Solidarity HealthShare President and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joins The BS Show to discuss the positive proposed changes to healthcare landscape, from a bill being introduced by Senator Josh Hawley to options being explored to make healthcare more affordable. 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 Health Share, which is an ethical, affordable alternative to traditional health insurance and is faithful to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Chris, I got to ask you about something that Senator Josh Hawley, he’s a Republican on Missouri, he introduced what he’s calling the prohibiting abortion and transgender procedures on the Exchanges Act. And it’s a long-winded way of saying what he wants would prohibit exchanges. And this is, we’re talking about health exchanges from offering health plans that provide coverage of abortion or gender transition procedures or drugs for minor children. And I don’t have a problem with that at all. I mean, I’m a believer if you are transgender, it’s your right, it’s your right to even transition. But I mean, I may have a radical view, but to me, what should be covered by health insurance is non-elective surgeries and gender transition is elective.

(01:04):

And to me, you could almost argue abortion is too, because abortion is not a disease. I mean, the money should be going to diseases. Abortion is a choice that came about because you had sex and then you decided you didn’t want the kid. And I’m not making an abortion statement. I’m just saying I think that if you have a more defined, if you’re these insurance companies and defined way of saying it, if it’s a disease, yes. I mean, these are choices whether you’re a minor or not. So I’m just wondering where you are on this.

Chris Faddis (01:38):

Yeah, I mean, look, at the end of the day, what Josh Hawley’s doing is, I think, essentially enshrining into law something that has been a battle between the previous administrations and the Trump administration, the Affordable Care Act. The government largely subsidizes those plans. And so the government certainly has a say in what’s in those plans. And one of the things that the Biden administration did was they expanded the Affordable Care Act to be able to pay for transgender surgeries and abortions and then through regulation. And then now Trump has rolled that back. And so what Hawley’s doing essentially here is codifying that move. And there’s law in the books, Bob, that you know about and I know about that’s been around since the seventies called the Hyde Amendment that prohibits any federal dollars going to abortion. And essentially what Hawley’s saying is he wants to write that right into the coverage rules of the Affordable Care Act. And again, your point is very valid. These are electives at best. These are elective procedures that can be decided on individually. They’re not something that you and I should be subsidizing through the cost we pay for insurance or our federal tax dollars that are going to subsidize these Unaffordable Care Act plans at the largest amount ever. It’s a big deal to say that we shouldn’t be paying for that.

Bob Sansevere (03:01):

No, and I’m also, I mean to me, for me it’s not an abortion statement. I know where Solidarity HealthShare is because you’re Catholic based, but to me it’s a choice, but it’s also a choice that if you want to make it, you should pay for it. And like you said, it shouldn’t be something where ‘well’ let my insurance company pay for it.’ So like I said, maybe it’s radical to some people.

Chris Faddis (03:23):

I think it’s largely something that most Americans agree with these things, and I think what Senator Hawley’s doing here is smart. I think it’s smart to get these things into Congress to make these decisions. I think we’ve had a bad track record for the last four presidencies of doing everything by executive Fiat because we can’t get much done in Congress. So I think this is a good thing and it speaks really more to the mind of the American people and will help kind of stop this yo-yo back and forth that we’ve had the last few times.

Bob Sansevere (03:54):

Well, and speaking of the mind of the American people, as an American person, I actually like the idea and I want to hear more about it. President Trump, he’s floated the proposal, put billions of dollars that right now it’s backing the Affordable Care Act tax credits directly into the pockets of Americans. Basically saying, you take the money, you send it directly to the people so they can purchase their own much better healthcare. That’s the quote that he had used. And Senator Rick Scott said that he’s writing the bill now. Where are you on something like this in terms of giving it back to the people? Frankly, I liked that idea and also, I mean, it would give people, frankly, I mentioned off the air, could be a boon to Solidarity HealthShare and other health sharing groups because then people, they do have a choice of where to go.

Chris Faddis (04:45):

Right. Yeah. I think there’s been several versions of this concept out there and it hasn’t really gotten a ton of steam. One of the ideas is actually just a health savings account for all approach where people would be able to fund health savings accounts and then use that to fund whatever healthcare options they choose. There’s several options, I think, but I think it’s definitely better than what we have today. I can tell you that I was looking recently at some of the data around the subsidies that the American people pay for the Affordable Care Act. And a big issue right now is this discussion around the expanded or enhanced subsidies that were added during COVID, which was five years ago, by the way. We added this so that more people qualified for the subsidy. We have a point now where we have 200 people making 200, 300,000 a year in some states that are getting subsidized healthcare, which makes no sense.

(05:38):

So yes, giving some sort of, if we’re going to do this to encourage purchase of healthcare, let people choose, give them some dollars, it’s much better than what we’re doing today. Right now, what we’re doing, I saw the data the other day that out of all the subsidies that go out there, about $12 billion is plans that are paid for, but there’s not even, which means it’s pure profit to the insurance company. We’ve got to stop the game we’re playing today with the Affordable Care Act costing us. I think next year would’ve cost us an additional $408 billion.

Bob Sansevere (06:12):

Well, and yeah, because it’s getting, I mean, the whole thing, and people have brought this up, it’s almost become a cliche when you had Obama saying, ‘oh, you can keep your doctor, you can help your health plan.’ Well, not necessarily,

Chris Faddis (06:25):

Right? And it’s going to be affordable, but it’s not really affordable. It actually jacked the price up on everybody. So the whole thing’s a mess. I think. Yes, these are good ideas. Putting the power back in the American people’s hands is definitely the number one idea. And yeah, healthcare sharing actually has proven itself to be the best option. So it’ll be great for us. I don’t disagree, but we definitely have to stop wasting money the way we are and giving these, I mean, you look at the soaring profits and stock prices of these insurance companies since the Affordable Care Act, and you think, well, everyone talks about us using the government to fund the rich. Well, what are we doing here? I mean, it’s really amazing,

Bob Sansevere (07:03):

The one downside to what Trump wants to do, which I think they are HSA, there’s a couple of different names for ’em, but how do you ensure that it goes into that account and people don’t get the checks or the money and they just spend it on a car or something?

Chris Faddis (07:20):

And then that’s why I think they have to use an HSA type of program that can limit what they spend it on and is monitored and audited and all that. And I think that’s a very doable option. I think there’s, and in fact, from a financial planning standpoint, it’s a great option for you. You have extra dollars in there that you don’t use. I mean, actually those can be invested and they stay in the HSA, they don’t go to you, but they can continue to grow. So there’s definitely some great benefit to that concept. And I know a lot of folks, the Americans for tax reform and some other organizations that we work with that are pushing that. And I think that’s a great option. If we can get rid of the subsidies, that’ll save a lot of money.

Bob Sansevere (07:58):

Well, and also I’m going to give a plug to you Solidarity HealthShare, and there’s a lot of good things about it, but my family and I have been members for a number of years, and we’ve been fortunate. We haven’t had any catastrophic health issues or even surgeries for a number of years, three or four years now. But having you have telehealth, and you don’t call it telehealth, you have another words where dial care. But that is, it’s worth being on your plan just for that because the doctor’s visit now, you could be talking four to 600 bucks, let’s say if you have symptoms of strep throat, where you call dial care, you give the symptoms and the doctor, I mean, he’s going to give you an honest opinion if that’s what he thinks you have. And he’ll prescribe meds for it. And there’s no cost if you’re a member. That’s huge. And I was talking about you’ve got these two new programs. Now, I was telling a friend of my son’s who does not have, he’s on his parents’ health insurance for another year, but I said, you got to look into Solidarity. You’ve got a plan now where it, it’s as low as $67 a month, young people.

Chris Faddis (09:03):

$68 a month, 60 especially for 18 to 29. And it goes up, obviously based on the age and some other choices you make, but it’s great.

Bob Sansevere (09:11):

But that’s also-

Chris Faddis (09:12):

Where that’s included.

Bob Sansevere (09:13):

The government gave back money and HSA would come in real handy if there’s a big issue you have, well, you got that account to tap into. So I mean, there’s a lot of things out there now that could be options for people. And I think you need to look into ’em. And one of ’em, like I said, Solidarity, haha, solidarityhealthshare.org, go to the website, check it out. And if you could share the number, Chris, that would be helpful too.

Chris Faddis (09:39):

8 4 4 3 1 3 4 9 9 9.

Bob Sansevere (09:42):

Terrific. Chris Faddis, president and co-founder of Solidarity Healthshare. Thanks so much, Chris. We’ll take a quick break.

Chris Faddis (09:48):

Thanks , Bob!

Bob Sansevere (09:49):

The BS Show. Thank you. We’ll be right back.