The following article is sponsored by Liberty HealthShare.
Evidence shows that the more regulation there is in an industry, the less competition and consumer choice there are, resulting in higher prices. The results of this lack of competition are seen in extraordinarily high healthcare prices.
Since the Affordable Care Act’s passage in 2010, government involvement in Americans’ healthcare has continued to grow, along with the rise in healthcare prices. Challenges continue to arise from legislative and judicial avenues. Still, the law remains largely intact after the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Affordable Care Act.
For lawmakers in the United States Congress, that means the fight will continue to repeal or replace the controversial legislation. For individuals and families, unfair prices for medical care are projected to continue rising. Luckily for the American people, a healthcare option operates outside of the Affordable Care Act that offers an affordable and effective way to pay for medical expenses: healthcare sharing ministries.
For decades, organizations known as healthcare sharing ministries have brought Americans together to share the cost of their medical expenses. And because they are not insurance, but instead religious cost-sharing organizations, these healthsharing members receive an exemption that satisfies the Affordable Care Mandate for their state.
The number of Americans who take an active part in their healthcare and healthcare costs by being a part of a cost-sharing community has reached one million members. This includes membership in Liberty HealthShare, one of the largest and most well-known healthcare providers sharing ministries.
Americans join healthsharing communities to save on healthcare costs and take responsibility for their healthcare. The concept of healthcare sharing is simple and effective. Each month, members submit their share amount. That amount is used to share towards eligible medical expenses submitted by fellow members. Then, when you have an eligible medical expense, you submit that expense, and your fellow members’ monthly share amounts are used to share towards your submitted medical expense.
Starting with small church groups and growing into the nationwide sharing communities of today, sharing financial gifts has been an effective method of paying medical expenses for several decades. As an example of just how effective healthcare sharing is, in 2020 Liberty HealthShare members shared over 500,000 medical bills totaling over $347 million in medical expenses.
While you would think that a comprehensive healthcare program such as the one offered by Liberty HealthShare would come with a sizable monthly price, Liberty HealthShare has quite affordable prices, especially when compared with healthcare programs’ prices on the government exchanges.
Liberty HealthShare offers programs for individuals starting at $199 per month and programs for families starting at $399 per month. Meanwhile, programs on the government exchanges average over $450 per month for individuals and over $1,150 per month for families. Plus, these low monthly prices do not require members to saddle themselves with high out-of-pocket amounts.
Liberty HealthShare has annual out-of-pocket amounts, known as Annual Unshared Amount, starting at $1,000 for individuals and $2,250 for families. The average yearly out-of-pocket amount for programs on the government exchanges is over $4,000 for individuals and over $8,000 for families.
One of the main reasons that healthcare sharing ministries such as Liberty HealthShare can offer such affordable prices is their lack of government regulation. Since Affordable Care Act regulations do not bind them, healthcare sharing ministries are not required to share towards expenses related to medically unnecessary procedures or towards expenses stemming from unhealthy behaviors on the part of the member.
Additionally, as religious-based organizations, healthcare sharing ministries do not share expenses related to medical procedures that may not align with members’ Christian values. By not sharing medically unnecessary, hazardous, or other expenses members may not be comfortable sharing, Liberty HealthShare and other healthcare sharing ministries may offer members the ability to pay up to 100 percent of eligible medical expenses.
For the millions of Americans who utilize healthcare sharing, these organizations represent much-needed freedom in healthcare. When government interference is limited, innovation and competition thrive, leading to higher quality services and lower healthcare spending for all Americans.