Numerous right-wing media figures and outlets helped promote Liberty HealthShare, a health care organization that allegedly scammed its members and saddled thousands of them with debt. The promoters include Newsmax, the Daily Caller, Matt Schlapp, Hugh Hewitt, and Dennis Prager.
The right-wing media push for Liberty HealthShare is another instance of conservatives helping swindle their followers for profit. For other examples, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On February 25, ProPublica released an extensive investigation of Liberty HealthShare headlined, “A Christian Health Nonprofit Saddled Thousands With Debt as It Built a Family Empire Including a Pot Farm, a Bank and an Airline.”
Reporters Ryan Gabrielson and J. David McSwane found that the nonprofit, which is known as a health care sharing ministry, promised members “no red tape, lower costs and compassion for the sick.” Instead, Liberty HealthShare devastated the lives of “thousands of members” by leaving many “members struggling with millions of dollars in medical debt” through alleged fraud and self-enrichment.
Others, including HBO’s John Oliver and The New York Times, have also examined the organization’s scammy practices over the years.
By contrast, right-wing media outlets have been enthusiastic promoters of Liberty HealthShare since it was founded in 2014. Here are numerous examples:
Matt Schlapp is a right-wing commentator and chair of the American Conservative Union who helps oversee the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. (In January, The Daily Beast reported that “a staffer for Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign” alleged that Schlapp “made ‘sustained and unwanted and unsolicited’ sexual contact with him.”) ProPublica reported that “Liberty spent more than $200,000 a year between 2017 and 2021 to be a top sponsor at CPAC,” where multiple Liberty HealthShare representatives including then-chairman Dale Bellis have spoken.
Schlapp himself tweeted in 2018: “My sister joined @SharingLHS because out of control #Obamacare premiums prevented her from choosing a plan that worked for what her family needed. After you hear Dale Bellis at #CPAC2018, you’ll want to consider making the switch, too.”
CPAC’s Twitter account is also filled with promotions of Liberty HealthShare:
