Dr. Tyna Moore · 2026-06-15 · Tyna Moore (host), Danielle Drori
The Truth About Health Insurance From a Doctor Who Rejected It | Knew Health
10 research-tied claims examined: 1 contradicted 1 overstated 1 context 4 supported 3 corroborated online
4 Supported by research
Doctors and hospitals are legally required to provide a price quote or good faith estimate for surgery or medical procedures ahead of time upon request.
"If you ever need a surgery ahead of time, you can also ask your doctor and hospital for a quote and they legally have to provide it to you" (said at 0:22:01)
The claim is supported by US federal healthcare regulations. Under the No Surprises Act (effective January 1, 2022), healthcare providers and facilities are legally required to provide a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of expected medical charges before scheduled non-emergency care or upon request for uninsured and self-pay individuals, as well as obtain explicit financial consent regarding expected charges for out-of-network non-emergency services.
Health sharing arrangements have existed for over 40 years and the majority are religious-based organizations requiring a statement of faith.
"The concept's been around, I would say for over 40 plus years, but it has always been very popular with a lot of religious communities. So, I know you mentioned that a little bit earlier. Most other health shares are religious based. So, a lot of them will have to take like an oath of Christianity, for example" (said at 0:11:44)
Health care sharing ministries (HCSMs) trace their modern origins to the early 1980s (e.g., Christian Healthcare Ministries/Christian Brotherhood Newsletter, founded in 1981), operating for over 40 years. Published policy and socio-legal analyses confirm that these arrangements are predominantly faith-based non-profit organizations where members share common religious beliefs and are generally required to adhere to specific moral and religious tenets, such as a Christian statement of faith or church attendance.
The federal individual mandate penalty requiring Americans to hold health insurance was eliminated under the first Trump administration in 2017.
"Well, aren't we legally obligated to have health insurance? Isn't that a federal law? And I did some digging and realized that it is not anymore. It was overturned by the in the first Trump administration. I think it was like 2017 or 2018. That's no longer a requirement" (said at 0:57:00)
The claim is accurate. In December 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law under the first Trump administration, which reduced the Affordable Care Act's shared responsibility payment (the tax penalty for individuals failing to maintain qualifying health insurance coverage) to $0 (effective beginning in 2019), effectively eliminating the federal financial requirement to hold health insurance.
Only five US jurisdictions (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C.) enforce an individual health insurance mandate with a tax penalty.
"There's only five states that do mandate health insurance. So, there's New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and DC. So, those are the states that will mandate it, which means that you will have a tax penalty based on your income" (said at 0:57:24)
Following the reduction of the federal Affordable Care Act individual mandate penalty to $0 in 2019, exactly four states (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia enacted and enforce state-level individual health insurance mandates backed by income-related tax penalties. While Vermont enacted an individual mandate requirement, it does not enforce a financial tax penalty for noncompliance.
Unverified means no publication matching the claim was located; it does not prove the claim false. Spotted an error? See the corrections policy - disputes from the people quoted are prioritized.