"It's a lot more practical to join Medi-Share than it is to become Amish."

[GregH] Well, there is a lot of greed to go around starting with the medical professionals (yes, some make an obscene amount of money) and ending with many patients themselves. It is one messed up system through and through and I don’t know you can absolve insurance companies completely for their part in it.

I don’t think I absolved anyone. I just get sick of Obama-Pelosi-Reid blaming big (Oil/Pharma/Banks/Walmart/Healthcare) companies for all of our woes! And then to hear a pastor echo that refrain ….

As a personal anecdote, last year a wondrous new drug healed my from C-Diff. Dificid had just come on the market. The drug company is a small little known company called Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. They have yet to make a profit.

My local hospital gives a cash discount, a friend of mine who has something similar to Medi-Share gets this discount.

Jonathan, in my experience, doctors and hospitals give discounts if you ask but they are far less than the discount you get through insurance. As an example, I recently paid a “discounted” rate (20%) for a service in cash because I did not think there was value in filing it with insurance. Later, I changed my mind and filed and found out that the negotiated rate with insurance was more like 50%.

In a recent surgery, the hospital billed insurance $31K and ended up getting paid by insurance about $5K. Those are the kind of discounts I am talking about that I think cash customers might usually miss out on.

I can’t speak for Medi-Share, because I’m not on it. We are on Samaritan (samaritanministries.org). I’m not anti-profit, just would rather be spending money on a non-profit that actually benefits believers in Christ. Many hospitals are “non-profit” not in the sense of Christian ministry (which is why some of the religious hospitals were started), but more for the benefit of not paying taxes. If insurance companies make money, good for them. However, I had a good friend who was an actuary, and people who work in the industry will tell you that they routinely turn down people that they don’t think will profit them.

As for the rates, there is some truth to what is being said. Hospitals do show less mercy to cash payers as far as discounts. Samaritan is associated with a ministry that will try to negotiate lower payments, with mixed success. The best we were able to do on our $5000+ bill was 10% off. However, my Samaritan brothers and sisters paid it off. A lot of times they can do better than that.

Sorry for the delay. I was on a medi-share plan. At the time, I had been with many insurance companies from different jobs. The church I pastored (and still do) had medi-share. When they first enrolled me they did the medical history. About 8 years earlier, I had an ulcer, and they wanted documentation. I had not been treated for it because it was dormant. They had me contact the doctor who treated me. Since he had not treated me (no had any other doctor), he had no current records and told him that.

The medi-share company gave me a rider for a year. A few months later, my doctor thought I had the same liver disease Walter Payton had. I went through the tests, and, praise the Lord, they were clear. But the doctor noticed my dormant ulcer, and noted it. Because of that the medi-share I was on denied paying the whole test…about 5K. No insurance company, before or since, ever questioned the ulcer or refused to pay, but the medi-share. I felt like they were looking for a reason not to pay. It was the only claim we made with them and we have kids too. I would be very careful when using one of these groups.

That’s quite a story…and a helpful warning!