Solidarity HealthShare President and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joins The BS Show to discuss the 2026 healthcare forecast and what’s looking bright on the horizon. 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 Health Share, which is an ethical, affordable alternative to traditional health insurance and is faithful to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Chris, we’re going to talk about healthcare, but before we do that, I got to ask you this because it’s Christmas. So I want you to go back in your memory banks and tell me, was there a best Christmas present you got as a kid? Do you remember what it is? And I’m asking others about this too.

Chris Faddis (00:33):

Yeah, it wasn’t a radio flyer. It wasn’t a BB gun. Gosh.

Bob Sansevere (00:38):

Well, let me tell you mine while you think of yours.

Chris Faddis (00:41):

It has to be-

Bob Sansevere (00:41):

Oh, go ahead.

Chris Faddis (00:42):

Okay. It was the original Nintendo.

Bob Sansevere (00:46):

Oh, nice.

Chris Faddis (00:47):

Not the Nintendo 64, the original, the very first Nintendo. That was, I don’t know, it was probably 1988, 1987. I don’t know

Bob Sansevere (00:56):

When it was. Were you the first kid on your block to have one?

Chris Faddis (00:59):

Oh, well, probably in my apartment complex at the time.

Bob Sansevere (01:02):

Very neat.

Chris Faddis (01:03):

And I had to share it with my brother and we played … Remember the power pad?

Bob Sansevere (01:08):

Oh yeah.

Chris Faddis (01:09):

We played that. I’m surprised that we didn’t get more complaints because we were on the second floor hanging that floor with that power pad all the time. And then Mike Tyson’s punch out. We played that nonstop.

Bob Sansevere (01:23):

Well, one of the ones, I was an adult at the time, but there’s a game that I got and my wife, when she couldn’t find me, she’d know to come downstairs and it was an extra bedroom. I would play it with friends of mine. We would play NBA Jam. Boom Chakalaka, if you remember that. I just loved that game. That was not a Christmas present though. My all time favorite was, what was I, like 12? 11 or 12. I got a Schwinn bike with the sissy bar and the high handlebars.

Chris Faddis (01:55):

Nice.

Bob Sansevere (01:55):

It was just this great color of blue. And I kicked myself. There’s a place in town where I live. The guy does it, he refurbishes bicycles and he had one. It was not the blue, but it was like a brown color and it was identical to it. And I should have bought it, but the fact that it wasn’t blue, what I should have said is, “Can you paint it blue?”

Chris Faddis (02:21):

Yeah,

Bob Sansevere (02:21):

Really. To have been that.

Chris Faddis (02:22):

Well, because the old school Schwinn was a totally different bike.

Bob Sansevere (02:25):

Oh God,

Chris Faddis (02:25):

Yes. Yeah. Oh man.

Bob Sansevere (02:27):

I don’t even know if Schwinn makes … They still make bikes, right?

Chris Faddis (02:30):

Well, I think they make them in China or something. They’re not the same. They’re not the quality they used to be. You know what I mean?

Bob Sansevere (02:35):

Well, I will say a few years ago, when I have it, I’d gone to the same place and I bought a vintage. I would look silly riding the one that I got as an 11 year old, but I got a Schwinn that had the big tires. It was like one of them that was like, it’s off road and on road. And I got it so that when I go to my daughter’s barrel racing events, that I could get around easier and not have to walk a mile. So I had that, but then I decided, wait a minute, they have these things called eScooters that I wound up getting. I got one of those that it was made to carry your golf bag, three wheels. The thing goes 15 miles an hour. My bike has not gotten much use because it’s a lot easier to step on that thing and spiff around.

(03:25):

So anyway, but I digress. We started off, we’re supposed to talk about healthcare. Let’s talk a little bit about that because going into the new year, there’s a lot of people wondering what is happening. And this is not good news if you’re one of the nearly half Americans who worry they can’t afford healthcare. And they’re worrying about that. A West Health Gallup survey said it’s the highest level recorded since the organizations began tracking in 2021. And I mean, how bad is this with like affordable healthcare? I know that Congress, the House has passed something to basically get rid of the Affordable Care Act, but they need the Senate to do it. Senate broke. It won’t happen until early next year that they even discuss it, but they need Democratic help. I don’t think they’re going to get it. Do you?

Chris Faddis (04:17):

I don’t think they’re going to get it. Not around that bill. I mean, that bill solves some problems. It doesn’t solve all of them. Here’s the problem, Bob. Keeping the subsidy doesn’t solve it either. I mean, we know that premiums are going up with or without the subsidy. I think a lot of people mistakenly are thinking that it’s just because the subsidies are going away for some of the folks that get them. But the reality is that the prices went up no matter what. All that the subsidy does is cover the extra cost of the prices of insurance. And plans, whether they’re Affordable Care Act plans, employer plans or individual plans just on the open market are up, like up 60 to 100% up. (Geez.) We have a broken system. So it is going to take a massive change. The idea Trump had of saying, “Hey, let’s take the subsidy money and give it directly to Americans.” It’s a decent one, but at the same time, it continues to inflate a market.

(05:14):

As soon as you get free money away, you and I are both business people. We up our price because we know people have free money and not be Solidarity, but that’s what people do.

Bob Sansevere (05:24):

If there was a way to force it into an HSA or some sort of a health savings plan, that would be one thing, but people are just going to spend it. I mean, you see online, because I’m online a lot and I have seen a ton of these things. And usually it’s women fighting with someone at the Louis Vuitton store at some Coach store that they won’t take their, what is it? EBF-

Chris Faddis (05:48):

EBT or something.

Bob Sansevere (05:50):

Right, EBT card to buy them.

Chris Faddis (05:52):

Yeah, there’s going to be massive abuse of it and all of those things. And I think those are options. At the end of the day, we’ve subsidized a very broken financial model and we have to stop it. So they will come up with some solution. There will be some changes. I think what’s clear is we’re not going to get the expanded subsidies, which is what allowed people make it up to $400,000 a year to get free money from the government, which is a good thing. You and I should not be paying that bill. Except if you’re in Minnesota. You and I are not paying that bill. We both chose to take health sharing and do it the right way instead of taking money from the government. So we’re saving the government money.

Bob Sansevere (06:29):

I was going to say-

Chris Faddis (06:30):

Hopefully that’ll change.

Bob Sansevere (06:32):

I snidely say except in Minnesota where fraud is rampant. (Oh gosh.) Hopefully they get a handle on that. Anyway, I digress yet again. Let me ask this. President Trump said he is going to … Have you noticed, I mean, have pharmaceutical prices or has drug prices come down or how long before that takes effect? Because he claims it’s going to happen.

Chris Faddis (06:55):

Yeah, they’re coming down for sure at some level. I mean, what’s happening right now is there’s been a lot of deals brokered with specific pharmaceutical manufacturers to bring down pricing. And of course they’re scrambling. I’ve yet to see how it affects the direct consumer. Obviously they have this Trump RX thing they did, which is essentially like a GoodRX kind of program. You can go find the cheapest prices. It’s no better than what we do with our pharmacy program, but it is an option for all Americans, which is a good idea. So you are seeing some of that come down. But like for instance, I think Eliquis announced that it’s going to be free for Medicare. My question is, what does that mean for the consumer? Did the price go up for the direct consumer that gets it through their pharmacy plan? At the cost of Medicare, because that doesn’t necessarily help all Americans.

(07:48):

So it’ll be interesting to see what comes. But the good news is they have woken up, Bob. They’ve realized that the game is up. There’s some of the big PBMs that are a big part of the cost aggregators that are a big part of the problem with pharmacy are starting to take major hits from employers and other groups that are dropping them. So it’s working at some level. I don’t know if it’s hit the consumer yet, but I think it will.

Bob Sansevere (08:12):

All right. Now we got to mention about Solidarity HealthShare. Solidarityhealthshare.org is a place to find it. Great alternative to what we’ve been talking about, traditional healthcare coverage. You will find that it’s not anywhere near as expensive as your monthly and what you would have to pay out of pocket is a fraction. And it’s worth looking into, a fraction of what you’d be paying with traditional healthcare. And my family and I, we’ve been members for a number of years and you have a set up a model that works for people and it’s worth, if you haven’t looked into it, look into it. And especially this time of year, solidarityhealthshare.org is the place to go. And you don’t go through a maze of different, like you call a phone number, hit this, hit that. There’s none of that. You’ll get to a person really quick. And obviously you’re one of the co-founders.

(09:02):

Chris, you set this up and it’s working for people. And like every month you’re like adding another layer to make it even easier and more user-friendly to be a member.

Chris Faddis (09:11):

Absolutely. And Bob, I would encourage people, I mean right now, especially if they’re looking because they’re losing their coverage or whatever it is that they have on their insurance, just join. You join your same day, you’re a member for the first of the next month, let us help you. You can always cancel. It’s a 30-day cancellation notice, but we want you to be a member and we can help you and we’re going to definitely save you a lot of money.

Bob Sansevere (09:33):

And they would do that even if it wasn’t Christmas. This is a gift to you year round.

Chris Faddis (09:38):

It’s Christmas all the time at Solidarity!

Bob Sansevere (09:41):

 That’s a great one, Chris. It’s Christmas every day at Solidarity. All right, Chris, thanks so much. Have a wonderful Christmas. Take a quick break. The BS Show’ll be right back.