MPB Health vs. CrowdHealth: How the plans compare

CrowdHealth tends to get grouped with health sharing plans, but it’s built on different mechanics entirely — medical crowdfunding rather than a pooled sharing model. MPB Health, offered via Smart Share, runs on the more traditional health-sharing structure. Here’s how the two compare once you look past the surface-level similarity of “pay monthly, get medical costs covered.”

Quick Comparison

	MPB Health	CrowdHealth
Faith requirement	No statement of faith required	No statement of faith required
Core model	Health sharing (pooled contributions)	Medical crowdfunding (member-to-member funding requests)
Deductible-equivalent term	IUA (Initial Unshareable Amount), per incident	Member Commitment, per Health Event
Typical monthly cost	$166–$295 individual, $445–$762 family of four	~$140/mo individual under 55 ($60 advocacy fee + variable crowdfunding, capped); ~$280/mo ages 55–64
Pre-existing condition wait	Not shared for 12 months; phased caps starting year 2	Not eligible for 2 years; roughly $25K/year starting year 3
Provider network	No network requirement	No network requirement
Funding guarantee	Sharing pool with published guidelines	Individual funding requests matched member-to-member; funded voluntarily
MEC & HSA compatibility	Available with specific plans	Not offered
Founded	2014	2021
State restrictions	Varies by plan and state mandates	Not available in VT, CA, MA, NJ, RI, or DC

No Faith Requirement on Either Side

Unlike Medi-Share, neither MPB Health nor CrowdHealth requires a statement of faith or religious affiliation. If avoiding a religious membership test is your main priority, both clear that bar — the real differences between them are structural and financial rather than religious. See our guide to non-religious alternatives if you’re comparing a wider set of options.

Cost Structure: IUA vs. Member Commitment

This is where the two models diverge.

MPB Health’s Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) is tied to a medical incident — you pay it once per qualifying event, regardless of how many services or how much time that incident’s treatment spans, and you’re limited to paying at most three IUAs in a rolling 12-month period. You choose an IUA at member sign up ranging from $500 to $5000. Beyond that amount, the health share pools member contributions and shares eligible costs according to published guidelines. Pricing for plans run roughly $166–$295/month for individuals and $445–$762/month for a family of four, depending on plan tier, IUA, household size, and age.

CrowdHealth works differently. Members pay a flat $60/month advocacy fee for access to the platform and a Personal Care Advocate team, plus a variable monthly crowdfunding contribution — capped at $140/month for adults under 55 and $280/month for ages 55–64. When you have a medical need, you pay a Member Commitment (currently as low as $500) per Health Event, then submit your bills, and CrowdHealth facilitates a funding request that’s matched to other members rather than drawn from a shared risk pool. In practice, a typical individual under 55 pays around $140/month all-in, and a family of four pays roughly $240/month at the lower end.

The core distinction: MPB Health pools contributions the way a traditional health share does, while CrowdHealth structures each medical need as its own individual crowdfunding request, matched member-to-member rather than paid from pooled funds.

Pre-Existing Conditions

Both organizations restrict pre-existing conditions significantly compared to ACA-compliant insurance, but on different timelines. MPB Health doesn’t share costs related to pre-existing conditions during the first 12 months, then phases in coverage starting in year two — up to a $25,000 cap, increasing to $50,000 in year three, and either uncapped or capped at $125,000 in year four depending on the plan, becoming fully uncapped in year five.

CrowdHealth is stricter in the early years: pre-existing condition costs aren’t eligible for crowdfunding at all during the first two years of membership, with funding becoming available starting in year three, up to roughly $25,000 per year based on CrowdHealth’s published guidelines. If you have an ongoing or chronic condition, CrowdHealth’s longer initial exclusion window is worth weighing carefully against MPB Health’s earlier, though still capped, phase-in. See our waiting periods and pre-existing conditions guide for the underlying concepts both models build on.

Network Access

Neither MPB Health nor CrowdHealth requires members to use a specific provider network. CrowdHealth emphasizes paying the cash price directly at the point of care, with its Personal Care Advocate team available to negotiate rates on planned procedures ahead of time or on emergency bills after the fact. Similarly, you will be a cash payer with MPB Health and they provide a Concierge team to help you find providers with the best rates.

Services

CrowdHealth focuses solely on medical cost sharing for large expenses such as an ER visit. MPB Health plans provide additional services on top of medical cost sharing. The base plan, reflected in the pricing above, also provides virtual care, mental health, maternity care, and pet telehealth. Upper tier plans allow you to add Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) preventive services, prescription benefits, and HSA availability.

Funding Guarantee and Track Record

This is arguably the most important difference. MPB Health follows the more traditional health-sharing model — a pool of member contributions shared according to published guidelines, a structure that’s been tested across the health sharing industry for decades. CrowdHealth’s crowdfunding model has publicized a high percentage of bills successfully funded, but the organization was founded in 2021 and has a considerably smaller and newer membership base than most established health sharing ministries. Neither structure carries a legal payment guarantee — that’s true of health sharing generally — but CrowdHealth’s shorter operating history is worth factoring in since it hasn’t yet been tested across a full economic cycle or a large-scale surge in claims the way longer-running organizations have.

MEC & HSA Eligibility

MPB Health offers plans that combine health sharing with Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) and HSA eligibility, plus a standalone MEC and HSA add-on that can be layered alongside other health share or crowdfunding memberships, including CrowdHealth. CrowdHealth itself doesn’t offer an equivalent built-in MEC or HSA option. If HSA eligibility matters to you but you’re drawn to CrowdHealth’s cost structure, pairing CrowdHealth with MPB Health’s standalone MEC add-on is one way to get both. See our full MEC + HSA eligibility guide for how that works.

Who Tends to Fit Each Plan

CrowdHealth tends to fit younger, generally healthy individuals comfortable with a newer organization and a crowdfunding structure rather than a traditional sharing pool, who want the lowest possible cost floor and don’t need virtual care, MEC, or HSA eligibility built in.

MPB Health tends to fit people who are comfortable with the somewhat higher cost floor in exchange for a more established health sharing pool structure, longer track record, and the option for additional services on top of just medical cost sharing.

Bottom Line

MPB Health and CrowdHealth both skip the religious requirement that defines plans like Medi-Share, but they solve the underlying problem differently: MPB Health pools contributions in the traditional health-sharing model, while CrowdHealth facilitates individual crowdfunding requests between members. Cost, pre-existing condition timelines, and organizational track record all differ meaningfully between the two. As with any health share or crowdfunding option, read the actual membership guidelines and research the organization’s history of successfully funding member requests before deciding — this matters more here than the monthly price alone.