Alternative healthcare cooperatives springing up

[JGeropoulas]

In this interview, Dr. Leland Stillman discusses his new book, “Dying to be Free: How America’s Ruling Class Is Killing and Bankrupting Americans, and What to Do About It.” He shares his views on both the conventional and alternative health care systems, and how an entirely new health care system can, and is, being built that is focused on maintaining health rather than managing disease.

According to Stillman, more and more young doctors are waking up to the problem inherent in the allopathic medical system. The problem is that many of them see no way out. “They've made it incredibly hard, by design, to start your own practice,” Stillman says. “They really want to keep all of the physicians corralled.”

A major part of that “prison” is debt. By the time you finish your medical training, your debt can easily be between $250,000 and $500,000. Starting your own business means you can fail, so most opt for a more secure income, which means working for a hospital.

Look at the amount of money you can save by going to, for example, Health Care Sharing Ministries — Medi-Share, Liberty HealthShare, Zion HealthShare. The goal is to share expenses between members and negotiate better prices with hospitals. It works differently than regular insurance, in that most of your costs are out of pocket, and then you submit them for reimbursement from the health care sharing ministry. Every month, you have a member fee. My fee, as a healthy, 34-year-old male is like $140 to $150, which is nothing compared to what I would be buying as an individual, getting a high deductible health insurance plan, which could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month.”

Main points covered:

• In “Dying to be Free: How America’s Ruling Class Is Killing and Bankrupting Americans, and What to Do About It,” Dr. Leland Stillman shares his views on conventional and alternative health care systems, and how an entirely new health care system can, and is, being built that is focused on maintaining health rather than managing disease
• Emergency care medicine can make you better in a short amount of time, but 99% of the people in the ER and the urgent care wouldn't be there if they had a healthy environment, a healthy lifestyle and a healthy diet
• GoldCares Health & Wellness is creating a robust training for clinicians that incorporates the best of allopathic and natural medicine
• You can save a lot of money by becoming a member of a Health Care Sharing Ministry such as Medi-Share, Liberty HealthShare or Zion HealthShare. Members share expenses and prices are negotiated with hospitals to minimize the cost for each bill
• Many are stuck in the health insurance loop because they fear they wouldn’t be able to pay for certain drugs, were they to develop some disease. However, if your doctor can help keep you healthy, you don’t need drugs, and hence you don’t need insurance

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The article you are looking for has been archived in Dr. Mercola's Censored Library on Substack.

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[Alejo]

Thanks for the recommendation,

it reminded me of that one quote, I am not sure where it comes from, that it's not the the system is broken and everything is wrong, it's that it's actually working perfectly well as it was designed.

 

[Yupo]

In this interview, Dr. Leland Stillman discusses his new book, “Dying to be Free: How America’s Ruling Class Is Killing and Bankrupting Americans, and What to Do About It.” He shares his views on both the conventional and alternative health care systems, and how an entirely new health care system can, and is, being built that is focused on maintaining health rather than managing disease.

According to Stillman, more and more young doctors are waking up to the problem inherent in the allopathic medical system. The problem is that many of them see no way out. “They've made it incredibly hard, by design, to start your own practice,” Stillman says. “They really want to keep all of the physicians corralled.”

A major part of that “prison” is debt. By the time you finish your medical training, your debt can easily be between $250,000 and $500,000. Starting your own business means you can fail, so most opt for a more secure income, which means working for a hospital.

Look at the amount of money you can save by going to, for example, Health Care Sharing Ministries — Medi-Share, Liberty HealthShare, Zion HealthShare. The goal is to share expenses between members and negotiate better prices with hospitals. It works differently than regular insurance, in that most of your costs are out of pocket, and then you submit them for reimbursement from the health care sharing ministry. Every month, you have a member fee. My fee, as a healthy, 34-year-old male is like $140 to $150, which is nothing compared to what I would be buying as an individual, getting a high deductible health insurance plan, which could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month.”




Main points covered:

• In “Dying to be Free: How America’s Ruling Class Is Killing and Bankrupting Americans, and What to Do About It,” Dr. Leland Stillman shares his views on conventional and alternative health care systems, and how an entirely new health care system can, and is, being built that is focused on maintaining health rather than managing disease
• Emergency care medicine can make you better in a short amount of time, but 99% of the people in the ER and the urgent care wouldn't be there if they had a healthy environment, a healthy lifestyle and a healthy diet
• GoldCares Health & Wellness is creating a robust training for clinicians that incorporates the best of allopathic and natural medicine
• You can save a lot of money by becoming a member of a Health Care Sharing Ministry such as Medi-Share, Liberty HealthShare or Zion HealthShare. Members share expenses and prices are negotiated with hospitals to minimize the cost for each bill
• Many are stuck in the health insurance loop because they fear they wouldn’t be able to pay for certain drugs, were they to develop some disease. However, if your doctor can help keep you healthy, you don’t need drugs, and hence you don’t need insurance

Archived Article Notice

The article you are looking for has been archived in Dr. Mercola's Censored Library on Substack.

articles.mercola.com

I was a member of one of those, paid premiums for more than 3 years and when I needed something they found every excuse in the world not to pay. Never paid a penny. I had sudden onset cataracts and loss of functional vision, like BAM! They spent a long time going back and forth, making excuses, collecting my medical records, and finally said my records were not valid because I got my eye care for 20+ years from Optometrists instead of Opthamologists. Where I live (NC), Optometrists have a very broad scope of practice and most people use them unless there is need for more serious stuff like hospital surgery. Anyway, I had to pay cash for those surgeries (still paying). I opted to do them without sedation or anesthetic (other than local drops) to save money. Medical Cost Sharing Ministry or something was the name of it. It did give me the feeling I was 'covered'. That is all I can say good about it. Proceed with caution. IMO, you'd be better off to set aside the cash into an emergency health fund. You might never need need it, but you'll have something if you do.

 

[Yupo]

I was a member of one of those, paid premiums for more than 3 years and when I needed something they found every excuse in the world not to pay. Never paid a penny. I had sudden onset cataracts and loss of functional vision, like BAM! They spent a long time going back and forth, making excuses, collecting my medical records, and finally said my records were not valid because I got my eye care for 20+ years from Optometrists instead of Opthamologists. Where I live (NC), Optometrists have a very broad scope of practice and most people use them unless there is need for more serious stuff like hospital surgery. Anyway, I had to pay cash for those surgeries (still paying). I opted to do them without sedation or anesthetic (other than local drops) to save money. Medical Cost Sharing Ministry or something was the name of it. It did give me the feeling I was 'covered'. That is all I can say good about it. Proceed with caution. IMO, you'd be better off to set aside the cash into an emergency health fund. You might never need need it, but you'll have something if you do.

This is the one:

Medical Cost Sharing - A Christian Healthcare Sharing Ministry

Medical Cost Sharing, Inc., or MCS for short solves the financial pain that has been caused by traditional health care and addresses the issue for those who have completely lost their health care coverage.

www.mcsmedicalcostsharing.com

I give them Zero out of 5 stars. Please don't believe their BS website.

 

[JGeropoulas]

I was a member of one of those, paid premiums for more than 3 years and when I needed something they found every excuse in the world not to pay. Never paid a penny. I had sudden onset cataracts and loss of functional vision, like BAM! They spent a long time going back and forth, making excuses, collecting my medical records, and finally said my records were not valid because I got my eye care for 20+ years from Optometrists instead of Opthamologists. Where I live (NC), Optometrists have a very broad scope of practice and most people use them unless there is need for more serious stuff like hospital surgery. Anyway, I had to pay cash for those surgeries (still paying). I opted to do them without sedation or anesthetic (other than local drops) to save money. Medical Cost Sharing Ministry or something was the name of it. It did give me the feeling I was 'covered'. That is all I can say good about it. Proceed with caution. IMO, you'd be better off to set aside the cash into an emergency health fund. You might never need need it, but you'll have something if you do.

Your experience provides some good lessons, such as never assuming a company is trustworthy until there's a basis for that trust, read the fine print, thoroughly understand both the benefits and limitations, as well as how preexisting problems and/or treatments might affect coverage for ongoing or future treatment of those problems.

 

[Yupo]

Your experience provides some good lessons, such as never assuming a company is trustworthy until there's a basis for that trust, read the fine print, thoroughly understand both the benefits and limitations, as well as how preexisting problems and/or treatments might affect coverage for ongoing or future treatment of those problems.

My problem was not pre-existing and I had the records to prove it. They have basically a 2 year waiting period for most any benefit, fair enough. I had been a paying member for at least 3 years. There was no reason to deny my claim/request for cost sharing. Except: there is a disclaimer in the fine print about them NOT being an insurance policy. I think that is their out as far as any legal actions against them or risk of complaints with state insurance commissioners. Quite a good church donation game they and team legal have come up with, don't you think?
It saddens me to say this, but it has been my experience with both people and businesses, that those bearing that Christian banner boldly are the ones you'd best watch your back with.
I have not flamed them on the internet, but whenever the subject comes up (like here) I share my experience and willingly offer up my records and their related correspondence. I told them I would be doing this.
I've recently moved. I didn't discard those records, but will take a good while to find them if anyone wants to see them. It is entirely possible that other people have had a better experience. I'm just telling my story.

 

[Alejo]

My problem was not pre-existing and I had the records to prove it. They have basically a 2 year waiting period for most any benefit, fair enough. I had been a paying member for at least 3 years. There was no reason to deny my claim/request for cost sharing. Except: there is a disclaimer in the fine print about them NOT being an insurance policy. I think that is their out as far as any legal actions against them or risk of complaints with state insurance commissioners. Quite a good church donation game they and team legal have come up with, don't you think?

It is a sad reality that, the insurance businesses in the US are exactly that, businesses aiming at making the largest amount of profit, which includes not paying out when they don't have to.

A large chunk of their investments goes to hiring profesionals who will find ways to avoid paying when possible. And a sign of how colluded the US government is with these businesses is the fact that they've made it a penalty not to purchase insurance, being too broke to buy insurance means the government will come and take away your money come tax time. It's criminal.

 

[Yupo]

It seems to me that our (US) government wants to make darned sure we have insurance coverage, either through generous subsidies or Medicaid expansion programs. Only in this way can everyone be offered up to the system. I've recently started to look at the whole system as an enormous vampire that continuously drains us of our financial and vital resources, seductively, with the help of their enslaved and unwitting minion. Knowledge is the only protection. So yeah, the system isn't broken at all. It is working as intended.

 

[Yupo]

It is a sad reality that, the insurance businesses in the US are exactly that, businesses aiming at making the largest amount of profit, which includes not paying out when they don't have to.

A large chunk of their investments goes to hiring profesionals who will find ways to avoid paying when possible. And a sign of how colluded the US government is with these businesses is the fact that they've made it a penalty not to purchase insurance, being too broke to buy insurance means the government will come and take away your money come tax time. It's criminal.

Yes indeed. We (provider side) call that the dark side. I had an employee, high school education, smart girl, now working for the dark side. Makes about $150K. Her job involves making sure claims are not paid through various methods, sometimes just kicking the can down the road forever. And then there are the RACs. Recovery Audit Committees. Horrible. The Spanish Inquisition, but with digital access to everything. Spelling, grammar and punctuation count. Any T found to be not crossed can be extrapolated to your whole career for a proportional payback demand. Even after you retire, they can come after you for 10 years for those records. They don't get paid unless they find stuff, so they try really hard and demand huge piles of records all the time. This is maybe why your doctor is so focused on the screen and getting the note right? Yes, physicians are enslaved and it is impossible to serve more than one master. Sorry for going off topic here. Needless to say, I am supposedly retired and none too happy about just having been served 3 more RAC audits. &%#$^!!!
The thing is, if you don't do the audits, they can block your credentials for Medicare and Medicaid. Even if you never plan to accept these insurance plans, there is no facility or entity that will ever credential you for work without being in good standing with these programs.

 

[JGeropoulas]

It seems to me that our (US) government wants to make darned sure we have insurance coverage, either through generous subsidies or Medicaid expansion programs. Only in this way can everyone be offered up to the system. I've recently started to look at the whole system as an enormous vampire that continuously drains us of our financial and vital resources, seductively, with the help of their enslaved and unwitting minion. Knowledge is the only protection. So yeah, the system isn't broken at all. It is working as intended.

I hear ya! The evil trinity of Government, Insurance companies and Medical industry. I always thought it strange that the insurance companies weren't more aggressive resisting the medical industry until someone pointed out that they both depend on sick people for revenue. So they want enough sickness to scare people into insurance plans, but not so many sick people that it makes people lose confidence in the medical industry. Of course politicians will accept generous campaign donations from either.