Recently, Solidarity HealthShare president and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joined The BS Show to discuss some of the advances in healthcare over the last decade, including with the use of AI in hospitals and price transparency. Listen or read the interview 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 want to talk to you about where Solidarity HealthShare has come over the last 10 years, because this is a 10-year anniversary and I’ve been a member for most of, I think just maybe almost all those 10 years, my family and I. And I’ve seen things that I really like, like when you added Dial Care, which is telehealth, that alone has … I mean, a doctor’s office visit can go anywhere from 400 to 600 bucks now. And now you pick up the phone. If you’re a member, there’s no charge, you call telling the symptoms and hopefully they tell you it’s bacterial and not viral because if it’s bacterial, you can take something for it.
(00:51):
If it’s viral, not so much. But it’s a great service to have. And I know you’ve got other innovations. What are some of the other things that you’ve done and maybe some things that are coming?
Chris Faddis (01:02):
Yeah. Well, Bob, I think we may have talked about this before, but it’s always good to remind people. Many years ago, we launched the Solidarity One program, which was kind of taking what we had been doing for a while and improving it and giving people variability and they can have different out- of-pocket amounts and all of that. And then this past year, what we did is we actually, we realized, we kind of really studied the customers who were not becoming members and why. And we found that a lot of people needed something even lower costs and more affordable. And they, for whatever reason, I mean, I think on a previous episode we talked about
(01:36):
Some guy who doesn’t take insurance, he just pays for stuff out of pocket. So we launched this new program that is really an emergencies program. It’s not even really, truly catastrophic. It’s emergency. And it’s called Solidarity Shield, which is a very low cost. It covers your hospitalizations, those kind of things, bad accidents. Sorry, it doesn’t cover. We share into those things for that service. And then the other one was we really studied our younger members and how they were or weren’t using the membership. And what we have found is that young adults, first of all, don’t want to pay for this. They’re like, “I’m never going to the doctor or hospital. Why would I pay for something?” And even if they have money, I mean, we’ve talked to young adults who have significant income and it’s a waste of money to them. And so we actually created something called Solidarity Savvy, which is a program for young adults 18 to 29.
(02:28):
So most 18-year-olds are on their parents’ insurance, but there’s plenty who aren’t. And it starts at 85 bucks. It’s very similar to our Solidarity One program, but stripped down a bit. It focuses on telehealth, like you talked about, because they want access to a doctor just when they’re sick to find out what they want to do, but they don’t really want to go in. And then actually, and then if they really do have an emergency or something, they won’t be shared, but most of them aren’t going to use it for those things. And then with that program, with both programs, actually, we created add-ons where you can say, “Hey, I still want access to prescriptions.” For Solidarity Savvy, for I think it’s 10 or 15 bucks, they can add a prescription program where they have access to almost a thousand generic drugs
(03:12):
That are antibiotics, all the different things you might need, and it’s free. They pay that money and anytime they need those medications, it’s free. And we have that add-on for both of those new programs. So we have pharmacy already shared in SolidarityOne, but now we’ve got that added on there for these two. And so those are some of the things we’ve done, which have really helped. I think a lot of people have said, “Oh my gosh, this is what I needed.” And so we saw a lot of growth from those two new programs. We also saw a lot of people look at those two new programs and then realize, well, I might as well just spend the extra and move up to SolidarityOne. So it helped us with folks who were just trying to consider their options.
Bob Sansevere (03:51):
They almost had to be convinced- So
Chris Faddis (03:53):
Those are some of the innovations that we’ve done. This year we’re going to be doing Medicare. We’ve already got a Medicare discount program. So if you’re a senior and you’re on Medicare Parts A and B, you can get a discount on our program, but we’re adding another Medicare program later this year that is really more for the gap. We’ll take care of your out- of-pocket deductibles and those kind of things.
Bob Sansevere (04:14):
Oh, wow.
Chris Faddis (04:16):
Yeah, that’ll help as well because we find a lot of our Members, we found that most of our Members who leave are leaving for Medicare and it’s like, well, why would we lose them? Let’s figure out how to help them. We can support them better through sharing than you can through some of these Medicare programs.
Bob Sansevere (04:29):
Well, but it’s also important though people because not every couple, as an example, gets Medicare at the same time.
Chris Faddis (04:36):
Yes.
Bob Sansevere (04:36):
It’s important that they keep their family on it.
Chris Faddis (04:39):
Right, right.
Bob Sansevere (04:40):
Yeah
Chris Faddis (04:41):
And that’s one of the reasons why we created that discount because people who have a family that is easier for them to just keep the same program. So those are things we’re doing. I mean, we’re also really trying to streamline a lot of things in the process and give more self-help options and things for people when they need to get ahold of us. Most people don’t want to sit on the phone or even be on the phone, honestly, these days. So we’re investing a lot into sort of self-help technology and things where people can get answers.
Bob Sansevere (05:11):
I will say this, of all the places that I have called, Solidarity is about as quick as any … And I’m talking like if you’re calling your phone company, you’re calling your electric company, doctor’s office, your wait time is quicker than just about anything else. Your people are really good and you’re not in a failance and going through a maze of different options to hit. You get somebody on the phone pretty quick and that’s, I mean, everyone I think appreciates that. Now it is not just you, but is there more … I’d seen a story, and I’ll give you the background of why I’m asking, that in rural parts of the country, they’re going to have AI to do like ultrasounds. Is there more AI that you’re using at Solidarity, or is that just something that you’re starting to look into, but haven’t really implemented yet?
Chris Faddis (06:03):
Yeah, we’re starting to use it, but again, we’re using it for things that are helpful to a member, not trying to take away human interaction where it’s needed. And I think that’s part of the issue. We’re seeing AI deny claims, we’re seeing AI
Bob Sansevere (06:16):
Denied
Chris Faddis (06:17):
Pre-notifications, those kind of things. And we’re using it again for some of the self-help type tools. We’re starting to get calls now. Hospital systems will call for bill status all the time. Now they’re starting to have AI agents call us. And so you’ve got a robot that you’re talking to. How are you supposed to verify the identity of the robot?
Bob Sansevere (06:35):
Exactly.
Chris Faddis (06:36):
And so we’re learning those things and figuring out, again, that those self-help options will help. So that’s really where we’re focused. But yeah, I mean, the human interaction is still important to us. The funny thing is, Bob, we find a lot of people don’t want to answer the phone. And so the more self-help we offer, the more people we use those options, it seems, but then that’s fine. So then the people who want to be on the phone will be more available to them and can take more time with them because we’ve allowed other people to do their self-help version.
Bob Sansevere (07:08):
So from when you started, let’s say the first year to now, how much has the membership double, triple, quadrupled, quintupled? I mean, is it at the pace you had hoped or … Because you want to be available to as many people as possible, but you don’t want to … You give such good service to the people you have, you don’t want to overextend it too quick either. Are you at the number that you’d hope to be at in this 10th year?
Chris Faddis (07:38):
I mean, our growth initially was really good and pretty steady year over year for several years. And then really over the last few years, the growth has been stale for all health shares. And a lot of that had to do, I think with the subsidies and Obamacare and some other things. And I think people … Yeah, it just steadied. So we’re probably not at the numbers I would’ve wanted to be at, but the number that I like to see is that our average lifetime, like our customers stay with us on average 44 months, and that includes people like you who have been with us since 2016 or 17, and people who are shorter. So that to me is a really good indicator that people are sticking around. And now that the marketplace is kind of fixed towards insurance, we’re seeing more growth again, so we’ll see that growth back.
(08:27):
So that’s a really good thing. And we are seeing where we want to be, seeing that growth come about,
Bob Sansevere (08:32):
Where-
Chris Faddis (08:32):
Which Is great.
Bob Sansevere (08:33):
No, I know you’ve made a number of trips and Brad Hahn, he’s another co-founder of made trips to Washington DC to meet with people in Congress. What are you hearing though from them and also from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And his department about health sharing? Are they fans of it?
Chris Faddis (08:52):
Yeah. The ones who know about it, there’s still a lot. And in fact, this administration is made up of so many new people that a lot of them don’t know anything about it.
Bob Sansevere (08:58):
You have to help them learn.
Chris Faddis (09:00):
Yeah, you have to kind of educate them. Congress is still … I think there’s a fair amount that do know about health sharing, but there’s still quite a bit that don’t, which is surprising. I mean, we’ve had members of Congress as members of Solidarity. I mean, so –
Bob Sansevere (09:12):
Oh!
Chris Faddis (09:12):
It’s kind of surprising to me that there’s not more that know about it. But yeah, I mean, I think it’s still sort of unknown. It’s still hard to get their attention around it to realize that this is a good solution. So when they are talking about the healthcare issues, whether or not they’re going to deal with some of those issues this year is still yet to be seen. But we do get their attention. I think that the whole MAHA movement is certainly paying attention and therefore HHS, but they seem to be more focused on the agriculture side right now. But more and more, I think people, they’re supportive of it. Whether or not they’ll do things to help further in or make it better policy-wise is yet to be seen. But we’re hopeful for some good changes over the next … There’s a good opportunity to make a couple changes that will help health sharing members in
Bob Sansevere (10:00):
This
Chris Faddis (10:00):
Year. So we’re hopeful that can happen.
Bob Sansevere (10:02):
And it’s interesting. Take that Make America healthy again, great again. I mean, you put any two words after Make America, so I find that interesting. Yeah, exactly.
Chris Faddis (10:10):
Exactly.
Bob Sansevere (10:11): All right. SolidarityHealthShare, solidarityhealthshare.org. Check it out. Great alternative to traditional healthcare. Thank you, Chris Faddis, president, co-founder. Take a quick break. The BS show will be right back.