These terms are great ways to explain how CHM works. Feel free to use these in any combination to cater them to your writing/content style. The bolded terms are words that are helpful to include and should be used in their current form:

• Health cost sharing ministry
• Original health cost sharing ministry
• First health cost sharing ministry with independent accreditation
• Medical bills are submitted for sharing
• Eligibility is determined by the CHM Guidelines
• CHM has members, a biblical community of believers
• CHM members give monthly contributions
• CHM operates on a unit system.
• Members are in a covenant, not a contract, with each other.
• CHM members have Personal Responsibility and Qualifying Amounts
• Faith-based healthcare solution
• Programs (CHM Gold, CHM Silver, CHM SeniorShare™, CHM Plus)
• Maternity care solution
• Virtual care solution
• Advantages or perks

Because we aren’t insurance, legally the following terms can’t be used in reference to CHM:

• Christian insurance/business
• Plans
• Claims
• Cover/coverage (can be used when referring to traditional insurance only, see below for more details about these distinctions)
• Clients
• Premium
• Deductible
• Contract
• Benefits
• Other insurance references (unless making an appropriate comparison as defined in the section below)

• As you create content for your audience, you may want to explain the differences between traditional insurance and CHM. This is welcome in these specific situations: Where you are sharing facts about your personal story, AND the distinction between CHM and traditional insurance is made clear. CHM isn’t insurance; it’s a ministry that meets members’ healthcare costs. In every instance a comparison is made, it must be stated that CHM isn’t insurance. This distinction is legally necessary and must be included.  “CHM isn’t insurance: it’s a voluntary health cost sharing ministry, where members share each other’s medical costs.”
• “Though not insurance, CHM shares 100% of qualifying medical bills, more than the typical 70% or 80% of medical bills paid by insurance companies.”
• “With CHM, though it's not insurance, members could save up to 40% on healthcare costs compared to current traditional insurance rates.”
• “Personal Responsibility works somewhat like a deductible, but is different since CHM isn’t insurance, giving you the advantage of…”
• “CHM shares 100% of qualifying medical bills, unlike some insurance plans that may only cover 80% or 70%...”
• “CHM is an affordable, faith-based alternative to health insurance.”

CHM cannot be presented as insurance in any way, nor have any information that may mislead prospective members to believe CHM is insurance. For instance, these phrases are unable to be used:

• CHM is Christian insurance. [CHM is not insurance.]
• CHM acts like a Christian insurance. [CHM does not act like insurance.]
• CHM is better than insurance—it’s biblical! [It’s not listed here that CHM is not insurance.]

As you think about creating content that reflects both your brand and CHM’s ministry, there might be in-depth topics you’d like to address. If one of those topics isn’t found on this page, please reach out. We’re happy to help you create content that supports your story and creativity!

We know that you want to be authentic with your audience, and we want to support you in that effort. That’s why it’s vital that readers, viewers, or listeners to a CHM message not be given the unintentional impression that CHM operates like insurance. Framing CHM as insurance (or a type of insurance in any way) could cause distrust in your audience and their perceptions of your content. CHM is not, and will never be, health insurance, and cannot be referred to as such. In that vein, insurance terms (deductible, benefit, premium, etc.) should never be used to describe CHM’s services to members.

Due to the context-specific nature of pre-existing conditions, we encourage you to refrain from going in-depth about how pre-existing conditions can be shared. Instead, please encourage your audience to reach out to us with these types of questions. With that in mind, here is some general information you can share:

CHM has two options to share maintained pre-existing conditions: Gold Schedule and Prayer Page. For detailed information regarding pre-existing conditions, as well as the definition of maintained vs. active conditions, please reach out to CHM. You can also check out the CHM Guidelines for more information.