A new report has provided the first national count of Americans who rely on health care sharing plans — and the number is higher than previously realized.
A new report has provided the first national count of Americans who rely on health care sharing plans — arrangements through which people agree to pay one another's medical bills — and the number is higher than previously realized.rely on sharing plansThe total membership numbers are likely even higher. The state agency collected data from 16 sharing plans across the U.S. but identified five other plans that did not report their data.
"What we hear from consumers is that when they purchase one of these, they do think there is some guarantee of coverage, for the most part, despite the disclaimers on many of the organizations' websites," Harris said. But consumer complaints to the Division of Insurance and to consumer assistance programs, such as the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, show that members do not always realize what sharing plans will cover.
When she heard about enhanced subsidies for ACA marketplace plans in 2022, she decided the hassle was no longer worth it and switched to a Kaiser Permanente plan for $397 a month. But when she became pregnant unexpectedly, she had trouble getting her health bills paid. Initially, Liberty paid only a portion of the tab, and her bills got sent to a collection agency. It was only through multiple calls that she learned she needed to send the bills to a third party that would negotiate with the providers.
Regulators in Colorado and other states have also expressed concerns that health sharing arrangements are paying brokers much higher commissions for signing up new members than health plans do. That could create financial incentives to push sharing plans over health insurance without adequately educating consumers about the differences.
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