But it DOES cover all those things, and the avoidance of unnecessary (if you trust people) contracts means the coverage is cheaper.
It covers what members vote to cover. That could change at any time. And I'm puzzled by your statement that having contracts somehow makes the coverage cheaper. How on earth does a contract spelling out "we'll cover this but not that, and here's how much we'll cover, and here's your annual out-of-pocket maximum" affect the price?
Please provide one example of something legitimate not being covered.
Conveniently, since there are no contracts involved, it's all but impossible to find examples of legitimate things not being covered because members can't sue, can't appeal coverage decisions and can't complain to the insurance commissioner. The only way I would ever hear about something not being covered is if a family was so upset about the noncoverage that they went to the media about it, and the media cared enough to publish an article, and I happened to find it in a google search or the story somehow went viral. That's literally the only way, since there are no other avenues for people denied coverage to complain--if you don't have a contract saying "X will be covered, Y will not," then you have no legal grounds to complain when X is not covered. But is a family really going to risk the other coverage they got, or their social relationships in the church, or--some people may see it this way--their relationship with god by complaining when something doesn't get covered, instead of just having faith that it's All Part of God's Plan (TM)?
But in any case, you're missing my point. The point is that
you have no way of knowing what's going to be covered until it is or is not covered, because what's covered is decided by members' votes (and could thus change any time) and there is no law or contract requiring that if they covered X for this family, they also must cover X for your family. You just have to hope, pray, and take it on faith that what you need will be covered. Good luck with that!
I can't in good conscience advise anyone to pay hundreds of bucks a month for POSSIBLE coverage or even PROBABLE coverage. Obviously you're free to sign up for this, but does it really make sense for you to protest when people here point out the simple fact that:
- Under these programs, because there's no contract, NO coverage is guaranteed, you have no legal right to anything, and there's nothing you can do if they decide not to cover something or not to provide the coverage they need (e.g., you might have $10,000 in expenses, they mail you $500 and the other $9500 is just your problem to deal with); and
- The math doesn't work; there's a reason health insurance costs what it does--because health care costs a ton, way more in the US than in any other developed country. It also used to be because insurers skimmed off a very handsome profit, but under Obamacare, they are now required to spend 80% of the premiums they receive on health care. So if your monthly donation to the health sharing ministry costs less than 80% of what an insurance premium would've cost you,
where's the extra money coming from to actually cover members' health costs? Either the ministry isn't providing as much coverage as an insurance plan (i.e., the covered health care costs are lower than they would be for an insurer), or a good number of people in your ministry are paying way MORE each month than insurance would cost them, in order to subsidize other members' costs.
So... those are just facts. You counter with your belief that it'll work fine because all the members are acting in good faith and share similar values. Go right ahead and act on that belief--but why fight the facts?