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[QUOTE=snowcanyon;n175602]
There's definitely a religious schtick to it. But honestly, I'm completely ignoring the religious, emotional, political, anti-government sentiment that is there. We look at it completely from a dollars and cents standpoint (and I'm surprised that there aren't any of these that aren't specifically Christian).
I agree it isn't health insurance. It's an alternative way to pay for health care that sits somewhere between health insurance and being completely self-pay. I disagree that it is "far inferior." Especially once you consider the price, I think it is far superior for many people and that's why they're buying and using it quite happily year after year after year. I've got a retired partner using it. He's very happy with it and he's plenty financially savvy (he retired at 50 after selling a multi-million dollar company.) Here's his quote he left on my blog post on the topic a few years ago:
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/he...comment-454926
Originally posted by MPMD
I agree it isn't health insurance. It's an alternative way to pay for health care that sits somewhere between health insurance and being completely self-pay. I disagree that it is "far inferior." Especially once you consider the price, I think it is far superior for many people and that's why they're buying and using it quite happily year after year after year. I've got a retired partner using it. He's very happy with it and he's plenty financially savvy (he retired at 50 after selling a multi-million dollar company.) Here's his quote he left on my blog post on the topic a few years ago:
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/he...comment-454926
The biggest concern when I decided to leave medicine and spend time pursuing my true passions (climbing, skiing, white water adventures, wilderness canoeing) was my ability to obtain affordable (or any) health insurance. I have struggled with health insurance since I retired and was no longer eligible for my physician group health insurance plan. ACA insurance became a bit of a hassle since I have no earned income but substantial assets – each year they denied me as they felt I was Medicaid eligible leading to delays and loss of insurance at times. Furthermore, my ACA bronze plan with a high deductible (between $11,500 and $13,500 deductible each year) increased in cost from around $900/month for a family of 5 to $1240/month. While we are very active and mostly “healthy”, we are in our mid 50’s and little things come up that tend to cost more than you would think. Last year our combined medical expenses including insurance were $22,700 up from about S16,000 the year prior. Our projected insurance costs for 2017 were $14800 plus the $11500 deductible. While I understand that insurance is expensive, these spiraling costs made me begin to investigate other alternatives as these expenses make up a fairly sizeable portion of our retirement budget. I read the post on this site relating to healthcare co-operative in February and was intrigued by the concept. Then I went on a humanitarian mission to Columbia where the other participants all were members of Christian Health Ministries. They felt it was a fair and reliable plan so I investigated further. My family of five could get their gold level plan for $450/month plus $40 month for the “brother’s keeper” which basically is disaster or major medical insurance. The deductible is $500/incident. As previously noted it does not cover routine medical care or medications, but neither does a bronze ACA plan with an $11,500 deductible for all intents and purposes.
Long story short, I switched insurance to Christian Health Ministries. I admit I had some concerns as it is not actually insurance and they can refuse payment, but I felt that all the reviews were positive and decided to take a chance. Unfortunately, 3 months after the switch we had a major medical expense. Our son suffered a significant hand injury on one of our kayaking trips. He required extensive surgery and our out of pocket expenses after negotiating a 30-60% fee reduction for cash payments exceeded $15,000. Christian Health Ministries was great. I simply had to obtain each bill with its discount listed, fill out a form, write a brief letter explaining the event and submit it to CHM. Within a few weeks, with NO hassles and NO denials, I was cut a check reimbursing me for 100% of expenses minus my deductible. In my entire career as a healthcare consumer and as a healthcare provider I have never had this type of experience with insurance companies. I swear part of their business plans is random denial of payments as many of those denials result in the patient assuming the cost and the insurance getting out of the bill. (Among several of my bad experiences, our first child’s delivery costs were denied for failure to get prior approval to have the baby – this despite paying for maternity insurance for years prior).
I cannot say enough good about the Christian Health Ministries plan. They are honest, reliable and affordable. I strongly encourage those interested in a change to consider this group as the provider of their health care coverage.
Long story short, I switched insurance to Christian Health Ministries. I admit I had some concerns as it is not actually insurance and they can refuse payment, but I felt that all the reviews were positive and decided to take a chance. Unfortunately, 3 months after the switch we had a major medical expense. Our son suffered a significant hand injury on one of our kayaking trips. He required extensive surgery and our out of pocket expenses after negotiating a 30-60% fee reduction for cash payments exceeded $15,000. Christian Health Ministries was great. I simply had to obtain each bill with its discount listed, fill out a form, write a brief letter explaining the event and submit it to CHM. Within a few weeks, with NO hassles and NO denials, I was cut a check reimbursing me for 100% of expenses minus my deductible. In my entire career as a healthcare consumer and as a healthcare provider I have never had this type of experience with insurance companies. I swear part of their business plans is random denial of payments as many of those denials result in the patient assuming the cost and the insurance getting out of the bill. (Among several of my bad experiences, our first child’s delivery costs were denied for failure to get prior approval to have the baby – this despite paying for maternity insurance for years prior).
I cannot say enough good about the Christian Health Ministries plan. They are honest, reliable and affordable. I strongly encourage those interested in a change to consider this group as the provider of their health care coverage.
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