We No Longer Have Traditional Health Insurance – Liberty HealthShare Review

Thanks so much for posting this, Michelle! I was laid off from my full-time job last week and health insurance has been one of my biggest concerns. I’ve browsed healthcare.gov for Tennessee, but I’m not pleased with the rates I’m seeing. It’s great to know about another reputable option.

I had never heard of this concept before- so interesting! Is Liberty Healthshare one of the bigger providers out there? Since these ministries are under no obligation to actually pay out, it sounds like you’d definitely want to pick one with a lot of paying members.

I learn something new every day on here; great article!

My husband works for the state, so our health insurance is much more affordable, though the premiums have been increasing quite significantly in the last year. We pay about $188/month to cover our family of 6 for a high-deductible health plan (the year before we just paid $67/month!), and contribute an additional $150 monthly to our HSA. On top of that, the state contributes $2250 a year into our HSA. Our deductibles are a little high, $2750/individual and $5500 for family, but that’s OOP max. All of this will probably change, though, in the next year as the state looks at more premium increases and decreases in contributions to employee’s accounts.

I have looked at healthcare sharing ministries before and I think that they are a good option for people who don’t have access to a good plan. But one that I looked at (Samaritan) seemed to have a cap on the total amount it would assist with. I think it was $250,000, which may seem like a lot, but if you were in ICU for a year or got cancer, that would be gone very quickly. I also don’t like the litigative side of it in that they aren’t liable to pay for any of your expenses. You would think that if you are paying a certain amount, they should be liable for something.

I know many people use these ministries and are happy with them. With premiums rising and more people considering going to them, it will be interesting to see if the restrictions on them change in the years to come. Obamacare is dependent on participation on the health insurance markets – if people choose other options, it would reduce that participation.

Thanks for sharing the details of your experience, Michelle! We are thinking ahead to retirement – health insurance premiums could be a killer in early retirement. This may be a viable option for us too. I appreciate the information!

I am so glad you wrote this post! I had never thought about what traveling full time could mean for my health insurance coverage. Do you know if life insurance policies are similar in regard to full time travelers?

Thanks again because this was ridiculously informative!

Amanda

This article is better than mine, but I just published an article on LinkedIn about my healthcare journey that includes a health care sharing ministry. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/insurance-kills-healthcare-part-2-troy-wolf

Thanks for sharing your experience and spreading the word!

My husband and I are both self employed. We always paid for our own health insurance for the two of us and our two children. Since The Affordable Care Act was put in place our premiums have been unsustainable and we were forced to go through the exchange to keep costs down, but those premiums became unsustainable as well. Insurance premiums should not equal a mortgage payment! In my search for an alternative I stumbled upon Liberty HealthShare and took a chance. I just signed on this January 2017. I am so relieved to read this article. We haven’t had any medical expenses yet, but I’m relieved to know they cover them! More than I can say for the regular health insurance companies who find every reason possible to deny a claim. Thanks for the info!

Long but lots of first hand helpful and specific details…

I have been with Liberty for about 18 months. I have needed to use it more than most this year and can say it is the single best decision I have made. I choose it when I calculated my out of pocket cost for premiums and copays on ACA would be $45K if my daughter was in the ER (likely, she is allergic to nuts) and if we had one other serious episode. Considering I make $52K, that did not seem very “affordable.” So I researched extensively knowing I had to find another solution but I was skeptical at first. I liked Liberty better than Samaritan because they had better tracking on the money and an online portal and Samaritan requires a pastor from your church to sign off on every bill submitted which seemed excessive to me. I also like that Liberty’s statement of beliefs were more inclusive.

So onto my actual experience. In June last year, I was in a significant car accident with both my children. Liberty has been fantastic in paying all of my bills which have been substantial. They have limits like 20 PT visits per year or 12 chiropractic but they waive those limits if the situation warrants it, so I have had probably had over 100 of those visits and they pay. They have even paid for 40+ visits for acupuncture for pain. They paid for my broken teeth to be repaired since it was part of a traumatic injury. I dislocated my jaw in the accident and despite the fact that they say they don’t cover durable medical equipment, they paid for a $1250 retainer and classified it as a “cast” like for a broken arm. So I have found if I just ask for what I need they tend to try hard to find a way to work with me. I also had some other issues and I could go to an alternative medical doctor of my choosing that I previously had to pay out of pocket. Also, despite the fact my son move to Honolulu for a gap year, there has been no issue with paying. With $1000 “deductible” for a single parent family this has been a non issue financially. They have also been great working with my personal injury attorney.

To address a couple of issues I read above:
*The sharing ministries have been operating successfully for 20 years, they can’t say they will pay because they can’t be considered insurance but they do. If they stopped paying, everyone would stop paying monthly and then I feel like I would just be in the same position as when different providers dropped out of ACA and rates went up. Regular health coverage is a risk too and I believe they are more likely to deny charges.

*HSA – I agree it is a bummer you can’t add to an HSA, but it only saves you a few hundred dollars in tax. There is legislation proposed to change that but who knows when it will happen. I have just been using my old HSA money to cashflow my bills. If a doctor won’t bill directly to Liberty (about 50/50) then I ask for the self pay rate and use my HSA card. I submit the bill online to Liberty when I get home, about a 2 min process and I get paid back in about 3-4 weeks. Then I redeposit the money in my HSA and repeat. I will keep my HSA money restocked by the end of the year so I can use it next year, with only $1000 out of pocket it is easy to show at the end of the year that I have replaced all of the funds. Nice way to keep the max money available without upsetting my month budget.

*Preexisting conditions. My daughter’s anaphylaxis was not counted as a preexisting condition despite being a life long condition because she has gone 24 months without a reaction (her longest streak ever, then broken about 2 months after going on Liberty.) My physical therapist had 20 year high blood pressure but they accepted her if she did coaching for 2 months ($80/mo) just to see if there was anything thing she was missing then after 2 months they considered her fully covered even if something goes wrong related to blood pressure, so they do make exceptions in some cases, just ask. Her husband had a stoke and so they accepted him with the normal pre-existing conditions (no coverage year 1 for related issues but covering everything else, $25K max year 2, $50K max year 3, full coverage year 4.) They decided to put him on and keep his old insurance since it is only $100 more per month to add him to LIberty. After the first year, Liberty will allow you to turn in any costs not paid by your other insurance against your $25K…they decided with a $10K deductible on his normal insurance that they could recoup in year 2 and 3 it would be worth the extra $1200 for 3 years to wait out the preexisting condition then drop his old insurance.

*Discounting bills. All providers charge huge rates and all insurance companies pay less, most of the time 60%+ less. I had a $18K follow up visit in the ER plus ambulance. They paid the ER $720 + $300 MRI + $1000 ambulance. The ambulance company accepted the payment. The ER started sending me balance bills demanding payment. Liberty has an email you just send anything you get in the mail demanding payment and they either deny it or pay a bit more if needed. But I never heard another word, it was simple! Also, in the case of my alternative medicine doctor, I paid her regular cash rate $450/hr and Liberty reimbursed my in full. They typically pay less on charges billed to them and pay the full price if you pay at the time of the service. P.S. If you go to Labcorp for testing, tell them you refuse to sign the paper that says they will bill your credit card on file for any amount your insurance does not cover. Also, when they say they can’t bill Liberty (or say you have to sign the other paper) they are lying. Demand to bill Liberty, do not give a CC and do not sign the paper. I had about $60K in testing this year…Liberty paid about $20K, if I had signed the paper, they would have kept billing my card for the rest! Lastly, this discounted billing thing works even for me by myself…when my daughter needed her wisdom teeth out and I found out my ex had canceled her dental insurance. I just went to the oral surgeon and said “I don’t want to do the used car dealership thing. I am willing to pay cash up front but I know that no insurance company pays $3200 for these services. Can we settle on a reasonable and fair cash price?” Within 5 minutes he had talked to the billing lady and they dropped my bill by $1700…just for asking.

A few things to consider about Liberty and a few ways around them:

1. Liberty has very limited coverage for Medications, 45 days max but they have a discount program. I have found GoodRx App has better prices and most drugs are surprisingly inexpensive, just ask you doctor about generic or reasonable options or just ask if they have any samples. They actually charge you less if you pay cash then they bill your insurance. I had one medication for $800 for 20 days, but I looked on GoodRx and the price for cash was $300-$48. I drove an extra 10 miles and paid $48 (whole time standing there feeling like I was doing something wrong, even the pharm tech said “oh, these codes never work” and I said ” well, give it a try and if it doesn’t, there is a number on there we can call to work it out.” No problem, it worked. Even got the same price on my future refills.

2. Liberty does not cover durable medical equipment. Sounds bad but it is pretty small in the bigger picture. Every major city has used medical equipment for sale, so if you need a brace or wheelchair, etc. do not rent or buy full price, check out these used shops. I live at high altitude and need an oxygen concentrator at night. My old insurance used to pay $288 per month to Apria for a high altitude concentrator and I am sure they would be happy to charge me the same. I found a guy on Craigslist (I did check him and his company out extensively) who maintains and sells concentrators to people who have mountain ski homes. I got a used one for $450 that had just been refurbished and calibrated. I have been using it since I switched to Liberty with no problems.

3. Liberty just started requiring preapproval for testing. Just call in for an approval. They are using it as a cost saving measure but they are very reasonable in their approvals. They also cover alot of less standard test that an alternative medicine doctor might order that regular insurance would not so the small extra step is no big deal.

So all in all, I will be an empty nester in a year and Liberty will continue to cover both kids no matter the state they live and they will be able to use the on campus clinic if they want. Also, I will be covered not matter where I wonder. So honestly, I believe Liberty is even a better value than I thought based on my research. My experience and being forced to face a number of unexpected hurdles, I can find no area I feel Liberty has let me down.

I am so glad there is a way to ride out this nonsense in our healthcare system upheaval!

Does anyone have any experience with Medishare? Thank you.

Does anyone have real-life experience with Liberty paying on-time issues, trying to compare Medi-Share paying ontime vs Liberty.

Liberty excludes activities like rock climbing, etc. I need to find a sharing group that does not exclude occasional fun outdoors activities and also doesn’t require a pastor to sign off on every single doctor visit.

Hi Michelle – such a relevant and informative post! I was so unhappy with the cost of my insurance plan, so we made the switch January 1, 2018. We are set to save $18,000 this year because of the switch. I wrote about my experience choosing a Health Share ministry and did a little comparison to help others in this journey here: https://broketobeach.com/2018/01/21/health-share-ministry-versus-health-insurance/

Any updates to share about your experience? I’d love to hear them!

Cheers!

I see in the sample hospital bill that at first glance, wow! paid 100%. Sounds great! But look closely. The hospital charged about $13,700. Liberty HealthShare said it was worth $3500 and paid $3500. We don’t know if the hospital accepted that discount or not. Other people have complained that they were getting billed for the balance due, meaning that Liberty paid what they felt like they should pay, not what the hospital said it should receive.

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.

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

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.

This company is a scam. Initially I was pleased with their performance in reimbursing my medical expenses. since 2020, Liberty HealthShare has not reimbursed any medical costs. I am told much like others, the bill wasn’t submitted properly, Then I was told it was submitted properly but it needed to be reviewed and that the time for reimbursement is about 180 days. I paid the bill as I didn’t want my credit to suffer. Now once again, I am fighting with them about medical costs. I have not been reimbursed for any expenses in 2020.

I will be contacting the BBB and the Attorney General.