Solidarity HealthShare President and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joins Matt Swaim of The Son Rise Morning Show to discuss the rising health care costs and what’s being done to manage them.

Matt Swaim (00:00):

The Son Rise Morning show continues. I’m Matt Swaim, joined out by Chris Faddis, Co-Founder and President of Solidarity Health Share. You can find them online at solidarityhealthshare.org, and we’re grateful for their support of the Son Rise Morning show. Chris, good morning.

Chris Faddis (00:13):

Good morning, Matt. Good to talk to you.

Matt Swaim (00:15):

 Yeah. So we’ve talked to you through the course of several administrations at this point and followed how Solidarity has adjusted over the years, and it seems like without fail, almost no matter what happens, healthcare costs more and more. How have you been thinking about this and processing this and trying to react to it with Solidarity?

Chris Faddis (00:34):

Yeah, I mean, the beauty for us is that we operate to the tune of a different drummer, I guess. So for us, I think what we see is what’s happening in the marketplace isn’t really affecting our members as much. And not that it doesn’t, I mean, there’s certainly some cost increases that we have to absorb and recognize, but the reality is because we take the price of a bill and we look at what the fair and just price is, we are saving such a significant amount of money that we’re able to really absorb these spikes. The other thing that’s interesting is that it’s not really healthcare costs that are increasing. It’s not like doctors are suddenly getting a hundred thousand dollars pay raises or things like that. It’s actually the delivery, the insurance premium and the bureaucracy around healthcare is what’s increasing. And so because we’re able to avoid that, we actually don’t experience it as much. And that’s been a huge blessing. But also what we’re looking at is how do we help more people? How do we get the message out to more people so they know that there are options out there for ’em?

Matt Swaim (01:40):

And this is such an important thing. I’m thinking of some of the topics and the cost related things that have come up over the course of the past year, especially. There was so much discussion about which physicians could and could not provide miscarriage care. Of course, a lot of that was saturated in lies from the pro-abortion lobby. But when it comes to those kinds of costs, I mean, people are talking more and more about, man, we need to do something about the cost of childbirth and delivery and these infant care visits. What has been Solidarity’s work on that through the course of these? Well, really since the beginning for you all, how do you prioritize that?

Chris Faddis (02:16):

Yeah, I mean, it is a big driver for us, of course, serving so many Catholic families. Pregnancy is definitely in our top three, I guess you would call it costs, but expenses that are shared by the members. And we have various ways because some hospital systems treat maternity as a massive profit center, and they build, and on one hand it’s good, they build these wonderful hospitals with great maternity wings and all these amenities, and that’s good, but then they see it as a huge cash cow, and that’s a problem. So we do everything from pre-negotiated conversations with hospitals where we say, Hey, here’s what we think is fair. And just some of them already have some good pricing that they’ll do for cash pay patients, and we’ll arrange that. And then sometimes we just have very good relationships with OBs that allows us to make sure we always obtain that cost.

(03:07):

But you know what we do, Matt, is we actually call every single mother in our ministry that is pregnant through what we call maternity care, and we have a maternity care coordinator that walks them through that whole process in order to figure out what’s the best way to do this. Because you would be amazed at some of the charges that we see come through from maternity, and actually that process of us being on the front end with it, walking with the mother and negotiating if we have to, doing what we have to do has been the smoothest way to do it and the most cost effective way to make sure that we’re sharing. Again, we have more and more pregnancies every day, which is a good thing, but we also want to make sure that that is manageable for the members.

Matt Swaim (03:48):

I was sort of joking with you as we got on that I had to go get my $200 mucus collection device. My allergies are acting up a little bit, but by that I mean a tissue, a Kleenex, right? It’s crazy how some of these hidden costs come in. But I want to hit on one other thing too, and this, I think especially because of this time of year, but also because of just how on edge people have been of late, I’ve been reading the Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt’s book, and actually everybody I know I feel like is reading that and trying to figure out how are we going to deal with the mental health crisis that seems to be brought on by information overload and all these other things. How does Solidarity try and work in mental health care as part of this? Because not all insurance plans do, and you’re different, you’re health share. So I was wondering how that works.

Chris Faddis (04:38):

Yeah. Back in 2018, we were encouraged by a bishop to add mental healthcare sharing, and most healthcare sharing ministries at the time did not share into mental health. It was just kind of considered your own personal responsibility to take care of-

Matt Swaim (04:52):

Or worse, by the way, there’s some Christians who say, well, just pray that part away. Right?

Chris Faddis (04:57):

Exactly. Exactly. And the reality is the answer is both right? The answer is one, good therapy and especially good therapy from a Catholic context where you incorporate prayer and reflection and all of that. And so we do share into that. We have both sharing for in-person visits, but we also work with a couple of wonderful practices out that do telehealth counseling as well, that are Catholic and also some Christian groups as well. And they operate from the proper understanding of human anthropology and the teaching of the church. And so they really guide people in the right way and also can incorporate prayer and how to use prayer in order to get through difficult times or crisis. And so that’s been our focus. We recently just put out a whole host of resources for our members who are dealing with porn addiction. There are so many wonderful resources out there in the church to support people going through these kinds things, and we’re really grateful to be able to plug our members into these wonderful Catholics and Christians who have dedicated their lives to that kind of service.

Matt Swaim (06:07):

If listeners want to connect with you and maybe think about if this is the year they want to try out Solidarity HealthShare, how do they do so?

Chris Faddis (06:13):

Yeah, visit us at solidarityhealthshare.org is, get all the information there, or call us eight-four-four-three one three four nine nine nine and let’s talk about it. We will help you make the right decision. We’re not here to slam it down your throat, but really to help you find that this is the right fit for your family.

Join The Movement

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.

At the heart of our ministry’s mission to restore and rebuild an authentically faith-based healthcare culture in America is the recognition that every single person has inherent human dignity. We seek to promote healthcare that honors the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.

To learn more about our community and how to join our fight against abortion on demand, click the banner below!