When you’re self-employed, how to pay for your healthcare either becomes one big question mark or one big dollar sign. Honestly, I was sort of freaking out a few years ago when Drew decided to leave his full-time job because it meant we’d have to find new health coverage on our own. We looked at our options but felt overwhelmed in choosing the right option and finding one in a pricepoint we could afford. But we had several friends, both in the entrepreneurial space and not, tell us about an alternative for self-employed health expenses called Christian Healthcare Ministries.

What Is A Health Cost Sharing Ministry & What It’s Not

CHM is something that I tell pretty much everyone about. It’s been a mega blessing in our lives and has been the perfect solution for us as entrepreneurs. We’ve been with CHM for about 5 years now and have been BEYOND impressed. With Coco’s birth, CHM actually took care of 100% of our medical costs. It’s been an amazing, cost-effective option for us, and we can’t say enough good things about their ministry. But, it’s important to note that CHM is not technically health insurance.

Christian Healthcare Ministries is a health cost-sharing ministry that has three programs you can choose from. Members share the cost of one another’s medical bills so that any out-of-pocket costs are minimal! On top of that, your monthly costs are also inexpensive (the programs range from $78 to $172 per person per month… which is incredibly budget-friendly. We love it because we know most (if not all) of our major medical expenses will be taken care of, and we get to help other members cover their own healthcare costs that can often be astronomical.

How CHM Works as an Alternative for Self-Employed Health Expenses

When you apply to become a CHM member, you can choose from one of three programs that vary in support and inclusions:

• Gold Program ($172 per person per month): most extensive financial support, sharing 100% of any medical incident beyond $500 up to $125,000 per illness.
• Silver Program ($118 per person per month): shares medical expenses exceeding $2,500 up to $125,000 per illness.
• Bronze Program ($78 per person per month): shares medical expenses exceeding $5,000 up to $125,000 per illness.

You can check out the specific details and learn more about the three programs here. For us, the Gold Program makes the most sense because it helps with maternity bills and medical testing, which has been a Godsend (literally) when dealing with our miscarriages, pregnancy, and childbirth medical bills these past few years. 

If you’re self-employed—whether you’re an entrepreneur or a freelancer—who’s been considering growing your family but don’t know what medical costs might look like, I highly recommend CHM for your healthcare needs! Your maternity costs will be taken care of if you go with the Gold Plan, and it’s a cost-efficient (and less stressful) way to go about growing your family with confidence. 

How it works is this:

1. When you visit the doctor or hospital, you claim self-pay (which, by the way, can sometimes even reduce your medical bills—we’ve had some bills reduced up to 50%).
2. Then you submit your medical bills to CHM, and your bills are reimbursed, via a check in the mail.
3. That’s it! It’s extremely simple and intuitive to use, from application to bill reimbursement. (Unlike our past experiences, CHM has never been confusing about what’s included in their programs.)

Healthcare costs being put to good use

It’s also pretty incredible when you learn more about how CHM works and how it’s supported the medical needs of their community for decades. Christian Healthcare Ministries is run as a non-profit, and since we’re fairly young and healthy, we haven’t had too many medical expenses in the past 5 years. That means our monthly payments usually go to help others with their medical bills. We even get a letter in the mail letting us know who we’ve supported each month.

It makes us feel good knowing our money is actually being put to good use to help other people cover their own medical costs, whether that might be someone having a baby or helping cover a child’s broken bone or someone’s unexpected disease diagnosis.

So much of our health is unpredictable, and so we feel better knowing we can help others with unexpected medical costs, and that we’ll be taken care of in case something were to happen to any of us. It’s been especially comforting during my pregnancies and postpartum months.

And the best part is, it doesn’t cost a fortune, and we know we’re directly helping other Christians cover their health costs along the way.

This post is sponsored by Christian Healthcare Ministries, who we’ve used, loved, and trusted for the past 5 years. It is truly the best option I’ve found for healthcare coverage that aligns with our values AND our budget.

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