I had not really heard of it either until I had to start looking for alternative options when my husband left his job - I figured if I didn't know about it lots of other people probably hadnt either :)
Love love that you're using your platform to write about this! We started using CrowdHealth in 2025 and it has been great so far. No interest in giving our money to insurance companies ever again.
same! I feel like insurance is such a scam these days and it's just societal pressure that makes everyone think you have to stay in the system. There are alternatives out there (and more options popping up all the time) so I felt like I should spread the word! Glad to find another person trying to get out of the system lol
Suuuuch a scam. Whenever I see people complain about how their insurance screwed them over after dealing with some injury or whatever I try to tell them about CrowdHealth. Not that it helps with the frustration of that, but they should know there's an alternative and they aren't prisoners to insurance!
My husband had to get an Rx recently and it was quite expensive then he told the pharmacist he was self pay and they “found a coupon” and it ended up being like $3. But more detail from CrowdHealth site: Prescriptions related to a specific health event that occurs while you are a Member are eligible for funding by the Community for up to 12 consecutive months. Prescriptions lasting longer than 12 months are not eligible for crowdfunding, but regardless of the timeline, you have access to our pharmacy discount partner, which can reduce your prescription costs by 50-60%.
We also use CrowdHealth and have loved it so far. We are about 1.5 years in and thankfully have not had a “health event” over the $500 threshold. We save thousands a year on healthcare. They also offer discounts if you pass certain wellness tests.
Awesome! You're the first person I've found that also uses it but we have loved it so far. My ER visit (it was my first time ever in my 42 years I had to go to the ER lol) was unexpected but it was SO smooth! It made me feel really comfortable that we made the right choice for how much we can save on healthcare with this program.
this makes so much sense, kristen! i'm curious -- did you explore other avenues outside of crowdfunding? are there other models out there that were interesting to you? thank you so much for sharing!
Yes we looked at a variety of options - traditional insurance, crowdfunding, health share plans (Christian and secular). I looked at a few options in each category and in the end was leaning towards one of the shares but then did a search for real people reviews and found lots of people complaining about the same things I would complain about with our old insurance - fighting to get approvals, chasing paperwork, chasing follow ups, and even once approved it took months and months for reimbursement. Once I saw that and compared to reviews for CrowdHealth (where everyone spoke about how easy the app was and how they got paid back in as little as a day but never more than a couple weeks) that influenced our decision. Along with how little we pay per month! We can use the premium savings to put in an acct if we have have expenses that aren’t covered for some reason.
it is absolutely sad and frustrating. I also don’t think it will magically get ‘fixed’ so I’ve got to work on finding my own alternatives that work for my family.
Fascinating round-up, thank you for doing it! We're in NJ so probably not a direct option to us, but I agree it's so important to question our assumptions around what we need and how we operate as a society. I'm doing my own healthcare insurance research for next year so wish me luck!
Good luck!! There were a lot more options out there than I thought outside of traditional insurance so maybe other things exist in NJ just not this one? I hope you find something that works for you!! And if it’s not this year then keep questioning the system in future years lol
I used CrowdHealth for the 18 months before I was eligible for Medicare. This article is accurate. I highly recommend CrowdHealth.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and verifying what I said was accurate - so far I have loved it!
I've never heard of this before. Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experience.
I had not really heard of it either until I had to start looking for alternative options when my husband left his job - I figured if I didn't know about it lots of other people probably hadnt either :)
Love love that you're using your platform to write about this! We started using CrowdHealth in 2025 and it has been great so far. No interest in giving our money to insurance companies ever again.
same! I feel like insurance is such a scam these days and it's just societal pressure that makes everyone think you have to stay in the system. There are alternatives out there (and more options popping up all the time) so I felt like I should spread the word! Glad to find another person trying to get out of the system lol
Suuuuch a scam. Whenever I see people complain about how their insurance screwed them over after dealing with some injury or whatever I try to tell them about CrowdHealth. Not that it helps with the frustration of that, but they should know there's an alternative and they aren't prisoners to insurance!
I definitely felt like a prisoner before I knew what else was out there!
This is great information! Are prescriptions expected to be paid completely out of pocket?
My husband had to get an Rx recently and it was quite expensive then he told the pharmacist he was self pay and they “found a coupon” and it ended up being like $3. But more detail from CrowdHealth site: Prescriptions related to a specific health event that occurs while you are a Member are eligible for funding by the Community for up to 12 consecutive months. Prescriptions lasting longer than 12 months are not eligible for crowdfunding, but regardless of the timeline, you have access to our pharmacy discount partner, which can reduce your prescription costs by 50-60%.
We also use CrowdHealth and have loved it so far. We are about 1.5 years in and thankfully have not had a “health event” over the $500 threshold. We save thousands a year on healthcare. They also offer discounts if you pass certain wellness tests.
Awesome! You're the first person I've found that also uses it but we have loved it so far. My ER visit (it was my first time ever in my 42 years I had to go to the ER lol) was unexpected but it was SO smooth! It made me feel really comfortable that we made the right choice for how much we can save on healthcare with this program.
this makes so much sense, kristen! i'm curious -- did you explore other avenues outside of crowdfunding? are there other models out there that were interesting to you? thank you so much for sharing!
Yes we looked at a variety of options - traditional insurance, crowdfunding, health share plans (Christian and secular). I looked at a few options in each category and in the end was leaning towards one of the shares but then did a search for real people reviews and found lots of people complaining about the same things I would complain about with our old insurance - fighting to get approvals, chasing paperwork, chasing follow ups, and even once approved it took months and months for reimbursement. Once I saw that and compared to reviews for CrowdHealth (where everyone spoke about how easy the app was and how they got paid back in as little as a day but never more than a couple weeks) that influenced our decision. Along with how little we pay per month! We can use the premium savings to put in an acct if we have have expenses that aren’t covered for some reason.
That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing. Hadn’t heard about crowdfunding prior to that.
It’s so sad and frustrating, but it’s never made more sense to make this choice for so many of us. :/
it is absolutely sad and frustrating. I also don’t think it will magically get ‘fixed’ so I’ve got to work on finding my own alternatives that work for my family.
Fascinating round-up, thank you for doing it! We're in NJ so probably not a direct option to us, but I agree it's so important to question our assumptions around what we need and how we operate as a society. I'm doing my own healthcare insurance research for next year so wish me luck!
Good luck!! There were a lot more options out there than I thought outside of traditional insurance so maybe other things exist in NJ just not this one? I hope you find something that works for you!! And if it’s not this year then keep questioning the system in future years lol