Medicare: Medigap or Advantage Plans versus Medi-Share

Chapter Medicare is the go-to resource for your Medicare questions. Rob. Berger did a 2 hour interview with the founder a few months ago, which you can find on YouTube.

Medicare Advantage is generally known for offering low premiums, so I'm surprised that you're saying it's expensive. Medicare Supplement can be expensive, especially in guaranteed issue states like NY.

John Oliver makes some legitimate points, but the problems he highlights mostly come from a few bad actors in healthsharing. Medi-Share is a well established program with a reliable reputation. Experiences with big three (Medi-Share, Samaritan, and CHM) are largely positive, though you can find negative reviews just like with anything. Zion and Sedera are two newer entrants. Still, insurance should be the first option whenever feasible. Whatever you decide, at least give Chapter a call.

@brub888 and @BostonFI did a great job of highlighting the biggest concern - that Medi-Share 65+ is not actually insurance, and what that means.

I'll add a few more considerations:

1. Medi-Share 65+ replaces a Medicare Supplement, not Medicare Advantage. That means you have to sign up for original Medicare Parts A and B to use Medi-Share 65+, so it may not be as inexpensive as you think.
2. Medi-Share 65+ does not appear to include drug coverage, so you likely would need to sign up for Part D as well.
3. Failure to sign up for Parts B and D or have Advantage or creditable coverage results in monthly late enrollment penalties if/when you later sign up for Medicare, so it is a big deal.
4. As you already have Advantage, there is a high probability you would need to go through medical underwriting if you were to switch to original Medicare and a Medicare Supplement Plan (underwriting for the Supplement Plan, not original Medicare) at this time (there may be some exceptions - known as guaranteed issue rights - in a few states, though exception conditions vary from state to state, or if you lose access to your current insurance (not Medi-Share 65+ plan.
5. I'm surprised you said the Advantage plan was expensive because many don't charge much or anything beyond the mandatory Part B and (if drug coverage included) Part D premiums.
6. The risk of using Medi-Share 65+ in place of Supplement Plan is somewhat lower risk than in using a health share ministry before Medicare eligibility, because the original Medicare you are required to sign up for covers 80% of medical (Part B), though hospitalization costs can still be a high risk, as Part A coverage is limited to 90 days, and there is no guarantee a health share will cover what a Supplement would have covered.

Comedian John Oliver did a segment on health share ministries on his show, Last Week Tonight on HBO. The segment went viral so maybe you've already watched it, but here's a link. It's meant to be funny but it also is accurate about the risks of relying on religion-based medi-share arrangements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFetFqrVBNc

Medi-Share is not health insurance; it's a faith-based healthcare sharing ministry where members voluntarily share each other's medical costs, operating outside insurance regulations and laws, meaning it doesn't guarantee payment and lacks typical insurance consumer protections. It's an alternative to insurance, pooling funds from members to cover eligible medical bills, but carries different financial risks, as payments aren't legally guaranteed and monthly shares aren't tax-deductible like premiums