Health "Un-Insurance"

AIHT Grad Creates Health “Un-Insurance”

In July, 1993, E. John Reinhold, Ph.D., D.N., founded a not-for-profit ministry of mutual care called the Medi-Share Program to pay members’ medical bills. It was structured for those who were priced out of health insurance and wished to save money by sharing. The ministry adds up all the member’s medical bills each month and divides by the number of sharing households. Each household is sent a monthly sharing notice reminding them to “kick in” its share.

Members share the first $50,000 of any eligible medical incident. To prevent a cluster of major catastrophic events from spiraling the month-to-month share so high that members drop out, the ministry adopted a group excess medical insurance policy through a trust. All Medi-Share members automatically are members of the trust, which is located outside the U.S. territorial limits in the British Commonwealth.

The trust contracts for “stop loss” insurance with a major international carrier to assume financial responsibility for medical incidents from $50,000 to $5,000,000. As a not-for-profit, the ministry does not receive commissions, fees, gifts or remuneration of any kind from the insurance company of the trust. “Basically we all have a group medical policy with a $5 million ceiling and a $50,000 deductible, and all group members share the deductible,” Reinhold stated.

The ministry now has almost 25,000 members in all 50 states and around the world, and provides to members at no additional cost the professional health and lifestyle advice of 18 specialists. A full-time physician and five full-time health counselors direct the effort. A 24-hour medical hotline as well as a 24-hour prayer chain is available to members.

Members are all assigned specific times each month to call the prayer hotline and fulfill their role in the chain so that around-the-clock prayers are said for members in medical emergencies or critical healing situations. The ministry’s lending library is one of the nation’s most complete in nutrition/lifestyle. More than 400 video courses are in circulation at any given time to educate members on making more healthful choices. The newsletter offers ways to improve both spiritual and physician health. The group has a bookstore available to members where selected health/ lifestyle/cookbooks are purchased in bulk and passed on, at cost, to members. Regional members are actually rewarded with monetary incentives to attend meetings featuring well-known lifestyle authors.

“The information I learned working toward completion of my degrees at AIHT formed the basis of the ministry wellness program,” Reinhold said. “I believe the self-discipline exercised to persevere toward a degree serves me well in many areas of my life. I also believe that many Americans are tired of anonymously subsidizing those who have no regard for their health; these enlightened consumers are therefore interested in ministries of mutual care. Ours operates in a relatively small spectrum of the community of faith, but I am convinced that mutual care concepts can spring up in a variety of constituencies. I proudly proclaim my AIHT credentials and they are, by and large, respectfully accepted.”

More information about the Medi-Share Program is available on the web at www.tccm.org. You can reach Dr. Reinhold at 800-374-2563 or e-mail medi250@aol.com.

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