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Obamacare is not the only alternative to former insurance choices.
For quite some time, certain people have been able to opt into what is often termed "Biblical health insurance."
Lisa Aberle of Get
Rich Slowly writes about her own personal dilemma concerning health insurance. When
considering leaving her full-time job, she thought she might only have these three options:
be without insurance, find a private plan, or go with COBRA.
Then she discovered a fourth: "a medical cost-sharing plan that is available to Christians who follow certain guidelines including moderate use of alcohol, and no tobacco or illegal drug use."
Although she also looked for similar plans that non-Christians could opt into, she couldn't find any. (Her
suggestion: "I think creating
something like this would be amazing.
Like the vegetarian medical cost-sharing plan, or the Paleo cost-sharing plan…").
Since this plan is technically not insurance, but rather a form of voluntary gift-giving, there are no "premiums" per se. Instead, members send in a "voluntary gift amount" each month - the size of which is determined by what "level" the member is at. These
"gifts" get "sent to an escrow account, which is then distributed to other
members, according to their eligible medical expenses."
Although there are some worrisome elements to this system (such as possible high deductibles and ineligible expenses), Aberle praises its merits. She states that she is more involved with her own health care and choices than she ever was with standard insurance.
Resources
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2013/12/16/one-way-to-survive-without-health-insurance/
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