Being an Active Consumer of Healthcare: Empowering Yourself and Our Community

What are some ways that we can learn to be active and advocate?

This process starts well before you pick up the phone to schedule your appointment. As a Liberty HealthShare member, you have a cadre of powerful tools at your disposal as you seek medical care. Your first step should always be to log in to your HST Connect account. From there you can look for providers near you who participate in the PHCS Network, meaning that those providers are more likely to accept fair and reasonable pricing for medical care. Liberty HealthShare reprices all submitted eligible medical expenses to fair and reasonable pricing to protect member sharepower and ensure that you receive high quality care at a reasonable cost. By doing your work ahead of time, you will advocate for yourself and your community by decreasing the likelihood of receiving a balance bill, saving time and stress. Furthermore, you can call your provider and ask them if they participate in the PHCS Network, and you can even call Liberty HealthShare directly for help in this process. Putting in the legwork up front means less hassle at the end!

Second, now that you’ve done your research and are visiting a provider who accepts fair and reasonable pricing, you’ll want to advocate for yourself and your community during your appointment. Present your Liberty HealthShare ID card at your appointment and explain that you are part of a healthcare sharing ministry and that your provider should, if able, send bills electronically to Liberty HealthShare directly. Then, when receiving care, you’ll want to ask plenty of questions. Seek understanding of what your provider is doing, why they’re doing it, and the reasons behind what they’re recommending in terms of medications and further treatment. It’s not that you should try to act like you know more than your provider, but you should respectfully advocate for yourself by seeking clarification and more information. Think of it this way, if you’re taking your car into the shop you’re not just going to accept when the mechanic says you need a complete overhaul. You’re going to ask questions, seek information, and perhaps even pursue a second opinion. Just as you are an active consumer when purchasing a TV or getting a quote for plumbing, so too should you be an active consumer in the ways listed above when receiving healthcare!

Finally, what can you do to be an active consumer once your medical appointment is coming to an end? Good news – you have even more powerful Liberty HealthShare tools at your disposal! Let’s say that your provider is recommending an imaging service or even some outpatient surgery. Through Liberty HealthShare’s Care Navigation team, members have access to bundled pricing arrangements facilitated by Valenz Health and Coral. These partnerships simplify your healthcare experience by establishing pricing in advance, coordinating directly with providers, and reducing financial uncertainty associated with these types of procedures. Often when you need further medical services after an appointment your provider will refer you to another provider. As a passive jellyfish consumer, you would simply float along with their suggestion. However, as a Liberty HealthShare member you would contact the Care Navigation team to take advantage of this powerful partnership with Valenz Health and Coral so that your experience is the best it can be at fair and reasonable costs. Furthermore, you can use tools like Healthcare Blue Book or Fair Health to compare pricing across providers and facilities to ensure that you’re receiving excellent care at fair and reasonable rates! The good news is that using bundled pricing arrangements through Valenz Health and Coral can make that process even easier; all it takes is a little extra work on your part to make a phone call to the Liberty HealthShare Care Navigation team!

With support like Liberty HealthShare, being an active consumer is possible and simple!

Being an active consumer of your healthcare can seem like a daunting task, but the power and support of Liberty HealthShare makes it possible and simple to do! You can always call Liberty HealthShare with questions, and one of our kind and knowledge representatives will do everything they can to assist you in your healthcare journey. When you pair this with tools like HST Connect and partnerships like Valenz Health and Coral, you have a recipe for an empowered, well-informed, and cost-saving healthcare journey! Next time you’re in the aquarium, appreciate the beauty and grace that God made jellyfish with. But also smile because you know that, with the Liberty HealthShare community on your side, you’re no jellyfish yourself, but a knowledgeable and confident healthcare consumer! 

⭐️ Pro Tip: Bookmark this page for later! ⭐️

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