Wondering about the real cost of a Zion HealthShare membership? Not just the monthly fees, but the out-of-pocket expenses? A real Zion HealthShare customer and mother of two shares how she uses her membership, plus other services, to maintain high-quality healthcare at a reasonable price.
I discovered cost-sharing about nine years ago as an affordable, legitimate alternative to health insurance, and we have never looked back. As a family of four with two self-employed parents, homesteading roots, and a strong belief in natural health, we found that health insurance just didn’t align with our needs. This decision feels even more relevant today as health insurance costs continue skyrocketing for families.
But what does utilizing cost-sharing really look like in dollars and cents, beyond the lower monthly fees? Here, I’ll share how our family keeps our healthcare costs low while prioritizing excellent health, utilizing Zion HealthShare and other helpful money-saving tools and resources.
First, How Much Do We Pay Monthly for Cost Sharing?
We have Zion HealthShare’s Direct Membership for individuals and families with an IUA (Initial Unshareable Amount) of $5,000. The IUA is the amount a member pays toward an eligible medical need before related expenses become eligible for sharing. Unlike an insurance deductible, the IUA applies per medical need. However, household memberships are responsible for no more than three IUAs in a rolling 12-month period. For this, we pay $565 per month, knowing it’s intended to cover large, unexpected medical expenses, as well as some routine visits.
When we compared this to health insurance programs for the self-employed, we found we’re saving between $1,135 and $1,635 a month or up to nearly $20,000 a year! This aligns with a recent KFF survey showing the average American family of four spends around $26,000 on health insurance. Since our family is healthy and we rely on integrative and natural medicine more than traditional allopathic medicine, this made a world of sense for us.
How We Keep Out-of-Pocket Costs Low
When you choose a membership with a higher IUA, you take responsibility for more of the cost of each eligible medical need before community sharing begins. This could include urgent care visits, lab work, trips to the dermatologist, extra follow-up visits, and other expenses related to that medical need that are not shared until you meet your IUA.
One way we keep these expenses predictable is by enrolling in a direct-primary-care membership with a local holistic nurse practitioner. Using natural medicine first is a family motto, and having a medical professional guiding those decisions, like evaluating and explaining our options for treating an earache, is a priority. For $150 a month, our kids are covered for their well-care and sick-care visits, including basic emergency care, like stitches, sprain treatment, or anything that doesn’t involve an X-ray or surgery. For this season of life, it’s worth it.
Our direct primary care membership also offers discounts on lab work and supplements through FullScript, which helps offset the costs. There are other doctors in town that charge as little as $75 for direct primary care, but the $150 is worth it to us for the expertise in homeopathy and herbalism, continuity, and the level of care we receive from Nurse Seelah.
For other urgent care expenses, like when I broke a toe last year (ouch!), or my husband cut his hand with an ax (double-ouch!), we pay out of pocket, which usually runs between $150-$200 a visit. Fortunately, we’ve never had a hospital visit, but if/when we do, we know to ask for the cash-pay rate and inquire about cash-pay discounts, which most hospitals and providers typically offer.
Fortunately, we’ve never had a hospital visit, but if/when we do, we know to ask for the cash-pay rate and inquire about cash-pay discounts, which most hospitals and providers typically offer.
How do you ask for discounts? Just ask. Seriously, if you’re in the ER, tell them you’re cash-pay and ask about discounts. If you’re shopping around for care (which is your right), ask about cash-pay discounts and compare providers. Although discounts vary, reports suggest you can reasonably expect 10-30% off, or even up to 80% off in some cases, with some medical centers offering lower prices to cash-payers than the insured, so it’s definitely worth the effort.
We haven’t needed a prescription since starting with Zion HealthShare (all that good natural medicine!), but when we do, we plan to use Zion RxShare for discounted medications. Finally, it’s nice to know we have unlimited access to virtual primary care through Zion HealthShare if our nurse practitioner isn’t available for the kids or if my husband or I need virtual care, and that this is included in our monthly contribution. If we couldn’t afford the direct primary care membership, this would be an excellent no-additional-cost alternative.
Routine Expenses Not Submitted for Sharing
For our family, the main routine expense not shared by Zion HealthShare is dietary supplements and occasional lab work. As mentioned previously, we get discounted professional-grade supplements through our DPC provider, which saves us around 30%. As a freelance health and wellness writer, I’m also often gifted discounts on my long-term clients’ awesome products, which helps.
For lab work, we have a couple of workarounds. Our acupuncturist and naturopath can order lab work through LabCorp, and a complete functional workup costs only $150. You can also order your own lab work through various labs like Function Health, LabCorp On Demand, Quest, WalkInLab, or LetsGetChecked, with or without a doctor’s visit, with transparent pricing, so don’t be afraid to compare costs.
Now that we’re pushing late-forties and early fifties, we’ll also budget for routine preventive care screenings, like colonoscopies or home screenings, and breast health exams, like ultrasounds, thermography, or mammograms. Again, we will shop around for the best cash-pay price, then submit eligible expenses for sharing. Our Direct Membership includes Preventive Sharing, so eligible preventive services can be shared without meeting an IUA.
How Prioritizing our Health Keeps Costs Low
Every family has different healthcare needs and philosophies, but we all know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. For us, this means prioritizing living a healthy lifestyle, including:
- Eating mostly organic food
- Going for regular checkups
- Getting functional lab work (beyond the basics)
- Avoiding ultra-processed foods, especially those high in bad fats and refined sugar
- Spending time outdoors
- Getting regular exercise
- Managing stress
- Addressing any symptoms at the root cause
- Juicing fruits and vegetables
- Spending time in community
- Not ignoring symptoms
- Drinking enough water
- Practicing meditation and prayer
- Taking exercise breaks during the day
- Getting enough sleep (always working on this one)
- Keeping screentime minimal
- Limiting alcohol
- Not smoking or using recreational drugs
- Avoiding unnecessary treatments and medications
I’m 46, my husband just turned 50, our kids are 13 and 7, and we all feel so good, have plenty of energy, and have no serious health issues. We are very fortunate. That said, we’ve also watched other health-conscious friends and family members fall ill, including to terminal cancer and heart disease, despite their healthy lifestyles. This has taught us to hold dear the balance between relying on natural and lifestyle medicine and using modern medicine when needed. Health cost sharing helps us achieve this by freeing up more money for the commonsense preventive care and natural medicine we love, but still having our back when larger medical expenses come up.
A Recap of the Cost Breakdown for a Healthy Family of 4
To recap, here’s a breakdown of our annual healthcare costs:
- Monthly Zion HealthShare membership: $565 per month X 12 months = $6780
- Direct primary care membership for the children: $150 X12 months = $1800
- Annual checkups for the adults: $300-$500 (Our Direct Membership includes sharing of up to $175 per adult for an eligible annual provider visit, without meeting an IUA.)
- Annual lab work: $300 ($150 for each adult)
- Supplements: Around $50 per month X 12 = $600
- Random urgent care visits: $150-$500 (hopefully on the lower end)
- Annual dermatologist visits: $400-$500
Average Annual Total Expenses: Approximately $10,630 or $885 per month (cheaper than what we’d pay for just a high-deductible insurance plan). Every family has different health needs, philosophies, and budgets. Our priority has always been to have as much freedom as possible in our healthcare choices.
Health cost sharing gives us this freedom while saving us a considerable amount of money, keeping us out of the health insurance system, and ensuring we have shared funds accessible when large eligible medical expenses arise. For us, that’s the ultimate win-win-win.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristen Boye
Zion HealthShare Member & Freelance Writer This story was written by Kristen Boye, a Zion HealthShare member and freelance writer specializing in natural health and sustainable living. She has more than 20 years of experience in writing, copywriting, and editing for various companies and publications.
Kristen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Health and is a Certified Natural Foods Chef. She is also the co-owner of a regenerative medicinal herb farm in Western North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Learn more about Kristen and her work at Holistic Writing Concepts.