The Initial Unshareable Amount

Three levels

The IUA is what you pay toward a medical need before the community shares in the rest. There are three options: $1,250, $2,500 and $5,000. A higher IUA means a lower monthly amount, because you are carrying more of a large event yourself.

Most CoreMed households choose $2,500.

Per need, not per year

This is the part that catches people coming from insurance. The IUA applies per medical need, not per calendar year, and it does not reset every January. Break an ankle in March and have an unrelated surgery in September, and those are two needs.

But the same need does not keep costing you. Once you have paid the IUA for a need, you do not pay another for that need until you have been symptom free for twelve months.

Three in a rolling twelve months, then no more

A household is never responsible for more than three IUAs in a rolling twelve-month period. After the third, further eligible sharing requests over $500 are shared with no IUA at all.

That is the ceiling on a genuinely bad year, and it is worth knowing before you need it.

Changing it

You can change your IUA once per membership year. If you lower it, a 60-day waiting period applies before the lower amount takes effect, except for anything resulting from an accident. Services during that window use your previous IUA.

Maternity is different

Maternity has its own IUA structure rather than using your household one. See the maternity page.

Zion HealthShare is not an insurance company. Neither this publication nor membership in Zion HealthShare are offered by an insurance company. Visit zionhealthshare.org to view your state-specific notice. State-specific notices.