Investigation Finds Liberty HealthShare Paid at Least $140 Million to Businesses Owned by Beers Family Members and Friends

Bonnie Martin kept her illness secret for as long as she could. Her sisters, boyfriend and sons knew nothing of it until October 2018, when she began hemorrhaging during a family gathering at a diner in Annapolis, Maryland. A tumor had burst through the wall of her uterus. Doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy and removed what cancer they could reach, and she needed multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.

Martin had enrolled with Liberty HealthShare, which the source describes as a health care sharing ministry, a nonprofit alternative to medical insurance rooted in Christian principles. Such organizations are relied on by hundreds of thousands of people for basic health coverage, and they promise no red tape, lower costs and compassion for the sick. Although Martin was not religious, she found comfort in Liberty’s pledge to “carry one another’s burdens.”

Martin’s cancer went into remission after treatment, but returned 18 months later, this time in her lungs. Liberty covered her bills at first, but then payments stopped without warning or explanation, leaving her facing $10,000 in unpaid charges. Creditors called constantly and sent harassing letters. Martin spent hours pleading with Liberty by phone, and she forwarded overdue notices to the organization, writing on one, “WHY HAS THIS NOT BEEN PAID?” In emails shared with ProPublica, she wrote, “I am asking for your help and compassion.”

Martin died in July 2022 at age 63. According to the source, Liberty never settled the bills she had asked the organization to pay.

ProPublica reports that the Beers family of Canton, Ohio, has been connected to Liberty’s finances. Based on leaked internal documents, land records, court files and interviews, the investigation describes a family that has used Christian faith to sell health coverage to more than a hundred thousand people, with members accused of causing pain, debt and financial ruin. Patriarch Daniel J. Beers, 60, was described by court records as a leading figure in a 1990s scheme involving a health care sharing ministry that fraudulently siphoned tens of millions of dollars from members. Several current and former Liberty employees told ProPublica that Beers played a key role in building Liberty into one of the nation’s largest sharing ministries.

The source reports that Liberty, which enrolled members in almost every state after its 2014 launch, collected $300 million in annual revenue at one point. The investigation found that Liberty paid at least $140 million over seven years to businesses owned and operated by Beers family members and friends. The family then funneled money through shell companies to buy a private airline in Ohio, more than $20 million in real estate and other businesses, including an Oregon winery later turned into a marijuana farm. Beers has not been listed as a Liberty executive or board member, and records show none of the family’s 50-plus companies or assets are in his name.

The Ohio attorney general has twice investigated Beers for activities that financial crimes investigators called probable felonies, but the office settled for civil fines, most recently in 2021, and required Liberty to sever ties with some Beers family members. The IRS has pursued individual family members over underreported income and unpaid million-dollar tax bills, though the source states there is no indication the IRS has investigated how the family amassed its wealth through the nonprofit.

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