Christian Care Ministry

Here is my review of Medishare/Chrisitian Care Ministry, Inc. and I hope that this review is informative to any buyer who does not know about how insurance works. First, Medishare is not insurance. You will see that repeatedly when dealing with this business, yet they function as insurance but there is an exception.

Here are a few things you need to know upon considering becoming a member of Medishare:
1. Your healthcare provider(s) will more than likely not know anything about Medishare, so expect to spend a great deal of time on the phone with your provider's(s) billing department and Medishare to iron out bills.
2. Medishare representatives are sweet and professional, but don't be fooled. Their demeanor does not mean that you are being provided with the information or help you need.
3. Asthma (if you've had it all your life) is considered a preexisting condition and is not covered. It may be covered if asthma was diagnosed after signing on with Medishare.
4. Here's the kicker: every month you will receive notification of how your monthly payment was used to help pay medical bills for other people, while you are still paying out-of-pocket for your own medical bills.
5.Don't opt for the $10,000 deductible if you don't visit the doctor much. It hasn't paid off for my family. Medical bills will not be paid by Medishare until we pay $10,000 out of pocket, meanwhile what we pay per month is used to pay medical expenses for other people. Your premium keeps your account active and a portion or all is applied to help other members.
6. Here is a list of how some of my payments have been used for others upon signing with Medishare: (I will only use initials for the names)
1. On 1/25 $171 of my payment went to J.C
2. On 5/25 $156 of my payment went to J.B.H
3. On 6/22 $149.91 of my payment went to R.M
4. On 7/20 $149.91 of my payment went to C.S
5. On 8/15 $149.91 of my payment went to K.L
6. On 8/22 $180.08 of my payment went to M.B.
7. On 9/25 $149.91 of my payment went to L.F.
8.On 9/15 $180.08 of my payment went to P.B. Jr.
9. On 10/05 $180.08 of my payment went to J.M.
10. On 10/31 $180.08 of my payment went to M.B.
11. On 10/19 $149.91 of my payment went to J.C.
12. On 12/29 $114.99 of my payment went to R.S.
13. On 11/16 $149.91 of my payment went to A.H.
14. On 11/21 $143.08 of my payment went to C.F.
There are some gaps in months so all payments are not listed, but from what is listed $3384.94 went to help other members, which I think is wonderful. A great concept, but when it comes to my bills Medishare paid $1249 (which really is my own money), so I paid 2134.94 in sharing, and paid $1249 of my own bills through Medishare. Nonetheless, I now have bills that I was not aware of that have gone into collections with the company(Sentara): $1249, $659, $118, $145, $150, $45 of which Medishare will not pay, nor do my bills qualify for sharing with Medishare. If I did not have Medishare and I paid $3384.94 to myself, my medical bills total roughly $3000 (to include xrays, emergency visits, services not included in the review), my medical bills would have been covered without Medishare. Now, I have medical bills that I cannot immediately pay and the stress of dealing with a pleasant, but not very effective company and decision on my part to sign on with them.

So, I hope my experience will help you to make a more informed decision about whether or not to sign on with Medishare. I am cancelling with them and signing on with health insurance. Watching my medical bills pile up while my payments to Medishare are applied to help others with their medical bills does not seem to be the wise choice for me and my family.

Buyer beware. This is a great sounding concept but a poorly run business. I've been with Medishare since 2013. For the first 3.5 years I had no complaints. I also had no medical bills... That all changed this year with the birth of my son and the posting of my first bills in nearly 4 years. What I have experienced in the last 5 months has driven me to the point where I will be dropping Medishare ASAP. I just hope Medishare comes through as promised to cover something of what they owe, and then I will wash my hands of the headache.

I love the concept behind the business, and the people that work there are genuinely caring, but I've come to believe that this whole company is incompetent. For 5 months I have been trying to get my bills covered in the way the company promised they would be (they have since acknowledged that I have been right all along). I have spent hours on the phone every month with the various departments, and every person I talk to tells me something different. Every time I call back in I start back at square one. They all promise resolution, but not a single person has taken the initiative to follow through and make it all right.

I live out of the Medishare network, so that may account for some of my issues (I know of other families in my town who have had this same experience). With that said, this company has dropped the ball at every single turn despite multiple promises that they would make things right. I am now 5 months behind on my medical bills as I wait for Medishare to sort out their mess. Hospitals and doctors offices are starting to call, and if Medishare would come through as promised every bill would be taken care of.

As I said before, I really like the concept behind Medishare, and every person I have talked to has been kind, but the execution is awful and unprofessional. The billing process will leave you and your providers scratching their heads, and every time I call the company I have to spend 10-15 minutes trying to explain my situation before we can make any progress. Next time I call...we are back to square one again.

Working with a Christian company while saving $ monthly sounds great in theory, but in reality it has been a huge headache and to date has not contributed a dime of what they owe. We will be switching to real insurance this January (which was even less expensive than Medishare for my family!) and I just hope we can find some measure of resolution on the way out.

Medi-share seems like a great idea, because the monthly rate is the only affordable health option. It should actually be called medi-no-share because there is little to no actual "sharing" available. We've been members for 2 years and we've never had one thing covered despite multiple submissions. Every single bill we've had has been paid out of pocket and our household portion never gets credited. Further, medi-share doesn't do a good job educating medical providers about its system or provide any real information as far as sharing and costs. Thus, doctors, pharmacists, and other medical providers are unable to process any requests and/or know how best to help you in a cost-effective manner. The Guidelines leave a lot of discretionary power to refuse and make any change in your coverage subject to additional fees and waiting periods. Finally, when you call, the customer care is average to below average as far as being able to actually help or address something. It's really frustrating when you call for help, they don't provide it, and then ask if they can pray for you. It would be much better if they trained their staff to actually help first before offering to pray.

The medical insurance we were getting through my employer was up for renewal but we decided not to go with them this year because the premiums had shot up to $1,200 a month for a family of four with a deductible of $3,000. Instead, we decided to go with Medi-Share due to a couple of factors; has been in service for many years and has a high number of members. There were other medical sharing programs out there but after weeks of research we just thought Medi-Share was the program that best fit us. After only one month of being a member, I unfortunately got rushed to the hospital for multiple illnesses. I couldn't believe it. When I had traditional health insurance, I never had to go to the hospital once but only after one month with Medi-Share, I unluckily had to endure multiple procedures/operation and many doctor visits following the procedures. After it was all said and done, my total medical bills came out to well over $65k. I was definitely worried, frightened, and hopeless. Even though I had Medi-Share there weren't guarantees that everything would be covered. After a couple of months, thanks to God, all but my $3,000 (deductible) was covered by Medi-Share and the members. It was incredible. Medi-Share really works. This is a true testimony. I wasn't asked by Medi-Share to write a review about them but I just felt that I needed to share my experience for those that are considering to go the less traditional route.