To make Healthcare Sharing convenient and efficient, Solidarity HealthShare deploys a software platform called a Virtual Share Exchange (“VSE”). The VSE enables all Solidarity Members to participate in the Healthcare Sharing process electronically, as well as to monitor the transactional activities of their individual share accounts and the community at large. Your Solidarity Membership requires that you activate your own Share Account and enable the Virtual Share Exchange to administer the sharing process on your behalf. By activating your Share Account and accepting the Virtual Share Exchange “Terms and Conditions” and Disclosures, you have given Solidarity HealthShare and its Service Agents express permission to conduct financial transactions, necessary for the administration of the program, on your behalf.
What is a Share Account?
To participate in the Solidarity HealthShare Community, all Members must activate a Share Account on the Virtual Share Exchange Platform. Your Share Account is a virtual account and all deposited funds are received by Bell Bank who holds them “For the Benefit of Solidarity HealthShare Members”. The Share Account will display your account balances, sharing transaction history and other relevant information, and includes your own dashboard management tools. The money in your Share Account is insured and is fully controlled by you.
To activate your Share Account, you will be required to provide the necessary personal information to comply with US Banking Regulations. Once your information is submitted and verified, you will be required to link your Share Account to one of your External Accounts such as a bank account or credit card account. Each month, you will fund your Share Account with an EFT (electronic funds transfer) from your External Account.
What is a Monthly Share Notice?
Solidarity Members will receive a Monthly Share Notice through the VSE Platform to inform them and remind them of the monthly amount that they are to contribute. The monthly amount that you are to contribute (your Monthly Contribution) is based on the Solidarity Program that you have selected.
The amount specified in your Monthly Share Notice is transferred through an EFT drawn off your bank account or credit card that was linked to your Share Account. EFTs are always for the “Total Share Amount Due.” The “Total Share Amount Due” is displayed on every Monthly Share Notice and it will include the current Monthly Share Amount, any Past Due Amounts, and any relevant Service Fees.
The Total Share Amount Due may be paid manually within the VSE Platform or through Recurring EFTs that you configure within the system. You will have the ability to add, edit and delete your Recurring EFTs, as well as your linked External Account at any time.
How is my account managed?
Your Share Account is a financial account that you own and control. You will have the ability to add, edit and delete your Recurring EFT settings, as well as your linked External Account at any time. Additionally, we will share your name and amount of your medical bills with members who are assisting with the sharing of your medical bill. If you would like to opt-out of Sharable providing this information to members who share your medical bill, you may do so under the ‘Sharing’ tab in your Member Care Portal. We will also share your name and city and state of residency with those members whose bills you assist in sharing for transparency and regulatory compliance.
How does Publishing & Sharing work?
Participation in the Solidarity Sharing Community is voluntary. This means that when you are selected to participate in a sharing event, if you object to that particular sharing event for any reason, you may withdraw and terminate your membership during the three-day publishing period (described below) rather than participate in that sharing event.
Medical Bills that are eligible for sharing are matched, allocated, and published to the Membership prior to sharing. To be compliant with regulations and safe harbor statutes, Solidarity HealthShare implements a member-to-member or peer-to-peer (P2P) approach to sharing, which means that members share funds directly with one another, rather than drawing funds from a pool.
Your medical bills will be submitted to Solidarity by your Medical Providers. Solidarity will process all bills for eligibility per the Guidelines. Eligible bills are then submitted into the Virtual Share Exchange for sharing. Amounts Approved for Sharing are allocated to your fellow members who have been matched to contribute and share their funds towards the payment of your bill.
Members who have been matched to share your bill will be notified through a process called “publishing” as to the amount that will be withdrawn from their Share Account for the payment of your bill. They will also be notified as to your Household Name as the recipient of their funds unless you choose the anonymous setting in the My Sharing Permissions. Once the three-day publishing period has ended, the amount published to each member is transferred to your Virtual Bill Account for the payment of your bill on your behalf. Members who have been matched and allocated to share in another Member’s medical bill may withdraw from membership prior to the expiration of the three-day Publishing Period in which case none of their funds will be transferred to the receiving member. Should a member choose to withdraw from membership, any bill amount that has been allocated to them for sharing will be matched and allocated to another member.
Because a member may choose NOT to share in a medical expense by withdrawing from membership, for any reason or no reason, the sharing process remains entirely voluntary for every member. However, membership withdrawal would need to be initiated before the end of the three-day Publishing Period.
What Are Virtual Bill Accounts?
If you have an eligible medical bill that has been approved for sharing, the VSE will create a Virtual Bill Account for the collection of shared funds and facilitate the payment of that bill on your behalf. Virtual Bill Accounts are unique to a specific medical bill and are always linked to your Share Account. Each Virtual Bill Account is also unique to a Member of your Household, a Medical Provider, and a specific bill. Amounts collected in your Virtual Bill Account(s) are restricted and are displayed as a single line item transaction in your Share Account.
How do Provider Payments work?
Virtual Bill Accounts remain open until the Amount Approved for Sharing has been fully collected and transferred to your Medical Provider on your behalf as payment for your bill. While Virtual Bill Accounts are aggregated in the transactional view of your Share Account, these funds are restricted and cannot be withdrawn from your Share Account. Shared funds are restricted and may NOT be withdrawn to ensure the payment of all bills shared by the membership. Once all the allocated funds have been transferred from the Members who were matched to pay your medical bill, those funds are released for payment to your Medical Provider. The transfer of funds out of your Virtual Bill Account will be displayed as a single line item transaction in your Share Account.
What are Distributed Share Balances?
To process and pay medical bills quickly, Solidarity HealthShare implements a practice called Distributed Share Balance. Solidarity is NOT insurance, so we do not collect and hold medical reserves in a centralized bank account. Instead, the Monthly Share Amount is set at a level to build a small balance (or reserve) in every Member’s individual share account. These “Distributed Share Balances” enable Solidarity HealthShare to better manage the ebb and flow of medical usage and medical needs payments.