People ask me quite often what I think of Liberty HealthShare. Most days I’m happy with them. I have had great experiences and less than amazing experiences. I am not a skinny person … I am about to go for a sleeve gastrectomy which is expressly not covered by Liberty. Page one states they do not cover weight loss surgery. I pay an additional premium and have conversations with a health coach showing that I am trying on my weight-loss and I have a plan and goal. This is a requirement. This would also be the same for a smoker and the plan to cease smoking along with a health coach. Some hypertensive medications require the same.
I started Liberty approximately last December. My husband was not able to be insured by them as we stated his positive TB skin test revealed calcified lesions on the lung which mean he has had exposure. This is not Medically treatable but the primary care physician was either not educated or not aware of the medical treatment and stages ofl TB classification and treatment. They would not write in the record that TB treatment was not indicated nor needed. Francisco uses US Health Group for his insurance. Just one month later my biological daughter was born via Surrogacy in Mexico. She was hospitalized from birth requiring additional medical test & procedures. She was in the hospital for 12 days and the costs were over $1000 US per day. It was my anticipation that no insurance would cover me. Traditional insurance said that after 30 days they would cover my child. I called Liberty and asked if I could add her from her date of birth. They said yes and added her for $50. I asked if they would cover any part of her medical bills in Mexico. I was told that they would if they had the bill in English and in US Currency. I couldn’t deal with this until I was at home over 2 months later after being very stuck in Mexico.
I had the bills translated at a cost of about $150 US and sent everything certified and called them several times to explain. The hardest part is the system for uploading bills is only set for one bill at a time. I sent all to them and explained that it was a lot of money out of pocket up front. They seemed to put a rush on it and with-in 2 months I had been fully reimbursed for the medical care of Elizabeth in Mexico. She and I have since had all of our doctor’s visits this year. We have paid our premiums and otherwise been reimbursed for countless exams and rule-out tests. She had to be ruled out for cystic fibrosis both in Mexico and in the US. I have had 1-2 urgent care visits for a cold.
What’s the negative? I have found no provider that will take Liberty as insurance and bill directly. All have made me cash pay and be reimbursed. This works while we are healthy or bills aren’t super high. However, I worry about ER visits or possible surgery or Emergency that lands me in the hospital. I know I don’t have 100K to pay a hospital bill… Thankfully, I have the insurance card and my assumption is that a hospital bill would come to me and I could send it directly to them or have them call the hospital billing directly if needed. In the US they will let you out of the hospital with an unpaid bill. In Mexico they would not let Elizabeth out of the hospital with an unpaid bill.
Every appointment since has had about a 90 day delay in reimbursement. It’s something I have come to expect. Most providers give a significant cash pay discount and so the amounts for doctor’s appointments have ranged from $90-$1400.
I will continue to use them as I know how they work and I believe the coverage is sufficient for now.
This has been our experience so far. Hope this helps. To see a comparison of health sharing organizations... The insurance page of the site and scroll down to health insurance