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After reviewing all of the Health Share options, the one I find myself recommending to most people is Zion HealthShare. If you aren’t familiar with this Health Share, I would encourage you to learn more about the Zion HealthShare community and how it may compare to other health sharing options.
What is Zion HealthShare?
Zion HealthShare is a non profit medical cost sharing organization, also known as a Health Share. This just means that Zion HealthShare provides an organized way for members to share in each other’s medical costs.
How Long Has Zion HealthShare been around?
Zion HealthShare community began sharing medical costs with its members in January 2019 and has since become the fastest-growing, top-rated HealthShare in the nation.
Where is Zion HealthShare Located?
The Zion HealthShare office is located in Saint George, Utah.
Zion HealthShare is a Nationwide HealthShare. People all over the United States are joining Zion Health Share and can enjoy affordable healthcare cost sharing.
Since Zion HealthShare is located in Utah, I am sure people are wondering if there are any religious beliefs or requirements to join Zion HealthShare. Zion HealthShare is a secular, or non-religious Health Share organization. This means there are no religious beliefs associated or used as a requirement to join Zion HealthShare.
What makes Zion HealthShare Different?
Learning from the Health Share organizations that came before it, Zion HealthShare was founded with the mission to re-imagine the medical cost sharing model to fit the needs of its members amid the rapidly changing environment of American healthcare.
This simply means that the Zion HealthShare community focuses on exceptional customer service. They do this in a number of ways.
For example, when you call in to Zion HealthShare, you get to speak to a real person without a long waiting period. If you are going through a medical need, oftentimes you get to know the people you are working with and they get to know you by name. They ask you how you are doing (and not in the emotionless-script I-have-to-do-this kind of way. They really want to know). They treat you like a person rather than a number, and overall they provide their members with great customer service.
When members have a medical bill eligible for sharing, the Zion HealthShare takes care of their member’s medical bills in a quick and efficient manner.
Unlike other health share programs, there are no annual or lifetime caps to member’s medical bills. There is no additional monthly contribution needed to receive this benefit; it’s available to all with a Zion HealthShare membership.
How Does a Zion HealthShare membership work?
Zion HealthShare members pay a monthly contribution each month to the Health Share.
When a Zion member has medical expenses, the member would tell their healthcare provider that they are a self pay patient and ask for an itemized bill.
If the total medical costs are more than their Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA), the member would pay that to their healthcare provider, and send a copy of the receipt (showing they paid their IUA) and the itemized bill to Zion HealthShare.
Zion HealthShare would determine if it’s an eligible medical need (see member guidelines) Health Share would then “share” (or pay for) all eligible medical expenses.
What is the Initial Unshareable Amount?
Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA), which is the member’s responsibility before the Health Share community pays any medical bills. In some ways, this is similar to a deductible that you’d have with a Health Insurance plan. Members pay their IUA and then Zion HealthShare would pay for the rest of your eligible medical costs (see member guidelines).
What are the Zion HealthShare Programs?
There are three types of programs at Zion HealthShare; They have a Direct membership, Direct Primary Care (or DPC) membership, and the Essential membership. I will go over each one in detail below.
Zion HealthShare Direct Membership
This is the membership that is designed for Individuals and Families who are paying for their own Health Share membership account. This is the most comprehensive sharing program, offering additional features so you can share in some of your routine medical care as well as the larger, unexpected costs.
What’s included:
- Teledoc: unlimited office visits 24/7 with no consultation fee. Skip the wait at the doctor’s office and get care from home.
- Preventative: Annual provider visits are available for sharing immediately. Childhood immunizations, colonoscopies, and mammograms are shareable after six months of membership, all shared at 100% without needing to meet your Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA).
- RX Share: Zion HealthShare Direct members have access to discounted prescriptions from any pharmacy.
- No Annual or Lifetime Caps: All qualified medical expenses after Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) is met are shareable with the Zion HealthShare community at 100% without an annual or lifetime limit. This includes surgeries, hospital stays, etc.
Get a Zion HealthShare Direct Membership Quote
Zion HealthShare Direct Primary Care (DPC) Membership
This is the membership for Individuals or Families that also have a Direct Primary Care (DPC) membership. This means that the members are paying a monthly membership fee to a Direct Primary Care practice and to Zion HealthShare.
Members would utilize their Direct Primary Care doctor for routine and preventative services while having full access to Zion HealthShare for the large and unexpected medical needs.
What’s included:
- No Annual or Lifetime Caps: All qualified medical expenses after your Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) is met are shareable with the Zion HealthShare community at 100% without an annual or lifetime limit. This includes surgeries, hospital stays, etc.
- As a current Direct Primary Care member, you are eligible to receive a discount with Zion HealthShare.
Get a Zion HealthShare Membership Quote for DPC Members
Zion HealthShare Essential Membership
This membership is for employers who want to provide Zion HealthShare to their employees. The Zion HealthShare Essential Membership simplifies health sharing to save you and your employees on their healthcare expenses. Essential members have full access to the cost sharing community, with added flexibility to better integrate with your organization’s other healthcare options.
What’s included:
- Teledoc: unlimited office visits 24/7 with no consultation fee. Skip the wait at the doctor’s office and get care from home.
- Preventative: Annual provider visits are available for sharing immediately. Childhood immunizations, colonoscopies, and mammograms are shareable after six months of membership, all shared at 100% without needing to meet your Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA).
- RX Share: Zion HealthShare Direct members have access to discounted prescriptions from any pharmacy.
- No Annual or Lifetime Caps: All qualified medical expenses after Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) is met are shareable with the Zion HealthShare community at 100% without an annual or lifetime limit. This includes surgeries, hospital stays, etc.
Get a Zion HealthShare Membership Quote for the Essential Membership
Is Zion HealthShare more affordable than Health Insurance?
Prospective members that have looked at health insurance, for profit healthcare, or other health shares are pleasantly surprised by the monthly contribution costs required to be a part of the Zion HealthShare community.
The Zion HealthShare membership monthly contribution starts at $103, up to just $790 a month. The price is based on age, how many people are on the Zion HealthShare membership, and which Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) the member chooses.
If a Zion HealthShare member is a tobacco user, there is an additional $50 monthly contribution fee.
Zion HealthShare Reviews: What Members are Saying
I am certainly not the only ones that is recommending Zion Health. While new members are excited about the wonderful service they have received so far, I am sure you are more interested to hear about the Zion members who have had medical expenses paid for, including surgeries and hospital stays.
Zion HealthShare Reviews
“My husband and I have had 8 different health plans ( insurance and health shares) over our 10 years of marriage, and this one wins, hands down! I love that there is no guesswork about how much I’m going to owe after insurance. We’ve been with Zion for a year and a half. This summer I had two needs requests and they were both handled so well. One was a maternity need, and the second was an ER visit with my newborn. Each case was so easy to get assistance. It’s easy to submit bills, and they get things paid to the providers right away, like sometimes the same day I sent a bill to them. All of the representatives at Zion are so courteous and helpful. I’ve never waited longer than a minute or two to talk to someone. Medical expenses are no longer a worry for me because I always know the maximum cost that a need will reach, so it’s easy to be prepared financially for whatever comes my way. I highly recommend Zion Health!” – Shauna N. (Google Review)
“We have been with Zion Health over two years now and have had nothing but wonderful experiences. I have never had to wait more than a few minutes on the phone to talk to someone, with most times getting an immediate answer. Their employees are kind, respectful, and helpful and have assisted with everything from preventative care to a pregnancy to an emergency kidney stone. We are so grateful to be part of such a fabulous community and are so blessed to save money each month on health costs! Thank you Zion Health!” – Jenica Ward
“I’ve been a Zion Health member for over a year now and have loved every minute of it. Not only am I saving a ton of money monthly/annual. But their customer service is hands down the best I’ve ever come across. You always get a live person who speaks clearly and Isn’t guessing what the answer could be. If they don’t know the answer they’ll make sure they find it. I personally endorse Zion Health to anyone I know. It’s been an amazing experience and I plan on being a Zion Health member for life!” – Diego B. (HealthShare101 Review)
“Came to Zion from Liberty about a year and a half ago. Their process is much smoother and easy to understand. Costs are reasonable and fair.
Recently my daughter needed major surgery to remove a cyst. The medical journey was stressful enough as it was, so to have a healthcare partner like Zion was a true blessing. I called Zion a day after bringing my daughter to the hospital. They filled out a needs request for me and followed up to make sure I sent in medical bills as I received them.
The total billing to typical insurance for my daughter’s care (to this point) would have been around $230k. The cash patient discount took it closer to $95k. Zion paid this bill about 6 business hours after I submitted it. Truly great.
My daughter is recovering very well and I can’t recommend Zion more highly!” – Paul D. (Google Review)
“I have been with Zion Health for almost a year and just recently had my first need with them. I had a wellness visit for my son, and Zion Health said they would pay for it on the same day as his appointment. When I spoke to the front desk at the pediatrician’s office, they said they can’t/won’t call anyone but Insurance, so they said I had to pay for it. I took care of the bill and sent the itemized bill to Zion Health. Within 2 1/2 weeks (13 business days), I had a reimbursement check in my mailbox from Zion Health! It was easy to submit the bill online, and I got my money back quickly. I highly recommend Zion Health to anyone who wants to go with a health share that pays for medical bills (or reimburses you) quickly.” – Holly P. (HealthShare101 Review)
“Wonderful! This is what my wife and I think of Zion Health. With every phone call I have made, I have been met with a friendly person. They are ready to help with any needs. They take all the stress out of dealing with medical bills. And they follow through with everything they say. In the past we had insurance which cost us twice the amount of money. Insurance was always trying to pass us off from one person to another. Insurance was always a struggle. You never knew if they were going to help you with paying your bills or not. With Zion, I always feel confident that they will take care of everything. And they have! We recommend Zion Health to all of our friends who are retiring. Can’t believe how much stress we used to have from insurance and now are thrilled how much easier things are with Zion.
Also, having Zion made it affordable for us to be able to retire. We are beyond grateful!” – Jeff H.
Why I Recommend Zion HealthShare
While I focus on providing unbiased information about all HealthShare programs on my website, I recommend Zion Health for a few reasons.
You’ll see that some of these benefits are already mentioned above, but I wanted to share my personal reasons as to why I recommend Zion HealthShare and why my family and I are members of the Zion Health community:
- Zion HealthShare accepts members of all faiths. They are a community of individuals who strive to live a healthy lifestyle and want to share in the costs of one another’s medical burdens. With a healthier community of members, this helps keep costs down for everyone.
- Zion HealthShare members typically save 30-60% off of traditional Health Insurance.
- Zion HealthShare does not have annual or lifetime caps on eligible need requests. This gives people peace of mind if very large medical expenses come up, they are not capped.
- Zion HealthShare is known in the industry and to its members for processing medical needs quickly – often within five to ten business days (once all receipts and bills are submitted)!
- Zion HealthShare will negotiate your medical bills for you – big or small. This means that the bigger medical bills have less of an impact for the entire community.
- Zion HealthShare has great maternity benefits. Members first pay their Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA). This is the amount they choose to pay before the community shares in medical expenses. Afterward, 100% of your eligible maternity medical expenses will be shared.
- Zion HealthShare allows people with pre-existing conditions to join the health share – rather than denying them. Instead, they offer a waiting period for pre-existing conditions and a phase-in of sharing in these pre-existing conditions.
- Immediately after becoming a member, Zion HealthShare will share in Annual provider visits. After six months of membership, they will share in colonoscopy, mammogram, and youth immunizations.
- Zion HealthShare is a Nationwide Health Share, so you can live anywhere in the United States and become a member.
- Zion HealthShare will share in medical costs when on a vacation or serving a mission outside of the United States.
- Members can work with providers of their choice – without network restrictions.
How to Join Zion HealthShare
You can go to Zion HealthShare’s website and review their member guidelines to see if the Zion Health community is a good fit for you.
If you’d like to get a quote, it only takes a minute (no email address required or need to talk to anyone. The introvert in me is rejoicing! haha).