If you’ve ever opened a health insurance rate increase and started doing math at the kitchen table, I’ve been right there.

When ours went up, I didn’t want to go on emotions or advertising. I wanted the hard data. So I called companies, called pharmacists, and compared lab prices before we chose Knew Health. Finally, I asked them if someone could come on my podcast because I know there are other people also looking for other options.

I’m a Knew Health affiliate, which means I earn a commission when someone joins through my affiliate link. I’m also a member myself.

Listen to my conversation with Danielle from Knew Health

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Health with Hashimoto’s is your free weekly podcast that sorts this autoimmune condition into thyroid or immune. Each episode is for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss any questions or concerns with your trusted healthcare professional. Some links may be affiliate links, marked as such, at no extra cost to you.

How Knew Health works for real families

For this Knew Health review, I sat down with Danielle from the Knew Health member care team. She helps people figure out if Knew Health is a good fit for their family.

Knew Health is a Medical Cost Sharing Community. Members contribute a monthly amount into a Community fund. When a Member has a Medical Need, it’s paid through that fund.

Danielle described Knew Health as an alternative to health insurance. She said it can be way more affordable for some people.

There are no network restrictions. Danielle said Members can see any doctor anywhere, whether that doctor is traditional or alternative. You decide your own care.

Why I chose Knew Health over faith-based health shares

Our health insurance price went up the year we switched.

Then I talked to a friend. Next year, her insurance was going to cost triple their mortgage. Every month.

Just crazy. So I started looking at all the different health sharing companies.

I have experience with some of the religious ones. Not personally, but through family members.

A lot of the religious companies have a lot of rules you have to follow.

Danielle explained that many health shares are faith-based. She said a lot of them ask Members to agree to a statement of faith. Knew Health is not religious-based, and she described them as inclusive.

When I talked to Knew Health on the phone, I felt like they wanted the best for me. And they believed that I was pursuing the best.

We enrolled during my husband’s open enrollment and chose a January 1 start date. When Danielle and I recorded this conversation, our Membership had not started yet.

A Knew Health review of how they keep things simple

Every single person I’ve talked to at Knew Health has been friendly. Phone or email. Easy to talk to.

I know some people get really nervous making a phone call. I don’t even remember a robo menu. No “dial 1 for this.” Just a real person.

It was so refreshing.

Danielle said you’ll never get sent to a random call center. They try to connect you with the same person for follow-up questions. That way you aren’t repeating yourself over and over.

Knew Health’s founder is Joshua Rosenthal. Danielle shared that he also started the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. It’s a nutrition school that trains health coaches.

Danielle said Joshua always taught that our healthcare system is broken. He said it’s just not working for millions of Americans, especially healthier ones. His goal with Knew Health was to keep the Community healthy.

Knew Health also reviews and negotiates medical bills. Danielle said a lot of other health shares leave the negotiating to you. (She said she wouldn’t know how to negotiate a medical bill. Or have the time.)

Lower bills help the whole Community, she explained. Less money comes out of the shared fund. Danielle said that’s part of how they’ve kept their rates the same.

Preventive care, including thermography

Danielle said Knew Health wants to put prevention first for everyone. Your yearly allowances for preventive care start as soon as your Membership begins.

Those allowances include:

• An annual physical
• A well woman exam and pap smear
• A mammogram, thermogram, or ultrasound
• A colonoscopy
• Any immunizations you choose
• STD testing
• Birth control

You tell your provider you’re self-pay and ask for an itemized receipt. Then you submit it to Knew Health. They reimburse you up to the allowance amount.

I have chosen to do thermography instead of mammograms. After looking at all of the research, I decided that for me. I hadn’t seen any other company say, “Oh yeah, go get thermography.”

Ordering your own labs through Evexia

Members order their own blood work through a company called Evexia. Evexia sends you to your local LabCorp for the blood draw. You get the results directly.

You don’t need a doctor’s order. Curious about your thyroid, estrogen, or cortisol? Danielle said you can just order it.

Danielle said a few common panels are free for Members. Those include a CBC, a metabolic panel, and insulin. Everything else is wholesale priced, and there’s a yearly allowance for lab work.

I’ve done podcast episodes about ordering your own labs through an independent lab. I also compared prices from four or five different lab companies.

After talking with Knew Health, I looked at Evexia’s prices. It was cheaper than anything I had been able to find.

Many of my listeners use functional labs, food sensitivity testing, or hormone panels. Danielle said Evexia has many panels, including food sensitivity tests. She said it’s much more affordable than doing it in person.

(Still learning what your numbers mean? Start with how to read your thyroid lab results.)

How Knew Health shares in a new illness or injury

When you enroll, you choose your IUA. That stands for Initial Unshareable Amount. It’s the amount you pay for each new medical event, and Knew Health shares beyond that.

There are three IUA options: $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000. The lower your IUA, the higher your monthly contribution. Danielle said a family won’t pay more than three IUAs in one Membership year.

Danielle gave an example. Say she woke up with appendicitis and needed emergency surgery.

She would send the unpaid bill to Knew Health. They would check it for errors and work to lower it. She would pay her IUA, and Knew Health would send her a check for the rest.

An IUA doesn’t reset every calendar year. It resets for a condition only after you’ve been symptom-free for a year. Danielle said surgery in December and more surgery for the same problem in January would not need a second IUA.

Paid your IUA for a new condition? Danielle said medication for it can be reimbursed for up to a year. That’s true no matter how you get the medication, including a compounding pharmacy.

What if you want to work with a functional medicine doctor for a new illness? Danielle said insurance typically wouldn’t pay for that, and neither would most other health shares.

With Knew Health, you fill out a form that explains the treatment and what it costs. They might ask for doctor’s notes, and they decide case by case. If it’s approved, you pay your IUA and Knew Health shares beyond that.

Knew Health pre-existing conditions, including Hashimoto’s

Knew Health looks back two years. Were you diagnosed, treated, having symptoms, or taking medication for something in that time? Then it’s pre-existing.

If you have Hashimoto’s or another thyroid condition, that includes you.

Sharing for a pre-existing condition phases in over time:

• Year one: not shareable
• Year two: up to $25,000
• Year three: up to $50,000
• Year four and beyond: up to $125,000 a year

Maintenance medications are never shared. That includes thyroid medication. Danielle pointed Members to GoodRx and SingleCare. Those websites have coupons for pharmacies near you.

Testing has its own rules. Take allergies. Danielle said testing and treatment become eligible in year two, up to $2,500 per need.

Those tests have to be ordered by a traditional MD. Testing ordered by a functional medicine or integrative doctor is not shareable.

Knew Health makes three exceptions: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Danielle said they don’t count as pre-existing if diet or medication keeps them under control. You also can’t have been hospitalized for them in the last year.

Thyroid conditions are not one of the exceptions. Danielle said Knew Health has many Members with autoimmune and thyroid conditions. She also said they tend to draw in healthier people who want peace of mind for something large.

When I was comparing companies, I wanted to look at every single detail and every single data point. After calculating everything, we were definitely saving money by making the switch. That was true even knowing nothing for Hashimoto’s would be shareable for at least the first year.

Your family’s math may look different. (If cost is part of what you’re weighing, I also shared affordable steps to help Hashimoto’s.)

Membership ends when you turn 65. Danielle said it can be an in-between option for people who are retiring before they can get Medicare.

Knew Health is not available to residents of Vermont, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, or Maryland. It’s also not available to people with Medicaid or state insurance.

Is Knew Health a fit for your family

Now you know how Medical Cost Sharing works, what an IUA is, and where pre-existing conditions fit. The next step is your own math, not mine.

Danielle said you can always call Knew Health with questions. Every person I talked to there was easy to talk to.

The lowest-stakes next step is seeing your own price.

Go to Knew Health and click Show Me My Savings to see your monthly price for each IUA option. If you decide to enroll, use code HWH20 for 20% off your first year.

Knew Health is not health insurance. It is a Medical Cost Sharing Community. Medical Cost Sharing does not legally bind the Community to share in expenses, and there is no contractual guarantee.

A Knew Health membership does not satisfy any federal or state requirement for health insurance, and members may face a tax penalty in select states.

Conditions that exist before a Knew Health membership is active are subject to limitations in the first year of membership and then follow a phase-in period after that. See the Knew Health Member Guidelines under “Pre-existing condition phase-in period” for details.

Knew Health is not available to residents of Vermont, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, or Maryland, to individuals aged 65 or older, or to individuals with Medicaid or state insurance.