Are There Annual or Lifetime Limits on Health Sharing?

Every healthcare sharing ministry sets some kind of limit on how much can be shared for an individual's eligible medical needs. What varies from ministry to ministry, and even from program to program within the same ministry, is how those sharing limits are structured. Understanding the structure before you enroll helps you choose the program that best matches your family's needs.

What kind of sharing limits does Liberty HealthShare have?

Most Liberty HealthShare sharing limits are set per incident or per membership year rather than as a single running lifetime total. Once a member's Annual Unshared Amount (AUA) has been met, eligible medical expenses become available for sharing up to that program's limit. A member who faces more than one major medical event in different years generally isn't drawing down a single lifetime balance the way some other cost-sharing structures work.

There is one notable exception: organ and tissue transplant expenses have maximum sharing limits per organ, per lifetime, under Liberty HealthShare's current Sharing Guidelines. While most categories of care reset with each incident or membership year, transplant care is one area where a true lifetime sharing limit does apply.

How do the sharing limits compare across programs?

The sharing limit a member has depends on which program the member has enrolled in:

• Liberty Freedom members have the opportunity for up to $300,000 in member sharing per membership year, or the opportunity for up to $300,000 in member sharing for a single incident, whichever limit is reached first, once the AUA is satisfied.

• Liberty Essential carries a $600,000 per-incident sharing limit after the AUA is met, and members take on a 20% Co-Share for eligible expenses.

• Liberty Connect raises the per-incident sharing limit to $1,000,000 after the AUA is met, with a smaller 10% Co-Share.

• Liberty Unite also offers the opportunity for member sharing of up to $1,000,000 per incident after the AUA is met, with no Co-Share.

• Liberty Rise, built for young adults, has a maximum sharing limit of $50,000 in a membership year across all services combined.

• Liberty Assist, for members 65 and older and enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B, offers the opportunity for member sharing of up to $100,000 per membership year because the program is secondary to Medicare.

Categories like ancillary therapies and cancer care carry their own separate sharing limits within these programs, so the topline number isn't the whole picture for every type of care.

Why structure it this way instead of one flat lifetime sharing limit?

A per-incident or per-year structure keeps contribution amounts predictable for the sharing community as a whole while still leaving room for members who face more than one significant medical need over the life of their membership. It reflects the same philosophy Chief Executive Officer Dorsey Morrow points to when describing how the ministry operates. "Our focus is we facilitate and that's it," Morrow has said. "There's no other objective on our part. We just want to help our members get the best care possible at the best value."

Where can members find the exact numbers for their program?

Sharing limits, AUAs, and Co-Share amounts vary by program. The current Sharing Guidelines spell out the specific terms, exceptions, and category-level sharing limits that apply to each program, and the Compare Our Programs page is a good starting point for seeing how they stack up against each other.

Have questions about which program fits your family? Compare Liberty HealthShare's programs or reach out to a member development representative to talk through your options.