Thank you for this report! I work in healthcare and a few years ago became aware of the issues with Solidarity and the many complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Whenever I hear their advertisements on Catholic radio I worry that more well-meaning families will be taken advantage of.
There should be canonical rules and oversight for groups claiming to be "Catholic" who do this stuff. Catholic hospitals have to follow rules, why not healthshares?
If the Church is a "perfect society" she should act like one, and regulate herself so we don't need the government to do it for us.
"But instead of a Catholic community, they said, they found lengthy delays, poor communication, and little help navigating a complicated bureaucratic system."
I dunno, ever since I started reading the Pillar it seems like that's an apt description of any Catholic organization anywhere. Clearly these people had not yet read Ed. Condon's financial reporting.
Thank you for this reporting. We had the same experience with Solidarity (though thankfully without the big bills) and we have now switched to Samaritan. We held on for years hoping things would get better! I hope this coverage prevents others from wasting their time and money with Solidarity.
I am a Catholic, an attorney, and a member (soon-to-be ex-member) of Solidarity. I can confirm that they have been absolutely terrible to work with. Our 9-month old son died in January and now we will likely be forced to self-pay the hospital bill to prevent going into collections. The amount of incompetence there is staggering, and I'm surprised there has not been a class action lawsuit filed yet. The stories in this article, and our own personal experience, are horrifying.
My family joined solidarity in 2019 and had a baby in September 2020. The wait times were awful in mid 2020 through mid 2021. But in my experience, they have greatly improved. We had to pay out of pocket many times, unfortunately. At one point solidarity owed us over 3000 for medical bills we paid ourselves to avoid collections. But they DID reimburse. It was not at all ideal and difficult at times (probably impossible for some individuals) but they have worked with us and really gained my (formerly wavering) trust over the last 6-12 months.
And now my wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at 4 weeks pregnant. Thanks to solidarity we have had a ton of flexibility on which providers to use and as an additional consolation, it’s been really great to have kindness and prayers offered profusely with every phone call.
All of the company’s struggles strike me as very understandable in a rapidly growing business. Again, not ideal, but understandable.
Also worth noting that traditional health insurances can come with their own battles to get things covered. They are going hard after profits and want to spend as little as possible to help you. This whole story is just far more gray than I think it is being presented.
My family and I have been members of the Catholic health sharing ministry CMF Curo, which partners with Samaritan, for about six years. My experience with them has been stellar and I would highly recommend them. When I was being treated for breast cancer in 2017-18 they were so helpful and I paid a lot less out of pocket overall than a friend who had standard health insurance for his cancer treatment. The only problem we had was that the business office of the oncologist refused to start my chemotherapy unless I paid $2000 up front before each IV chemo treatment because they had never dealt with a health sharing ministry before and didn't know if they would be paid. Everyone sent in their shares and I was reimbursed and paid all my bills for chemo, surgery and radiation. I also received wonderful phone calls from CMF Curo on a regular basis, asking how I was, if I needed help and reminding me that I was being prayed for daily. I received so many cards with promises of prayer from members who sent me their monthly shares. The Catholic hospital where I had my surgery and frequent labs gave me an immediate 50% discount on EVERYTHING as a cash paying patient (since that is how this all works). I love CMF CURO/Samaritan. They got me through a very difficult time. And praise God, I just got a clean bill of health from my oncologist this week! CMF Curo/Samaritan has this health sharing thing down pat. Check them out!
Thanks for commissioning this article. My wife and I had a very negative experience with Solidarity. Everything in this article resonates. Manual entry errors, delays, poor customer service. And we gave them the benefit of the doubt for far too long. We left solidarity over a year ago but we are still dealing with unpaid bills that went to collections. We are very happy not to be affiliated with them anymore.
Thank you for this report! I work in healthcare and a few years ago became aware of the issues with Solidarity and the many complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Whenever I hear their advertisements on Catholic radio I worry that more well-meaning families will be taken advantage of.
There should be canonical rules and oversight for groups claiming to be "Catholic" who do this stuff. Catholic hospitals have to follow rules, why not healthshares?
If the Church is a "perfect society" she should act like one, and regulate herself so we don't need the government to do it for us.
"But instead of a Catholic community, they said, they found lengthy delays, poor communication, and little help navigating a complicated bureaucratic system."
I dunno, ever since I started reading the Pillar it seems like that's an apt description of any Catholic organization anywhere. Clearly these people had not yet read Ed. Condon's financial reporting.
Thank you for this reporting. We had the same experience with Solidarity (though thankfully without the big bills) and we have now switched to Samaritan. We held on for years hoping things would get better! I hope this coverage prevents others from wasting their time and money with Solidarity.
Has anyone reported them to the FTC? If not, here is the link:
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
And here’s a link to file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s office:
https://www.azag.gov/complaints/consumer
I am a Catholic, an attorney, and a member (soon-to-be ex-member) of Solidarity. I can confirm that they have been absolutely terrible to work with. Our 9-month old son died in January and now we will likely be forced to self-pay the hospital bill to prevent going into collections. The amount of incompetence there is staggering, and I'm surprised there has not been a class action lawsuit filed yet. The stories in this article, and our own personal experience, are horrifying.
My family joined solidarity in 2019 and had a baby in September 2020. The wait times were awful in mid 2020 through mid 2021. But in my experience, they have greatly improved. We had to pay out of pocket many times, unfortunately. At one point solidarity owed us over 3000 for medical bills we paid ourselves to avoid collections. But they DID reimburse. It was not at all ideal and difficult at times (probably impossible for some individuals) but they have worked with us and really gained my (formerly wavering) trust over the last 6-12 months.
And now my wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at 4 weeks pregnant. Thanks to solidarity we have had a ton of flexibility on which providers to use and as an additional consolation, it’s been really great to have kindness and prayers offered profusely with every phone call.
All of the company’s struggles strike me as very understandable in a rapidly growing business. Again, not ideal, but understandable.
Also worth noting that traditional health insurances can come with their own battles to get things covered. They are going hard after profits and want to spend as little as possible to help you. This whole story is just far more gray than I think it is being presented.
My family and I have been members of the Catholic health sharing ministry CMF Curo, which partners with Samaritan, for about six years. My experience with them has been stellar and I would highly recommend them. When I was being treated for breast cancer in 2017-18 they were so helpful and I paid a lot less out of pocket overall than a friend who had standard health insurance for his cancer treatment. The only problem we had was that the business office of the oncologist refused to start my chemotherapy unless I paid $2000 up front before each IV chemo treatment because they had never dealt with a health sharing ministry before and didn't know if they would be paid. Everyone sent in their shares and I was reimbursed and paid all my bills for chemo, surgery and radiation. I also received wonderful phone calls from CMF Curo on a regular basis, asking how I was, if I needed help and reminding me that I was being prayed for daily. I received so many cards with promises of prayer from members who sent me their monthly shares. The Catholic hospital where I had my surgery and frequent labs gave me an immediate 50% discount on EVERYTHING as a cash paying patient (since that is how this all works). I love CMF CURO/Samaritan. They got me through a very difficult time. And praise God, I just got a clean bill of health from my oncologist this week! CMF Curo/Samaritan has this health sharing thing down pat. Check them out!
Thanks for commissioning this article. My wife and I had a very negative experience with Solidarity. Everything in this article resonates. Manual entry errors, delays, poor customer service. And we gave them the benefit of the doubt for far too long. We left solidarity over a year ago but we are still dealing with unpaid bills that went to collections. We are very happy not to be affiliated with them anymore.