Solidarity President and Co-Founder joins The BS Show to discuss the changes coming to healthcare in 2026. Read the interview transcript below or listen to the recording.

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 is, well, there’s a lot in the news about a lot of things, but one of the things in the news is prescription drug price, transparency and accountability. And it looks like, I mean, are we going to finally see it? What’s being called the Great Healthcare Plan addresses rising insurance premiums by ending wasteful practices that benefit large insurance companies and middlemen? Is that a patients, and part of this is doing something about prescription drug prices and that coming down and has been talk, it’s going to, has it been noticeable yet? I haven’t gone to pick up any drugs recently.

Chris Faddis (00:49):

Yeah. I mean, I’m not sure if we’ve noticed it as much because we already have a lot of the tactics they’re employing, we’re already employing. And so the beauty is I think they’re taking that to the masses and saying, Hey, we’re going to cut out the middlemen or at least minimize the men. We still have a middlemen technically, but the middlemen we use are transparent. And so we’re able to provide a very good affordable cost range for prescriptions. And that’s the same I think that Trump RX is trying to do. And the whole plan that the Trump administration has is benefiting from those services. What the middlemen do is they take the rebates and discounts of the insurance companies and they do a spread where they get as much of the money as possible. The trick is, Bob, this is what’s crazy about this, the pharmacy benefits managers, the trick is the more they charge you for an inbred drug, especially the more they’re going to get on the backend as a rebate.

(01:44):

And most of those rebates are not disclosed anywhere. And so that’s the problem. So that’s where the big price increase comes. Now, companies like ours work with companies that strip out to the bottom of that rebate and hopefully they do what we do, which is we pass that rebate on to the members and make sure that the dollars go right back to sharing. So hopefully, I think the Trump administration’s onto the right things here, they’re focused on the right things. I’ll be interested to see how they get compliance out of the insurance companies and the pharmacy companies.

Bob Sansevere (02:15):

Well, that’s the thing, because there’s supposed to have been, and we’ve talked about this before, there is supposed to have been transparency for quite some time and many didn’t. Right. Many of it just ignored it.

Chris Faddis (02:25):

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think the hospitals have shown that the compliance measures aren’t strong enough to make them comply. And I think the same will happen with these groups. And so now there’s already been effects. I mean, lots of big DBMS have been affected already by this, and I have lost a lot of customers and a lot of things are happening. So I think it’s promising. I think the beauty is it’s at the beginning of this term, so we have another three years to hopefully really put these things into place so that they’re solidified and they’re making effect. And I think to your point, we’ve got to get drug pricing down. I mean, it’s gotten way out of hand, especially on things that people need to live. Again, of course manufacturers of drugs should make what they need to make to keep the lights on and keep making more medications. But at the end of the day, we’ve gotten way out of hand and everyone knows it

Bob Sansevere (03:16):

Mean it is been a free for all for the insurance companies for so long, but when I say free for all, they could just do whatever they want and no one is really holding their feet to the fire to task. And you mentioned about those basically the hidden kickbacks, the money going back and forth. I mean, it took probably years in the making, but they certainly had a plan to make sure everybody gets taken care of, but the person who needs the drugs and needs the care.

Chris Faddis (03:44):

Yes, exactly.

Bob Sansevere (03:45):

Those are the ones, and that’s where solidarity health share comes in with what you do because you strip it down to what it’s actually should be paid and you use, what is it your model that you use? I remember we talked about this a while ago. You look at what Medicare and Medicaid pays and then make an adjustment off of that.

Chris Faddis (04:06):

Yeah, we do. And we look at costs. We also look at other kind of prevailing contract rates and things, and we find a cost above Medicare and within cost of living and all that for that area. And then when it comes to prescriptions, we look at the best wholesale price and then we look at whatever the reasonable market for the pharmacist is and that price comes down. So typically our prescriptions we’re saving somewhere between 70 and 80%.

Bob Sansevere (04:33):

Okay. All right. Now I got to switch your gears here. Planned Parenthood offers vasectomies in Michigan as abortion access drops. Is this the first place something like this has happened or is it happening other places where you can get a free, I assume it’s free. Is it free?

Chris Faddis (04:49):

It’s probably not free. I don’t know. Doubt. I’m sure they’re charging something, but the abortions they charge for whether or not they’ve decided to make it low cost, I don’t know. I think it’s just interesting. Planned Parenthood is just continuing to flounder and figure out how to operate. And so yeah,

Bob Sansevere (05:04):

It’s not free. You’re right.

Chris Faddis (05:05):

It’s

Bob Sansevere (05:05):

Not going to be free.

Chris Faddis (05:06):

Yeah. I guess in their sense, and maybe they get some government money too, they probably could get reimbursed by Medicaid for it as well. So at some level they’re getting paid for it. And we’re just seeing more and more, I mean, my parenthood, I mean, I think so many of their centers are closing around the country. They’re having to figure out how they’re, they’re going to operate with that abortion.

Bob Sansevere (05:27):

Well, I mean quite honestly in Minnesota, and I’m not like I’m looking or paying attention, we don’t hear about Planned Parenthood much at all here. Is it like that in Arizona where you are?

Chris Faddis (05:39):

No, we do hear about it. I mean, they’re doing a lot here and they’ve really, they got abortion on the Constitution last year, so they’re pretty expansive here now, which it’s a new thing for us.

Bob Sansevere (05:51):

Well, and again, I just may not be paying as close attention. I’m sure it’s here, but it’s not something that has been, that I can recall in the news much at all. But okay, they’re saying they’re offering it, but vasectomies, if you’re paying, you could go anywhere. I mean, most doctors will do them.

Chris Faddis (06:10):

So

(06:12):

You could find places all over the country and even if you have to pay out pocket, I mean there’s billboards all through Texas about for certain reason. I think the interesting thing is they also tried to go into the gender hormone therapy stuff as well at one point in certain places. I don’t know if they did in Michigan, but I think they’re just really floundering to figure out what to do. It also goes to show, I mean, they always say that they’re about healthcare, but they only are about these fringe things that are about your sex organs. They’re not really about healthcare. Yeah, it’s kind of an interesting thing. One interesting thing, Bob, and most people probably don’t know this because it’s not talked about, we’ve actually had several members who have had their vasectomies reversed, and two of them were because of, they were having really bad mental health issues

Bob Sansevere (07:01):

Really,

Chris Faddis (07:03):

And figured out that it was from the start, from the time they had their vasectomy, one of ’em became a friend of mine and we talked about it, a lot of it. He was near suicidal several times and has thrived since. He reversed that. Look at the risks of that because now he’s got a thriving business. He’s doing great, but that really was nearly the end of his life. So something to me be careful about.

Bob Sansevere (07:27):

So I didn’t think they were reversible or some reversible, some not.

Chris Faddis (07:31):

I don’t know if some are, and I know they are, but we’ve definitely had several that have gone through the reversible procedures. So I’m not sure if they have a version of it that isn’t reversible. It’s possible.

Bob Sansevere (07:41):

Well, I remember when I was school, which is in school, which is many, many years ago we had in a science class, it looked like a little valve that would be put in. You could shut it on or put it on and off. And I guess, I don’t know if that’s something that’s being done now. It seemed back then we’re talking decades ago, it seemed pretty cutting edge. But I don’t know if something like that is happening. But I guess for people who’ve had vasectomies and they’re thinking, boy, I kind of wish I didn’t do this. That’s encouraging. They should go and find out if it is option to have it reversed. Also, I wanted to mention for people who are not happy with the healthcare that they currently have, solidarity health share, maybe a good alternative for you to, it’s absolutely a good alternative to look into and it’s not hard to look into. It’s solidarityhealthshare.org is the place to go. And in a moment, we’ll ask Chris to give you the number, but I wanted to ask before we do that, we’ve been talking about healthcare for a number of years, and do you think a year from now, do you think we’re going to see much different from what we’re seeing now

Chris Faddis (08:50):

A year from now? I think we’ll see differences. I don’t know if it’ll be much different, but I think we’re going to start to see improvements enough that we’ll notice it and we’ll be able to talk about it.

Bob Sansevere (08:59):

Well, that would be wonderful. Yeah, I think

Chris Faddis (09:01):

We’re on the right track. It’ll be interesting, whatever they do with this healthcare plan, I mean, they still have it delivered on it, right? So let’s see what they can actually come up with and what they can pull out. I think we’re definitely going to see some changes and some of ’em will be, I think really good and some maybe not. So, so good.

Bob Sansevere (09:19):

Alright, well I mentioned solidarityhealthshare.org is the place to go to check it out. And what’s the best number for people to call?

Chris Faddis (09:28):

Yeah, reach us at 7 3 7 sharing 7 4 2 7 4 6 4 7 3 7 7 4 2 7 4 6 4. And we have great people there ready to help you.

Bob Sansevere (09:39):

Full disclosure, my family and I have been members of Solidarity HealthShare for a number of years now, and I have not had any issues with them. They’ve been terrific to deal with. And again, if you’re not happy with your traditional healthcare, check out Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org. Go there. That phone number Chris just gave is there for you. We’ll take a quick break and the BS show, we’ll be right back.