Solidarity Healthshare President and Co-Founder Chris Faddis joins The Sonrise Morning Show to discuss inflated pricing in healthcare. Read the transcript below or listen to the interview in full.
Matt Swain (00:00):
The Sonrise Morning Show continues. I’m Matt Swain and it’s always great to catch up with Chris Faddis, co-founder and president of Solidarity HealthShare. You hear their spots here on the Sonrise Morning Show. We’re glad for their support. Chris, good morning.
Chris Faddis (00:13):
Good morning, Matt. Great to talk to you.
Matt Swain (00:14):
I feel like every time we talk to you, there’s like 5 million things going on the news that we could possibly talk about, but one of the things that I don’t think has gotten a ton of attention is what’s been going on with Indiana and Healthcare Transparency. Tell us about it.
Chris Faddis (00:28):
Yeah, I mean, the important thing here is first of all, these legislators in Indiana have really taken to heart what’s going on in price transparency and what a lot of consumers are left with a lot of confusion about their medical billing. A lot of extra costs oftentimes left with really difficult situations that they can’t afford to come out of. And one of the most significant things they’re doing is adhering to site of service rules, making sure that there’s no surprise billing. Also, making sure that they’re publishing pricing, including labs now have to publish pricing and several other factors that will help to ensure that consumers in Indiana are protected, that they’re getting the healthcare they need without being surprised by exorbitant bills.
Matt Swain (01:18):
Well, this is such a huge issue, and it’s one that in some ways the medical industry has been able to get away with stuff that no other industry on the planet would ever be able to get away with. So let’s say you show up to the register at your grocery store with a pound of roast beef, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, and maybe a bag of oranges, and someone at the counter says, that’ll be $400. And you say, well, which thing costs $400? And they’re like, it doesn’t matter. The service that you are asking for us costs $400. And yet that’s the way that we get a lot of our medical care. A lot of people are like, well, don’t worry about what costs what in this particular line of services that you got you seeing us, the totality of it costs this amount. And I feel like it’s probably, I don’t know. It’s probably only fair that they go along with some of the other things that every other industry has to do with and say, well, this thing that we did cost this much.
Chris Faddis (02:10):
Yeah, I mean, look, it’s a good example, except there it’s even worse because it’s like you get home and two weeks later you find out you owe 400,000.
Matt Swain (02:18):
Well after, if you already bought it, yes,
Chris Faddis (02:20):
You already bought it. You don’t even have the packaging anymore to prove what you bought. And I think even the car, the auto repair industry, which is not considered to be the most upstanding, and the history of that sometimes has been not so good. Now, I’ve never had that experience of people trying to gouge me, but you hear those stories. But even in the auto repair industry, I will go today and get my oil change in the dealership, and if there’s any other work, they will give me an estimate and they will adhere to that estimate. If I choose to do the work, they won’t just do it and then send me a bill six weeks later. And I think that’s the thing that’s insane. I mean, I don’t understand. 94% of Americans say, we want you to tell us the pricing upfront. It’s hard to do.
Matt Swain (03:06):
Yeah. This might sound like you and I are just having our little Ralph Nader vent session, right? About consumer protections and all that other stuff. But when it comes down to it, what is it that we care about as Catholics? We care about the culture of life, the dignity of the human person, and who is it that suffers most when these things aren’t stated clearly, when they’re not itemized, it’s usually the elderly, right? It’s usually those with disabilities. It’s usually parents with young children who are maybe trying to figure out what’s going on with their kid who’s acting a little off and is feeling sick more than a normal kid might feel sick. These are the situations in life in which often this stuff gets piled up and piled up and piled up, and you find that, what’s the old joke that insurance is one of those things that you pay for, and then when you need to use it, you’re not allowed to have it. It’s kind of one of those things where the people who suffer are actually the people who Jesus normally points to and says, those are the least of these.
Chris Faddis (04:06):
Right? What I think a big part of it that, again, coming back to that is that the idea here is that what’s happening in the healthcare system is a loaded, inflated pricing model, which is there so that they can then give discounts and do these things to claim their tax write-offs and those things. And what happens when you have this problem where you have people that are not informed and all of a sudden they have these big bills that can’t afford is some of these hospitals are actually bankrupting these people. They’re going after ’em to the point of bankruptcy when all it was was an inflated price. So the importance of this price transparency is bringing costs to where they actually are. What are we actually needing to charge for this service, not these inflated costs, and letting people know so they can plan accordingly and take care of their needs and appropriately budget for, Hey, maybe I’m going to have to make payments to pay off this bill, but I can do that. And I think that’s the issue. These surprise billing things, what they’re doing in Indiana is certainly going to help a lot of people. But to your point, the working class and the poor will be the most affected by this, and ultimately it will create a better environment for healthcare that people can trust and they won’t avoid getting care.
Matt Swain (05:19):
And competition is always good for the market. It helps a little bit, but that being said, what are some of the things that we can look for that maybe you’re maybe encouraged by in Indiana that you hope might spread to other states? What are some of the elements of this House enrolled Act 1003?
Chris Faddis (05:37):
Yeah, I mean, I think the big thing again, comes back to this idea of publishing pricing, and we’ve already had the No Surprises Act that was passed in 2020, which did increase some transparency. Unfortunately, government hasn’t done the greatest job of enforcing it, and so a lot of hospitals have backed off of that. But I believe my is that this administration, and I think Congress are planning to take some action to continue extending that to make sure that we’re enforcing these things and asking hospitals and doctors to give these good face estimates. Those are all really good things. That’s also something I would encourage people, that it is currently federal law, that you should be getting a good faith estimate for any planned procedures and know what your out-of-pocket costs are, whether you’re insured or you’re a member of a health share or you’re a self-pay patient. And so it’s something to make sure you’re asking for. Make sure that you know what that is. If a procedure is more than 72 hours in advance, they have to give you that good faith estimate. And that’s an important thing. And I think the more we can enforce that, the more protections that we can put in place, it will make things better. And to your point, it’ll add competition and it’ll give us more opportunity to really realize we can shop around, we can find the right doctors and all of those things.
Matt Swain (06:51):
Well, I know that’s one of the things that you strive for at Solidarity Health Share, which is to try and get price transparency, and that’s one of the reasons that you’re able to get costs sometimes lower than other places might be able to get, because you actually asked what this charge was for, and not every organization that handles your healthcare asks what the cost was for. They just say either, yes, we’re going to pay for it, or No, we’re not going to pay for it. So if listeners want to maybe connect with you and see if Solidarity HealthShare is a fit for them or their family, how do they do so?
Chris Faddis (07:21):
Yeah, visit us at solidarityhealthshare.org, solidarityhealthshare.org or call us at (844) 313-4999. We’ve got a great team that’s there right now actually to answer your calls and let you know if this is a good fit for you.
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!
