Anyone have a Christian Medshare policy?

[jmc]

As I understand it, mainsteam insurers have the volume clout to negotiate discounts from "list price". Hopefully, one function of these direct payment medical cooperatives is to negotiate discounts as well, before members write their checks.

 

[ruffdog]

Large potential for fraud with the arrangement. Almost a Pyramid scheme.

It is never sold as "insurance". That way they can never be held libel for insurance fraud. More and more states are looking into the claims of these groups.

Feds shut down Christian "health share" ministry that stole millions from clients

 

[ruffdog]

 

[Snobdds]

I will try and remember to come back when I have a little more time to explain how these work. But the cliff notes:

It's not insurance but a cost share model.
You have to tell the doctor or hospital you are paying cash and have no insurance.
You take the bill, discounted for a cash customer, and submit it to the medshare.
If it qualifies, they "redirect" premiums to pay the bill. Basically it's crowdsourced funding.
So you don't pay your premium to a company, but to a hospital or dr. to pay someone else's bill.


I'm not sure how the infrastructure is funded to coordinate the paying of bills with premiums. It takes a lot of work on your part to make sure the bill is procured, submitted, and then payed.

I don't know. I guess some people will consume a lot of their time to save a buck. My time is worth more.

 

[Snobdds]

This is more a rant against religion than anything else.

 

[MattB4]

I will try and remember to come back when I have a little more time to explain how these work. But the cliff notes:

It's not insurance but a cost share model.
You have to tell the doctor or hospital you are paying cash and have no insurance.
You take the bill, discounted for a cash customer, and submit it to the medshare.
If it qualifies, they "redirect" premiums to pay the bill. Basically it's crowdsourced funding.
So you don't pay your premium to a company, but to a hospital or dr. to pay someone else's bill.


I'm not sure how the infrastructure is funded to coordinate the paying of bills with premiums. It takes a lot of work on your part to make sure the bill is procured, submitted, and then payed.

I don't know. I guess some people will consume a lot of their time to save a buck. My time is worth more.

I am not sure you are actually saving anything. It is only a cost share so long as all parties act in good faith. Otherwise you pay in and have only faith that if needed you can get something back from others.

I wonder if they give free road service and towing?

 

[Snobdds]

I have worked for both for-profit and not-for-profit health systems. They both have to make a profit, or they can't stay in business. The difference is that in a for-profit system, the profit goes to the shareholders, whether publicly traded or private held shares. In a not-for-profit system the profit is put back into the business, and may be used for many things, one of which is executive compensation. Look at the not-for-profit entity's IRS Form 990. It will list the highest paid employees compensation, both regular salary and other compensation, i.e. bonus. It may shock you as to how much they are paying executives.

The other big difference, which most people don't realize, is a not-for-profit system doesn't pay any taxes, whether it be sales tax, property tax, or income tax. That accounts for additional profit that the for-profit system doesn't benefit from. They consume city services but do not financially support those services with property tax or sales tax.

The for-profit system gets to write off charity care as a business expense on their tax return. Since the not-for-profit system doesn't pay income tax, there may not be as big an emphasis on writing off bills. Some not-for profit systems are worse at hounding people for collections than for-profit systems.

An example of not-for-profit executive compensation is the Baylor Scott & White Healthcare system in Dallas, from their most recent Form 990. And this is just their first 10 listings. Yet they are not-for-profit. Three of the listings are former employees, still receiving over $1,000,000 a year.

Baylor Scott & White Health, Full Filing - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica

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Meh...

I have to take a test every year to keep my Actuarial certification up to placate state regulators and federal regulators. I have to have the "ASA" and "MAAA" behind my name for them to take us seriously. Having a 3 inch book of mind bending problems to study for each year gets old. This is why they pay us the big bucks. Not many could handle the red tape .gov puts on us, on top of our daily issues.

Health insurance is the most complex animal out there. We have to pay big salaries to attract the best talent.

 

[Snobdds]

I am not sure you are actually saving anything. It is only a cost share so long as all parties act in good faith. Otherwise you pay in and have only faith that if needed you can get something back from others.

I wonder if they give free road service and towing?

I'm not sure you're understanding. It does save people money otherwise it wouldn't be a thing.

 

[ruffdog]

This is more a rant against religion than anything else.

If you would watch the entire video, you would see that it does explain MUCH more than the religion aspect.

John Oliver Exposes One Of America’s Worst Ideas By Creating A 100% Legal Scam

 

[Snobdds]

If you would watch the entire video, you would see that it does explain MUCH more than the religion aspect.

Was the religion part needed?

It's like he did good right up to the point where he had to pay the ideological bills.