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About Choncé
Chonce is a personal finance blogger and freelance writer who enjoys sharing debt stories (as she and her husband work their way out of $40,000 in debt) along with talking about saving, budgeting, conscious spending and improving your financial house. In her spare time,she enjoys working out, playing sports with her son, cooking, and thrifting.
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Comments
It all sounds very confusing. I worked with a broker to pick my latest insurance, but so far I haven’t had to face any out of the ordinary challenges, but I need to get a colonoscopy sometime in the near future and I know that’s going to be a huge challenge to find out what it really costs. So it sounds like there are major pros and cons to both.
Choncé saysYeah it can get very confusing so it’s best to take your time since it’s somewhat a major decision.
- Teresa Cole says
screening colonoscopy covered 100% and you do not have to meet cost sharing. All on info I received in mail.
- Kirsten says
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Chonce. I have friends who use a health sharing ministry and they’ve really had a good experience with them.
See Also50 Ways to Make Extra Money This Month5 Delicious Store Brand Coffees That Will Save You Money - Smart Family MoneyKonMari Shortcuts - Alternative Decluttering MethodsThe Debt.com Scholarship For Aggressive Scholarship ApplicantsI think an individual’s “right” insurance choice boils down to their individual circ*mstances. We all have such different requirements and backgrounds, that it’s pretty impossible to get a good one-size fits all insurance option in the US. I see this even through employer-sponsored plans. What works great for a healthy family of 4 might work terribly for someone who is single with a chronic condition and several prescriptions.
But the only way people can rest more assured in their choice is to learn from the shared experiences of others!
- Choncé says
Well said! It’s all about doing your homework and reading up about different things. The dealings with health sharing ministries has always been so vague or hush hush online from my perspective, but it’s so important to read about various different experiences.
- Matthew Bellis says
Choncé, I’m the communications director for Liberty HealthShare, thank you so much for this review. It’s hard at times to get candid experiences and I appreciate your honesty. I’m going to look into anything we can do to help improve your experience (call wait times, medical billing issues, better guideline communication).
We are changing an entire industry, and we thank you for trusting our community with your healthcare. As you have seen it isn’t perfect yet. If you would like to chat with me personally about your needs, I’m available.
- Choncé says
Hi Matthew, that’s great to hear and thanks for the comment!
I will preface this with the fact that my day job is working for a health services and benefits (insurance) company, and I am speaking 100% my own opinion and not on behalf of my employer. I think the worst thing about health sharing ministries is the pre-existing conditions not being covered the first year. So basically you are “uninsured” in that sense and subject to potential bankruptcy, at least that’s what I interpret it as. It’s too bad they have that policy because I bet a lot of people sign up without realizing it.
- Choncé says
Yeah that’s really unfortunate. Even though a year can fly by, it’s risky.
- FF says
With the prescription card, make sure you ask the pharmacist if there are any other discounts for the uninsured available. I went uncovered for some time before the ACA, and was issued quite a few discount cards. The pharmacist, no matter where I went, was always able to beat it.
- iris says
Thanks so much for posting the information, sharing your experiences and allowing others to post comments and ask questions. I am currently learning more about Liberty before making a decision. Looking forward to your update!
I like the fact that Liberty accepts naturopathic visits, for medically necessary reasons, and for some other services offered, but am concerned about timely payments to doctors. Also, my total cholesterol is barely high and the good still outweighs the bad levels, but per Liberty, I’d have to pay $80/mo. more and be in monthly communication+ with their staff as I try to lower the level. In subsequent research after hearing that, I’ve since read in separate recent medical articles by physicians who specialize in this area, that there has been absolutely no study done which implicates high serum cholesterol levels in the occurrence of heart attack, stroke, cancer, etc., and that, in fact, 25% of our cholesterol is found in our brains, and very important to have there and in the rest of the body. Another medical article stated that if one wants to lower their total cholesterol level, eating more foods high in cholesterol will help to accomplish that. Also, If cholesterol is depleted because of not enough intake of healthy fats, the liver simply produces more, which may be reflected in people who try to cut out all the fat they can, in order to reduce their blood levels. Then the doctor sees their elevated serum count and prescribes statins! God has His reasons for allowing our bodies to change in the aging process, perhaps the elevated serum cholesterol levels associated with aging are not such a bad thing. I know that oral estrogen replacement therapy for menopausal women, raises their risk of development of certain types of cancers, for example. I actually wonder if the big pharma companies may have used serum cholesterol as a scare tactic to push statin drugs. Statins might? be useful for those whose total levels are off the chart, but livers don’t like them, and there is research which links their usage to some cancers and other very serious problems. Our traditional insurance company has never raised an issue with my levels and I’m quite healthy, with no detected heart or vascular problems at all.
Has anyone else out there encountered this scenario with a health share ministry? Thanks.
- Lynn says
Hi. I joined Liberty Healthshare when I lost my employer sponsored health insurance. I am in a kind of “trial period” with them now until the end of the year when my husband’s employer sponsored health insurance (which he is not happy with) comes up for renewal, I have heard mostly positive things about them but I am concerned about the “pre-existing conditions clause” not because I have any but because I am not quite sure that they don’t at times create reasons to claim a medical issue is pre-existing so they don’t have to pay out on it at least initially. Chonce stated some of her medical expenses might not be covered because they were determined to be pre-exisitng but she said she was a generally healthy person with no pre-exisitng conditions she know of. So my question is: how is Liberty determining something is pre-exisitng if someone has never been diagnosed with this condition before? This is something I would really appreciate knowing before I either find myself in a position of not having expenses covered because it is somehow pre-existing or I need to decide to drop Liberty and sign up with a traditional insurance company.
- iris says
Commenting on the trial period with Liberty Health Share, I was going to go with them, and my husband was considering it also, before he retired recently. I think they are a good plan, but since they found out that my total cholesterol was high, I would have paid an extra $80. per month and would have needed to be tracked by one of their professionals. My tot. cholesterol was not that high, and I’ve since found that total serum cholesterol is NOT an indicator of predisposition to heart attack or stroke. There has been no conclusive evidence, and I’ve read medical articles which show that the liver will produce more cholesterol if a person is on a low cholesterol diet, which I was. 25% of the cholesterol in the body is found in the brain, and is absolutely necessary to health for the whole body. I now believe that the large pharmaceutical companies have used inconclusive studies in order to push statins on the population, which I refuse to take, as statins have been proven to create many dangerous problems, even when taken properly. Perhaps I would have considered it if my cholesterol was inordinately high, but my good lipids still outweigh my bad ones. I’ve also read that eating foods high in cholesterol, but without any trans fats, in moderation, of course, is a very healthy choice, given that we need it.
Another reason I chose to stick with my husband’s insurance, which has now rolled over after retirement, on his request, is that I’ve heard that the pay out time to doctors is pretty slow, around 4 months on average. This might be the case for many healthcare ministries and insurances, but I didn’t like the thought of a healthcare ministry badgering doctors for discounts, or us to try to obtain them, when we would already be paying them monthly. Other than that, Liberty still sounds like a good way to go. God bless.
- Barbara says
If I choose Liberty to handle my health care needs I would expect them to pay promptly. If I’m paying probably every month They should be required as well to be prompt in paying the doctors. That is one of the biggest complaints in the medical field which I think helps drive cost up and not down. If I do choose to go with Liberty I will ask questions and assure them that being in credit in many capacities all my working career that I do not believe in late payments of any kind! If they expect their payments to be promot then we should expect them to be prompt in their payments as we have been led to believe they will take care of….
- Robin says
I have not seen any updates from Chonce since Aug 2015. I am wondering what happened with the payment of her bills through Liberty?
- Choncé says
My bills got paid or ‘shared’ among other members aside from what I had to pay for my AUA. It just took a long time to come through like most insurance companies I guess.
- Choncé says
Hey Trisha, I have no idea why it took a long time. I don’t have much experience with traditional health insurance so I don’t really have much to compare Liberty to. Whether it’s worth it or not, it depends on what you’re looking for. It’s not a one-size fit all solution for everyone. The only thing I would caution would be to make sure providers in your area would be willing to accept it before you sign up. Some providers are familiar with it but not all so it could be an unwanted hassle. Otherwise, I’ve saved quite a bit by using Liberty vs. traditional insurance.
