EDIT July 31, 2020 – I would be wary of Liberty HealthShare currently. There have been numerous reviews of them not paying medical expenses, and very long delays.
Okay, okay, hear me out first. I want to start out this Liberty HealthShare review and state that this is not a political post, at all. Seriously. This also isn’t a sponsored post or anything like that. This is my Liberty HealthShare review and my research on a health care sharing ministry, as I want to help others find alternative forms of health insurance in case they need it. I did. If you are looking for Liberty Healthshare reviews, then here is my opinion.
I first heard about health sharing ministries about a year ago. I had no idea that they existed, but I thought it was an interesting concept. I didn’t look into it any further because I already had health insurance.
Then, in late 2015, I found out that I had no realistic health insurance options. I didn’t want to pay the penalty for not having health insurance, and I also didn’t want to go uninsured.
See, for full-time RVers, health insurance companies are fairly strict.
Some health insurance companies won’t cover you once you travel away from your state. If they do cover you when out-of-state, they usually require that you at least live full-time in your home state. As RVers, while we do have an address, it is technically not where we live full-time, so we did not want to have to deal with a health insurance company possibly voiding a medical expense if they found out that we were trying to get around this loophole.
Plus, the only policy that we qualified for (in our state) had an astonishing deductible of $39,000 for an out-of-state medical expense. And, as full-time RVers, we are excluded from the majority of policies anyways due to the loophole as described above, so that just didn’t work for us.
Paying a high monthly health insurance premium that comes with a $39,000 annual deductible, and the fact that any of our claims would probably be voided because we are full-time travelers, made this decision a no-brainer.
We obviously had to find something else.
Related blog posts if you’re interested in this Liberty Healthshare Review:
- 30+ Ways To Save Thousands of Dollars a Month
- 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
- How To Take A 10 Day Trip To Hawaii For $22.40 – Flights & Accommodations Included
- The $20 Savings Challenge
So, in January of 2016, we started a membership with Liberty HealthShare. We filled out an application, they approved us, and we even had a medical expense in January that they covered. We NEVER have medical expenses, so it was just a coincidence that we had a claim only six days after we were approved.
And, they covered that claim.
My Liberty Healthshare review:
So, what is a health care sharing ministry?
According to Healthcaresharing.org, “a health care sharing ministry provides a health care cost sharing arrangement among persons of similar and sincerely held beliefs. HCSMs are operated by not-for-profit religious organizations acting as a clearinghouse for those who have medical expenses and those who desire to share the burden of those medical expenses.”
Members of a health sharing ministry pay a monthly share with an agreement to help one another in the risk-pool by covering medical expenses.
The positives of a health care sharing ministry.
The positives of health sharing ministries include:
- Monthly costs that can be much less expensive than traditional health insurance.
- Lower annual deductibles.
- No in-network requirements, so you can go to any doctor, hospital, etc., that you wish.
Also, being a member of Liberty HealthShare exempts you from paying the penalty for not having health insurance.
How much is Liberty HealthShare?
For the both of us, we pay just $249 each month. Yes, altogether! You can see their pricing below for Liberty Complete and Liberty cost sharing:
With this monthly fee, 100% of our eligible medical bills- up to $1,000,000 per incident, are covered, after the $1,000 per couple annual unshared amount (think of this as your annual deductible).
They even have plans for as low as $107 per month.
You can find all of Liberty HealthShare’s options here.
The downsides of a health care sharing ministry.
Now, health sharing ministries are definitely not perfect. As with most things, something this good must have negatives.
Liberty HealthShare is not traditional health insurance, which means:
- They are under no requirement to cover your medical expenses.
- You cannot deduct Liberty’s monthly costs from your business taxes.
- You cannot contribute to a Health Savings Account.
- Pre-existing medical conditions are not covered until years later.
Health care sharing ministries all have some sort of ethical rules that you must abide by such as no smoking, no drinking, and so on. If you incur a medical expense due to something that is against their policies, there is a chance that they will not cover it.
Lastly, I want to repeat this again, the biggest caveat is that there is no guarantee that a health sharing ministry will pay a medical expense. This is because they are not governed under the same laws as health insurance companies due to the fact that they are not considered health insurance.
Related: Do you need travel medical insurance if you travel long-term?
Liberty HealthShare review
First of all, leaving traditional health insurance and joining a health sharing ministry was a difficult decision for us. We’ve always had “normal” health insurance, and we don’t know many people who use Liberty.
However, we didn’t really have a choice.
We even used an RV health insurance broker to see if they could find us anything, which they couldn’t. It was either be completely uninsured or go the health care sharing ministry route.
I will say that I haven’t regretted this decision one bit. So far, I have had no problems with Liberty HealthShare. They have covered one wellness visit as well as an ER visit. It was pretty easy in both cases- they just took my Liberty HealthShare card and didn’t have any questions. Liberty HealthShare didn’t have any questions either.
Liberty HealthShare does have a set of guidelines (which you can find here) that they ask that you follow. But, they accept customers of all faiths, lifestyles, backgrounds, and sexual orientations.
Here are links to Liberty Healthshare’s rules on other questions you may have:
- Liberty Healthshare prescriptions – Prescription Savings for HealthSharing Members
- Liberty Healthshare pregnancy – Maternity & Membership: What to Expect
I will make sure to keep this Liberty HealthShare review updated in case anything happens, especially if my opinion were to change in the future.
How did I hear about this health care sharing ministry?
There were two main people who influenced my decision to join Liberty HealthShare. This includes Holly and Choncé. Both of them are Liberty HealthShare members, and here is what they have to say about the company:
We joined Liberty HealthShare in 2014 after seeing our premiums double due to the Affordable Care Act. So far, we have seen tremendous value with our plan, and all for a price that is half of what we would need to pay for health insurance. And, instead of having a $12,000 or $13,000 deductible with Obamacare, we have a $1,500 annual out-of-pocket max. – Holly Johnson at Club Thrifty, Why We’re Joining a Healthcare Sharing Ministry
I’ve been using Liberty HealthShare for about a year and a half now. At first, I was hesitant to try it, but health insurance premium quotes were very high for me so I knew I didn’t have much to lose. Now, I am so happy I gave it a try because I like how I can visit any doctor I want and Liberty has really stepped up to share my medical expenses so I don’t have to cover them out of pocket. Last year, I had to have a surgery done which totaled around $13,600. Liberty HealthShare repriced my medical bills to about $3,500 and shared the entire expense. Having surgery is scary enough on its own, but I felt peace-of-mind knowing I wasn’t going to be bombarded with tons of unnecessary medical expenses afterward. Liberty HealthShare is still growing and the team is always open to hearing suggestions and trying to improve each member’s experience. I like how one team member offered to call a doctor I was interested in seeing to explain to them what a health sharing ministry is and ask if they would accept me as a patient. – Choncé at My Debt Epiphany, Putting My Health First: A Review of Liberty HealthShare
Choncé was also kind enough to share a screenshot of how Liberty HealthShare paid the entire expense of a surgery she had last year.
If you’re interested in Liberty HealthShare after reading my Liberty HealthShare review, please send me an email at michelle@makingsenseofcents.com, and I can put you in touch with someone at the company. They will explain it further and answer any questions you have. This is not a sponsored post or anything. I just want to help others find other options, when there are no others that make sense.
How much do you pay monthly for health insurance or an alternative? What do you think of health care sharing ministries?
Disclaimer with this Liberty HealthShare review: You should always do your own research when it comes to a big topic such as choosing health care, a health care sharing ministry, and health insurance. This is just my opinion and review of Liberty HealthShare, but you should remember that I am not a health care professional or expert.
Dan says
Great article and updates. My wife and I are both self-employed and we switched to Liberty in 2018. We were pretty nervous about the change so we chronicled things at http://www.mylibertyexperience.com. Overall we’ve saved a lot of money but there’s been some pretty significant inefficiency. We are thinking about short-term healthcare plans from United Healthcare for next year – we’ll see. Anyway, hope our experience might help anyone looking at Liberty for next year. Happy Annual Enrollment Season!
Corinne says
Be sure to check the short-term plans for preexisting limitations. Worst case scenario: if you get cancer during one 3 month policy, by the next 3 month policy it will be a preexisting condition and it might not be covered.
As for Liberty Healthshare, I work in medical billing, and it very much depends on the policies of each facility and physician as to whether they’ll accept Liberty’s repricing agreement. Our organization currently does not. This means that we can’t send the bill directly to Liberty, and we can’t apply the adjustment they list. We have to register these patients as uninsured, then they get the uninsured discount (NOT the Liberty discount), then we give the patients itemized statements and they have to submit to Liberty for reimbursement.
All that to say, make sure you check before you go to the doctor. And if possible, try to find a hospital that takes healthshares before you have an emergency. I don’t mean to discourage using them, because some of our patients really like Liberty Healthshare. But hopefully this gives you a little more information about how the process can sometimes go.
Summer says
While this is nice, Liberty is not an insurance policy or company. It states this on their legal notices page.
It says, “This program is not an insurance company nor is it offered through an insurance company. This program does not guarantee or promise that your medical bills will be paid or assigned to others for payment. Whether anyone chooses to pay your medical bills will be totally voluntary. As such, this program should never be considered as a substitute for any insurance policy. Whether you receive any payments for medical expenses and whether or not this program continues to operate, you are always liable for any unpaid bills.”
The company has terrible reviews (just look it up) and they are currently under investigation with the BBB.
My parents signed up with them and paid $480 per month and never had any reimbursements for care during the time they were with them. Wouldn’t cover high blood pressure meds, nothing. Weren’t allowed to go to the doctor’s for 2 months upon signing up…
I would warn against supporting a company that knowingly takes from susceptible members of our society.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
I talk about the warnings right in this blog post.
DrK says
You should also go in-depth about how for people with chronic medical issues, and for those who experience traumatic high-cost surgeries and injuries (that may have pre-insurance costs of $100,000+), this may not be a good fit. Having a 20 word ‘disclaimer’ when you spent how many paragraphs raving about how it’s a good fit (caveat: you used it twice for low-volume and low-intensity visits) for you is a little disingenuous. I’ve seen these adulatory posts across FIRE and RV-life websites and it’s making me suspicious you were paid to post these reviews.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
I’m not sure if you see the red disclaimer at the very top?
“EDIT July 31, 2020 – I would be wary of Liberty HealthShare currently. There have been numerous reviews of them not paying medical expenses, and very long delays.”
I no longer recommend Liberty as the best choice.
I have been a member for years now, and am in the process of switching. This is not a sponsored post. I genuinely in the beginning thought that they were a good fit. And, in the beginning they were for me and many others.
You think they would pay me to say that?
monica skrove says
I have paid my monthly health insurance premium and have waited MONTHS to be reimbursed. MONTHS!! My reimbursement requests have been approved, but I’m still waiting for reimbursement. Yesterday I was told the turnaround time for reimbursement is 180 days! The customer service reps cannot help. They have zero answers. She told me the 180 day turnaround time was better than it was past…which was “whenever they were able to pay them”. WHAT??? You cannot email or speak to anyone other than the customer service rep. After doing some additional research online yesterday, I was shocked to see how many people are having the same issue I am. The companies attempt to claim the delay in reimbursement is all “user error by the customer” is just to cover their tracks. The medical bills I have submitted have been approved for payment. After months of approved reimbursement requests, I am still waiting on a check. How can a company do this? I believe this company is a total PONZI SCHEME. I have filed a formal complaint with the BBB (go check out their rating before you sign anything with LHS). I also filed a formal complaint with the Ohio Attorney General. I will check the internet daily praying someone starts a class action lawsuit against this FRAUD of a company. Shameful that a company as deceitful as this portrays itself as a Christian based company. As a christian myself, this facade is deplorable.
Sara says
We were members with Liberty Health share from 2018-2020. This company and the entire idea of a Heathshare ministry is definitely something to think cautiously about. During our time I had a serious accident which resulted in $40,000 if medical Bill’s of which liberty did eventually payoff after 9 months of my hounding them and pushing them. The had a bad year in 2019 and if I understand right they eventually fired their CEO and the original founding CEO came back ok n board to try to straighten things out. With his changes that is how I was able to finally get my Bills covered. Yes, They did pay in full. But the financial stress of the bills and potential credit stress it put on my family for months made us leave. The company make no legal promose to cover anything. Just keep that in mind when you sign up. You will have no legal backing to defend yourself with if they feel your health bill isnt deemed by them as being payable or if they dont have the funds to do so. You are basically “in line” for months hoping and praying that they will come through. I would be curious to k M how if this bbn logger is still a member
David says
Worst Health Insurance decision we made. Members for one month and had to fight them to approve our visit was an emergency. Following that we had to pay a bill to get scheduled for another visit to our doctor because they would not pay it initially. They committed to reimburse us for our bill in writing per an email saying they would send a check for reimbursement for the bill that we paid, that we never should have. They said it could take 90 days to receive the check. At 90 days we called and they said they were sorry we were misinformed by their employee and they said they will not write a check to us. We shared how they sent an email of confirmation saying we would receive a check, but they continued to say it is agains their guidelines even though their employee was approved to send us an email saying we were going to be receive a check for reimbursement.
All this being said do not fall for the monthly savings and go to a health share plan. Stick with the big companies because they do not challenge or try to hide when it comes to making payments for you and your family
Mark says
Don’t bother with this company. Horribly inept and incompetent.
Paid premiums for 5 yrs…am now enrolled in Medicare & notified them as required, and am still being billed
I notified them MULTIPLE times. Had to cancel long-standing cc with excellent history to prevent more $$ being withdrawn. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. DO YOUR DILIGENCE.
Jared says
This company is the worst I have ever worked with. Their communication is horrible and they have taken over a year to take care of my medical bills. My bills have been sent to collections and they did nothing to help. My credit was hit hard and they did nothing to help. This company will leave you out in the dry. I have no idea how people can rate this business higher than 1 star.
Kevin says
I still have bills from 2020 which have not been shared/paid…When you call in you are told they have up to six month to share…then the next time it was they are paid in order then the next time it is Liberty healthshare has never not paid a sharable expense…They first cut the amount down to a very minimal payment and then the bill is expected to be written off by the medical provider. Very few providers are writing them off and are now passing the remaining balance back to the patient. It creates a whole mess and you have to resubmit but you only have so much time to do so. If you go over the time limit you are stuck with it. Problem is they take so long to pay in the first place that more than likely the patient will not be made whole…
I see they were a main sponsor of CPAC in 2020…for a price tag of $250,000. Doesn’t make good business sense to me, especially when I have over 25k of “sharable expenses” which have not been paid… but who knows. I do know I am not able to sustain this kind of money out of pocket for an extended time period and it is now starting to hurt.
I will be looking for coverage elsewhere