Christian Care Ministry

MediShare Christian Care Ministry was my health care coverage company and did not cover my bills as described.
I had a health care plan with Christian Care Ministry, where I paid for health care coverage with a $10,000 deductible. In 2018 I had back surgery for a herniated disc. Where I met and paid my $10,000 deductible, and received a letter from Christian Care Ministry that they surgery would be eligible to be paid. The medical bills have not all been paid, as they said they would, now are ruining my credit and may be sent to collection agencies. I met and paid my $10,000 deductible and even some additional cost. Almost 2 years later and the bills are still not paid. I feel that Christian Care Ministry has not complied and upheld their agreement per the letter I received from them. I just want them to pay the medical bills, so that my credit isn't ruined. It is not right that they did not uphold their agreement. This is poor business and taking advantage of a consumer, and breech of contract.

Medi-share is refusing to share medical bills from my daughter's birth.
I have been a member of Medi-share for over 5 years. I have sent in nearly $50,000 to cover other member's bills over that time and never once needed one of my medical bills shared. Last year they increased my monthly share by 18%! A couple of months ago my wife and I had a daughter. Medi-share is now refusing to pay for her expenses related to birth because they claim they have no record of my phone call notifying them of her birth. I asked them if they want to see a copy of the birth verification form that the hospital faxed them and their answer was that they don't care what was faxed because they have no record of a phone call. I am now left to try to find a way to cover these invoices related to her birth after sending them nearly $50,000.

Did not use the service, canceled in 3 days. I want a refund.
When I spoke to the Customer Service Rep on the phone I was told that even with a high deductible plan I could get up to a 40% discount on medical services and a wellness check with a mammogram. I then agreed to sign up but then to clarify what I was told I wrote to Member Services via email and was told that mammograms are not a covered services, a 40% discount would be highly unusual and that only services they deem to be medically necessary would get any sort of discount. I was also not by told by Customer Service that I had to be a member in good standing for over a year before any of medical bills would even be shared. Three days later (because of the weekend) I emailed them and canceled the service, I was asked to call to verify my decision and given a "hard sell" but I told them I wanted to cancel right now. I want my money back because I was only a member from November 1 to November 3 and did not use the service at all. I am on a fixed income right now and can't afford to pay for something I could not and did not use.

I have been on the phone with MediShare and my provider for months trying to get our first bill paid by MediShare. We had been on the plan for 15 months when we had to have our first issue taken care of by insurance. My wife had severe diarrhea for several months and we decided it wasn't going to go away on it's own. We went to the doctor who performed a colonoscopy to identify the issue. She was diagnosed with Microscopic Colitis and he put her on treatment for that and resolved the issue. This was in March of this year.

After talking to a representative today about the issue, I was told because the issue is more than 90 days old, they weren't responsible to pay it. The doctor coded the treatment correctly. There were several codes that were not preventative, but because he also tested for other issues while he was doing the procedure and had a code for that, MediShare refuses to pay $10,000 worth of bills as everything was preventative according to them. They take your money like clockwork, but refuse to pay anything.

I really hoped I had found an honest insurance company after I was forced to ObamaCare after my individual policy was cancelled due to ObamaCare. But, nope. I had been with Blue Cross for 25 years before this and never had this issue.

I had discounted the other reviewers as trying to get coverage for pre-existing conditions or preventative procedures. Do yourself a favor and understand that MediShare will do whatever it can to avoid paying your bills.

DO NOT USE!!!!! Sooner or later you will regret it!!!!!!!!!!!! Long story but after an ENTIRE year of them wanting something different every other week. Now they are saying shortness of breathe is NOT a reason to or diagnosis for my Dr to run an ekg???? Then in the same call they changed the reason for the denial to "didn't get all the documentation needed with in a year. I HAVE GIVEN THEM EVERYTHING THEY ASKED FOR OVER AN ENTIRE YEAR. They put me off and had me chasing documents for an entire. This is their SCAM!!! I agree with JS nothing "Christian" about how they operate.

Christian Care Ministry has been a God send for my family. I was downsized by my former employer at the end of 2018, and this organization provided a reasonable alternative to private health insurance. I had a medical emergency in July resulting in medical expenses in excess of $75,000.00, and the Christian Care community rallied to generously share that burden, both financially, and by negotiating reductions in provider charges. In addition to assisting with financial support, the professionals at Christian Care Ministry and the entire community have offered spiritual support through prayer, and uplifting encouragement. The entire community is a shining example of Jesus' admonition to His disciples ". . . freely have you received, freely give".

There are many reasons why I am pleased with Medi-Share. Here are a few:
- My health coverage is only about $200/month with a $10,000 deductible which I think is extremely reasonable.
- They are a Christian company that is very selective about who they enroll. If you do not want to be paying for abortions, sex change operations, elective procedures unrelated to health problems, alcohol or drug-related accidents or injuries, this is the plan for you.
- I appreciate the way they screen the medical bills I pay and determine correct pricing for my health care providers.
- I absolutely LOVE their Telehealth program! I have access to a licensed physician 24 hours/day 7 days a week from the comfort of my home. No more waiting in doctors' offices with a bunch of contagious people for medical issues that can be treated over the phone and at absolutely NO COST! I don't know how they do it but it is fantastic! I have had two medical conditions in the past 6 months for which I needed a diagnosis and prescription. For one of the conditions (a spider bite that I thought was from a Brown Recluse spider), I sent the doctor a photo of the bite, she called me within 10 minutes of setting up the appointment, and within 5 minutes she had diagnosed the bite and prescribed a strong antibiotic. That was it! And it was at 4:00 a.m.! The other condition did not require a photo and the doctor was also able to prescribe a medication for me to pick up from my local pharmacy. Amazing!
- Every time I call, I am asked if I would like prayer. What an amazing company! I am so happy I started using them 3 years ago.

Medishare was my primary health services company for over 5 years. They have not covered medical care services for which they were responsible.
I was a member of the Medishare Christian Care Medical Sharing for over 5 years. I was required to have a gynecologist examination and procedure, which was done on May 30, 2018. The medical services were conducted through *** Healthsystem.

My Medishare account no. was ***. My *** Healthsystem account no. is ***. Although Medishare covered a portion of the medical expense, the outstanding amount not paid by them totaled about $ 325.52. My deduct able was 100% satisfied with Medishare at that time of the service too.

During my numerous telephone calls to Medishare, they indicated verbally that they would work with North Shore billing system to correct the medical coding on this medical service, and Medishare would take care of the balance payment due.

This back and forth process had been going on since June 2018. My last conversation with Medishare was September 16, 2019 (Reference # ***). That conversation with Medishare resulted in their reassurance that the $ 359.39 would be paid in full, as they were aware of the problem. They again indicated that the issue would be resolved with North Shore and billing system.

I just received a written letter notice from North Shore billing collection agency (dated October 15, 2019) that the outstanding amount of $ 359.39 is still ongoing, and that I am responsible for that final payment for services rendered back on May 30, 2018.

My wife injured her knee had to have surgery, The bill come in at a cost of I am guessing at this point around the range of 130 thou to 150 thou.
*** They paid all of my wife's surgery bills after I met my house hold annual portion which is similar to saying you have to first meet your deductible if you have a normal insurance plan. But as long as you follow the guidelines and communicate with them they work hard to make it that you are not left with massive medical bills. Our experience was opposite of the negative reports I read on this site. Medishare honored there moto to share the costs. I think people struggle trying to think in these new terms as to how it works.
I know because when I first come off of a normal insurance I had a bit of a adjusting period switching to understanding that this is not a insurance, which once you buy a insurance plan the insurance company is obligates to pay ( even though half the time they find every reason not to pay)
So basically with a insurance company as long as you stay in net work they pay higher but out of net work lower generally speaking that is after you meet the yearly deductible.

So with Medishare It takes faith to pay each month knowing they are not obligated to pay or share your bills but they generally do as long as you follow the basic guidelines. But remember until you meet the house hold potion you picked and agreed to meet. Medishare wont kick in to pay but will negotiate cost of medical bill down to contracted rate. Then once you meet the house hold potion. medishare will share your needs and financial burden that occur with all the member's basically meaning they pay the medical bill with in there guidelines. I again have been impressed because that once I met the house hold portion of 4200.00 that I picked, they paid 100 % of my bills. Thank you Medishare for carrying our burden of financial debt. We would have never dug out of this finacial hole with out your help. Barry and Elise M

My 9 yo daughter had a hospital stay due to pneumonia back in February 2019. 6 months later and I'm still waiting for the bill to be processed.
Her Hospital stay was in Feb 2019. I submitted all the bills in April and was told I had to wait 4-6 months for an answer. We are in October, and still not answer. I have called several times and still no response. My household number is ***. My daughter's name is Juliana ***.

Medishare/ Christian Care Ministry, Inc employees misinformed over "network" coverage and taken more than six months to process shareable bills.
In December of 2017 I joined Medishare and my established care doctors were in their network. In June 2018, I got pregnant and immediately called the Medishare maternity specialist to review the sharing process. My providers were no longer in network. After speaking with the maternity specialist about care plans and providers, I asked specifically what the total out of pocket would be if I used an out of network provider. The maternity specialist said there "might" be a charge of up to $500 bringing the out of pocket for my plan, in this event, to a maximum of $3500. They also said I could always appeal it but did not go into detail. When I asked if there were any other differences in using the provider of my choice, they said no. I was grossly misinformed. Medishare has apologized for the misinformation but has taken little to no action to help me resolve it. This is an unacceptable business practice for a Christian based business that I paid toward monthly (my end of the bargain) while they did not fulfill theirs. I prepaid $2800 toward the OB office per the OB office requirements and was excited to know I had almost hit my AHP (medishare term of out of pocket). Upon the birth of my daughter (2/15/19) I incurred hospital and staff billing for our stay (service dates 2/15-2/217). I submitted the claims myself and was told it would increase processing time up to 90 days. It should have been disclosed that "out of network" provider reimbursements would need to be submitted via a different "pipeline" and processing would take at least 90 days as opposed to 30. I submitted them 3/7/2019. After receiving calls from some of the providers for the bills, I followed up with Medishare on 4/2/2019 and was told they had no claims in process for me. I have the confirmation email from their system that my information was received on 3/7/2019. I was told I needed to resubmit and follow up immediately via chat for confirmation. I did, and was told that now processing times could be 90-120 days FROM 4/4/2019. I followed up many times over the coming months. 120 days later some became available on the member portal. The bill I had already paid toward was NOT processed while others were and sent back to the provider as "patient responsible, AHP not met" despite many of them grouped together AND my telling Medishare during every update that needed to be processed first to prevent any issue. This was very frustrating since when I resubmitted the information on 4/4/2019 I asked them to look over and make sure it looked correct and was told it did, indeed, look correct. Still, I requested a new tax ID sheet from the and resubmitted it on 9/5 and requested it to be expedited.The reimbursement was needed from what I had already prepaid to pay all the bills Medishare had sent directly to me since they had no registered that I had paid toward the AHP. I received a confirmation email from an employee (I have records) that say they would forward it on to the correct department. Due to the previous issue of losing my information, I followed up 9/16 again and they could find no record of what I had sent in (again.). After chatting, they told me they didn't know how to help me and I would have to call in. After calling, the CS representative also couldn't find it and took it over the phone and said he would "try" to get it added and that it could be an additional 30 das. Many balances have turned over to debt collectors since I need this reimbursement, financially, to pay.
Medishare also failed to share all of the needs to the policy that was disclosed to me during my pregnancy. Multiple bills have been charged at LEAST a $500 "u&c" (unusual and customary) charge back to me. The anesthesiologist "u&c" alone was over $1000. It is not in line with what I was told to have the $1100 "u&c" balances for the anesthesiologist, $535 for the hospital, $535 for the OB as well as a balance from a debt collector of $7386.42 that Medishare has let go to collections.

They are refusing to cover a $30,000 pregnancy bill.

From the time I first inquired about being a member, I asked about pregnancy coverage.

They're an alternative to insurance so they wouldn't use language like "coverage" they'd say "shareable" but it's in practice the same thing.

I have called in several times related to bills that were shareable (and previously shared) related to the pregnancy of our son, so they knew our son was going to be born.

After his birth, they're refusing to cover the $30,000 medical bill because they claim that back in July of 2018 they had a policy change, that mind you, I wasn't aware of, and that they now require the annual household portion to be $3,000, not $1,750 to share maturity needs.

An annual household portion is their version of an annual deductible.

I told them I'd be happy to pay them the $1,250 difference or do whatever I needed to in order to make the $30,000 bill sharable. They refused.

I remember speaking after the birth to one of their representatives about another smaller bill ($2,750 to be exact) related to the pregnancy, and they brought the different household portion to my attention at that time.

In response to that, I'm currently paying monthly for that $2,750 bill to met the requirements for that change according to their guidelines.

I even called in and added my son to my account, which switched my monthly contribution from $500 to around $900... so I needed up switching to a competitor, but needless to say, they were well aware of the pregnancy!

My wife was high-risk during the pregnancy, as we had a still-birth prior to joining Medishare, so I called to ensure everything would be covered/shareable when we found out we were pregnant. They said yes.

We went to the doctors twice a week for the bulk of the pregnancy, all of which they have clear documentation of and shared the bulk of those bills.

Yet, despite clear documentation of all this, they still refuse to cover/share the $30,000 medical bill.

I've escalated it twice with them. I've gone through the proper channels. I've done everything I could do but they still refuse, so I'm now seeking legal advice and plan on going to court.

Medishare dropped coverage for my son without notifying me.
I found out my 18 year old son was dropped from my policy when I opened our statement and his name was not listed. When I called I was told he had not turned in a "testimony and commitment form" so he was dropped. Here are the facts:
*They acknowledge no notice was mailed to me and that was failure on their part.
*I was informed he will not be reinstated until its received
*They know he is serving in a Christian camp in Colorado and are aware he could incur injury.
*I contacted my son and had these forms signed and emailed.
*They can't expedite his reinstatement because emails come in bulk form and they don't see mine.
They are knowing leaving a young man without coverage and taking no responsibilty for the part they have played in this.

They raised my annual house-hold portion five hundred bucks but didn't inform me that my house-hold portion would cover maternity. I only need them for maternity. I was told that nothing on my account would changed except my annual house hold portion.

I had such high hopes for a program based on christian principals. However at the end of the day you are a number like any other insurance company. Their principles are the same deny and ignore. I never got an explanation on the questions when I filed my appeal, they used a completely unrelated issue and used that for denial, a "pre-existing condition" I was never diagnosed for, and again it had nothing to do why I went to the ER for. They send me a letter without explanation of my question and added another explanation. The other letter I send has been ignored and I have never heard back. I set up a payment plan with the hospital, because their patience ran out, at least they have been working with me to come up with a solution, more then I can say of M, disappointing.

1. Medi-Share doesn't reimburse out-of-pocket costs timely
2. Customer support needs improvement
3. Medi-Share "Guidelines" need to be followed
I reluctantly write this complaint to the Revdex.com, but I feel the need to in order to warn current members of Medi-Share or those considering joining the membership.
I have recommended Medi-Share to many families but no longer do so ... I look forward to the day when I can again. I love 90% of the Medi-Share experience, but the other 10% can be catastrophic. We are a healthy family but encountered a tough 17'-18'.
1. I have been waiting over 6 months to be reimbursed on $23,000+ in medical bills. It feels like Medi-Share is just sitting on my bills.
2. How is an ordinary family supposed to float $23K in bills for 6 months? Just the credit card interest on this at 20% interest would be over $2,300 for a 6 month period.
3. Medi-Share will highlight that they recommend members use in-network providers, but often the best doctors for a procedure don't want to touch Medi-Share with a 10' pole - either due to a poor previous reimbursement from Medi-Share or due to a Medi-Share member previously stiffing the medical provider on an invoice - which in turn unfairly gives Medi-Share a bad name.
4. Medi-Share will quickly reimburse a member for a $25 prescription, but will sit on a reimbursable $2,500 doctor bill for months.
5. The Medi-Share EDI portal works great, and medical providers often receive their payments very quickly. Just this week one of our providers was paid within 5 days of submitting a bill, and this is a fairly typical time frame for ordinary bills. However, the Medi-Share out-of-pocket reimbursement system takes months, is often inaccurate, can require excessive documentation, and regularly processes the same billing procedures in completely different manners.
6. Medi-Share does not always follow it's own Member Guidelines. Anytime a question arises that is not spelled out crystal clear in the Guidelines, a member has no easy way to escalate a matter for clarification.
7. Bills that are absolutely eligible for reimbursement are often not shared among members. When dealing with member support, I have found certain support to sometimes quote guidelines that do not apply.
8. It often has felt like Medi-Share is trying hard to find reasons to not reimburse - and grays areas automatically turn into denials.
8. I am due a reimbursement on a $600 medical procedure for my youngest son, but was told "this is a pre-existing condition." When I sent Medi-Share proof that it was not, then I was told "Medi-Share does not cover conditions of the jaw." When I reminded Medi-Share this was a procedure on the tongue, I was told "that falls under the jaw guidelines," which I stated a tongue and a jaw are not the same, and the procedure should be covered.
9. The process to appeal a sharing decision seems intentionally designed to prohibit a member from appealing. In summary, there is not a way to appeal online. A member must call Medi-Share and then talk an entry level support rep into appealing the decision. If one cannot convince the rep to appeal a decision then it will not get appealed. Recently I had to work incredibly hard to get 2 bills appealed (that total $830). I had another bill for over $1,000 that I was not able to convince the rep to appeal. For a family going through tough medical situations, to feel like one has to fight so hard to get decisions appealed likely results in many members giving up.
10. Identical bills submitted for reimbursement are often processed completely differently, as if it depends on the day and the rep processing a bill. I recently appealed a bill for $130, and the only way I convinced the rep to appeal it for me was to dig in the archives and find the exact procedure and provider for $130 which was reimbursed the previous year. For many minutes the rep kindly refused to appeal the bill until I showed her the exact same bill.
10. The support staff experience is too long. I typically am on the phone for between 60-120 minutes trying to get my stuff worked out - to no avail.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer on Sept 27th. My cancer battle hasn't been as difficult as our MediShare battle. My breast are very cystic. Lumps come and go, come and go. My doctor noted in my chart how long a cluster of cyst had been active in an area of my breast. Among those cyst, the cancer was found. MediShare took that one little statement, ruled me pre-existing WITHOUT any previous formal diagnosis. They say you can not have a "sign or symptom" of any problems for 3 yrs. They have swept me out the door leaving me with A LOT of medical debt and stress. The icing on the cake, Medi Share hasn't even notified me that I am pre-existing. Not a phone call, not an email, not a snail mail letter. NOTHING!!! I found out from my local hospital. I then called MediShare and after two hours on the ph, it was confirmed....I am denied. It brings a bitter taste to my mouth that they promote Christian service and love on their radio adds but they aren't the body of Christ they present themselves to be. I will be looking for an alternative for my family. I've taken my experience to social media trying to warn ANYONE out there to beware!!

I was very optimistic about this company but had a terrible experience. I'm not sure if they have changed ownership in the past few years or not. But, my experience was one of the worst I've ever had. Honestly, this is my first negative review that I've ever left for a business. But, I felt this was worth communicating.
I was given faulty advice by Medi-share employees on several occasions concerning my medical bills. This advice ended up costing me an extra $1000 in bills. In the beginning of 2018, my wife had an emergency trip to the hospital. Once the bills started coming in, I noticed that the hospital and ambulance services were telling me a different price than Medishare said I was responsible for. I contacted the hospital and ambulance services first and they told me to contact Medishare. I contacted medishare and was told that sometimes hospitals do not acknowledge the price point immediately. I was instructed to pay down the bill until it reached the mark that Medishare said I was responsible for. At that point, I was informed to call back medishare and they would contact the hospital and ambulance directly. I followed this advice.

During this time my debt was turned over to a collection agency which I continued to make payments to. After finally paying down the bills to the amount designated by medishare, I called medishare again to inform them. At this point, another Medishare employee told me that the hospital and ambulance service had denied their attempt to negotiate a lower price. She said this meant that I was responsible for the entire amount. She told me there was nothing more medishare could do. By the way, this was within the 1 year period from the original hospital bill that medishare requires.

So, after hearing this, I paid the remaining balances to the debt collection agencies by placing the amounts on a credit card. Several days later, I contacted medishare to cancel my account. After having such difficulty in dealing with these bills, this seemed like the best approach. As I cancelled my account, another medishare employee told me that the other 2 employees had given me faulty information. She said they were both completely wrong in the advice they gave me. She said that medishare was supposed to renegotiate the price with the hospital and the ambulance service. She also said that I should not have paid off the bill but since I had, there was nothing she could do (Even thought medishare told me to pay the bill). So, ultimately, I did exactly as I was told by medishare. Once I followed their procedure, I was informed that it was wrong and they understood that it cost me extra money, but there was nothing they could do.
Honestly, this feels completely like a scam.

They don't follow the *** contract price, instead processing high bills
I chose Medi share program is because I was told that they are in *** network. Recently my son need MRI test, the customer service rep told me that I need to go with providers in *** network, and asked the provider for the *** contract price. So I followed what they instructed me and figured out *** imaging. has the best price of $433.73 for ***. Another place which is not in *** network would cost $700. So I chose *** imaging. But once I received my bill, it is $1387.5. I contacted Medi share many times and I was told it is *** issue, and I contacted *** many times, and *** also contacted Medi share. Medi share informed *** that they don't follow *** price and it is my responsibility. I don't understand why they don't follow *** price? I did exactly what they asked me to do, found a provider in *** network, and asked for *** contract price, now I am getting a big bill from them and they can't explain why they don't follow *** price.

Provider not in network that was in network before January 1st.
Around last two weeks of December I started researching Medi-Share and come to find out all the providers within their network before I signed up has been dropped. Dr. William L, Dr. Ben S, Dr. James H. These are my only go to doctors I would go see. I would have never signed up for medi-share if they wasn't in their network I even asked customer service representative to look a couple of them up. They are not wanting to refund February Payment True today is the 1st but I just got the bill last night when I discovered provider we thought wasin network is not in network. I just got notice about bill on 31st of January and Renewal is on firt I called find out that I have lost January Payment and February Payment because I paid twice by mistake. I think I am entitled to amount after January. I am willing to eat this amount. Unless something changes I can no long recmmmend this company.