Your questions answered.

There are many reasons that Knew Health provides peace of mind in Members’ healthcare journeys. Spending less on healthcare is at the top of the list. The simplicity that comes with the Initial Unshareable Amount (IUA) model helps make healthcare costs more transparent. Having the freedom to see any provider they choose, especially when the unexpected in life happens, is something that is found nowhere else in healthcare. 

Knew Health is a community of thousands of individuals and families who benefit from the power of sharing in one another’s medical burdens. Our Care Team works with Members to negotiate and attain fair pricing for medical services. As direct and self-pay (link self-pay blog) patients, our members experience bill reduction of 50%+ on average. 

Our community is there to support fellow Members when they need it the most, and that is why there are no sharing caps or limits on how much is available to share for larger medical expenses(link to “how knew health manages larger medical expenses).

We will use several methods to help our members attain fair costs for healthcare services. 

• Request self-pay: Our members always present as self-pay and request any discounts that are available
• Prompt pay: We ask our members to facilitate payment directly to the provider as quickly as possible to ensure any prompt payment discounts are applied.
• Negotiation: Our thorough negotiation process can often lower bills that are not paid in advance and are at least $1,000.
• Packaged discounts: For services like recovery care, maternity, or surgical needs offering to pay for services in advance as a package to reduce bills significantly. We encourage and help members to ask the right questions to see if this option is available.
  

While there are requirements for health insurance, the tax penalty for not having health insurance is no longer enforced on the federal level. It is important to note that some states have their own requirements for health insurance. A Knew Health membership does not satisfy any federal or state requirement for health insurance and members may face a tax penalty in select states. 

The initial unshareable amount, or IUA, is the amount a member will pay before the Knew Health Community shares in eligible medical expenses related to a unique Need. The IUA is also known as your personal responsibility that you will pay before sharing can begin for a Need.

Knew Health has three primary levels of personal responsibility: $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000. The lower your personal responsibility (or IUA), the higher your monthly contribution will be.

All qualifying medical expenses submitted after the IUA is met for a Need are shareable with the Knew Health Community. There is no annual or lifetime limit. You will not need to pay the IUA for a single Need again until you are symptom-free for 12 months. Additionally, you will not be responsible for more than three IUAs in a Membership Year.

General wellness services do not require members to meet an IUA first and are immediately shareable without waiting periods.

Member Guidelines (effective 9/1/2025), Surgery Guide, General Wellness Guide

Conditions that exist prior to a Knew Health Membership being active are subject to limitations in the first year of Membership and then follow a phase-in period after that. See the Member Guidelines “Pre-existing condition phase-in period for details.

* If you would like to discuss your personal pre-existing condition sharing options, please contact our Member Care Team

For a pregnancy that begins prior to a Membership Effective date or with an estimated date of delivery that falls within the first year of Membership, pregnancy is treated as a pre-existing condition, and costs are not shared. Maternity Needs with an estimated date of delivery that falls after one year of Membership are shared like any other Need. This includes prenatal care, delivery, postnatal care, and complications.

As long as the medical Need meets the Member Guidelines for sharing, these costs can be shared, no matter where they happen. Please note that non-emergent medical care that occurs abroad is not shareable.

Any Members that have used cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, vape products, smoke cannabis, and pipe tobacco one or more times a month within the past year will be considered tobacco users.