> These prices are <25% of the insurance "discount" prices
There are some clever insurance companies whose entire model is "tell the hospital you don't have insurance, get the cash price, pay it with this debit card we give you."
Is there evidence that Obama wanted those religious exemptions and bullshit cost sharing plans? I would be willing to bet that was a concession to other politicians in Congress in order to get ACA passed.
You're welcome to think that about me, but health sharing is almost entirely scams using "religion" as a cover. See my other link in this thread.
I'm happy for your family that they got a good one.
The parent comment never said anything about President Obama's desires regarding the Affordable Care Act, just that his 'brilliance' resulted in this outcome.
I don't think it is. Sidecar Health is doing just fine on this model[1]
It's pretty perverse that you, an insured person, would have to lie about having insurance because the provider would charge you more for being insured.
I do this. Once my insurance company got upset that my procedure was so expensive and rang the hospital. The hospital immediately tripled the price. The insurance became even more upset and asked me to fix it. Still much cheaper than the equivalent procedure in the USA.
It's not illegal here, but in any case nobody asks, I just tell them I'm paying cash.
They could be running as a "health spending account" where you can spend the money on whatever you want provided it's health-related. You don't technically have "insurance" but you're insured.
Scams? They paid for my $6000 colonoscopy which caught early cancer, my daughters stitches, my wife's allergy specialist, my son's rocky mountain spotted fever, etc. etc. $500/mo for our family of 5 and we've been on it for nearly 10 years. But yes, please tell me more how this service that is way cheaper than insurance, is a community of people helping each other, and covers way more than insurance, is a scam.
Sure, I use Samaritan Ministries. I've tried other health sharing groups but Samaritan has been the best experience. They also have the best tech platform with the best user experience that I've seen. Samaritan is for christians but there are other health sharing groups that don't have that requirement.
No, this technique works with plain old insurance companies too. It's just that no one does it because they mistakenly give the hospital their insurance info - because, guess why? They ASK.
Also, healthcare sharing ministries are not scams. However they are simply not guaranteeing payment. It sounds like the truth of it is that the "guarantee" of payment is what makes traditional insurance expensive. Is that worth it? I think that's up to each individual.
I personally know several families that are a part of these co-ops and they have had incredibly expensive things fully paid for. What makes you call them a scam?
They're not inherently scams, but a major reason that the "premiums" are lower is that they have hardly any legal mandate to actually provide anything, which comes as a surprise to some members who are denied reimbursement. Their authority to deny "coverage" (scare quotes because that's not, technically, what they provide) is huge. In particular, HCSMs frequently deny reimbursement on the basis of conservative religious morality. Got an STD while unmarried, or cheating on your spouse, or just in an open marriage? You can't ask your good Christian neighbors to pay for that. Drug addiction or mental illness? The cure is more Jesus. Abortion? Not even to save your life. You get the idea.
If you agree to a contract and then break the terms of the contract why would you be surprised when things aren't covered? It's the same thing with insurance companies. Also, many of these examples are broad generalizations that may apply to some but not all of the health sharing groups out there.
I think instead of using a blanket statement and calling them all scams, the OP should have said that some are scams. That goes for pretty much any service out there. Here's a site with over 900 reviews of different health sharing communities. Some there are clearly scams by the terrible reviews.
There are some clever insurance companies whose entire model is "tell the hospital you don't have insurance, get the cash price, pay it with this debit card we give you."