians.
- Discernment and discipline: Member families also get to practice discernment and discipline. Knowing they must pay for wellness check-ups, diagnostics, and routine care themselves, they become more conscientious about their health-related expenses and more disciplined about their lifestyle and well-being.
Is Health Share Health Insurance? How Religious Health Coverage Alternatives Compare
No, health share is not health insurance. Both are health protection strategies, but that’s where their similarities end.
The following elements differentiate health shares from health insurance:
- Health-sharing organization: Instead of a health insurance company, a health-sharing organization, ministry, or third party administers health-sharing communities.
- Pre-existing conditions: Health shares, unlike ACA Marketplace health insurance plans, usually do not cover (or will often cap coverage for) pre-existing conditions.
- Reimbursement: Health shares operate on a self-pay basis. Members pay for their medical expenses and submit the receipts for eligible expenses to request a share from the common fund or from members.
- Cost: Health share contributions are significantly lower than health insurance premiums. Doctor’s fees and the cost of hospitalization, medical procedures, and prescriptions are also often lower because members obtain them on a cash-pay basis instead of the (typically) more expensive insurance-negotiated rates.
For all its benefits, health sharing has the following characteristics that may make it less suitable for some families:
- There is no legal guarantee of payment; a sharing request can be declined.
- Pre-existing conditions are typically excluded or capped for a period of time.
- Coverage for maternity, mental health, and prescriptions is limited or non-existent.
- There is no regulatory backstop (no state guarantee fund) if a health-sharing community cannot meet all the eligible share requests in a given month.
- Eligibility can depend on lifestyle or values commitments, not just health status.
Indeed, health sharing is not for everyone, just as we consistently tell our clients at America First Healthcare. It is an excellent health protection strategy, but only if you and your family:
- Believe in its core principles (see the core principles section).
- Are relatively healthy, with no pre-existing conditions
- Live a good, healthy lifestyle
- Have the means to pay for your family’s routine medical care
- Primarily want financial support in case a family member is diagnosed with a catastrophic medical condition
Questions to Ask Before Joining a Faith-Based Health Program
Before joining a faith-based health sharing program, ask these questions:
- Health share: How much are you expected to contribute monthly to the health share fund or send as financial support to members in need of support?
- Coverage: What specific medical needs or expenses are eligible for sharing?
- Exclusions: What specific medical needs or expenses are explicitly excluded?
- Caps or limitations: What are the sharing caps or limitations, if any, for health-sharing-eligible needs or expenses?
- Processing timeframes: How long does it take to decide on sharing requests, and how long does it take for help to reach members?
- Eligibility: Who is eligible for membership?
- Commitments: Do you need to make certain lifestyle commitments before being accepted as a member?
- Track record: Can the health share program meet sharing requests?
Frequently Asked Questions
A Christian health coverage alternative (i.e., faith-based health sharing) is a community of Christians committed to helping each other with medical expenses instead of entering into an insurance contract with and paying premiums to an insurance company. Members contribute a set amount each month, which pays for their eligible medical needs.
At America First Healthcare, we walk every family through this option. It is not insurance, and it is not for everyone. It’s for families who believe healthcare requires a tailored strategy and that routine medical care is, first and foremost, a personal responsibility.
Monthly contributions to faith-based health-sharing plans are lower than health insurance premiums. Additionally, joining a health sharing plan is a commitment to share in the medical expenses of other members who need it, while health insurance is a commitment to pay premiums to a health insurance company in exchange for healthcare coverage.
Faith-based health sharing, as explained earlier, is a health protection strategy that involves people who hold the same religious beliefs coming together to share in other members’ medical expenses. Members may contribute a set amount to a health share fund every month, or they may send money directly to members with sharing requests.
Yes, families can choose their own doctors in many health share models. Health share plans operate on a self-pay basis. Members pay for their medical services themselves before submitting a health-sharing request. Therefore, members are free to see their own doctors for health concerns.
Because health-sharing programs are built around a shared set of beliefs, most ask members to affirm a statement of faith or a set of lifestyle standards before joining, and some check in periodically to confirm members are living by those commitments. For instance, Christian health sharing requires an affirmation of the Christian faith.
To compare monthly cost with benefit structure, consider the cost of monthly contributions against what happens if a member is diagnosed with a grave medical condition. Factor in what’s excluded, what’s capped, whether pre-existing conditions are addressed, and whether there’s real protection from large bills.
As a health insurance agency committed to helping American families find the best health protection strategy according to their needs and requirements, we help our clients see the full picture during their free review, so they do not neglect to compare protections because they’re focused only on costs.
A faith-based option is a strong fit for a household that upholds Christian values, including the desire to help Christian brothers and sisters during their time of need. It’s also suitable for families who believe that routine care is a personal responsibility and that health protection is necessary only for catastrophically expensive medical expenses.
Christian Health Share for Christian Families
Christian health-sharing plans are for families who need alternatives to ACA health insurance plans. Marketplace plans have mandatory benefits that not everybody needs, support procedures that may be contrary to one’s convictions, and (because of all their inclusions) are excessively expensive to maintain.
In Christian health sharing, families obtain protection only against massive medical bills and remain responsible for their routine care. They see their preferred doctors and providers, instead of being forced to stay within specific provider networks. As an added incentive, they get to help others who share their faith with their medical needs.
Health-sharing plans are for those who do not have costly-to-manage pre-existing conditions and are comfortable with a health protection model built on a sense of community and shared trust rather than a legal guarantee. If this doesn’t sound like you, you may be better off choosing from private health insurance plans.
Health sharing may not be right for every household, and we’ll tell you plainly if it isn’t right for yours. Want to know if it’s a good fit for your family? Schedule a free healthcare review with us at America First Healthcare today.
