What is a Health Share? How to Save Money with This Health Insurance Alternative

Are you tired of wasting hundreds, or maybe even thousands of dollars each month on health insurance? Or maybe you’re miserable at your current job, but you’re scared to give up the health insurance benefits. What if there was another option that would help you get the health care you need while simultaneously saving you money?

Well, that’s just what we’re here to do. A health share is an alternative to the traditional health insurance options you’re familiar with. Often referred to as a health share plan or a health share membership, it’s important to understand that it is not a type of health insurance. A health share is another way to pay for healthcare—and depending on your needs, quite possibly the better way. 

Becoming a member of a health share, such as Big Stuff Health Share, is a simpler choice compared to a health insurance plan. It’s also more affordable and gives you more freedom. 

Before we go into more detail about how a health share works, let’s begin by determining if you’re eligible and if it’s the best fit for you and your family.

Are Health Share Plans a Good Idea?

You can find out if a health share plan will meet your healthcare needs by taking this short quiz. If it’s a good fit for you, all you need to do is complete your online registration so we can activate your membership as soon as possible. It’s really that simple.

While there are many benefits to a health share, it’s not right for everyone. We can tell you upfront that a health share is not for you if you know you have chronic disease(s) or chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancers, heart conditions, and mental health issues.

If you’re overall healthy in general, you should consider joining a health share. Let’s say you’re in your 30’s, maybe married with a couple of kids—or considering having children, and don’t currently have any major health issues. Your expenses are piling up, and you don’t have enough to put into savings. We can help you turn that around at Big Stuff Health Share. The money you’ll save not having to pay for health insurance can instead be put into a high-yield savings account.

Save Your Money and Put It to Better Use

One of the major benefits of a health share is saving money. Our goal is to help you have money set aside for health care, instead of defaulting to paying an insurance company. We want to help you save money on healthcare needs so that you can put your hard-earned money to better use. 

Imagine you save $1,000 a month by becoming a member of Big Stuff Health Share instead of having an over-priced traditional health insurance plan. Sure, an extra $1,000 per month is a significant amount of money in and of itself. But if you take that money saved and put it into a retirement account, the compound interest that it’ll accumulate over the next twenty years will be life-changing. 

Big Stuff Health Share will help you save money in other ways as well. You can easily compare prices on any healthcare costs, from prescriptions to procedures. This helps ensure you have access to the most affordable options.

Another advantage is a cash-pay discount, which allows you to save even more money. For instance, when you’re at the doctor’s office and the receptionist asks for your insurance card, tell them that you’re going to pay for it yourself. Then, ask if there is an option for a cash-pay discount and if so, how much you need to pay today to receive care.

How Does Our Health Share Work? 

While many people may be unfamiliar with health shares, they have been around for over forty years and have been proven to work. Health shares are sort of like the best kept secret in terms of options for taking care of your health care needs. 

You can think of a health share as a membership. You pay a membership fee and those fees are applied to the medical bills for any health share member. 

Our health share membership offers support in addition to covering your healthcare costs. You are a self-pay patient, but you are not alone. Call the Alive & Well 24/7 Medical Helpline whenever you’re in need and we will help guide you. 

Below you’ll see health share terminology broken down in comparison to the traditional health insurance terms. This will help you better understand the way in which a health share membership works.

First, you pay your IUA, or Initial Unshared Amount. We like to refer to this as your WGP1, or Whatcha Gotta Pay First to make it self-explanatory. Remember, we are all about keeping things simple and making everything as clear as possible for you. 

Every need has its own IUA. After the IUA is paid, all costs associated with the need will be considered for sharing. Our Big Stuff Health Share community will begin the process of sharing needs once documentation is received. 

Each member is responsible for the full IUA for up to 3 needs per year. After that, the IUA is set at $500 per need. 

If you have pre-existing health conditions, please refer to our Member Guidelines page for details on waiting periods and sharing capacities.

Why Big Stuff Health Share? 

Big Stuff Health Share is a non-profit organization—not an insurance company. With us, you will not only save money, but you can have peace of mind being part of a caring, trustworthy community. We don’t try and squeeze every single penny out of you like traditional insurance companies. Instead, we truly care about your healthcare needs and will do everything within reason to make sure you and your family are taken care of. 

You’ll also rest assured knowing you will typically receive payment for your health care costs within about two weeks from your response. The Big Stuff Health Share team is proactive and works diligently to make sure you receive your payments as soon as possible. 

We also know the importance of effective communication, and pride ourselves on being very responsive. Big Stuff Health Share genuinely cares about helping people like you by providing a simpler, more affordable approach to paying for healthcare.

With traditional health insurance, medical bills are often delayed up to a year. And even with other health shares it isn’t uncommon to end up with delayed bills. It’s highly likely you could be waiting months to receive any payment. 

Some health shares don’t even begin looking at reimbursements until after six months. That’s half a year that your medical bills go unpaid, which could result in them being sent to debt collection after just four months. The last thing you want to have to deal with is debt collections which will lower your credit score.

Big Stuff Health Share provides a trustworthy alternative to traditional health insurance. Have peace of mind knowing we will take care of you.

Save Money, Have More Liberty, and Be Part of a Caring Community

At Big Stuff Health Share we want to help you make positive changes in your life. We don’t want you to have to work harder just to pay your bills. Instead, we encourage you to work smarter— by joining a health share and investing the money you’ll save for example. We believe you should have more freedom when it comes to your health care as well. 

Want to learn more? Click here for information on medical needs and conditions in our Membership Guidelines. At Big Stuff Health Share, we want you to feel confident and comfortable with your membership. Remember, you are not alone. When you become a Big Stuff Health Share member, you become part of an amazing community of caring and generous people. We are here to help.