Christian Care Ministry Reviews (%countItem)
Christian Care Ministry Rating
Address: 4150 W Eau Gallie Blvd, Melbourne, Florida, United States, 32934-7202
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+1 (321) 308-7779 +1 (321) 722-0689 +1 (321) 722-5136 +1 (321) 722-5138 |
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www.medi-share.org
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Medi-Share will not cancel my membership, and continues to seek payments.
Medi-Share Program Guidelines states: "Medi-Share membership will be cancelled if a Member does
not deposit the Monthly Share for more than two months. The Cancellation Date will be the last day of the month for which the last Monthly Share was deposited."
As you can see from the submitted documentation, my last payment was received on October 15, 2018. My membership has not been cancelled, even after pointing out the company's failure to adhere to their own guidelines.
My membership should have an effective cancellation date of October 31, 2018. There shall be no penalties, fees, etc... to me for the company's failure to practice within the guidelines they set forth. I wish for all associated accounts be closed with effective date of October 31, 2018. Furthermore, the company should not contact me further in any way, shape, or form.
It is Christian Care Ministry's practice to offer a grace period to those who are late on their share payments. Because we did not receive a request to formally cancel your membership (withdraw you from membership), we wanted to offer the benefit of the doubt that you desired to continue your membership. When late payment calls are made they are never collection calls but are an effort to assist our members who may be having financial difficulties. We recognize that people experience financial hardship and we try to help them maintain their healthcare provision. The guidelines do state that after two months without payment membership will be cancelled and knowing your intent to withdraw we have cancelled your membership.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
According to the member documentation published by this company (provided when I originally filed my complaint), my membership should have a cancellation date effective 10/31/2018. I received an email on 1/25/2019 stating that the effective cancellation date is 12/01/2018 - the date is incorrect and needs to be the last day of October. My account still shows a due balance as I continue to receive requests for payment. There should be a ZERO balance. I will consider this matter resolved when the following statements are true:
1. Membership cancellation with effective date of 10/31/2018
2. Zero dollar balance shown within account
We have attempted to speak with you on a number of occasions to clear up any confusion and to answer your questions but have been unable to reach you. Your requests have been completed.
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I elected to sever contact and choose mediation through the Revdex.com only after I was unsuccessful in my many attempts to have this issue resolved. The final response from this company is "We have attempted to speak with you on a number of occasions to clear up any confusion and to answer your questions but have been unable to reach you. Your requests have been completed." Really?! All of this could have been avoided had you taken action the VERY FIRST TIME that I asked you to. What an utter waste of time. Take note of this company's published policies and guidelines; they won't adhere to what they've written.
paid to apply for their service and then got nothing but a thanks for the money and applying. Total scam wish I had read the reviews about them here.
I paid 50.00 to fill out their application for services and was rejected without being given a reason. This is a scam to get your money and provide you with nothing.
Wish I had come here 1st to see how many people had problems with their service. Using god to scam people. Shame on you.
I want a refund.
Thank you for your patience as we investigated your situation. Our research reflected a refund of $50 was applied to your credit card on 5/16/2018. Please follow up with your financial institution to ensure this transaction was completed.
CCMinstry has withdrawn my premium by auto-withdrawal since 1/2017. In 9/18 the website said I owed about $3000. I never canceled auto-draft.
Since I started participating in Medishare in January 2017, we have been on auto draft to pay our monthly premiums. I have never contacted Medishare to change any part of our agreement.
But on June 13, 2018 I received an email from Medi-Share stating that their records show that I would no longer be a member as of 7/1/18 and requested to know why I was leaving. I had never requested my policy be cancelled so I called Medi-Share right away on June 15, 2018 and spoke with Dan in member services and he said someone who they could not identify contacted Medishare (they thought it was me and requested a cancellation due to new job/new insurance?) I have been with the same employer for going on 7 years and have not changed jobs nor insurance. I was pretty worried that I would be without insurance so I asked that Dan send me something in writing to say that their mistake would not affect my policy. He did on 6/15/18 and stated a task was sent to their Finance Department to keep the membership going without any cancellation taking place. I had also gotten an email from mychristiancare.org on 6/8/18 confirming that I am an EFT user. It stated that my new share portion would be withdrawn by EFT automatic payment in JULY.
My husband has worked with one employer of the past 20 years. In July, after a lot of prayer and reviewing our finances, he decided to take a leap of faith and switch career paths. This was not an easy decision after 20 years, but we reviewed our checking and savings accounts and saw each month how much we had after meeting all of our obligations and he decided to quit his job and go into another field where we have not received any financial benefit to date. My family is very conservative and we do not believe in people living beyond their means. Neither of us, or our children have never even purchased a car that they can not pay for in cash. We do not carry loans for things we can not afford. That being said, we would have never gone in-debt for insurance either. I am not sure if he would have made the decision to change career paths if we had been factoring in the $766/month expense for Medi-Share had we known that you had erroneously stopped our automatic withdrawal.
On 3/22/18 my husband was in an accident where his car was totaled when he ran off the road to avoid a collision. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. In August, we received the first bill from the ER for $2704.00. 9/21/18 was the first time I went online to the Medi-Share website to see if this policy would cover a car accident and it was then I noticed that the website said I owed $2913.47 in premiums. I believed this to be an error since I had been auto-paying since 1/1/17 and had never received mail or any email stating that I owed any money.
I have been in contact with Medi-Share and every time I call no one know what is goiong on with my case and I have to start from the beginning and then get an email stating that I owe $2700.
I have attached a letter written to the Finance mgr which explains in detail what has transpired from the beginning.
Medishare tried to cancel my policy without my knowledge. They apparently did cancel my EFT automatic payment without my knowledge. They let month after month go by without contacting me by mail/email to notify me that my account was past due. They never contacted me even when they said I owed about $3000. I don't have the means to make such a payment when all this is their errors.
I have made the past 2 months prem payments as I am trying to get the past due amounts rectified.
I am seeking that CCMinistry write off their error as they canceled my policy in error. They cancelled my auto-draft in error. They let the account go into arrears for many months without notifying me or sending statement/email. I have been up-to date on premium since i found their mistake. As you can see from the detailed letter to the Finance mgr, my husband made a decision to change his 20-yr old career based on our finances, believing that we were meeting all of our financial obligations where we were auto-drafted for our expenses since Jan 2017. I am not sure he would have made the same decision if he had known we needed $766 more ea month to meet our obligation and I know he would have never changed jobs knowing we owed $3000 to CCMinstry, but we have never been billed or notified..
Medishare contacted me and waived all the past due premiums so I am satisfied with their decision. Thank you for your help. I would like to close my case now.
This was the most awful insurance scenario I have ever dealt with in my 45 years!! They increased the premium halfway through the year as well as the deductible!!!!! The premium was raised $50/ month to over $500/ a month for me and my two kids!!! They increased the deductible by $500 bringing that up to $7,500!!! I did not meet my deductible so never got one penny of benefit!!!! So when you do the math, you have to pay out $13,500 before you see any benefits! They left me feeling so vulnerable. I literally cried every time I had to pay out my monthly shares! Please do not sign up with them! There was no mercy when I had difficulty paying, they wouldn't even allow a partial payment when I got behind, but they will offer to say a prayer with you! It was all your money or no insurance. So here I am with nothing! Two months with no insurance before open enrollment. I don't know how they can sleep at night taking advantage of good Christians like they do! Just sickens me. Which is not good because now I do not have insurance or coverage of any kind! I wish I could give them less than 1 star. So as you read this, please keep in mind it may appear to be less $ per month than typical insurance but that money is not doing anything for you. You are just throwing it out the window! After my anger subsides, and I wipe away my tears, I take the time to pray for the men and women who are representing CCM.
Medi-Share or Medi-Scam?
My wife and I have a small business and our insurance through Blue Cross was outragedly high so I was hopeful when signing up for Medi-Share. Although my wife and I both had great health when we signed up, my wife had to have her gallbladder removed about 6 months after we signed up for Medi-share. She had no previous issues or signs of gallbladder problems. She is in her 40's and I guess this is quite common among women in their 40's.
Although my wife was in pain before her surgery, the real pain did not begin until after the surgery. Dealing with Medi-share has been a complete nightmare! It has been over 6 months since my wife's surgery and we are still dealing with the medical bills and Medi-share. We have had to send in paperwork multiple times and place numerous phone calls for the simplest of things. One example is they wanted us to give them the TAX ID number for one of the medical suppliers. Fair enough, so we called the medical supplier and had them fax over the paperwork only to have Medi-share send us another notice that they need the TAX ID number. We had to call them and point out the information that was clearly on the form that was faxed to them. This same type of thing has happened numerous times.
I also noticed that after we reached our Annual Household Portion, they amazingly became more and more of a headache to deal with. So in other words we did our part and paid our premiums and our deductible, but they are not holding up their end by paying the remainder of the medical bills.
I am extremely sad and angry at Medi-share, especially since this is a Christian Organization. On a positive note, they will always ask you if you need prayer for anything when you call in. "So sorry that we can not do what we promised, but hey can I pray for you?"
My baby's medical needs not being shared
My baby, who is now 3 1/2 months old, has just recently been referred to a children's hospital feeding clinic facility due to the fact that he is consistently dropping in weight on the charts and not growing and gaining as he should be. This was likely due to the tongue tie that was fixed, however, the hospital said that it is urgent and imperative that I get him to the feeding clinic, and that it's an urgent matter. The Feeding Clinic called and let me know that Medishare won't share in it because it's considered "failure to thrive" which is "developmental." The lady thought it was odd because she said most other insurances don't consider that developmental.
I don't understand how a baby that isn't growing correctly won't be helped. This is a baby we're talking about, and his physical growth, not mental.
I'd like for Medishare to share in this expense and any/all other expenses my baby is incurring due to his tongue tie. The Tongue Tie doctor (Dr. G) requires that a mom be working with a lactation consultant prior to and post-operation, so I would like that expense shared in as well. I need my baby physically growing and can't afford to pay for these things out of pocket when I'm already paying for insurance almost $700 a month.
CCM's escalation team reached out to the member to facilitate a pre-authorization for the facility in question. The pre-authorization has been approved and the cost will be submitted for sharing by our members.
Reimbursement check sent to pediatrician instead of to me (who applied for reimbursement)
I have been a member with Christian Care Ministry for just over a year. The customer service representatives are always friendly when you call and do their best to assist you with questions. However, I have called 3 times and emailed customer service and cannot resolve an issue. I submitted a request for reimbursement in March 2018 for my daughter, ***. To date, I have not received this payment. I have wasted hours of my time and cannot get any clear resolution. No one responded at all to my email request from CCM and on the last call, the supervisor (Elaine) hung up on me and did not attempt to call me back. From what the customer representative told me, the check was issued to the pediatrician's office and it appears to be have cleared on 4/18/18. However, CCM does not have a clearance reference code and cannot see the cancelled check. The pediatrician's office continues to say they have not received the check. No one from CCM can answer why the check was sent to the pediatrician's office since I put the request in for reimbursement. It has been 3 1/2 months and no one can answer any of my questions.
Refund $129.71
The member contacted our Communication's Department requesting assistance resolving a payment sent directly to her provider. She was notified the same day that her complaint had been sent to CCM's Escalation Department and she would be contacted within the week.
The Escalation Department determined that the member had not sent proof of payment for the bill she requested be paid directly to her. CCM's reimbursement guidelines require that proof of payment must accompany any request for member directed payment or the payment is sent to the provider.
CCM's Escalation Department contacted the provider, sent a copy of the cancelled check from CCM to the provider, and asked for reimbursement of the disputed amount to be sent to the member. The provider agreed to send a reimbursement check to the member.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The response is inaccurate. I applied for the reimbursement (not the provider) and the reimbursement check was sent to the provider. At no point did Christian Care Ministry ask for proof of payment from me. It is not written in the guidelines that the payment will be sent to the provider. I also called 4 times prior to filing the complaint with the Revdex.com trying to resolve the issue and Christian Care Ministry could not find the check or when it had been cashed. They were unable to determine who had cashed the check. Only once I contacted the Revdex.com did I receive any kind of response from Christian Care Ministry and they reached out to the provider.
Christian Care Ministry's process for direct reimbursement must be submitted on a "Member Request for Reimbursement" form located on our website. The request form specifies the documentation that must be submitted which includes the receipt showing payment, and any discounts given by the provider. The member did complete and submit the proper form but did not send in the receipt showing payment. Instead, the member sent in an account statement from the provider showing a balance due which is why the payment was made to the provider.
Completion and submittal of the form and accompanying documentation are the responsibility of the member, not the provider, in order for reimbursement to be sent directly to the member. Regardless, CCM contacted the provider on behalf of the member, provided documentation of payment by Medi-Share members to the provider, and asked the provider to send a reimbursement check to the member. The provider has agreed to reimburse the member.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
CCM did not contact me to let me know that a piece of information was needed to complete the reimbursement. It was not stated anywhere that the provider would receive the reimbursement. When I called CCM multiple times, kept telling me that it would be mailed to me. The provider also called CCM and was told that I would be receiving the check in the mail. CCM's customer service representatives clearly are not aware of the reimbursement process either and do not have this information to provide customers or providers. CCM only contacted the provider after I filed the Revdex.com complaint, not the multiple calls I made prior to this. This process is broken and training is needed for CCM personnel.
Media Share needs to cover the costs that were promised by their organization.
My experience with media share has been quite a hassle. The first issue is for background reference only.
During my wife's first pregnancy we had to utilize a free clinic for all her office visits and ultra sound. This was due to the only two "in-network" providers in Waco refused to accept Medi-Share due to billing issues.
The second issue we encountered was after talking with a customer service agent. This agent helped me solve an issue with my new born son being added to our families account. By the end of the conversation she assured us that our sons start date would be his birth date, not the following month. Based on that assurance, over the course of the next few weeks we took him to several of the routine new born doctor visits. Medi-Share later declined these bills leaving me to pay them out of pocket as if my son was not on our account. What I thought would be a simple issue turned into multiple phone calls and several hours on the phone. After being bounced around for weeks they informed me that my son was never added. I pressed and asked them to listen to the call (as their calls are recorded for quality assurance), they informed me that the first agent I spoke with sent a request for my son to be added but it was denied (he would be added the next month), I was never informed of this. If I had been informed of this,we simply would of waited for his doctor visits until he was added. In the end, they told me nothing would change but they would have the situation used for coaching and training purposes.
Would you please help me resolve this issue? Medi-Share needs to honor the commitment given by one of their employees that my son would be added to the policy from the time of birth. Our medical and financial decisions were made on this information. They have a recorded conversation to verify this and emails sent by the aforementioned employee. As a matter of integrity, they should pay the balance of our bill which is $1500.
I am asking that they pay the balance of the bills.
Our member voted guidelines state that in order for a newborn child's membership to be effective from birth, parents have 30 days after the birth of their child to submit an application for membership. Unfortunately, the first time we were notified of the birth was 23 days past the 30-day requirement and the actual application for membership for the child was more than 60 days past the child's birth.The member called on April 10 requesting an exception to the 30-day requirement. Our representative told him she would submit his request but made no guarantee that the approval would be granted. On April 24, we left a message on the member's phone notifying him that the exception was not approved and enrollment for the child would be effective beginning May 1, 2018. We regret that the member did not realize that we could not automatically enroll his child as a member, but our guidelines clearly state the process to request a program change for addition of a child to membership. In reviewing the member's records, there was only one medical visit submitted for the child between April 10 and May 1 and our escalation team has agreed to submit any eligible bills from that visit for sharing by our members.
Tried several times to submit a name change request. Got a different response every time. They told me to fax my marriage license, so I faxed it. Then I heard nothing, so I emailed them. No response. Emailed again. No response. Now I just called and they said I could email the marriage license, even though they insisted last time that I couldn't email it, only fax it. We will see what happens next, but this just shows me that this company does not even have basic business practices in place. If they can't process a name change, can they really handle medical bills? I will be switching to insurance next year.
Megan, we are sorry that you had difficulty making a name change. Christian Care Ministry's member service representative contacted you and completed the name change request on your behalf.
It was only after I submitted this review that I got anywhere. Someone called me and was able to simply update my account after I emailed them my marriage license. While this was very nice, It would be better if the customer service had handled this, instead of having to make a public complaint to get anywhere. (I still was sent 2 more sets of insurance cards with my old name on them, even after my name was corrected on the online account. It was probably 2 months before I finally got a set of cards that had the new name).
On a more positive note, I have since become pregnant, and their staff has been very helpful with helping me process bills.
Medishare lost a bill that was submitted by the provider twice and now refuses to share my need because it is outside of the one year window.
Medishare member from Jan-Dec 2016. Became pregnant and delivered my daughter Nov 2016. All bills from the hospital and doctor were submitted in a timely manner and shared. We received an $1,800 anesthesiologist bill several months later and began contacting Medishare about it. They claimed the provider never sent it to them. We called the provider and they sent it over (I am not sure of the date on this first attempt). A few more months passed and we received the bill again. We called Medishare and the provider and once again, Medishare said they never received it. Provider then spoke to Medishare for us, received a reference number, sent the bill over, and we were told to wait. This was June 2017. Every now and then we would receive another bill, but we were just told that "sometimes it takes awhile to process". Now I know what Medishare was really doing - waiting for that twelve month window to expire, which I don't even recall being a stipulation that was in the paperwork when I first signed on with Medishare. Now Medishare is still saying they never received the bill from the provider, even though the provider has documentation, a person of contact, and a reference number. Medishare refuses to even call them on our behalf. Now this family of four is wrongfully stuck with an $1,800 anesthesiologist bill because of Medishare's incompetence. I will NEVER recommend Medishare to anyone ever again. There is no corporate office to escalate a complaint to...nothing. This is WRONG and I would expect more from a "Christian" organization.
Medishare needs to do what is right and share this $1,800 bill. We as a consumer and the provider all did what was required of us in the time frame allotted - the only party that didn't is Medishare and they are the only ones that benefit!
The individual making the complaint has not been a Medi-Share member since March 2017. As the individual acknowledges, Medi-Share members faithfully shared over $9800 with the individual toward her medical care. Medi-Share never received the bill in question despite repeated efforts to have the provider send the bill. The first phone call Medi-Share received about the bill in dispute was June 2017. At that time,the individual was told that Medi-Share had not received a bill from her provider. After the phone call, Medi-Share contacted the provider on numerous occasions asking for the bill to be sent (Medi-Share provided a reference number to the provider so that when the bill was received it would be attached to the correct account). Med-Share did not receive a bill from the provider or from the individual.
The individual did not contact Medi-Share again until April 28, 2018. In response to the individual's phone call, Medi-Share again contacted the provider and asked for the bill to be faxed since we had not received any bills through the mail. Medi-Share has still not received a copy of the bill. We are sorry that this has occurred but Medi-Share members did in fact share more than $9800 in medical bills. This was not a case of Medi-Share delaying sharing to deny payment. Members are responsible for obtaining bills from their providers and submitting them in a timely manner for processing. That did not happen in this instance.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There are numerous untrue statements in Medishare's response. Not one time did they reach out to the provider on our behalf - each instance of communication to the provider was initiated and executed by us, with no effort from Medishare at all. Medishare also claims that the first notice of this bill was June 2017, but the provider has a response from Medishare from December 2016, which I will get into later.
The fact that Medishare shared over $9,000 in medical bills is irrelevant to the issue being discussed here. My maternity care was to be 100% shared - no matter the cost - as long as I paid monthly shares faithfully and met my annual household portion. Which I did. Making a statement that they shared other bills gives the impression that I should ignore the fact that Medishare is not following through on their commitment to share all of them as agreed upon when membership began.
Medishare claims to not have received any bills, however, the provider has a denial letter from December 2016 with no explanation given as to the reason for the denial. How can Medishare respond to the provider with a denial for a bill they "never received"? And why was the bill denied, when, as Medishare acknowledges, all other provider bills were shared? Medishare also wants to keep emphasizing the length of time it took for us to call them - but there are several instances after June 2017 where either my husband or myself followed up with Medishare after asking the provider (for the second time) to send the bill. Each time we were told to "wait and see" - that sometimes the process to receive bills takes time. When I finally stopped receiving a bill from my provider and instead began to receive collection notices, that's when this whole thing escalated. Medishare claims that it is the member's responsibility to get bills submitted in a timely manner, but how can one do so when each avenue results in Medishare simply "not receiving" the bill? Provider stated the address they mailed the bill to twice - which was an accurate address - and also provided the EDI number that they scanned electronically twice - which was also an accurate destination. And now they have faxed it as well. And Medishare still doesn't have it? Seems convenient. If I claim to never have received the bill from the provider, does that mere claim exclude me from being responsible to pay the bill? Short of hand delivering the bill from Kentucky to Texas, I have no idea how else I could have done to get this bill to Medishare. Please escalate this matter to the appropriate person. Thank you.
A representative from Medi-Share's escalation department reached out to this former member and explained that the provider in question did not send copies of the bill to Medi-Share but instead to a completely different organization located in Salt Lake City, Utah. That organization sent denial letters to her provider on December 8, 2016 and May 10, 2017, not Medi-Share. As stated in our previous response, Medi-Share informed the former member in June of 2017 and again on April 28, 2018 that we never received a copy of the bill from her provider. Medi-Share guidelines, voted upon by our members clearly state that it is the member's responsibility to provide bills with diagnostic codes for any procedure to be eligible for sharing. The guidelines also allow up to one year, 12 months, for the member to send the bill. It has been over a year and a half since the procedure in question occurred. It is Med-Share's responsibility to our current members to abide by the guidelines they approved concerning the timeliness of bill submittal.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It is clear that this issue will never be resolved. The provider sent the bill to the PO box in Texas that Medishare provided to them. They did this on multiple occasions. They also scanned electronically to the correct EDI number that Medishare provided. They did this on multiple occasions. The provider has emailed the required documents to two different addresses that Medishare provided. They did this on multiple occasions. The provider has faxed the required documents to two different fax numbers that Medishare provided. They did this on multiple occasions. Only the latest attempts were outside the 12 month window. The provider wants to get paid. They have incentive to work very hard to get this bill sent to Medishare, as do I. Medishare would have been the responsible party to pay the bill. Who has the most incentive to lie? I find it impossible to believe that every single avenue of communication with Medishare has failed - electronic, mail, fax and email? On multiple occasions? You will never convince me of that. Although it does seem that Medishare is deliberately evasive. The "representative from Medishare's escalations department", Tonya, emailed from a generic address that would not receive replies, left only the general customer service line as her call back number, with no extension, and when I was finally able to GET her extension from another Medishare associate - after hours of waiting on the phone - the automated system told me it was invalid. She also refused to even give her full name - only her last initial. So you cannot search by the name directory. Medishare keeps wanting to fall back on it "being the member's responsibility to ensure bills are sent" but I need someone to please explain to me how that is possible outside of mail, fax, electronically or email? I have spent hours on the phone with Medishare, in the middle of the day during my full time job, fighting this and fighting this since I first received this bill. I have been trying to get it sent to Medishare every step of the way. I am exhausted and utterly frustrated and disappointed and angry and I am sure that Medishare just thinks eventually I will give up and go away. My perfect credit is now being affected and I still will not go away, because I know I have done literally everything to work with the provider to get this information to Medishare and I should not be responsible to pay this bill when I have upheld every part of my agreement with a non traditional insurance company to cover my maternity. What was supposed to be a happy time of enjoying our new daughter has turned into nothing but misery. I work in a church and have multiple people ask me almost weekly if I would recomment Medishare, and I honestly cannot do so. Please have Tonya call me again, and if I am unable to answer the phone due to my job, please have her leave a message with an actual working call back number and extension. Thank you.
My wife went into the emergency room because her doctor recommended she go. It ended up they recommended an MRI. I've had MRI's before and they were around $1200.00 or less (Not ER). These crooks at the hospital charged $6500.00 for the MRI, which resulted in a $10,000.00 ER bill. Our insurance (or whatever you call it!) (Medi-Share) covered around 25% of it and we're stuck with the rest. This was for sitting in the ER for over 4 hours, Exam, and a single Abdominal MRI with contrast. So, all this sounds like it's just the hospital right? Not completely. Medi-Share does not negotiate for you like real insurance does. When I called them, they say that our house hold portion was met (like a deductible) and that were were free to negotiate with the hospital. Yeah right, the problem is the hospital does not negotiate and says that's the job of your insurance. See where I'm going with this? Any savings we had with Medi-Share is going to be erased because Medi-Share does not negotiate hard enough. These hospitals are free to charge whatever they want and Medi-Share just allows it even if the services were severely overcharged. Buyer beware!!
Matt, we are sorry that your wife's medical procedure was so expensive. The reality is that the cost of care is set by providers, not by Medi-Share. Medi-Share's network provider, PHCS, did in fact negotiate a 25% discount reducing the cost of the bill from $9990 to a little less than $7500. Once your Annual Household Portion (AHP)â?°â?°â?° was met, Medi-Share members shared the remainder of the bill. Because your AHP has now been met, any future eligible medical bills will be shared by your fellow members.
â?° Medi-Share members choose the AHP, the financial commitment their family is willing to make before bills will be submitted for sharing. Members are responsible to pay any medical expenses until they have satisfied this amount.
I spoke with an attorney on this looking for advice and multiple conversations with the hospital. The plain fact is Medi-Share does not negotiate hard enough on behalf of it's members. Medi-Share should be our advocate and they are not. I had comments from hospital billing management that the prices were high because there was very little negotiation from our "insurance". Same with the attorney. The "cost of care" set by hospitals is completely negotiable, and if Medi-Share took 5 minutes to lookup what an MRI was going for at a typical walk in office they would know that $6500 is completely ludicrous. Try $800 down the street from us! Had I known that, we would have walked out of the ER and went down the street. Hospitals don't tell you any of this though, and expect you to know. Lesson learned, but if Medi-Share did their job this wouldn't be necessary. I don't pretend to know what goes on behind the scenes with hospitals and insurance companies, but I can do simple math.
MRI under typical insurance = $1200.00
The same MRI under Medi-Share = $6500.00
Also, be careful what you say in the doctor's office. Medi-Share is very fuzzy on pre-existing conditions. For instance if you go into the doctor for something and tell them you've been dealing with it for let's say 1 year and your Medi-Share membership is only 6 months old, Medi-Share will consider this a pre-existing condition. Just off of what you say, even if it's never been diagnosed or if you've never been to a doctor for it. If it's in the doctor's notes, it's considered a pre-existing condition.
This has been our experience thus far with Medi-Share, and it makes me extremely nervous that this is our insurance provider right now. All I can say is do your research, and if you go with Medi-Share you will need to be your own advocate when at the doctors office. Ask what everything is going to cost because under Medi-Share, if you go to ER you will be hitting your deductible (household portion) and the hospital will not negotiate unless you can pay 70% of the bill upfront. Otherwise, they will "conveniently" let you pay over 72 months for the full amount.
Understand, I'm not letting the hospital off the hook here. They are completely unethical and take full advantage of those documents you sign when you arrive, once they realize that you don't have typical insurance. I just wish Medi-Share would fight for their members more so the house hold portion would not be reached so easily by inflated costs.
Horrible. If I could give 0 stars I would. Faxed a requested form in for reimbursement 3 times, emailed it in a 4th. Every time they informed me they never got it. Ended up in collections because they failed to pay it then of course said it was my problem to take care of. This company is terrible. Pay extra and get regular health insurance. They are not good!!!
Ryan, the information sent to CCM was received but unfortunately did not contain the information necessary to process your payment as we needed a balanced bill with a diagnosis code. This delayed the payment process as CCM's Care Management team had to review other records to process your payment, which was sent to you on April 26, 2018.
I sent the requested billing and diagnosis paperwork 5 times as stated in my complaint. The first copy sent in December!!! Your staff is incompetent or lazy and didnt ever have a checks and balances in place to make sure your good paying customer got taken care of. Awful way to treat your customer. BUYER BEWARE!!!
So far they've done everything they say they will. My wife and I had our second child as members of the program and there were no issues. Once we met our AHP (maximum out of pocket), the members took care of the rest. When my children get sick, we use the MD Live service (free) to get a prescription over the phone. On the occasion where we need to go into the doctors office, we pay the provider fee and the bill goes to the ministry afterwards. It works just like they say. We've even gotten great discounts for dental and vision services through the ministry. I'm very satisfied with our experience thus far.
Dan, we appreciate you taking the time to express your satisfaction with Medi-Share. The telemedicine program is a tremendous benefit allowing families to meet virtually with a doctor and save the time and expense of an office visit. We are happy to provide that service to our members as well as the dental and vision discounts. Thank you for your comments.
The pros of this healthcare provider is that if you are a healthy person who lives a low-risk lifestyle, you will reap many benefits. The rates are low and the customer service is great.
The only negative that I've run into in the last 3 years:
- You have to do your research and CALL the provider's billing department to make sure they accept Medi-share and PHCS. This will save you so much time and headache.
Daniel, thank you for your positive review. You are correct that it is prudent to remind providers in advance that they are listed in our PHCS network in case their billing department needs time to research. We appreciate your willingness to post a review.
I was looking for inexpensive medical health coverage, and a friend lead me to CCM. I enrolled almost a year ago, and have had some minor medical needs that required financial assistance. To this date, CCM has yet to help in any way, and I've learned my medical bills (the few that CCM actually covers) would've been cheaper if I just paid cash directly to the hospital. That's my story, and good bye CCM, what a waste of my money!
Jeff, we are sorry that Medi-Share did not meet your needs. Medical expenses are shared based upon the Annual Household Portion that each member selects. Christian Care Ministry does not recommend self-pay for medical bills because it may cost more for the member in the long run.
Problem is, I don't know if you'll ever cover anything. When I call in I just get vague answers. What happens if I actually did need catastrophic coverage....I have no idea if you'll cover it, and legally you don't have too since you're not liable. The whole thing is just sketchy.
I have had the worst experience with everyone I have spoken to at Medi-Share from Member Services, to Development, to Payment Processing, etc. Every. Single. Person says they will follow up with me and NOT ONE actually has. And I am not just referring to long exhausting phone calls where I need to explain our situation yet again, but even emails go unanswered. The people I have spoken with have all had very professional tones and demeanors but none have actually been helpful, often placing me on hold to talk get a supervisor, whom also offers no help or I end of being transferred multiple times. When I've requested manager's contact information, I am told that they cannot share that information but that they will relay my message and have said person contact me. And of course, nobody ever does. I pray every time for the Holy Spirit to fill me with His fruits so that I can extend grace but boy, does this company test me. I'm praying for discernment here and hoping it is just poor management, communication, and execution and not just another "non-profit" just in it for the money.
Yoivel, you began the application process for Medi-Share membership in late 2017 but never made payment to complete the process. Members of our development department reached out to you on several occasions attempting to get you to complete the application by making payment. Because your payment was never received, your account was closed on April 9, 2018. If you are still interested in membership, please contact our development department to complete the application process.
Medishare fails to reimburse clients in a reasonable amount of time. Now a bill heads to collections and negatively affects my credit. Insane!
Bills are constantly not processed correctly. Literally almost every single time. Have hardly been reimbursed for bills paid almost 120 days ago! Have numerous bills to show that Medishare is not getting the job done as they contract and explain to customers.
I want them to reimburse me what they owe me for medical bills and quit making me fight them on every single bill to get it done correctly. I pay my bills to them and they are supposed to honor their side of the contract. They find a reason to not reimburse at 100% after the annual household portion on every bill. This is false advertising, poor customer service, and costing me tons of time off work to settle bills with them.
In reviewing our records, the member in question was contacted by our customer service department at the end of March explaining that the bills from his provider had been processed incorrectly due to a billing issue. The issue was to be resolved through CCM's provider network, PHCS, since the error resulted from their billing process. CCM is awaiting the resolution and has informed the member that as soon as we receive the updated bills we will expedite processing and payment to his provider. Medi-Share makes it clear to all members that the program is not insurance and that the member is responsible for prompt payment of all medical bills. However, CCM is working on the member's behalf to resolve the billing issues so that these bills can be processed as quickly as possible.
DO NOT USE MEDI-SHARE!
I have spent the last 3 months fighting with these people, after taking my money all year when I finally go to a doctor and need something they won't cover it.
Prior to this year I went to the doctor 3 times a year at most and all of those visits were for something that I couldn't get rid of, an infection or something else. In all of those doctor visits I had never been told I had high blood pressure or that my blood pressure was an issue, even my life insurance physical didn't show me as a high blood pressure risk. While my wife is pregnant with our son, she was placed on bed rest and was checked into the hospital. It was during one of her times being checked into teh hosptial that I started having chest pain and trouble breathing. I go to the emergency room that night and get checked in for a blood pressure spike. Talking with my doctors there, the extremley stressful job, coupled with the stress at home and poor eating in the last month had led to my blood pressure getting as high as it was. I was admitted and put on some medicine and a low salt diet and leave the hospital. Now I have been paying medi-share this whole time and I hadn't been to the doctor yet. My bill from the hospital and follow doctor visits are submitted to medi-share and after sitting on them for 2.5 months they deny the claims. I begin calling to find out why and I cannot get a straight answer, someone says my chart was checked as high blood pressure as a preexisting condition and that is why, call the hosptial get the records and it isn't. I then get told that it was in a doctors notes and I needed those ammended, it wasn't and there is nothing to amend. I finally got told today that my childhood asthma is a pre-existing condition and that becuase of that it cuased my bloodpressure issues and is not being covered.
If I had it to do all over again I would have paid the outrageous obama care prices and been better off than trying this sham. Do not waste your money, they will look for any reason not to pay your bills and offer no help as to how to get these things resolved. Thet are unresponsive and no matter how many times you ask for a supervisor or there extension because this is the thrid time you have gotten a different answer they will not transfr you and they will not give you an extension.
I have spent more time trying to get them to honor there part of the deal than I have ever dealt with any other insurance/coverage/service in my life. It is a nightmare and please save yourself the headache and find another way.
I would not wish this experience on anyone, they are not in the business of being Christian or helping people.
Stephen, there is a discrepancy between the documentation we received from the hospital and physician and the information you have been given. Please submit an appeal and provide copies of your medical records so our Care Management team can review and make a determination.
Dishonest and inconsistent service
I joined Medi-share (Christian Care Ministries) after I changed jobs and needed to provide my own health insurance. After looking through the market place I determined that a Health Share Ministry best fit my needs. Medi-share was advertised as "Christians Taking Care of Christians" on the local radio and seemed to work the most like traditional insurance. Although health sharing organizations are not insurance I felt most comfortable with them because they seemed to work most like insurance. THEY DO NOT. I have a list of complaints a mile long, but the biggest one being after MONTHS of working with them to get bills reimbursed and finally getting their help requesting forms from my health provider they sent the checks to my doctor instead of me. Fortunately Health Texas is working with me and will refund directly to me.
One of my bills that I submitted for reimbursement passed the 12 months of eligibility for sharing. I was assured by one of the people I spoke with that it would be fine since it was clear I'd been contacting them and reaching out for quite some time. They are now blaming my provider and suggest I seek reimbursement from them... Medi-share has a terrible system and every time you call you get different information. I feel people need to know what they are getting into when they opt for Medi-Share over other Healthcare Sharing Ministries available.
I am just asking that Medi-Share do the Christian thing and reimburse me for my bill for the date of service on 1/4/17.
We are sorry that you had difficulty submitting bills for sharing. While Medi-Share is not insurance and members ultimately are responsible for their medical bills, when medical bills are shared by our members the payment is usually made directly to the provider. In your case, it was Medi-share's mistake that the payment in full was made to your provider when you had pre-paid the major portion of your bill. The bill submitted by the provider showed the pre-payment amount and that should have been sent to you and not the provider. We are grateful that your provider has agreed to send the payment back to you. We apologize for the error. We have also sent you the form to appeal Medi-Share's published guideline placing a one-year time limit on submittal of bills for sharing. The guidelines are approved by Medi-share members but there is an appeals process in cases of extenuating circumstances. If you need any help completing these forms, please contact our member services department.
Refusal to Return Calls or to Help with Unpaid Medical Bills
We have been with My Christian Care or MediShare for over 2 years, having joined in October of 2015. We had some issues with medical bills getting paid in the beginning and after being hung up on and talking to dozens of customer service reps, they finally told us that we needed to recieve services within 25 miles of our home to be covered. (There are no doctors within 25 miles of our home) They finally said they would put us as a "rural customer" and this problem would be resolved. After being with the program for over a year, a health issue came up with my wife found during a routine physical exam. Following up testing was required resulting in a large amount of medical bills which would be over our family deductible of $3600. Every time we would call the Medishare offices we would have to talk to someone different that had no idea what was going on. Some days we spent hours upon hours with them on the phone, going over the exact same details and never getting anywhere. The issue has become so bad that our medical provider (***) refuses to work with MediShare and they will not bill them or take payment from them. The only solution is now for us to provide detailed bills from ***, get them shared with MediShare, then MediShare has to send us the payment and we are to pay it to ***. We call MediShare at least once a week and get a new excuse every single time. We've paid all of our monthly shares faithfully for over 2 years and have followed all of the guidelines and nothing shared has been a prexisting condition and yet...bills are not getting paid and now we are in debt collections with ***. If we'd saved all of the money that we've paid to MediShare we would be able to pay our medical bills but now we are out the money, out answers, and being taken to court. We are happy to provide detailed statements, bills, phone call logs, or anything else that might get this resolved, we just want to be able to pay our medical bills.
We would like to have our medical bills paid. The proper paywork has been filed and we deserve to have the bills paid immediately. We have never missed a payment for our monthly share and followed all the guidelines with the company. If MediShare refuses to pay the medical bills, we would like to be reimbursed for all of our monthly sharing for the past year.
Christian Care Ministry has worked diligently on behalf of the member to resolve billing discrepancies. Much of the difficulty in processing the member's bills was due to improper coding. Christian Care Ministry reviewed the medical records in question and was able to verify the member's contention that the bills had been improperly coded. As a result, the bills have been submitted for processing and will be released for sharing. We believe that we have resolved all of the member's concerns and apologize that the issues were not addressed sooner.