Secular health sharing plans compared

Once you’ve decided you want health sharing without a religious membership requirement, the field narrows fast. Three names come up in almost every comparison: Zion HealthShare, Sedera, and CrowdHealth. A few smaller secular options — Knew Health, ShareWELL, and Impact Health Sharing among them — round out the category, but these three account for most of the non-religious market and are the ones worth understanding in depth.

They’re not interchangeable. Each uses a meaningfully different model, and the “best” one depends heavily on your health history, budget, and how much administrative involvement you want.

Note: pricing and program terms in health sharing change more often than traditional insurance rates. The figures below reflect ranges reported at the time this article was written. Always confirm current terms directly with the provider before enrolling.

The Quick Comparison

	Zion HealthShare	Sedera	CrowdHealth
Structure	Traditional health share (pooled contributions)	Traditional health share (pooled contributions)	Healthcare crowdfunding (not technically health sharing)
Faith requirement	None	None	None
Typical monthly cost (individual)	Roughly $114–$320	Roughly $153–$742	Roughly $60 flat fee + variable contribution, averaging around $140
Pre-existing conditions	Phased in over the first few years; no waiting period on some controlled conditions	Phased in over the first few years	Most restrictive — largely excluded in years one and two, capped for several years after
Annual/lifetime cap	Typically none	Typically none	No fixed cap; funding is community-approved rather than guaranteed
Provider network	Any provider	Any provider	Any provider
Best fit for	Most secular health-sharing shoppers	Employer groups and members who want a more comprehensive, higher-touch plan	Younger, healthy, tech-comfortable members who want the lowest entry cost and don’t have pre-existing conditions

Zion HealthShare

Zion is generally the most-recommended secular option for people coming from a traditional-insurance mindset. It follows the standard health-share model — you choose an Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA), pay a monthly contribution, and eligible expenses are paid from the pooled fund once you hit your IUA. Compared to the other secular options, Zion tends to have the most member-friendly published guidelines: no IUA requirement for preventive visits, relatively fast claims turnaround, and generally lower pricing than Sedera at a comparable IUA level.

The tradeoff worth knowing about: Zion isn’t available in every state and prescription coverage for ongoing/maintenance medications is more limited than what you’d get from traditional insurance.

Sedera

Sedera was originally built with an employer-sponsored access model in mind, though individual membership is available. It tends to run more expensive than Zion at comparable coverage levels, but many members find the tradeoff worthwhile for its more comprehensive published guidelines and flexibility. If you’re specifically comparing plans through an employer or association, Sedera is worth a closer look. If you’re shopping purely as an individual, compare the cost against Zion — the price gap can be significant depending on your age and IUA selection.

CrowdHealth

CrowdHealth is structurally different from the other two, and it’s worth understanding that difference before comparing prices directly. It isn’t a health-sharing ministry — it’s a healthcare crowdfunding platform. You pay a flat monthly advocacy fee plus a variable contribution that funds other members’ approved medical bills, rather than paying into a fixed pooled fund with published sharing guidelines.

That structure is why CrowdHealth tends to have the lowest headline monthly cost, but also the most restrictive pre-existing condition policy in this comparison — expenses tied to a pre-existing condition are typically not fundable at all in the first year or two of membership, with caps that phase in gradually after that. If you’re generally healthy with no ongoing conditions, that tradeoff may not matter much to you. If you have any chronic or pre-existing condition, it’s worth weighing carefully against Zion or Sedera’s more forgiving phase-in schedules.

How to Choose Between Them

A few questions will help you narrow things down:

1. Do you have a pre-existing condition? If yes, Zion’s terms are generally the most forgiving of the three
2. How comfortable are you with a newer, more tech-forward, less traditional structure? CrowdHealth’s crowdfunding model is meaningfully different from how health sharing has traditionally worked. Some people prefer the transparency and lower entry cost. Others prefer the more established, guideline-driven pooled-fund model.
3. What’s your specific situation? Run the numbers for your age, household size, and IUA/contribution preference — the cheapest plan for an individual might not be the cheapest plan for your situation.

Wait, What About MPB Health Plans?

As described in our How It Works page, MPB Health leverages Zion and Sedera to underwrite the medical cost protection portion of their health share plans. They then layer value added services on top such as virtual care, mental health, pet telehealth, and MEC/HSA eligibility. So the above considerations still apply when choosing which MPB Health plan makes the most sense for you (i.e. one based on Zion or Sedera). Our plan comparison tool indicates whether a plan is based on Zion or Sedera, lets you compare plan features, and provides an instant quote for what you will pay based on your needs (e.g. individual vs family, selected IUA amount, etc.).

For the broader context on why the above plans don’t require a religious commitment when so much of the industry does, see our guide to health share plans with no statement of faith. And if you started this research looking at a faith-based plan like Medi-Share or CHM, see how these secular alternatives stack up directly in our non-religious alternatives comparison.