Solidarity HealthShare Co-Founder and President Chris Faddis joins The BS Show to discuss Solidarity’s origin story as well the two new healthshare programs that were recently rolled out. 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, you and I, we talk a few times a month about what’s going on in health care and solidarity. Health share is a great alternative to that. But give me the genesis. We’ve touched on little parts of it, but it was started or co-founded by you, Brad Hahn and Dr. John Oertle, who was the first one to bring it up and you each have your own story, how you’ve come into it. But what made the three of you? Were you all friends or did one know another and the third was brought in? How did it all start?

Chris Faddis (00:45):

Yeah. Well, we all knew each other. John and I were very close friends. We both had known Brad and had been friends with Brad, but John and I were both kind of regularly talking about the Affordable Care Act and some of the issues that were coming up around it. So it was this constant conversation, and honestly, it was like a one weekend had a phone call where John’s like, man, we got to do something. Came over to my house. We honestly just brainstormed a concept, what could we do? And I knew a bit about health sharing, and at that point we had figured out that was the only viable alternative in the law. So we just decided to start working down that path. And one of the first people we called with actually Brad, is because he was an attorney and we trusted him. We thought he’d have some good ideas.

(01:37):

So initially we were just looking for him for legal counsel, but the more he got involved in the project, the more he realized he wanted to be a part of it, and it made sense to have him in the mix. So that was pretty quick. I mean, that was within what I think, two or three months we had Brad involved, and then we really marched forward together. And it took us a while. Bob, I don’t know if you ever heard that part of the story, but it took us almost four years to get to where we could launch because

Bob Sansevere (02:02):

Oh, I didn’t know that. No,

Chris Faddis (02:03):

Because of the importance of figuring out the exemption and making sure we had the right legal path for our members. And then that’s when we connected with this little Mennonite church that had their own exemption and needed help administering the program. And we shared what we wanted to do and we partnered with them. It was really a mix of folks coming together that honestly we’re all on different, we all had different paths in our lives, but we came together around this one idea of,

Bob Sansevere (02:29):

You mentioned, because I know you’re Catholic based, but the Mennonite Church, are they rolled into solidarity or do they have their own healthcare?

Chris Faddis (02:36):

Absolutely. They’re still part of it today. Yeah, they’re still part of it today, and one of their members is still on the board, and they’re still very actively involved and use the program themselves.

Bob Sansevere (02:46):

So you’re a Catholic slash Mennonite Health?

Chris Faddis (02:48):

Exactly, exactly. And we’ve always been open to all time.

Bob Sansevere (02:51):

Yeah, it doesn’t matter where

Chris Faddis (02:52):

You limit, right? You don’t. But

(02:54):

Obviously it’s hard not to talk to me and find out I’m Catholic. So we tend to market to that crowd a little more. But yeah, so that’s how it all became, and the more we went down the path, honestly, those few years of navigating the right path taught us a lot. We were able to learn a lot about the industry, learn a lot, lot about the other problems and healthcare. That’s when we decided that the price transparency thing that you and I talk about a lot was a big issue that we needed to tackle as well, and we added that in. So it really was a good period of time to help us really learn what we needed to know to be ready for to do this.

Bob Sansevere (03:33):

 I’m going to ask a question that would be asked in a first interview that you have, because a lot of people may be wondering the same thing, even though they’ve heard you talk before. Why is health sharing, particularly Solidarity health sharing, a better alternative than traditional healthcare? I know the reasons. I mean, full disclosure, my family’s been a member for a number of years, but what’s your answer when people ask that?

Chris Faddis (04:00):

Yeah, the big thing obviously is control. I think when we give over control of our healthcare to someone else, whether it’s our employer or our government program or whatever, we lose control over our options and what our choices are. And the payer of healthcare really controls the decisions around the healthcare. And so that’s a big piece, I think, to be able to really drive your family’s care. It’s the same conversation we have about school. Why are so many people jumping from public school systems? And it has to do with control, wanting to make sure that their children are getting the right kind of education and not being indoctrinated or whatever. And similar things with healthcare. So that’s a big part of it. The other part is obviously cost. I mean, there’s so many middlemen in today’s healthcare world and insurance world. So many brokers, so many people are getting a cut of the pie that you truly cannot have an affordable insurance program right now. When you added in the government subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, that’s inflated the price even more. And so really it’s controlling costs. I mean, if you and I could just pay for our healthcare out of our own pockets, that would be the cheapest thing. Well, the next cheapest thing is let’s share our costs together in a community.

Bob Sansevere (05:10):

Well, and the thing, and just to give people an overview of my experiences, here’s what happens. You go to the doctor, you have surgery, the hospital or doctor will submit, send you a bill, then you forward it to Solidarity who pays very quickly. The only thing is, and you got to be aware of this Solidarity, what you do is you pay a fair price. And there are times when the hospital does not think that’s enough, and then it comes back to you. But what you have, and this is the best thing you did, you have a third party that will then negotiate with the hospital or the doctor to get a fair price. And I look at myself, I know I’m not, but sort of the middleman because the bills will come. If you can get the bills to go right to Solidarity, that’d be great, but they’ll likely come to you and then forward ‘EM and Solidarity will take care of it. You’re still using the same third party that you have. You have a group, this contract with –

Chris Faddis (06:07):

 With AMPS. Yeah, we still work with them, and we still do the same kind of process and structure-

Bob Sansevere (06:11):

Which is great.

Chris Faddis (06:12):

We also do a lot of in-house with arranging the relationship with providers proactively. So we have this whole preferred provider program. Members can nominate providers. Our team works to arrange those relationships. We just arranged a relationship with a large physical therapy group called Athletico, which is all over the country. I think they might be in all 50 states, many offices around the country. But we just arranged that partnership. So now members anywhere in the US can go to Athletico for their pt. So we do a lot of that as well to help make sure you have access. But then on top of it, we’re making sure no matter where you go, we’re going to keep that cost affordable.

Bob Sansevere (06:53):

And actually, that’s the thing. You’ve done the best. You have not stayed still. You are always evolving and tell people the two latest things you’ve had, which makes it more affordable for young people and also people who might be dealing with catastrophic type of illnesses or bills. It’s a SAVVY program and a SHIELD program. Just give people a quick overview of those. Those could be attractive to a young people. And then people dealing with longer term, big time issues.

Chris Faddis (07:21):

So in addition to Solidarity One, which is our primary program that we have is just fully comprehensive, is this SAVVY program for young adults. We really found that a lot of young adults wanted something simple. Most of ’em don’t even want to go to the doctor. They barely want to talk on the phone. They want just, if I’m sick, I need something to do. And so SAVVY is kind of a stripped down program that gives them access to telehealth as well as an annual wellness visit. And then they can add on prescription sharing. There’s a discount available if they don’t. But if they want to add on, they can actually add on. It’s pretty cheap, Bob. And they get up, it’s like 800 generic drugs added into their program that are completely free, right?

Bob Sansevere (08:02):

I’ll tell you the beauty of this thing.

Chris Faddis (08:03):

 It’s a great program.

Bob Sansevere (08:04):

It’s a hundred under a hundred bucks a month, and that telehealth is free. You talked to a doctor, my wife went through this a few weeks ago when she had COVID. The doctor did prescribe some stuff for her. If we went to the doctor’s office, we’re talking a four to $600 bill. I mean, you make one call to Telehealth and you’ve paid, basically have paid for the first six months of you being part of SAVVY. And then SHIELD is the one for people that are dealing with some bigger issues.

Chris Faddis (08:33):

SHIELD is really, I mean, it’s really a stripped down catastrophic program. So if you just want something, there’s a lot of folks out there that we found are like, look, I’m going to be fine. I just want something for the big stuff. I want something when I have an emergency, but I’m taking care of my day-to-day health. And so this isn’t our, honestly, I prefer the comprehensive. I want everything personally. But for a lot of folks, we found that this is what they need. And also, sometimes you’re just in a season of life where you just can’t afford the better thing and you need something. And so we’ve already found, we just launched this about a week and a half ago. We’ve already seen people who had been on the fence about joining because of budget. We’re already pretty affordable, but they’re still needed something more affordable. And they’ve jumped in right away because they’re like, Hey, this is a good starting point for me.

Bob Sansevere (09:20):

Also, a hundred bucks under a hundred program.

Chris Faddis (09:22):

So SHIELD is a great program for Emergencies Savvy is a great program for young adults. And then as always, we still have our comprehensive Solidarity ONE for everyone else.

Bob Sansevere (09:31):

And the way to find out more is go to solidarityhealthshare.org. There’s phone numbers there. Call you won’t have a maze of different clicks and ai, you will talk to real people. And Chris, thanks for that. I didn’t know about the early genesis of this. And Chris is the co-founder and president, Solidarity Healthshare, solidarityhealthshare.org. Take a quick break. The BS Show’ll be right back.