5 ms·

Sorry for my question, but I am not familiar: What is the difference of the "Christian health bill sharing ministry" to health insurance. It seems to me to foll

Sorry for my question, but I am not familiar: What is the difference of the "Christian health bill sharing ministry" to health insurance. It seems to me to follow the main idea of health care, just you know in a social humane way closer to EU approach and not that of a we are going to gouge your eyes out like health insurance companies in the U.S. do. What am I missing?

didibus 9y ago
Its the same thing, but its exempt from insurer regulations. That means they are not obligated to cover your medical expense and you are not allowed to sue them. Repayment is always up to their discretion, and they can spend the money however they want. They generally reimburse you after you've paid out of pocket, and normally have a lower cap on how much they'll reimbourse, something like up to 250k max. Its Christian based, they normally only allow Christians to join, and won't pay for injuries caused by activities they don't believe follow their values. Such as STDs from sexual relations outside of marriage, drugs, alchool, fighting, etc. So what is regulation replaced by? Trust in other Christians. If you trust Christians to be less corrupt and more fair in distributing the pool of money contributed in a fair way to members who most need it. And if you trust other members to be willing to suddenly give extra in case the pool runs out and people still need money for their medical expenses. In contrast, with normal insurance you have to trust government audit to make sure insurers follow regulations, and trust that they won't wait for you to take them to court to pay up. Generally, because real insurers have those regulation, they'll want to be very sure they can cover people even in the worst case, which means boosting premiums and deductibles, etc. Also, most normal insurers are for profit and might also want to charge more simply to boost their profit, while health sharing ministries are non for profit, though some of them have been criticised for their founders and employees to pay themselves too big a salary and give themselves too many bonuses.
- nickthemagicman 9y ago
  > So what is regulation replaced by? Trust in other Christians. Man it would be great if other areas of Human Life worked this way. You could get rid of the SEC and just let the bankers run with Christian trust instead of regulation. I personally think the regulation is there for a reason but I'm really glad you found something that works for you and hope that your trust isn't taken advantage of.
  - notfromhere 9y ago
    If you have a super expensive condition, they will simply deny you. It's not legally called insurance for a reason
    - judah 9y ago
      I'm the original poster. FWIW, my friend is on the same Christian healthcare. Last year he had a pulmonary embolism, which required an ambulance and a week in the hospital. The final bill was over $30,000. Within two weeks, the Christian healthcare wrote him a check covering the whole bill. I saw the check with my own eyes.
      - notfromhere 9y ago
        30k isn't much for insurance coverage. The point is these arrangements have no legal recourse if they simply deny you coverage, and the fact that they aren't bound by any type of insurance regulation means that nothing is stopping them from doing so except some feelings of charity. When that feeling of charity is overruled by financial sense for the group, people will be screwed over.
        judah 9y ago
        I don't deny that some things can go wrong, and I don't claim the system is perfect. But at the same time, in my 2 decades with Blue Cross Blue Shield, I paid through the nose (more than my mortgage!) and things still went wrong. Hospitals went out of coverage due to failed negotiations with insurance providers. I was charged for things I didn't receive, I was billed more than expected for simple visits. I'm not saying everyone needs to switch to Christian healthcare. I'm saying, the switch has worked well for me so far and I have saved over $10k in the span of about 10 months.
EADGBE 9y ago
It's important to remember that it's not insurance at all.
- notfromhere 9y ago
  Yep. People will be screwed by this when the fund decides it doesn't want to pay out. Thoughts and prayers don't cure disease and insurance regulations exist for a reason

didibus 9y ago

Its the same thing, but its exempt from insurer regulations. That means they are not obligated to cover your medical expense and you are not allowed to sue them. Repayment is always up to their discretion, and they can spend the money however they want. They generally reimburse you after you've paid out of pocket, and normally have a lower cap on how much they'll reimbourse, something like up to 250k max. Its Christian based, they normally only allow Christians to join, and won't pay for injuries caused by activities they don't believe follow their values. Such as STDs from sexual relations outside of marriage, drugs, alchool, fighting, etc. So what is regulation replaced by? Trust in other Christians. If you trust Christians to be less corrupt and more fair in distributing the pool of money contributed in a fair way to members who most need it. And if you trust other members to be willing to suddenly give extra in case the pool runs out and people still need money for their medical expenses. In contrast, with normal insurance you have to trust government audit to make sure insurers follow regulations, and trust that they won't wait for you to take them to court to pay up. Generally, because real insurers have those regulation, they'll want to be very sure they can cover people even in the worst case, which means boosting premiums and deductibles, etc. Also, most normal insurers are for profit and might also want to charge more simply to boost their profit, while health sharing ministries are non for profit, though some of them have been criticised for their founders and employees to pay themselves too big a salary and give themselves too many bonuses.

nickthemagicman 9y ago
> So what is regulation replaced by? Trust in other Christians. Man it would be great if other areas of Human Life worked this way. You could get rid of the SEC and just let the bankers run with Christian trust instead of regulation. I personally think the regulation is there for a reason but I'm really glad you found something that works for you and hope that your trust isn't taken advantage of.
- notfromhere 9y ago
  If you have a super expensive condition, they will simply deny you. It's not legally called insurance for a reason
  - judah 9y ago
    I'm the original poster. FWIW, my friend is on the same Christian healthcare. Last year he had a pulmonary embolism, which required an ambulance and a week in the hospital. The final bill was over $30,000. Within two weeks, the Christian healthcare wrote him a check covering the whole bill. I saw the check with my own eyes.
    - notfromhere 9y ago
      30k isn't much for insurance coverage. The point is these arrangements have no legal recourse if they simply deny you coverage, and the fact that they aren't bound by any type of insurance regulation means that nothing is stopping them from doing so except some feelings of charity. When that feeling of charity is overruled by financial sense for the group, people will be screwed over.
      - judah 9y ago
        I don't deny that some things can go wrong, and I don't claim the system is perfect. But at the same time, in my 2 decades with Blue Cross Blue Shield, I paid through the nose (more than my mortgage!) and things still went wrong. Hospitals went out of coverage due to failed negotiations with insurance providers. I was charged for things I didn't receive, I was billed more than expected for simple visits. I'm not saying everyone needs to switch to Christian healthcare. I'm saying, the switch has worked well for me so far and I have saved over $10k in the span of about 10 months.

EADGBE 9y ago

It's important to remember that it's not insurance at all.

notfromhere 9y ago
Yep. People will be screwed by this when the fund decides it doesn't want to pay out. Thoughts and prayers don't cure disease and insurance regulations exist for a reason