Recently, Chris Faddis visited The BS Show to talk about how cancer treatment is not a “one size fits all” and advancements that are helping patients to live longer, healthier lives. Listen to the interview or read the transcript 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, maybe because I’ve tapped onto one or two of these things, I get a lot of posts on Facebook that I see about the latest cancer treatment. And it’s everything from ivermectin and another drug being a cocktail that will help cure it. I have seen things that are like microwave or excuse me, magnetic wave. And there’s so many of them that are out there. And I know here, one clinical trial shows vaccine can target gene mutations in pancreatic cancer. And I believe that one is out of the Mayo Clinic, which is encouraging. Another one, scientists discover olive oil molecule called oleocanthol ruptures cancer cells in just 30 minutes while leaving healthy cells safe.

(00:56):

That’s from Science Today. Newsweek had this story just this past week. Researchers discover what can cause cancer cell death and how to trigger them to self-destruct. All of a sudden there’s a lot of this we’re seeing. Should we put a lot of faith in any of it or is it just stuff that there’s a lot of testing to be done in maybe years from now? And have you had anything where you’ve looked into them or Solidarity HealthShare has looked into them to say what’s the most promising?

Chris Faddis (01:26):

Yeah. Well, I mean, not only have we looked into it, we have a lot of members that are using a lot of these therapies and have had success. Now of course, not everything works for everyone. And I think that’s one of the key factors. The latest in cancer research is understanding that I think the standard of care has been, and for the majority still is, that we treat cancer as one type of cancer, meaning everyone’s going to have the same presentation and you’ve got six or seven drugs you could use and that’s supposed to work. But I think what we’re finding more and more of the research is showing more and more doctors and hospitals are starting to recognize it is that cancer is different in every single person. So you might have colon cancer or you might have pancreatic cancer, but your presentation of that cancer, your body’s DNA and genetics and the way that cancer is behaving are very different.

(02:13):

And so not everything’s going to work for everybody. You might have a drug that’s meant for colon cancer. It’s working great on you and not on me. And so one of the biggest things now is the genetic targeting of cancer treatment. So one of our strategic partners that we work with for our members actually studies the cellular structure of the tumors and figures out which therapeutic agents will help. So it might be that you actually respond better to a breast cancer drug because of how those tumors behaving, or you might respond better to Ivermectin and Femezabalol than I would based on that. So there’s a lot of promise that the ivermectin cocktail combo is definitely showing some really good signs, which of course took a while for the standard medical community to wake up to, but it’s more and more people are recognized. The electromagnetic piece, I’m not surprised by honestly, but I hadn’t heard a lot about that, but there’s definitely radiofrequency ablation’s been around for a while, a lot of other of these targetings, but there’s a lot of amazing things.

(03:15):

Even Bob, one of the clinics we work with, one of the things they do for breast cancer is they actually, and I don’t remember exactly how they do radiology, they actually go in and freeze the tumor in the breast when it’s an early stage breast cancer and you don’t have to get a mastectomy.

Bob Sansevere (03:29):

Wow.

Chris Faddis (03:30):

And it just takes out the cancer. So there’s some really, really amazing things out there. And I think our members are using these things, so we’re seeing them live. We’re seeing how people are responding, what’s working, what’s not working. And it’s pretty impressive to see how many people are surviving some of these pretty advanced cancers.

Bob Sansevere (03:50):

Well, my family has been fortunate. I mean, my dad actually, he was a smoker and he did die from lung cancer many, many years ago. But I mean, I’ve been fortunate that nobody in my family has had cancer, my immediate family now. But if they did, if it was me, I would look into these other therapies before I’d commit to radiation and chemo, which could be really very rough on your body. So I guess I’m encouraged.

Chris Faddis (04:17):

Folks are doing a little bit of both. I think you’ll see folks that are doing the ivermectin combo that are also radiation or chemo. I mentioned pancreatic cancer, Bob. The common procedure that people do is essentially like a resection or what’s called a Whipple procedure. And it can work. Most people still get sick and end up… Pancreatic cancer is one of those really difficult ones. We’re seeing more and more people surviving pancreatic cancer, which is good. But there’s a procedure that some clinics do now where they actually take these pellets of, I believe it’s chemo, it might be radioactive pellets, and they actually go through your veins and they put the medication right into the tumor in the pancreas. And I think it’s called a SIPI procedure. And people are surviving pancreatic cancer without having to go through a major surgery.

Bob Sansevere (05:06):

That’s terrific.

Chris Faddis (05:06):

So there are some amazing… So what I always tell people, what happens is you get cancer and you get fearful right away and you’re just like, do whatever you got to do and they start your chemo sometimes right away. And the reality is yes, you need to act quickly, but take the time to get a second opinion, to see what else is out there. We have two or three second opinion programs that we offer our members through different partners and figure out what your options are before you go one way or the other. And I think people will be surprised even when it means traveling. Bob, what’s amazing is you might have to travel to get to the right place. A lot of people travel to Mayo in Rochester or they might travel to Mayo in Scottsdale. But the reality is that a lot of these clinics, a lot of these places help you with the travel, they help you figure it out.

(05:52):

Some of them even might help pay for it. So there’s a lot of ways for you to figure out the options. And for me, for my money, if I’m sick and I need to travel for three months to go get cured, I think it’s worth it.

Bob Sansevere (06:06):

Well, it is. And that’s the one thing among many about Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org, check it out, but is that you are open to that and you help people find out great alternatives and where they can go. And that to me, that’s very valuable. And by the way, on a separate note about Solidarity, I did go to a doctor visit and again, I mean it was paid for by Medicare, that covered a lot of it, but I had to put out like 152 bucks. My point is though, this visit wound up being like a 700, no, close to a $1,000 visit. Now they did do some blood work, but even without that, it was six to 700. If you have an issue and you belong to Solidarity, like if you think you have strep throat or an ear infection, you have a great telehealth service, dial care.

(07:19):

My wife used it a few weeks ago and the issue she was having, I think I told you about it, with a sinus infection cleared it right up because she had some antibiotics prescribed. So to me, that alone makes it worthwhile. So check out Solidarity HealthShare, the solidarityhealthshare.org, and that’s a good way to transition into this next thing. Open enrollment is here for a lot of people that are on traditional healthcare and also Medicare. Now, people can enroll any time with you, correct?

Chris Faddis (07:48):

Yeah, absolutely. We’re always open.

Bob Sansevere (07:50):

Always open. That’s great to know for people. But the other people, I mean, I came across something on, I was looking on some of the social media sites and I came across one about a guy who said his premiums are going up 29%. That’s outrageous that that’s going to have. They raised the rate 29%, his health insurance. Premium is almost 10,000 a year deductible and max out of pocket almost 12K for a, he called it a BS bronze plan, 22,000 before the insurance does anything. And this is highway robbery said, “I’m seriously considered going without insurance.” No, what he should seriously consider is Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org. And it is a great alternative to traditional healthcare. And are you finding that during open enrollment, are you seeing an uptick in people joining Solidarity?

Chris Faddis (08:44):

Absolutely. Yeah. In fact, last year was a really good time of open enrollment because more and more people started to give up. I think a lot of people really thought somehow the problem was going to get solved. And after years now, over a decade now, our government not fixing the problem, people are finally recognizing that they’ve got to make the switch. So the beauty is, Bob, we’ve solved it for our members. And as you know, you get access to all the great therapies and care that Bob and I were just talking about, but also all the normalcy, urgent care, the telehealth, the doctor’s visits, and you actually can use your health share, whether it’s for something major or just for those minor things. And I think it’s an important time. I think people have got to just, if it works for you and your family, make the switch now.

(09:30):

We’re already really busy, but we’re going to get really, really busy starting next week as people start really looking and shopping.

Bob Sansevere (09:36):

Yeah, because a lot of states nationwide, November 1st is when things open up with open enrollment.

Chris Faddis (09:42):

And I think obviously we have as many people as we can on the phones, but I know last year overloaded and borrowing staff from other parts of our estate to call.

Bob Sansevere (09:50):

Well, that’s great.

Chris Faddis (09:51):

So it’s a good time to do it. I think people just take the options you have now. I mean, last year, what was the increase? Something like 26% for exchange plans, and I think across the marketplace of other types of plans, it was somewhere in the range of 20%. This year we’re seeing the 20% increase up to 20% on the exchange plans. Now, I will be honest, of course we have to absorb some increases here and there, but this year I think it was around 5% that we did.

Bob Sansevere (10:20):

Well, it’s not close to 30.

Chris Faddis (10:22):

And that’s really proactive.

Bob Sansevere (10:22):

Yeah.

Chris Faddis (10:23):

 Yeah, that’s making sure we can build up and those kind of things. So there’s a lot of opportunity for people to switch now, and I think it’s a really important time. I personally, Bob, I’ve not really ever heard anyone say, “Man, I love my exchange flight.” Now, I may be wrong. I’m sure there’s people that do. I obviously hang out with healthcare share.

Bob Sansevere (10:45):

I haven’t heard it either. That’s why Solidarity HealthShare, solidarityhealthshare.org. Matter of fact, pick up the phone today and make the call before that November 1st hits. All right, Chris, thank you. Chris Faddis, president and co-founder of Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org. We’re going to take a quick break in The BS Show. We’ll be right back.