HealthShares can be an effective and affordable alternative to traditional health insurance, providing financial relief for high healthcare costs with low monthly contributions. However, there are medical cost sharing organizations that are alleged to have used too much of their members’ monthly contributions toward administrative costs and funding for-profit enterprises. One such organization is Liberty HealthShare, who is embroiled in multiple lawsuits regarding its failure to pay eligible medical expenses.
According to an investigatory article by ProPublica, Liberty HealthShare, owned by Brandon Fabris and Danny and Robbie Beers, has used “the regulatory no man’s land of health care sharing ministries” to profit while not paying what they claim they will in their member guidelines.
Despite promising “no red tape, lower costs and compassion for the sick,” Liberty HealthShare is allegedly leaving certain members on the hook for thousands of dollars in unpaid medical expenses that are eligible according to their member guidelines. ProPublica goes on to say that members of Liberty HealthShare are “struggling with millions of dollars in medical debt” and many are even joining a class-action lawsuit accusing Liberty of fraud.
The article also alleges that the Beers family used part of Liberty HealthShare’s annual revenue “to pay at least $140 million to businesses owned and operated by Beers family members and friends over a seven-year period.”
According to an article on Fox Carolina’s website, Vicky Linn, a member with Liberty HealthShare, is suing to recoup $10,000 that Liberty allegedly agreed they owed but did not pay.
Orlando Health, a not-for-profit corporation that operates hospitals and medical centers in Florida, is also suing Liberty HealthShare for allegedly withholding information about $1.1 million in debts they owed the hospital group. They also accuse them of “instructing patients not to disclose the organization as an outside source of funding in order to “illegitimately secure the reduced ‘charity rate’ for medical services.’”
Liberty HealthShare has been candid in recent newsletters about their backlog of eligible medical expenses and the steps they are taking to fix it. Liberty says they have been able to reduce the backlog in part by paying medical expenses owed to the same hospitals simultaneously, resulting in discounts and the elimination of some balance bills. “We continue to evaluate and implement opportunities to reduce the backlog even faster,” Liberty HealthShare’s CEO, Dorsey Morrow, said in their February 2023 newsletter, “I want to assure you that reducing the backlog as quickly as possible remains our top priority.”
We encourage members to research reviews and other information about their HealthShare, or prospective HealthShare, in order to assess its credibility and determine whether it is the right fit for them. HealthShare Guide has review pages, charts, and blogs to help make this research as easy as possible.
This is a developing situation and this article will be updated as needed.
