Medi-Share is a health care sharing ministry where members pay a monthly amount into a shared pool, and that pool is used to pay other members’ eligible medical bills. It is not health insurance. There’s no insurance company, no guaranteed coverage, and no binding contract to pay your claims. Instead, it operates on a voluntary agreement among members who share a Christian faith to help cover each other’s medical costs.
The Basic Structure
Each month, you pay a “share amount” that functions like a premium. Your monthly cost is calculated based on your age (specifically the age of the oldest person in your household), how many people are in your household, and which Annual Household Portion you select. A family of four might pay around $504 per month, though your number will vary based on those factors. Medi-Share has an online calculator at mychristiancare.org where you can plug in your details and get an estimate.
The money you contribute each month goes toward paying other members’ medical bills. When you have a medical need, other members’ contributions go toward yours. That’s the core concept: shared responsibility rather than an insurance risk pool.
The Annual Household Portion
The Annual Household Portion, or AHP, works like a deductible. It’s the dollar amount your household has to pay toward eligible medical bills before the sharing community starts covering them. Your AHP resets to zero at the end of each 12-month membership period or if you change your AHP level.
Choosing a higher AHP lowers your monthly share amount, while a lower AHP means higher monthly costs. One important detail: provider fees and services that aren’t eligible for sharing don’t count toward your AHP. So not everything you spend out of pocket chips away at that threshold.
How Medical Bills Get Processed
When you visit a doctor or hospital, you present your Medi-Share member ID card, pay any provider fee, and ask the provider to submit the bill directly to Medi-Share. Providers can submit electronically using the EDI number on your card, through the Availity provider portal, or by mailing a paper claim form.
If a provider refuses to bill Medi-Share directly, you’ll need to get a HCFA or UB form at the time of service, then upload it yourself through the Member Center along with an itemized bill. Once Medi-Share processes the bill, you’ll get an email directing you to review an Explanation of Sharing (EOS) in your account. If payment is due, Medi-Share sends you a check, and you’re responsible for paying the provider with it.
This is a key difference from insurance. With traditional coverage, the insurer typically pays the provider directly. With Medi-Share, you often serve as the middleman between the sharing community and your doctor’s office.
Finding a Provider
Medi-Share Complete members have access to a network of more than 900,000 providers. Medi-Share Value members use a different tool called Healthcare Bluebook, which helps find providers based on quality and price. Using in-network providers matters because it affects the discounted rates applied to your bills. If you go out of network, you may end up paying more out of pocket.
Prescriptions and Pharmacy Discounts
Medi-Share partners with Navitus Health Solutions to provide prescription discounts. Members save an average of up to 91% on generics and up to 23% on brand-name medications. Navitus has also partnered with GoodRx, so at checkout the system automatically applies whichever discount is greater. You just present your member ID card at the pharmacy and the discount kicks in. These discounts apply regardless of whether you’ve met your AHP or whether the medication is eligible for sharing.
Most prescriptions are eligible for sharing, but only for six months following a new diagnosis, and the condition can’t be pre-existing. Controlled substances are never eligible. If you’ve met your AHP, you can submit eligible prescription receipts for reimbursement. If you haven’t, those receipts count toward reaching it.
For specialty medications used in treating complex conditions like cancer, you’ll need to pre-notify Navitus. Those prescriptions are handled through Lumicera Specialty Pharmacy at discounted rates. Members aged 65 and older are encouraged to enroll in Medicare Part D for prescriptions, since Medi-Share 65+ memberships don’t include Navitus discounts.
Preventive Care and Physicals
Annual physicals are eligible for sharing, but with limits. The only routine lab tests that qualify are basic cholesterol panels and diabetes screenings (HbA1C). Your provider bills Medi-Share for the physical and those specific labs. If you’ve already met your AHP, the bills get shared. If not, they’re applied toward your AHP. Any additional screenings or lab work beyond those basics would likely fall outside what’s eligible.
Maternity Sharing
Medi-Share does share maternity costs, but the eligibility rules are strict. You must be an active member from the month of conception through the month of delivery. The child must be conceived within marriage. And your Annual Household Portion must be set at $3,000 or higher. If you’re planning a pregnancy, you need to be enrolled and have the right AHP level before conception, not after.
What Medi-Share Is Not
Medi-Share is not insurance. This distinction matters beyond semantics. Insurance is regulated by state insurance departments, and insurers are legally obligated to pay covered claims. Health care sharing ministries operate outside that regulatory framework. Members voluntarily share each other’s costs, but there is no legal guarantee that any particular bill will be paid.
Under the Affordable Care Act, health care sharing ministries were listed as a statutory exemption from the individual mandate requiring minimum essential coverage. While the federal penalty for lacking coverage was reduced to $0 starting in 2019, a few states still enforce their own individual mandates. Medi-Share membership may or may not satisfy those state requirements.
Medi-Share also has lifestyle requirements for membership. Members agree to a Statement of Faith and commit to certain lifestyle standards, including not using tobacco or illegal drugs. Pre-existing conditions face limitations on sharing eligibility, and not all medical services qualify. Before enrolling, it’s worth reading the sharing guidelines carefully to understand what’s included, what’s excluded, and what conditions apply, so you’re not caught off guard when a bill arrives.