Solidarity President and Co-Founder Chris Faddis visited The BS Show to discuss how healthsharing organizations are becoming more popular as families are looking for more affordable alternatives. Read the transcript or listen below.
Bob Sansevere (00:00):
We are joined by Christopher Faddis, co-founder and president of the Nonprofit Healthcare Sharing Ministry Solidarity HealthShare, which is an ethical, affordable alternative to traditional health insurance and is faithful to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Chris, I’ve been thinking a lot about, because I see a lot about healthcare, not health sharing, healthcare. A lot of people are just disappointed. It’s so darn expensive. You at Solidarity offer a much better financial alternative and people get taken care of too. Because I know you have a lot of people who chart these things and you chart them. Is there a move, do you think that five, 10 years or at some point that health sharing will gain so much in popularity where it becomes an absolute alternative when people are saying, “Well, which one’s going to be better?” Well, this one is going to be better because it’s going to save me money and I’m talking about health sharing.
(00:54):
Are you hearing more from people that also say, “I don’t know why we waited so long?”
Chris Faddis (00:58):
Yeah, I definitely think we’re seeing more. I mean, I think it’s still a very small piece of the population that does their sharing. It’s like under two million depending who you ask out of what, 300 million Americans are more than-
Bob Sansevere (01:12):
Yeah, about 300.
Chris Faddis (01:13):
And so it’s definitely still a smaller number and it will take more and more of the market share, but it’ll take a long time to do that. But I think people are just, they’re fed up. I think there’s been so many promises of fixes and they’ve tried everything and I think a lot of folks are willing to try different things now. I think more and more people are willing to try. In fact, I’m actually a little more nervous, Bob, about the amount of people who are saying, “You know what? I just decided I’m not even going to do it. “
Bob Sansevere (01:41):
That’s a mistake.
Chris Faddis (01:42):
They’re not even participating in health sharing. And that’s concerning because I think as you know, for many reasons, but for people to not have that, whether it’s coverage or sharing is kind of a concerning thing. So I do think that’s something that we’re going to find more and more. I’m hopeful. I think this past year, I think I’ve shared with you we’ve had more growth than we’ve had in probably four or five years. I think we’re hearing from a lot of folks who hadn’t given it a shot before, or maybe they had and went back to insurance and all of a sudden they’re kind of going, “Wait a minute, what am I doing?”
Bob Sansevere (02:15):
Yes. Well, absolutely. And I equate it to this move from traditional healthcare to health sharing. I was extraordinarily reluctant for years and then I said, “You know what? I’m fed up with it. I’m going to use DirecTV as the example.” It just kept going up, bent up, been up where it was a … And I didn’t have much, but it was like 150 bucks and I finally needed that to basically cut it off and say, “I’m going to do other things.” And I did streaming and I also, if you got internet and streaming, you could be fine. There’s also something called a VC box, which will get you a lot of channels. I did keep DirecTV, but I’m under $20 a month, very, very, very, very basic just for when I travel when my daughter goes to some horse shows, we go on the road so I could access it from a trailer.
(03:08):
But other than that, I don’t have any of the other stuff, the bell. I don’t watch any DirecTV at home, but I think people need to get to that point with healthcare and just say, “I’m fed up. It’s enough.” And then they’ll realize how good health sharing is because I know that we talk about this, some new things that you have and you keep adding things, different programs too. I mean, you tailor a lot of programs for people based on their age and also where they are economically to make it worthwhile for them because you’re going with where the market is and that’s good. And I’ve told you for years and you’ve probably had this for, you’re coming up on a 10th anniversary, but at least five years or more, you’ve had a telehealth version, which is, I think, absolutely terrific because you get a doctor on the phone and rather than spending $600 at a doctor’s office, you talk to someone on the phone and there’s no cost if you belong to Solidarity HealthShare.
(04:01):
That, to me, is enormous the savings you get from that. But you have other things like that that you’ve implemented and I’m sure you’ve got more that you’re planning to bring out or in the process of bringing out as we speak, right?
Chris Faddis (04:12):
Yeah, Bob, I think we’re working on, as you know, we rolled out new programs last year for emergency catastrophic needs for folks who just need something like that. We rolled out a program for young people. We’re enhancing what we do for Medicare this year. We’ll be coming out with a whole new Medicare program, which serves as a compliment to Medicare and really takes care of things like your out- of-pocket deductibles, your co-insurance, those kind of things. Those would be shared and as a lower cost that is comparable to what people would be used to paying. And then we still have that Medicare program where you can be a member of our comprehensive program with a discount and get all the services that are available and then just minus whatever Medicare does. So we’ve got a lot of things coming on that front. We’ve talked before about the AI piece.
(05:02):
We’re rolling out a lot of tools, not things to take away the service, but tools that will help members using different technologies and things. So it’s a need that we just have to keep improving. I think as you said before, you get out of the system and you start to learn the health sharing role and you go, wait a minute, why did I ever do this another way?
Bob Sansevere (05:22):
Yeah-
Chris Faddis (05:22):
Especially when you see the cost, especially when you see the headaches that you go through and all of that. And like your family, it’s not always the easiest journey. You sometimes have to deal with a hospital that’s difficult, but we’re there to-
Bob Sansevere (05:34):
Yes!
Chris Faddis (05:35):
Help you
Bob Sansevere (05:35):
And we are-
Chris Faddis (05:37):
Work through it.
Bob Sansevere (05:38):
And you guys did a great job with that because Allina Health is not an easy group to deal with, but you have a third party that you use or have used and it streamlined it and made it a lot easier to deal with. Now, I’m going to make a guess because I don’t know this, but I’m guessing that you have people, when I say young people, maybe in their 20s, 30s, 40s who are more agreeable to making a move than people who are older, just because people who are older get stuck in a mindset, or am I wrong? I mean, for people that are trying health sharing, younger people I think are more inclined to say, “You know what? This is a much better alternative” where older people are sort of stuck in the mindset that I was with DirecTV.
Chris Faddis (06:18):
Well, you get some of that, but I will say we get a lot of folks, especially as they’re nearing retirement, who realize that this is one area they can save money and put more towards retirement and those kind of things. So we do get a lot of folks, it’s kind of that middle range between 30s and 40s, mid 30s to mid 50s is kind of the area where we get the most new people. I think that with this young person’s program we launched, we’re hoping to bring on more young people because a lot of folks in their 20s just don’t want to pay for healthcare at all. So we put together a program that we think is going to be low utilization but very affordable and gives them access to the telehealth, gives them access to prescriptions, which is really what they’re going to use.
(06:58):
(Absolutely.) And at least gets them in the mindset of using healthcare sharing instead of insurance. And then as they grow and have a family and those things, they can move up to the other programs.
Bob Sansevere (07:06):
Well, and as you get more along down the road with it, you mentioned older people, having an option for people with Medicare as that supplemental, that’s a big deal because that’s something where people, I mean right now if you were to go with like in our area, you have Blue Cross Blue Shield in Phoenix, I guess, right? Or in Arizona and Health Partners is there and there’s several other of the giant ones, but they’re very expensive. Even people think Medicare, “Oh, I’m covered.” Well, you’re not. You’re still paying several hundred bucks a month for that supplemental you have to have. So I mean, to have another alternative to that, it’s good and it gives people options, which is what they want because … And one thing, by the way, just as a tip to people, because I’ve had conversations with several friends about this that don’t know this, if you’re Medicare age eligible, you want to take the Cadillac or the top of the line to start because if you go below that, you cannot go up to the top of the line, you can only go down.
(08:13):
So you’re much better off starting at the top of the line and seeing how it goes. And frankly, get at the top of the line and stay there because as you get older, you’re going to need a lot more care than you do when you’re 65. If you get into your 80s and beyond, you’re going to want to have the best possible care you can get and that starts with getting whatever Medicare is offering is the top. So that’s my little suggestion for people looking at it.
Chris Faddis (08:37):
Yeah I think that’s great advice. Right, right.
Bob Sansevere (08:38):
Because I actually, I mean, I talked to it, I talked to a broker, a friend, Mike Gelfand, who’s on the show with me, he’s got a guy he’s used for years and this guy laid everything out for me and was terrific. He’s an insurance broker and I’ve used him a number of times for things and he’s just been terrific. But take that as a tip to just get the top of the line because again, you can downshift, but you can’t go up and get, “Hey, I’ll go up to the next level.” There’s no going up from where you start because these health insurance companies or these not the health … Medicare figures, wait a minute, if you want to go up, must mean you need it and we don’t want to give it to you if you need it because we’re-
Chris Faddis (09:16):
Yeah. And I think that’s one and that absolutely true. And I think that’s one of the things we encourage people is to go ahead and do the Medicare. If some people are concerned about it, just use that and then we’ll be there to help you with the rest of it. And I think that’s a great model with these two compliments-
Bob Sansevere (09:28):
It is.
Chris Faddis (09:29):
We have for Medicare.
Bob Sansevere (09:30):
And the other thing, I mean, to plug this, because my family and I have been members of solidarity for about a decade is that telehealth, whatever your monthly is, it’s worth it just for that. One phone call to telehealth will cost you about as much as it would to go to a doctor’s office to get the same thing looked at and prescribed. Now there’s some things, obviously, you’re going to have to go to a doctor’s office or even the emergency room, but if you think you have strep throat, you’re going to be paying 600 bucks or more at a doctor’s office where you give the symptoms and they’ll prescribe you the amoxicillin or whatever it is that you need to take the antibiotic you need. And that’s why your telehealth is absolutely terrific to use. I’m a huge fan.
Chris Faddis (10:13):
Yeah. And I think people get worried, Bob, about what do you do if they’re wrong? What if it’s something that I should have gone to a doctor for? The telehealth doctors, as you’ve known, are very good at telling you when it’s time to go see someone or go to the ER –
Bob Sansevere (10:27):
Yes
Chris Faddis (10:28):
Or go to urgent care. They will give you that recommendation and say, “Hey, this isn’t something I can do over the phone or video. Let’s get you in. ” And I think you have to know that that’s a big part of their training is that triage and I think they’ve done that with my family many times and that’s been really helpful. But yeah, it’s such a help. Plus, I mean, honestly, you find this, especially in mental health counseling, but you see people are more honest over the phone, it seems than they are in person. They’re embarrassed to tell the doctor what’s really going on sometimes. So there’s a lot of benefits to doing that.
Bob Sansevere (11:03):
Absolutely. All right. Well, Chris, greatly appreciate it. I want to remind people solidarityhealthshare.org is the place to go. Chris Faddis, co-founder and president of Solidarity HealthShare. We’re going to take a quick break and The BS Show will be right back.