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Christian Care Ministry, better known as Medi-Share, is one of the most well-known health share ministries in the U.S. It’s a popular choice for Christians who want an alternative to traditional health insurance.
But popularity alone isn’t enough reason to join.
If you are searching for Medi-Share reviews and want to understand how it really works, you’re in the right place. In this Medi-Share review, I’ll walk through:
- What Medi-Share is
- How it works
- Costs and key terms
- Who can join
- Pros and cons
- Whether I personally recommend it
At the end, you’ll also find a place to share your own Medi-Share review if you’ve been a member.
About Christian Care Ministry (Medi-Share)
Members who join Medi-Share are usually looking for an affordable alternative to traditional health insurance.
Medi-Share is a Christian health care sharing ministry. That means:
- It is not an insurance company
- It does not offer insurance plans
- Members share each other’s eligible medical bills
Because it is faith-based, Medi-Share has specific requirements for membership and for which medical bills are eligible to be shared.
Medi-Share members commit to:
- Living a Christian lifestyle
- Following specific faith and lifestyle standards
- Sharing in other members’ eligible medical bills
Christian Care Ministry has been around since 1993, which makes Medi-Share one of the longest-running health share ministries in the country.
Is Medi-Share the Same as Health Insurance?
No. Even though some people casually call it “Christian health insurance,” Medi-Share is not insurance.
Medi-Share is:
- A nonprofit health care sharing ministry
- Considered an alternative to health insurance
- Designed mainly to help with larger, unexpected medical expenses
Because it is not insurance:
- Medi-Share is not minimum essential coverage
- It cannot legally guarantee payment of all medical bills
- It works under a different set of rules than insurance companies
Members can keep their Medi-Share membership on a month-to-month basis and can cancel at any time.
As with any health share, it is very important to read the guidelines so you understand what is considered an eligible medical expense.
How Medi-Share Works
Medi-Share works in a way that is similar to other health shares:
- Members send a monthly share amount to Christian Care Ministry.
- When a member has a medical need, they first pay their Annual Household Portion (AHP).
- After the AHP is met, other members’ shares are used to help pay eligible medical bills, up to any caps or limits.
Think of the AHP as the amount your household is responsible for before the community begins sharing, but remember it is not the same thing as an insurance deductible.
Requirements to Join Medi-Share
Medi-Share is a Christian health share ministry. To join, you must:
- Be a Christian
- Agree with Medi-Share’s statement of faith and lifestyle standards
- Meet their “Christian Testimony” qualifications
Not every Christian background or denomination may qualify. It’s important to read their member guidelines to see if you are eligible before you apply.
What’s Included With a Medi-Share Membership?
While exact details are always in the official guidelines, Medi-Share members generally have access to:
- 24/7 access to telehealth
- Sharing in unlimited telebehavioral health*
- Sharing in hospital, surgical, and other medical expenses
- Discounts on prescriptions, dental, and vision care
- Flexibility to choose from a nationwide provider network
- Maternity sharing* (with conditions)
- No lifetime or annual sharing limits for most needs
- Encouragement and prayer from the community
*Always refer to the Medi-Share program guidelines for current details.
Medi-Share Program Options
Medi-Share offers several different programs. Here is a simple overview.
Medi-Share Value
Medi-Share Value is designed for members who want a lower out-of-pocket experience and are willing to use Healthcare Bluebook for guidance.
Key features:
- Guided care using Healthcare Bluebook
- Ability to compare providers based on quality and price
- Self-pay with reimbursement
- Navigation support for more complex care
- Discounts for dental, vision, and prescriptions
Medi-Share Complete
Medi-Share Complete is the most comprehensive option.
Key features:
- Lower monthly share options
- Access to a nationwide PPO network
- Providers bill Medi-Share directly
- Options that work alongside direct primary care
- Discounts for dental, vision, and prescriptions
Medi-Share 65+
Medi-Share 65+ is designed for seniors who already have Medicare Parts A & B.
Key features:
- Medi-Share is secondary to Medicare
- If Medicare does not cover a condition, Medi-Share 65+ will not share it
- One simple monthly price (for up to 10 years)
- Dental and vision discounts
Medi-Share for Employers
Medi-Share for Employers is aimed at Christian employers who want to offer a more affordable option.
Key features:
- Employers may save 30% or more on healthcare costs
- Nationwide PPO network
- Personalized enrollment support
- Dental, vision, and prescription discounts
Medi-Share Global
Medi-Share Global is designed for international missionaries and families who spend time overseas.
Key features:
- Sharing for eligible global medical costs
- Coverage for needs in the U.S. and abroad
- Quick bill reimbursement
- No dedicated end date
How Much Does Medi-Share Cost?
Medi-Share monthly share amounts generally range from about $107 to $1,224.
Your cost depends on:
- Whether you are an individual, couple, or family
- Ages of household members
- The Annual Household Portion (AHP) you choose
Each program has its own pricing options and structure, so it’s important to review the current Medi-Share pricing tools or talk to a representative.
What Is the Annual Household Portion (AHP)?
The Annual Household Portion (AHP) is the amount your household agrees to pay toward eligible medical bills before members begin sharing in your needs.
Key points:
- The AHP resets every 12 months on your effective date
- Christian Care Ministry offers several AHP levels: $3,000, $6,000, $9,000, and $12,000
- Medical bills below your AHP are your responsibility
You can review Medi-Share’s sharing summary for specific details and examples.
What Is a Provider Fee?
Medi-Share also uses a provider fee for visits. This is an amount members pay when they see a doctor or go to the emergency room.
Typical provider fees:
- $35 for doctor visits
- $200 for emergency room visits
Routine care, such as annual physicals (beyond what is listed in guidelines), dental, and vision care, is usually not shareable, so it’s wise to budget for those expenses separately.
Medi-Share’s Provider Network (PPO)
Medi-Share partners with the PHCS network as its Preferred Provider Organization (PPO).
This means:
- Members are encouraged to use PHCS in-network providers
- You may face penalties or non-shareable bills if you go out of network for certain services
- For example, a routine physical outside the PHCS network may not be eligible for sharing
The good news is that the PHCS network includes over 1 million specialists nationwide, so there are many in-network options.
However, some people prefer health shares that do not have network restrictions. For example, other programs, like Zion HealthShare, do not limit which specialists you can see.
Preventive Care With Medi-Share
Medi-Share’s approach to preventive care is more limited than many insurance plans.
In general:
- Most routine or preventive medical care is not fully shareable
- Medi-Share allows one routine physical per year (with 2 labs)
- You must use the PHCS network for that visit to be eligible for sharing
Always check the current guidelines, as preventive care rules can change.
Pre-Existing Conditions and Medi-Share
Medi-Share has specific rules for pre-existing conditions.
- For the first 3 years of membership: costs related to pre-existing conditions are not shareable
- After 3 years: up to $300,000 per year may be shareable
- After 5 years: up to $500,000 per year may be shareable
These limits apply per member, so it is important to understand how they might affect your family’s long-term medical needs.
Maternity Benefits
Medi-Share does share in maternity and newborn needs, but with important conditions:
- The mother must be married for maternity and newborn needs to be eligible
- Pregnancies conceived outside of marriage are ineligible, except in cases of rape that has been reported to law enforcement
- Members must meet their AHP for maternity needs
- Sharing is capped at $125,000 per pregnancy event, including:
- Prenatal care
- Delivery
- Complications for mother and baby
- Postpartum care
For many pregnancies, this is enough. However, for high-risk pregnancies or extended NICU stays, the cap may not be sufficient.
Turnaround Time for Paying Medical Bills
Medi-Share can take up to 30 business days to process and pay eligible medical bills.
Caps and Limitations With Medi-Share
In general:
- Medi-Share does not have lifetime or annual sharing limits for most medical needs
However, there are important limits:
- Maternity: $125,000 per pregnancy event
- Pre-existing conditions: not shareable for the first 3 years; then limited to $300,000 per year; after 5 years, up to $500,000 per year
- Motorcycle accidents: $100,000 annual sharing limit, unless the motorcycle is being used for mission work outside the U.S.
Understanding these caps is essential before you decide to join.
Pros and Cons of Medi-Share
Here is a simple summary based on this Medi-Share review.
Pros
- Large national network (PHCS) with 1M+ providers
- Long history (since 1993) and well-known Christian ministry
- Option designed for seniors (Medi-Share 65+)
- Employer program for Christian businesses
- No overall lifetime or annual sharing limits for most needs
- Some preventive care and labs are shareable
Cons
- Complex fee structure (monthly share, AHP, provider fees, and other fees)
- Network restrictions through PHCS
- Strict lifestyle and faith requirements
- Longer turnaround time for sharing (up to 30 business days)
- Maternity and pre-existing condition limits may not meet every family’s needs
Do I Recommend Medi-Share?
I have reviewed many health share programs, and I find Medi-Share to be one of the more complex options to fully understand.
There are:
- Multiple programs
- Varying price points
- Several different fees (application, administration, provider fee, etc.)
It is very important that current and potential members read the Medi-Share guidelines carefully so there are no surprises about what is and is not shareable.
The strict membership requirements, network rules, and longer turnaround times may be deal-breakers for some families.
If you are comparing options, I recommend reading my article on the Best Health Share Plans. In that post, I explain which health shares I personally recommend for people looking for affordable healthcare alternatives, and how they compare to Medi-Share.
Write a Christian Care Ministry Review (Medi-Share Review)
Are you a current or former member of Medi-Share? If you have any experience with Christian Care Ministry (Medi-Share), please write your own Medi-Share review!
Reading other people’s Health Share experiences is a huge when trying to make a decision about which Health Share to join. In fact, over 90% of people will read online reviews before they buy a product or service! Please consider writing a Medi-Share review!
For a Christian group, they don’t keep there word.
It has been a stressful time dealing with Medi-Share so far. Have been trying I ng to get answers all month to no avail. They leave you on hold, 38min before disconnected my last attemp. Then emailing they promise on there recorded line to answer emails 24hrs. Today is 9 days no answers yet via email. They made us sign up with two emai addresses then locked us out of main one. No one will answer any questions. Received email for payment due above what I was told. Sent two payments in so they wouldn’t cancel us if payment late. Husband and I doubt this service helping so far.
About your claim to Christian standards.
Not very Christian if you ask me. They make you meet “their” idea of a size weight body mass and that is very judgmental and if you don’t meet “their “ standard you will pay more. Doesn’t matter if blood test and Dr says you in good health. Then they may recognize the Dr but not the hospital be does surgery in. What sense does that make? Guess they need to operate in the parking lot!
Does not pay medical bill.
Extremely difficult to deal with. Getting to a real person is the 1st challenge. 2nd challenge is getting to a person that can do more than just double speak. 3rd challenge is getting them to approve any bill is an ongoing delay followed by delay, then more delays. They take more than 6 months to review then come back with inaccurate answers- so more months of review. I was a member for 1 year and never got anything but a run around. They have no problem billing your monthly payment.
I can only say “RUN” from this organization.
Easy to pay, hard to use
At emergency room visit for deep head laceration receptionist said Medishare not accepted. So no bills sent, and no credit for OOP expense (about 3000 dollars). No perceived value in continuing a program that is not accepted by my providers, so quitting after this year.
$160K bills shared 100% above my deductible
I got hospitalized for 6 days and ended up racking up $160K in bills, most of those bills were paid right away although the hospital took forever in getting the itemized room stay bills to Medishare but once they did the bills aside from my $6000 deductobe were paid and then the hospital even offered to settle my $6K for only $1800 in cash after Medishare had already paid them the rest so that was awesome!
very satisfied
I’m with Christian Care Medi-Share since 2002. I’ve been along with my wife thru multiple severe surgeries( my wife Colon Cancer- me-carotid stent plus prostrate surgery).
They are pretty good in reviewing all bills in a timely manner and cutting down all fancy costs invoiced by hospitals and service providers -thus making those bills lean and mean- to my delight.
Other than your anual household cost-they paid for everything else.
You want to make sure you look for a service provider within PHCS network or Multiplan.
The only negative is when a service provider is calling Christian Care Medi Share-whoever is answering the phone from Medi Share goes like-we are not insurance. They should say-we are not commercial insurance ,but group insurance.
Nevertheless, lately most service providers heard about Medi-Share and knows how to bill them.
I’m also using a trick to save time and stress-by printing out from the Medi-Share site the specific provider I want to see and show that print out to the service provider goofy from the front desk.
That is expediting the whole process and no more questions asked.
Wasn’t very impressed
Very stressful and time consuming to get bills paid, if they were paid. We spent over a year to get them paid. We paid a lot of our own bills as we had so many sent to collections and were hurting our credit. Cancelling is just as bad. We are in month 4 of trying to cancel and they still keep taking out payments. Would not recommend at all.
Covid Fraud
My husband was hospitalized with covid in December 2021. It was nearly fatal, thank God he survived. MediShare refused to pay the bills saying that since they are “not considered insurance” that we had to look to a government fund to foot the bill. This went on for 5 months, with the government refusing to pay the bill because they did most certainly consider MediShare an insurance company. It was hell on earth. Finally, I filed a complaint with the Iowa Attorney General, and another one with the Better Business Bureau. MediShare finally coughed it up. Needless to say we have purchased regular insurance coverage and are in the process of dropping MediShare. Terrible company. Stay away from them. I hope they are investigated for Covid fraud. It’s questionable whether or not this company is actually managed by Christians.
Multiple attempts to obtain assistance via phone…no return call (as promised)…multiple failures of call transfers…multiple single ring ‘hang ups’
Horrible service when attempting to access member services..failed call transfers..hang up after 1 ring…i tried 3 different numbers(same result). One associate promised i would receive a call(due to failed transfers)..i received no call
Communication poor
Horrible communication. They deposit sons money in fathers account and then send sons late notices. They don’t fix their billing mistakes – they send e- mails that make no sense
Communication poor
My husband and son have same name- one is junior and the other the third. They put both of their deposits into dads account— then send son late notices. Rarely can get a person on the phone. So I sent detailed letter for them to correction. A week later, I receive two e mails from them. They both ask for the providers name we are trying to get re- imbursed for….. we never asked to be re- imbursed——- so very frustrating to work with. One son is getting regular insurance and will soon cancel. Rest of family is looking for something better also. Communication horrible.
Health shares are not insurance and do not offer insurance coverage. Membership in a health share does not guarantee the payment or reimbursement of medical expenses. Each organization operates under its own membership guidelines, which determine what expenses may be eligible for sharing. This publication is for informational purposes only and is not provided by an insurance company. For state-specific notices and full program details, please visit the respective health share’s official website.
