While there is little data detailing how many people are replacing health insurance with their own arrangements, data on healthcare-sharing ministries and direct primary care offices show those arrangements are growing in popularity.
Enrollment in religion-based healthcare cost-sharing plans grew 74 percent from 2014 to 2016, according to Internal Revenue Service data cited by the Santa Fe New Mexican. An alliance for the cost-sharing plans said more than 1 million Americans participate in religion-based healthcare cost-sharing plans.
Direct primary care clinics, which often do not accept insurance but charge patients a monthly fee for unlimited physician visits, are also on the rise. In the early 2000s, the Direct Primary Care Coalition trade group said there were only a handful of these types of direct care clinics. Today, there are nearly 900, according to the report.
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