Participation in the America's HealthShare 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, America's 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 may be submitted to America's HealthShare by your Medical Providers. America's HealthShare will process all bills for eligibility per the Sharing 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been matched to share your bill will be notified through a process called “publishing” as to the amount that will be withdrawn from their Share Account for the payment of your bill.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.