No personal experience, I've just heard anecdotal stories about how they work. It sounds basically like a collective of people that agree to share each others medical expenses. The one I specifically heard of only covers bigger ticket items, not the small stuff. The members go and get treatment as if they are not insured, and agree to pay the hospital/providers. If there is a need like an accident, cancer, heat attack, childbirth, etc. that's above a certain amount, it gets submitted to the collective for payment. Each month the collective divides the total amount due by the number of members to determine each member's cost for the month. The monthly cost varies depending on collective need. The collective then pays the portion of the bills it covers directly to the affected family, and the family then pays their providers.
If the collective has a large number of participants that live healthy lifestyles it could be a beneficial arrangement. If the collective grows smaller or becomes populated by a large number of residents located around a future superfund site it could become a financially catastrophic agreement. There are time commitments involved to safeguard against opting in to get bills paid and then opting out.
Medical insurance for my family cost about 1/2 of what the O.P. is paying to still have significant out-of-pocket deductibles, copays, and co-insurance for care. But, it does at least offer a published cap on our annual out-of-pocket medical cost. Anything over the annual cap the insurer covers 100%. I don't think a medshare can promise me an annual maximum in medical expenses for my family.
