[1123581321]

I vouched for this dead comment. I know a few self-employed consultants or business owners who use this kind of mutual expense sharing for their insurance. (I learned about the concept from my auto insurance agent several years ago.) It seems like something entrepreneurs actually use and may be more viable than high deductible insurance for people who would actually use their insurance (but more expensive than Medicaid.)

[e1g]

It is worth highlighting the major difference: these products are not at all health insurances, and they cannot be labelled as such.

When you have a contract with an insurance company, that service provider has to pay up or you can sue them if they don't. Sure, there might be a co-pay or a high deductible, but if you draw an unlucky card with cancer / heart / cardio disorders, they will fork out six-seven figure sums to get you better.

"Christian Healthcare Ministries" and the like have no obligation to pay out and you are gambling on their goodwill, which can be revoked at any moment with no recourse. Further, they often have _lifetime_ caps of ~$100k per diagnosis/condition, and in case of any serious illness this will be chewed up in 3-4 months, then you are on your own.

[1123581321]

Yes, that all is important to consider. My understanding is that this was especially true before the ACA, when certified continuous coverage was a big deal.

The lifetime limit is more complicated than that as they seem to have separate programs for up to a maximum and everything beyond that. For example, Samaritan Ministries (one of these programs) costs ~$500/mo for a family for everything up to $250,000 and about $500/year to cover $250,000 with no limit. I’m guessing that’s done because they have members who live in inexpensive countries, but it seems like the extra annual cost should just be rolled into the monthly so no one makes the wrong choice about how much to cover.