If you're self-employed, not religious, and tired of staring at $600+/month ACA premiums for a plan you barely use, here's the plain answer: a few health sharing plans drop the faith requirement entirely and fit freelancers well. The balanced pick for most people is Zion HealthShare at $114–$320/mo for an individual. If you want a plan built around the self-employed specifically, Sedera is the one people in that world keep recommending.

But before you sign anything, you need to understand what you're actually buying — because it's not insurance, and the tax story isn't what you might hope.

Why two groups get squeezed at once

Most health sharing programs were built by and for Christians. You sign a statement of faith, you agree to a lifestyle pledge, and that's the price of admission. If you're secular, that's a non-starter — you're not going to sign a religious commitment to save money on a healthcare bill.

Then there's the self-employed problem. When you don't have an employer footing part of the premium, the full cost of an ACA plan lands on you. For a healthy 35-year-old, that can mean paying $7,000+ a year for a high-deductible plan you might use twice. Freelancers, consultants, gig workers, and solo founders feel this more than anyone. KFF's research on self-employed coverage confirms that unsubsidized marketplace premiums are one of the heaviest healthcare cost burdens for this group — which is exactly why alternative models like health sharing attract self-employed people who earn above the subsidy threshold.

Put those two together — non-religious AND self-employed — and you're in a small, underserved overlap. The good news: the plans built for that overlap are some of the best-run in the space.

Why health sharing fits the self-employed

The math is the obvious draw. Instead of a fixed premium set by your age and zip code, you pay a monthly share — often $99 to $320 for an individual — and choose your own out-of-pocket level (the IUA, or Initial Unshareable Amount, basically a per-incident deductible). Higher IUA, lower monthly cost. You get to dial in the tradeoff yourself, which is exactly what a self-employed person managing irregular income wants.

A second draw is HSA-compatibility, but read this carefully. Some plans (Zion and Knew Health among them) are structured to pair with a Health Savings Account, which lets you set aside pre-tax dollars for medical costs. That HSA benefit is a feature of the account, not of the sharing membership itself. IRS Publication 969 lays out the rules: you need coverage that qualifies as a High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) equivalent to open and contribute to an HSA, and not every health sharing plan meets that threshold — Zion does; most others don't.

So the honest pitch is: lower monthly cost, flexible structure, and the option to run an HSA alongside the right plan — not a tax loophole and not guaranteed coverage.

The secular options for the self-employed

Here are the four plans worth your time if you've ruled out faith-based programs. All four skip the statement of faith.

A few notes on each:

Zion HealthShare is the one I point most people to first. It's been around since 2019, has 75,000+ members, no sharing cap, and IUA options from $1,250 to $5,000 so you can tune the monthly cost. It's HSA-compatible, and — unusually — it shares costs for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes from month one, with other pre-existing conditions phasing in over time. For a self-employed person who isn't 25 and invincible, that pre-existing handling matters a lot. It carries a 4.8/5 rating.

Sedera is the name that comes up over and over in self-employed and small-business circles. It's secular, IUA-based, and pricing is quote-only (starting around $153/mo), so you'll need to run a quote to see your real number. If your situation is "I run a small business and want something built for people like me," Sedera is worth a direct look.

Knew Health leans into whole-health and preventive care, runs around $142/mo, and is HSA-compatible. Good fit if you value the wellness/prevention angle over bare-bones cost-cutting.

CrowdHealth is the budget play at roughly $60–$200/mo. The catch is a per-event cap of about $500 on what the community covers — which is fine if you're young and healthy and mostly want catastrophic backup, but a real limitation if you expect to actually use it. Read the cap before you commit.

How to actually choose

Start with one honest question: how healthy are you, really, and how much risk can you absorb?

If you're young, healthy, and mostly want a safety net for a freak accident, CrowdHealth gives you the lowest monthly number — just go in clear-eyed about that per-event cap.

If you want a plan that behaves more like real coverage, handles pre-existing conditions reasonably, and won't surprise you with a low cap, Zion is the balanced pick and the one I'd default to for most self-employed people. It's the rare option that's cheap enough to matter without feeling threadbare.

If your identity is wrapped up in running a small business and you want a community built around that, look hard at Sedera and get a quote.

And if preventive, whole-health care is your priority, Knew Health is built for that.

Run the numbers before you commit

The best plan on paper isn't always the best plan for your body and your budget. Pull a real quote (especially for Sedera, which is quote-only), check the IUA levels, and read the sharing guidelines line by line — particularly the pre-existing and cap sections.

If you want to see these head-to-head, here's a side-by-side comparison of the secular options, and our 2-minute advisor will narrow it to a shortlist based on your age, health, and budget. For the deeper version of this topic, see our related guide to the best secular health sharing plans.

The short version: you're not stuck choosing between a faith pledge and a $7,000 ACA bill. There's a secular middle path built for people exactly like you — you just have to read the fine print first.