I'm sure I'm well-docuмented in those other threads, but we've been members of Christian Healthcare Ministries for 10 years now. They've "shared" the costs (ie. paid) of the births of each of our children. Otherwise, we haven't needed their assistance.
The biggest change they've made over the 10 years is that they now have a system in place where pre-existing conditions (formerly not shareable) are now shared at a percentage which increases to 100% after you've been a member for a few years.
I looked thoroughly into the 3 major sharing ministries before choosing CHM, but that was 10 years ago. There is a Catholic group, but I don't think they're independent, but rather a subset of Samaritan which would have been my 2nd choice had CHM not worked for us.
Thanks, MaterDominici. I have read through your previous posts on the topic. There are pros and cons of each group for sure, but in the end, I really think it depends on what your personal needs are. Some go to the doctor regularly, so a medi-share option with a 1250 TOTAL household max for the year would work best for them. For those that don't go frequently, the CHM option with a 500, 1500, etc. dollar per incident option would probably be more cost effective.
I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll find any program like this that shares routine doctor visits as a matter of course. I've often described the programs as "major medical" in that you won't find ongoing prescription coverage (other than a discount card) or coverage for regular doctor office visits.
With CHM, if the office visit is related to an incident (generally defined by a time frame surrounding the incident) it would be shareable, but otherwise, office visits should be planned for in your budget above and beyond the $450/family/month that you contribute to the program.
If you're seriously considering one of these programs, I highly recommend getting out your notepad or spreadsheet and making a chart to compare the 3 major programs. And, read the guidelines (not just the website overviews) to fill out your chart as these are what governs the program. They're very similar, though, and it could easily be that this sort of option does not work for your family.