Patients Deserve Quality Care and Full Transparency in Pricing!

Solidarity President and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joins Brenda Aiken on Morning Blend of Mater Dei Radio to share the ongoing struggles American patients face when it comes to medical price transparency. In addition, they discuss the importance of Catholic hospitals and the good work they do every day.

Interview Audio:

Interview Transcript:

Brenda Aiken (00:00):

We often hear of all of the things that the Catholic Church does not allow, especially when it comes to our Catholic hospitals, for not providing life ending procedures for the elderly or even procedures like abortion. And what is also never mentioned is all of the tremendous good that they do for the patients. Joining me today to talk a little bit about all of the good that the Catholic Church and our hospitals do is Chris Faddis. He is the CEO and Co-founder of Solidarity HealthShare. Good morning, Chris.

Chris Faddis (00:35):

Good morning. It’s great to talk to you, Brenda.

Brenda Aiken (00:37):

I love this such because we do hear all of the things, and it seems even beyond healthcare, all that people focus on is what they cannot do with regards to the faith. But when we realize, especially those of us who are in the church and our regular church goes, we understand so much better the freedoms and the reality of what it means to live a moral life. Our Catholic hospitals throughout the country, the good they do is so incredible and people don’t focus on that. Tell our listeners a little bit about really the tremendous impact Catholic hospitals have on the healthcare system.

Chris Faddis (01:16):

Yeah, I mean, I think it’s important to note that the presence and positive impact of Catholic hospitals is really difficult to ignore. While unfortunately, the far left has attacking right now Catholic hospitals for not providing these life-ending procedures such as abortion, they failed to acknowledge that really the tremendous good they do and the extent they will go to not only save a life, but to help people thrive, which is a very important part of the job of a hospital, of a health system. And these include things like pre and postnatal care. There’s lots of great evidence of many Catholic hospitals stepping in with human trafficking intervention and other ways to address disparities and infinite maternal mortality, and they’re doing a world of good. And specifically when we talk about pre and postnatal care, you’ve got to think about the standard care and just providing that.

(02:13):

But there’s also these situations where people find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, pre-birth where maybe a mother’s water breaks early pre viability, as they would say, and the extents to which a Catholic hospital will go to help save not only the mother’s life but also the child’s life. And unfortunately, many media outlets right now are out there promoting this message that Catholic hospitals have restricted women’s healthcare and they’ve hurt people. And it’s all these things, and it’s actually the opposite is true. We’ve seen situations where a child is coming to turn pre viability, and there’s a lot of things that can be done that can affect the outcome and success of that care. And we’ve seen many secular hospitals refuse to do it, even if a parent wants to save the baby’s life. We’ve seen many secular hospitals actually fight that, and yet Catholic hospitals are always willing to accept a transfer of that child and willing to do these extra things.

(03:14):

So there’s just a real reality that this life affirming ethic and the teachings of the church are inherently actually better because they are extending people’s life and they are fighting for good outcomes for all patients, not just babies and mothers, but like you said, elderly and people who are dying of serious diseases. And so there’s just a real gift there. And particular Catholic healthcare has an obligation according to church teaching, to attend to and care for the most vulnerable. And so this starts with protecting and caring for the unborn doesn’t end there. They’re also providing far more charity care and service to the poor. They’re providing a large percentage of Medicare and Medicaid services around the country. There’s even states like Oklahoma and Washington near you where they’re providing 61% of the care. That’s a massive need for what these hospitals are doing. I believe actually in Oregon, Brenda, it’s 33% of the care that they’re providing for those services.

(04:23):

But that’s a big deal. 33% of all births in Oregon are happening in Catholic hospitals. That’s a big deal. And so we’re seeing more and more of that attack when the reality is these hospitals are doing great good. While I brought up before on this program, and we’ve talked about there are some needs to encourage our Catholic hospitals not to give in to many of these kind of life denying treatments and care, and some of them are maybe doing some things we question. In large part, they’re doing the right thing, and we need to continue to encourage and promote that.

Brenda Aiken (04:56):

And of course, those numbers in Washington and Oregon directly related to Mother Joseph and the Sisters of Providence who came and founded hospitals across the Northwest. And we are still beneficiaries of the work that she’s done. And in fact, if you walked into the state capitol building in Washington state, right in the entryway, there’s a statue of Mother Joseph, because of the impact. And again, just more ways that the Catholic Church and our hospital systems are there for every single person. Chris, I know that Solidarity has a special relationship with Holy Family Catholic Clinic. Their clinic is set up to welcome every person who needs care and help regardless of their religious background or practices or even their ability to pay. So again, Solidarity is their hand in hand though to help families to share in the Ministry of Healthcare, that really is a legacy of the Catholic Church. There is always so much more to do even within our systems. But now through Solidarity, you are helping your members understand and read their healthcare bills. And now with your expertise, you’re being able to find some of these added fees for routine cares that really shouldn’t be there and tell our listeners about what’s hospitals are doing there that Solidarity is catching onto.

Chris Faddis (06:19):

Yeah, we’re seeing more and more with some of these larger, especially these larger healthcare systems and organizations that are really doing a lot to just continue to try to add ways to increase their revenue. And one of those is this new push for these facility fees that they’re adding in addition to going to the doctor, you’re getting charged an additional fee for the use of the facility. This is typically not something that’s covered under most insurance plans or under Medicare and not shareable with Solidarity. And it’s one of the things that we have to fight against often. And I guess a lot of patients, it sounds like around the country, are getting stuck with these fees and having to fight them and having really no way to get out of the fee. So that’s something that we’re well aware of. I think it’s an important piece that we need to solve for.

(07:05):

Again, we do that for our members all day long, but I think it’s one of those things that patients around the country need to be paying attention to and really, really being vigilant and fighting against. The No Surprises Act is a bill that was passed at the end of 2020 that actually is requiring hospital to publish a good chunk of their fees and the cost per service, but also requires them to give you something called a good faith estimate ahead of a scheduled procedure. It’s important to pay attention to those, to ask for those. If they don’t give you those, there’s the ability to fight against it. And that’s a feature we use often to help fight against some of these egregious over pricing,

Brenda Aiken (07:50):

Chris. Now, those are estimates that they are required to give, but if a patient, let’s say they are leaving or they’re checking out and their home trying to recover, and these bills start to come in with just a bottom line pricing, are they allowed to ask for itemized pricing from the hospital? And is the hospital required to give them a full statement that shows everything they’re being charged for?

Chris Faddis (08:13):

They are required to give it. And you do have a right to that information in several ways. One of those being under the affordable or under the HIPAA laws as well. You have a right to that information, so you can ask many there. For some reason, for the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of pushback on that, but you should ask and you should demand to get that information before you pay any bill. In fact, even I would say to people who are on an insurance plan, I would encourage them not to request that information if they’re not able to get it, because it’s an important thing to know what’s being charged for you, what’s being done, and sometimes you find things on there that weren’t done and you can contact the insurance company and let them know. It’s an important part. And one of the trade-offs we have with our members is that’s one of the things we encourage them to do. We catch a lot of it, but sometimes they’ll let us know, Hey, this wasn’t something that happened in my care, and that helps us to make sure we’re not paying for things that were unnecessary. So I think those are, yeah, it’s very important to ask for that. You do have a right to it and you should not give up if they continue saying that You do not.

Brenda Aiken (09:21):

Oh, and Chris, I can even read the bill that comes from the garage when they work on my car, so I couldn’t tell you if I got that service or not. But knowing that Solidarity Care team is looking over these bills, so that’s just another level of help that your members are getting to have somebody look and see what services they’re getting and what services they’re not getting that the hospitals are expecting them to pay for. If a person who is listening now wants to get in on that service and really talk to somebody about the ways that Solidarity can help them with their medical billing and really make that switch from traditional insurance to healthsharing ministry like Solidarity, where are they going to go?

Chris Faddis (10:03):

Visit us at solidarityhealthshare.org, solidarityhealthshare.org or call us at (844) 313-4999, and our team is there to answer all your questions and certainly walk you through how this works and whether or not it’s a good fit for your family.

Brenda Aiken (10:20):

All right, sounds good. Well, Chris, another great month talking with you. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Chris Faddis (10:27):

God bless. Thank you, Brenda, and God bless your listeners.

Brenda Aiken (10:29):

Thank you, Chris.

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Solidarity HealthShare is a non-profit healthcare sharing ministry rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Established in 2016, we operate on the Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, in accordance with the Church’s commitment to promoting life-affirming, faith-based healthcare.

We strive to provide an ethical, community-driven alternative to traditional health insurance. Through direct Member-to-Member sharing, Members are able to access quality healthcare services while preserving their family’s financial, physical, and spiritual health, all at once. Members never need to worry about their healthcare dollars funding immoral medical procedures. We promote a holistic approach to healthcare, emphasizing the importance of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

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