While cost-sharing ministries have been providing their Members with affordable ways to pay for medical costs for years, they have also been important organizations in the United States for decades.
So, just what led to the creation of Christian Health Care Sharing Ministries? Let’s look at the history of medical cost-sharing and see how these programs continue to help their Members find affordable ways to pay for health care.
Sometimes, it’s up to members of a community to build each other up; to carry each other’s burdens while providing spiritual, physical, and financial support. Health Care Sharing Ministries are organizations in the U.S. that do just that. In these organizations, health care costs are shared among Members who have shared religious or ethical beliefs.
The idea behind these programs can be traced back to at least a century ago when, during hard times, Amish and Mennonite communities would pool their money to lighten the burden of individuals’ debts. However, in the late 20th Century, health care sharing began to branch out to broader communities through larger ministries within the Christian community.
Not only do these Ministry Members lift each other up financially, but they also provide spiritual support through prayer. And, as non-profits, Christian Health Care Sharing Ministries also partake in charitable outreach into communities who need it most. To do so, they give percentages of Member contributions to partnered Christian charities thus fulfilling the law of Christ by bearing each other's burdens.
By 2018, the act of medical cost-sharing had spread to include over 1 million people who belong to Memberships that share the cost of health care in the United States.
In the decades that healthcare ministries have been an option, billions of dollars of health care needs have been shared by Members who have sought out alternative options to Obamacare and traditional health insurance. Because these programs qualify as exempt from the ACA, Christian Health Care Sharing Ministries such as OneShare Health can offer open enrollment for Members year-round and provide affordable Memberships to people across the nation.
If you want to learn more about Christian Health Care Sharing Ministries or OneShare Health's medical cost-sharing programs, visit our Knowledge Base!
If you don't want to go the Obamacare route, and also want to save money on your care, check out our Health Care Sharing Ministry that's exempt from the ACA. OneShare Health is an alternative to traditional insurance coverage, we are a Health Care Sharing Ministry that could start saving you thousands per year on your healthcare!
Click below to learn more or get your free OneShare Health quote today.
"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)