Health and Wellness Show 01-04-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Good morning and welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
That's down time for the Health and Wellness Show here
on one O three point five FM and five sixty AMWVOC, our.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
First show of the new year.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
We'll be talking to John Farley and Matthew Terry in
a few minutes about those New Year's resolutions. Have you
heard of too many of them? Resolution is about getting
your financial house in order, getting prepared for retirement, even
if you're already in retirement. These guys can help. We'll
talk about it. We'll also sit down with Jim Snell
from the law office of James Snell the next half hour. Now,
we had a conversation a few weeks back with Jeff

(00:45):
Howell and still no resolution to all this. This was
the big falling out between that and election Medical Center
and again some folks who are on Medicare advantage plans
are having to make changes here because of it. And
we wanted to replay this conversation this morning because a
very vital information here. Some things you need to know
about that if you find yourself in this situation. So

(01:06):
let's do that now with a Jeff how our friend
from Health Markets.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Jeff, good morning, Good morning Gary.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
So what's I guess recently we just found out that
there's a parting of the ways between what ATNA and
lex and to medical center.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Is that right?

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Unfortunately, that is correct. So this is really the first
time in a very long time, as long as I
can remember, that insurance company and a hospital have part
of ways after the Medicare annuine roma ended. So essentially,
you know, October fifteenth December seventh is an annual enrollment

(01:40):
when people on Medicare can choose their Medicare advantage plan
for the next year. Yeah, and during that time, of course,
we had we had assurances from ETNA and Lexa Medical
Center frankly that ATNA Medicare advantage was not part of
the contract negotiations. We had heard rumblings that the group

(02:03):
side or the commercial side, if they were that they
were negotiating as the February first contract. They didn't know
if at the Group Health would still be a network
on February one, but they said no problem with the
Medicare advantage side, no worries on the Medicare advantage side,
and lo and behold. On December eleventh, that changed, and

(02:27):
letters went out and posts were made on people's my
chart account who have lex And Medical Center as their
doctors that at the Medicare advantage may not be in
network come February first, and so essentially it might be
time to start looking for other plan options. So, which
is a shot to all of us.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Frankly, so you've got you've got customers and folks you know,
all across this area had had taken advantage of the
EDNA on the advantage plan, only to find out then
after the fact that yet, no, hah.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
That's correct. And that was very disappointing, I must say,
because luckily we're not taping this on December eleventh. You
probably would not have I would not have been a
very good mood since, but I certainly was. I was.
I was not very happy with my ETNA representatives who
had assured me that Medicare was not not in play

(03:20):
in these contract negotiations, because you know what I told them,
and the way I feel is that you know, senior citizens,
and you know, of course, especially in our community who
we care about here in Lexing County, they should not
be used as palms and negotiations, right, and that's exactly
what's being and that's exactly how they're being used. You know,

(03:41):
so at from you know, taking medical Center's word, what
they're what they told me, and what was actually in
writing is that at the eleventh hour, you know, or
essentially you know, right after open ROLLMA ended around December.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Tenth, past midnight in lardship.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Right past midnight at an upholled pulled the Medicare advantage
from Lexington or they essentially reduce their fees so much
they included the Medicare advantage as part as the negotiations,
essentially saying, okay, if you want to sign a if
you want to agree to our fees on the group
commercial side, then we're going to reduce our fees on

(04:18):
the Medicare advantage side so much that you're going to
lose the Medicare advantage.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, so this is a bargaining chappee, yeah, because that
was the original rub was the commercial side, right and correct.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
So that's very disappointing, very disappointing. But luckily there is
a law and that's called the open Enrollment which lasts
tween January one to March thirty one, which which actually
you know, this this situation was in mind as other situations.
So a person on a Medicare advantage plan can make

(04:49):
a one time change. So my January is getting booked
up with all my clients because I've already told them,
let's go ahead and get on the calendar in January.
And if this, if this contract does not get resolved
and we're going to we're going to make a change
for February first. So luckily ATNA is still in network
with lex and Medical Centers until February first. So everyone

(05:11):
who has at a Medicare advantage plan, okay, they're going
to be in network in January. But if we need
to make a change to someone that is in network,
which as a Blue Cross Blue Shields of South Carolina, then
we'll do. So I'm on February one and and that's
then now we'll pay that price for what's happened.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
So so what what is your what's your thought on this? Jeff?

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Now, if if this were me and you know, I
had signed up for Medicare advantage with that NAH, and
I come to find out this news, and I come
sit down with you next month and you say, well, okay,
now Edna's back in, you can still.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Make the change or not, you can still make the change.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Most people would right they're going to be ticked off
enough to say, well, the heck with you, ed, Now
I'm going somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
That may just happen. Now if you can pick a day,
but before I meet with let's say that I'm meeting
with a client on January thirty first, right, and before
that day at an elected medical center, made an agreement.
You know, what we do is what we always do
with our clients. We'll look at the doctors, we'll look
at the prescriptions, we'll look at the benefits, and we'll

(06:17):
put I'll put my client on the best plan for them.
But if a client, but let's say two companies are equals,
let's say is equal to company Company B in almost
every way, then if a client says, I'm done with that,
and then well I can't hold them against them for
making that decision, frankly.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Right, No, huh huh.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Well, there's been a rash of these recently. It seems
like this is like the third one in the last
maybe year or less.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
That's true. You know, we still have Humanity and MUSC
not a network, so that that never got resolved. And
then last year it was Prisma United Healthcare, which got
resolved on April one, twenty twenty four. But as we
talked about in the past, these are getting unfortunately more
and more common as these national for profit insurance companies,

(07:10):
they're beholden to their shareholders right to make as much
profit as possible so their stock goes up. They want
to pay these our hospitals, our local hospitals here in
the Midlands as little as possible, and so in these
hospitals don't have much leverage or much tools to fight
back with other than saying, well, you just want to

(07:31):
be in network with our hospital.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
So how how popular is the plan here? I mean,
would I'm just guessing here that maybe the Blue Cross
Blue Shield when it comes to the advantage plan is
maybe the most popular on this area.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
I would say there's I would say there's four in
this area that are very popular, and almost equally so
United Healthcare, Humana at non Blue Cross that has a
very large market share in Lexin County, very large. And
so there are many people I'm sure listening to the
show who have a Medicare Advantage ID card in their pocket,

(08:08):
and so it's it's very disappointing that this would happen
After December seventh, I certainly didn't see it coming, and
you know, the rumbling on the commercial side concerned me.
But when I get assurances from all parties and writing
that Medicare Avane is not part of the negotiation, you know,

(08:30):
it really puts an egg on certainly a lot of
people's faces, and it's very disappointing.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Right, absolutely, Just curious now because you mentioned that. So,
but this does allow folks between January one and I
think you said March thirty one to make a one
time that's a one time change for this calendar year.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Correct, that's twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Okay, correct, if you blowed just to make any more changes, Okay,
just listen, what would have happened or could this have happened?
Would have had to had come down April one and
said we're pulling out.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
What would happen?

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yes, that would have been. That would have probably been.
That's probably the worst case scenario because at that at
that point in time, a person has no really I
guess way to make a change from one carrier to
another carrier. We would have to maybe you know, talk
to Medicare and see if any special exception would be

(09:24):
allowed under that circumstance. I've never seen that happen. However,
I've never seen that happen on December eleventh. Yeah, so
I can I would. I would say in the past, oh,
that's not possible, but now I can't say that because
now it seems like anything is possible.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
You know.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I'm never one to h to ask for, you know,
government intervention as much of anything, but it would seem
like there ought to be some kind of a law
that would have proved that would prohibit an insurance company
from pulling the stunt like that. After that, you know,
grace period is over all, right.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
And that's something you know. I work with a group
of insurance professionals. We go to Washington every February, and
this is definitely going to be a top of the list,
these contract negotiations and these changes and how how our
clients are being used as polling these negotiations, and how
something definitely needs to be done.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Absolutely Okay, So again to recap, if you're holding a
net in a card and your your in network at
election to medical center, you won't be after what in
the January correct February one, as of February one, and again,
what you hope is that somebody's not sitting out there
and not aware of this. Do they get notification from

(10:39):
ETNA or election to medical center.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Leason Medical Center has been very good about notifying its clients.
They posted it on their my chart in the morning
of December eleventh, and then letters went out right after that.
So patients should have either one or two ways, either
read it on their my chart computer or their app
on their phone, or received a letter in the mail.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, you know, there's gonna be somebody out there who
just totally misses all that right, and they're going to
get a rude awakening.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
That's true. That's true, but it's well, we try to
get the word out as much as we can, certainly,
and talk to our clients, and you know it, and
it may get resolved, it may not, but either way,
we want to We want our clients to be prepared,
and certainly we welcome people who are not our clients.
We'd be happy to meet with you in January and

(11:27):
look at all the options. You know, it's it's disappointing
that is happening, but we'll do the best we can
to help and help as many people as we can.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Certainly, And of course that's always free, right.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yes, my my, My services are free, so do not
cost anything. And I'm glad to help.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Do you recall another time in the in the span
of less of a year that we've had not one
or two, but three different situations like this?

Speaker 3 (11:52):
No, this is very unusual, for sure, and I hope
it's not a trend for the future.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah right, okay, Well, something else going on, and although
help me understand this. So the open marketplace enrollment period
into December fifteenth, but not really.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Or that's a good point. So it's interesting how they
do the commercials with Healthcare dot Go. They push everyone.
They extended it actually to December eighteenth, but eventually the
commercials were pushing people to December fifteenth, which is a Sunday,
and then because it fell on a Sunday, they extended

(12:30):
the open AROLLMA for January first coverage to December eighteenth.
And of course, now we're talking about people under sixty five,
people who are on the individual marketplace for individual health insurance. However,
that is not the deadline. So the true deadline is
January fifteen.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
January fifteenth, okay, So.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Anyone who would get the policy between December nineteenth and
January fifteenth will have a February first effective date. So,
like anything in life healthcare, I knows that action. You know,
deadlines breed action, right, So they're pushing everyone to the
first deadline, then the second deadline December eighteenth, and now

(13:11):
you'll see commercials and radio ass pushing everyone to get
enrolled by January fifteenth, which is the true drop dead deadline.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Okay, yeah, Now, of course you have options here. I
mean you can go on the government website. But again
keep in mind it's a government website. They're not always
the easiest to navigate.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
It is probably the trickiest website I've ever been one
that it is very tricky. And I have many clients
that have come to me and they have been on there,
and they've tried and tried and they put all their
information in time and time again, and keep getting one
thousand dollars a month premiums. And they come to me
and I show them a premium of one hundred and

(13:58):
fifty dollars. You know, it's just because it's tricky how
how the subsidies are applied, and how what questions you
have to answer exactly the right way to get the
subsidies at a person or their family. Absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
In other words, even even if you were to charge
somebody in this instance, you know, eight hundred and fifty
dollars for your expert advice, they'd pay that off.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
In a month.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
I wouldn't do that.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
But but you know, you don't charge them. You don't
try to folks anything. It's absolutely free, sir.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
But yeah, yeah, I appreciate the analogy, but yeah, my
services are free. But yeah, I think it's just it's
the way the website's written and the questions they ask
are not defined well. And so you know, if someone's asked,
for example, you know, are you offered an HRA? Well,
you know these acronyms people people don't know what they mean.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
I have to ask you what that meant. I have
no idea, right and.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
So exactly, so you answer yes to the wrong question
and your subsidies knocked out, and then you know you've
got you got this gigant, big price staring you in
the face, and you have no idea what to do.
So I'm always glad to help people with healthcare dot
go and get them individual health insurance. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Now, just a quick question here before we wrap things up.
Let's say we're in a situation someone has maybe a
spouse who is working and has coverage to their employer,
but you know, you start adding on, you know, family
members and stuff. It gets at outrageous. Can that spouse
who's not employed go on the open marketplace or they

(15:34):
or is that going to be so?

Speaker 4 (15:34):
No?

Speaker 1 (15:34):
No, I'm sorry, your spouse has coverage their employee. Gotta
go with that.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
Luckily, that law changed in twenty twenty three. So used
to be the old way that if one person was
offered group health insurance, that essentially knocked the whole family
out of subsidies, which makes the health insurance affordable in
the individual marketplace. But starting January one or twenty three,
now on the employee actually now only the employee has

(16:01):
to stay with their group health plan, and spouse and
dependents can now shop open marketplace and get sub to
the these and get affordable health insurance.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Okay, okay, And what I mean what's the average? And
I always hate asking this question because it's so many
variables involved, I know, but I mean, the average subsidy
for the average person, you know, gets this this coverage
down to about what range in any given month I mean.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah, you're right there. There are so many variables,
but essentially, I'd say the average customer mine pays around
two hundred dollars a month for their health insurance, if
I had to put an average on it.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
And we certainly know that if you've ever covered a
spouse on your employee health plan, it's going to be
probably a lot more than that.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yes, usually it is absolutely.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Okay, so does January fifteenth deadline for that. So keep
that in mind. And again, as we started talking about originally,
if you're on Medicare advantage in ATNA, then they call
this guy right here and and go over and sit
down and talk to him by the end of January,
certainly before then, to see what your options are.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
That's right. We'll be here our office right beside the
flight deck restaurant, health markets and glad to take walks
and clad to set appointments and help people and make
sure they're not left out in the cold after February first.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
All right, So eight three six seven eight eight one
two one right, six seven eight eight one one And
your website is your name?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Right?

Speaker 5 (17:30):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Www dot j E. F. F. Howle dot com.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
All right, Jeff, thanks so much, buddy.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
Here, Hi, this is John Farling. Now let me ask you,
is your retirement inflation proofed?

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Here's what I mean.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
In retirement chances are you run a fixed income with
variable expenses. So how do you not run out of
money when the cost of just about everything continues to
go up?

Speaker 6 (17:54):
You inflation proof it.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
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Call us today at ATO three nine retire to learn more.
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can go from being a major disruption to just a

(18:17):
minor annoyance.

Speaker 6 (18:19):
Call the team at ATO three nine.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
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Speaker 7 (18:36):
The hunt for quality insurance is more important than ever,
and with Jeff Howell and the team at Health Markets
and Lexington finding that perfect plan is easier than ever,
whether health or medicare insurance. Let the experts guide you
toward ease of mind at a healthier future. And who
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all the grunt work for you. They make the calls,

(18:57):
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plan that fits your needs. Best of all, their help
is at no cost to you. They work with nationally
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looking for.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
So whether you're self employed or in a small.

Speaker 7 (19:13):
Business, an individual or seeking a family plan, they have
you covered literally from head to toe. Called Jeff Howell
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eight one two one, or visit Jeffhowel dot com that's
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(19:35):
right insurance for you.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Now we're back on the Health and Wellness Show on
one oh three point five FM and five sixty am
WVOC this first weekend of the brand new year, and
John Farley Matthew Terry now step it up to the
microphone from preservation specialists Happy New Year to both of
you guys.

Speaker 8 (20:12):
Happy New Year, Gary, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Now, this is that time of the year when we're
all excited, right we all. Yeah, I've heard very little
talk about resolutions for some reason this year.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
I don't know why. You is it just me?

Speaker 6 (20:23):
That's a good point. I agree with that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
In fact, at work, people are saying to make resolutions.
There's only one person there who did. Everybody else was like, no,
I'm I'm doing lifestyle adjustments, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right, Yeah, I hadn't thought about it just now. I
mean I have heard nobody talk about resolutions. Yeah, year,
Yeah huh. But you know we're not in this case.
We're not talking about a resolution, you know, to get
back into the gym or whatever, YadA, YadA, YadA. But
you know a lot of times, first of the year people,
this is the year I'm going to do it whatever
it is. In this case, is this the year you're

(20:58):
going to properly plan for your financial future? And I'm
sure a lot of people are, Yeah, this will and
then you know by the time we recon mean it
a couple of weeks, so'll I've forgotten all about it. Right,
But we're wearing. You guys are here to get people
fired up about doing just that.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing you think about it.
I know this this is a weird thing. But you know,
we're reading this article the other day, and and and
people were you know that the person of this article
said people spend more time planning for their vacations than
they do for retirement. You know, it's really and and
and I think it has something to do with how

(21:35):
our brains are hardwired in the sense that we can
see something in the nearer term, and we can make
plans and we can make adjudged you know, that sort
of thing. But to think for thirty years, you know,
or it's just it's it's just it's.

Speaker 6 (21:49):
A little it's hard to do, Yeah, it is.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
So that's I think that's part of the reason for that,
that our brains are not wired to think in those terms.
But what what that also causes By not doing that,
that can cause you know, uneasiness, unsettledness, on knowing, YadA, YadA, YadA. Right,
Whereas you know, it's good to have peace of mind
because that that that really helps in everything in life. Right,

(22:13):
So if you can if you can set set up
a plan in place that you walk away say okay,
I'm good. So anyway, that's what we do. And also
something to consider. You know, a lot of times when
people talk about the financial planning, it's all about returns, returns, returns.
You know, am I am I getting the most returns
on my money? Which is that that's an important thing

(22:35):
during a certain phases of one's life. But you know,
there are a lot of economists, a lot of people
who write about the idea that returns are really only
one factor, and what can be more important is how
you allocate, how you plan where you take your money
from from different buckets in retirement, how you how you
strategize on the taxes that you'll pay. I mean, there's

(22:57):
a lot more to it than just you know, my
stock growing as much as Nvidia, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
So yeah, and Matthew, that's did you get Some folks
you run to every now and then have the opposite problem.
They keep looking thirty years down there, they don't look
at today.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, And you know, well, that's it's good to plan ahead,
but you got to every down to stop smell roses.

Speaker 8 (23:19):
Right, You're you're absolutely right.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
You know it like help you guys do too, you
encourage your clients do just that.

Speaker 8 (23:26):
You're spot on. We have some clients who are on
one end of the spectrum and they want to save
every last dollar and not let it go. And then
we have others who possibly just spend way too much right,
and we have to reel those in. So as we
all know, life is always about finding the balance. And
as John mentioned, you know, success is not always defined
by achieving a specific rate of return. It's truly it's

(23:48):
all defined by achieving your goals. And everyone has different goals.
Everyone has different things they're looking to accomplish, and everyone's
situation is a little bit different. As people come into
our office, they sit down, they speak to us. Our
job is to uncover, Hey, what are you truly looking
to accomplish? And please tell me a little bit about
your background. That could be things such as longevity within

(24:08):
your family. You know, maybe you know all of your
grandparents have lived to be one hundred, one hundred and five.
I mean, if that's the case, there's no promise that
you live to be one hundred or one oh five.
Absolutely be in our planning. We surely want to make
sure that you have enough funds to at least take
you that far out. Okay, on the flip side of that,
if maybe someone says, hey, everyone in my family typically

(24:32):
passed away within their mid seventies, and maybe they have
a million dollars for example, well, we're certainly going to say, well,
we want to make sure we keep some money back.
But at the same time, we're going to encourage you
to spend and enjoy, right, because as we all know,
you can't take it with you, right, So we want
to find a balance. We want to coach you through
that and at the end of the day make you
have peace of mind regarding whatever decision you know, you

(24:53):
decide to move forward with.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
We have this idea that most people when they are
would be asked, Okay, what what are your goals in retirement?
It's to travel, is to do this, is to do that.
Not everybody fits that bill, certainly, but you know, for
those that do, well, I hope you started planning early.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
I guess, right, And it's never too early.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
No, it's not.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
And that's that's really a big thing to discuss, is
that is that if you start, you know, if you
start a couple of years early, you're way better off
than if you start a couple of years too late.
You know, just to do this planning, and then part
of that is also involved in Okay, so we work
with some folks who I would say, uh, you know,

(25:39):
just just a couple of different folks I met with
in the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (25:43):
One one woman I met with, I was like, girl,
you got to spend your money. You got to go
and do your thing, because you know that the two
worst things in retirement. One is you run out, but
the second is the end up with a big pile
at the end and that you you know, you didn't
do the things that you wanted to do.

Speaker 6 (25:58):
So you know, again.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
It's it's it's a balance of different circumstances. But again,
if you if you have the plan in place, you
can then make those assessments. I mean, I remember it
was a couple of years back, I met with this
guy and his wife and I said, you, you understand,
at the rate that you're spending right now, you're going

(26:19):
to have about twenty million dollars at ninety years old,
and now you're going to get into a state tax
and all this other stuff. And they looked at me
like I was, you know, like it was crazy. I'm like, no,
look at the numbers, do the math here, And again
I'm not, I'm not, you know, I'm just trying to
show you objectively, this is where you're going to be.
You all got to start spending, you know now. And
then there's the flip side, as Matthew said, whereas you

(26:42):
know sometimes like oh we gotta I got to really
all in. This ain't working, you know. So So anyway,
it's all about giving people peace of mind to say, Okay,
I know where I am, and I know where I
can be and what what I can do.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
So what do you do with somebody who comes into
the office and they just have let's say they're approaching
retirement and they unfortunately have basically this is the first
time they're really looking at it. It happens, you know,
it happens. And my guess is that most folks that
come to see you guys as a preservation specialists have
taken their their their their goals a little more seriously

(27:19):
than that. But truth of the matter probably is is
that the vast majority of Americans have not. And it's well,
you know, I got so scaredy comment, well, okay, but
there I'm just I guess what I'm trying to get
to is there are probably folks listening right now who

(27:40):
maybe have not done what they needed to do, and
now they're almost embarrassed to come in and say, hey,
I haven't done what I needed to do?

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Can you help me?

Speaker 5 (27:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (27:51):
But that that that that happens from time to time.
It's as you say, it's less frequent, right, But but
also some objective numbers. Information is good. I mean, you know,
what are the psycho psychologists say, you know, uh, you know,
accurate data is your friend, even if it's not what
you want to hear, you know what I mean. I mean,

(28:11):
that's that's that's gonna help. It's gonna help. We can,
at least at this point say okay, where are we.
Let's let's we we we still get time, but we
still can do a plant. I mean, it effectively is
never too late, right, But but there are things you know,
the more you put it off, the worse it's gonna
potentially the worse or better. I mean, sometimes people come

(28:32):
in and they have that nervousness and then we say,
well look here you are. This is what you got,
you know, so, yeah, you're.

Speaker 8 (28:39):
Exactly right, John. You know, the earlier that someone begins planning,
you know, if they need to make adjustments, the smaller
that those adjustments actually have to be. But if you
are one that has kind of waited to maybe not
be as committed to your retirement plan as possibly you

(28:59):
should be, if you have pretty aggressive goals, as in
you are the ones that really want to travel, and
you are the ones that really want to live that
lavish lifestyle and retirement, well, more than likely it is
going to require you to make some pretty drastic changes,
right because you know, while we're all working, you know,

(29:19):
our entire cash flow situation is based off what we're
being paid. But in most cases, you know, whenever someone retires,
the statistics says is that social Security typically replaces about
sixty percent of what you were earning beforehand. Okay, so
it's more so on you to kind of come up
and cover that other forty percent. So that's the piece

(29:42):
that I'm referencing whenever I say, hey, you know what,
if we're going to need to make changes for you,
someone who's possibly late waited a little while to get
your retirement plan in place, well, those changes are gonna
have to be pretty aggressive, and you're probably gonna have
to say very very aggressively and change your lifestyle at
least before you retire, so you have enough set beside
whenever you step away.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
And the thing about that I think that that's really
important is and you know, look at I'm gonna I'm
gonna say something that is generally critical of the finance industry, okay,
because you know, I've been at this a little while
and there are certain things like there's this there's this
thing that the finance industry uses a lot, this thing
called a Monte Carlo simulation, right, And what it says

(30:25):
is and I will go with all the background to
the weeds of it, but the gist of it is
it says, Okay, if you have your money invested this
way over the next twenty five years, you have an
x percent chance that you're going to make it through
twenty five years without running out of money. So you
know they put this from eighty seventy, ninety ninety five
and so on, right, So.

Speaker 6 (30:47):
This this money Carlo.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Now, this is the finance industry's attempt to put some
mathematical kind of certainty or uncertainty around if the markets
perform as they have over this amount of time, YadA
yah ye. Right, but think about that, right, you're talking
about your retirement, and it's kind of analogous to doing
something like this. So imagine if you got on the

(31:09):
plane and then you took off and the pilot says, hey,
you know, we have about an eighty five percent chance
of landing successfully in Miami.

Speaker 6 (31:18):
Right.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
That's so that's why I'm critical of the finance industry
because when they do this sort of thing, it's kind
of a hand wavy. There's not a lot of planning
underneath that. That's just well, we're not really sure what the
future is. But if the markets perform, roughly speaking, but
it's like, man, oh man, you're talking about yeah, you
know what I mean, you're tired on someone's retirement. And

(31:40):
I remember I was struck by this. This was two
thousand and two thousand and eight. I was talking to
this guy and he said, well, I got to cut
back on what I was planning to do in my retirement.
And I'm like, and the reason was because he was
all stocks and you know, a huge career action, right,
so that the stock market crashed it's forty percent. He's like, well,

(32:03):
like I'm not doing this and this and this, and
then I got to wait for things to come back.
I Mean, the thing is there is there are ways
to plan around that, and there are ways to plan
around that so that you don't have that, you know,
that angst about uh oh, what's going to happen because
you know, most people in this circumstance and now now
we're talking about right now, we're talking a lot about

(32:24):
money and outliving your money in that. But in terms
of planning, there's there's a state, there's tax, there's all
kinds of other stuff, right, but let's just talk about
the money right now. What you want to do is
you want to take that nest egg and you want
to convert it into income, right, right, It's not just.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
You got to make up better forty percent.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Right, that's right, But there are ways to do that
that you can do without any angst at all. You
can put that and you are good to go for
the rest of your life and that takes the whole
worry out of that whole thing. So so there you
can do these comprehensive plans that eliminate this. Well, you
have an eighty five percent chance that if you're ninety five,
you know that that's no way to live, you.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Know, No, not at all.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, again, as you mentioned earlier, it's it's really also
it's about peace of mind. Yes, and here we may
we may all want to say I want to travel,
I want to see the world, I want to do this,
I want to do that. But even though you say that,
your overriding feeling is I just want to be sure
that I don't have to worry about where the money's
coming from. Yes, yes, that's it, because you want to

(33:24):
see the world or just sit in your backyard.

Speaker 6 (33:26):
Yes, that's the that's the whole deal.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Gary.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
And you think about it. During your working.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
Years, you you were the one in charge of where
the money was coming from, because you got up every
day to go to work, got a paycheck, you know.
But yeah, this now you've got this nest egg and
now we we've got to get a portion of that
creating your income.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
They say, you know, it.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Takes a certain amount of time to develop new habits.
I'm belink, yes, though this one is a lot harder
than others to say, Okay, I need to you know,
cut back on my spending. If that's the case, and
and and prepare more and put more money into my future.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
That's got to be a that's a hard habit to break.
I'm guessing it certainly is.

Speaker 8 (34:08):
You know, whenever you have to make adjustments regarding your
overall income, we have to use a dreaded word called
a budget, right, we have to restrict people. It carries
such a negative connotation, But the reality is, what I
think really helps the clients that we work with is saying, hey,
if you make this X, Y, and Z adjustment, this

(34:30):
is how it changes your outcome. Right, it has the
potential to really increase your lifestyle in retirement. Maybe it
allows you to maybe spend one to two thousand dollars
more per month. I mean, whenever people see that, it
really gets them excited. So that's the biggest things that
we're trying to do for our clients whenever they come
into our office is yes, if you need to make

(34:50):
a change, we're going to do our best to help
you attempt to accomplish your goals. But with that being said,
we want to get you excited about that move. We
want to see not just hey, this is what you
need to do and not really tell you why, how's
that going to affect your outcome? We want to show
you the entire picture so you feel good about that
decision that we're telling you.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Oh, you guys are like football coaches, right. The player
starts to go out and play.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
The game, that's it.

Speaker 6 (35:12):
Yeah, Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
They still got to play the game well in a
lots of ways. You go about this, and we talk
about it all the time with you. We don't have
time to get into it now because our time is up,
but we'll do it next time. Matthew Terry, John Farley,
preservation Specialist's good to see the both of you.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
All right, Cary.

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Speaker 9 (36:27):
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two seven four eight.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
And we're back on the Health and Walla Show on
one oh three point five FM and five sixty a
m WVC and Why Time Flies.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
We are already into our final segment with you.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
On this Saturday morning. Thanks as always for joining us.
Appreciate that again. I'm Gary David, now joined by Jim Snell,
the proprietor over the law Office of James Snell.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Good morning, my friend, Good morning sir. We you know
I would.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Think Jim that well, and actually I know better, But
you'd like to think that when it comes to matters
pertaining to the law, the things would be black and white,
cut and dried, precedent said. But nothing really could be
further from the truth. I'm guessing right.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
It's all over the place, it's all over the road. Uh.
A lot of gray areas, yes, when it comes to
such things.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
And so this morning we wanted to talk about when
it comes to personal injury law, yes, and settlements, just
things maybe even we might consider those lay folks to
be just random things that can actually affect the value
of a settlement in a in a personal injury case.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
Absolutely, and they're and and they're out there therese there
are these things that can be It just seems so
at first, they can seem so subjective that they really
do kind of strike people's being unfair. UH, are are
kind of baseless, But I can tell you absolutely do effect.
You know how insurance companies are potentially even courts, how

(39:25):
they may evaluate or what they may do with a
given situation.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Let me ask you this before you get started. Yes,
And and I don't know if this applies or not.
And I meant to ask you this a few weeks. Well,
I guess it was. I don't think we've I guess
we have maybe And chattis this has happened?

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Back during the Republican primary, there were non binding ballot
questions on that ballot. One of them had to do
with UH settlements and lawsuits. The question was, well, should

(40:02):
you know a settlement be based on let's say a
party's participation in whatever took place that that led to
something happening. A non binding referendum that was most everybody
who answered that question answered yes they should be now

(40:27):
again non binding, but just because they put it on
the ballot, we make you think this is someone where
they're heading.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Do you have any thoughts on that?

Speaker 5 (40:34):
Have you?

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (40:36):
Well I was gonna say for you know, of course, yeah,
the the Sales Republican primary, right, right, Okay, So how
did you know I would be familiar?

Speaker 2 (40:48):
By the way, Jim may be the only Republican a
lawyer out there.

Speaker 5 (40:55):
In the world of personal injury h litigation and claims.
Like I go to these national legal conferences and they are, uh,
they are all on I mean kind of left leaning Democrats.
Law school was like that, right, I mean all the
everybody's like kind of I didn't, you know, left leaning
and all that. Yes, I was very happy to go

(41:19):
to h to my precinct in Lexington and uh and
cast my ballot for for Trump.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
All right, I'll just say it now. I'm happy to
do it. Okay, So I'll tell you this.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
Okay, you hit me with that, by surprise, right, Typically
I would, I would, I would, which is fine, I
will typically, But I want the question I think you're asking. Uh,
it's something that was put together I think by uh,
and this is just my if I remember the question correctly,
or a question similar to that, it was something to
do with the proportionality damages after yeah, and if and

(41:55):
I'm happy to do a little research and follow back up.
But typically stuff like that is and without commenting on
that specific ballot initiative directly, but just generally in that world,
it's typically insurance companies and our lobbying groups or specific
industries that are advocating for legal changes to minimize what

(42:20):
they would be responsible for in the event of typically
a catastrophic or major incident.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
Right, and so.

Speaker 5 (42:28):
Because sometimes in especially in a we talked about this before,
in a catastrophic case, right where someone is going to have,
you know, maybe massively injured, maybe they're going to be
permanently injured, have a brain injury, or be paralyzed, or
there's a death right. One of the things we've covered,
I think extensively is the typical motorist in South Carolina

(42:53):
has a twenty five thousand dollliability. So that means that
driver hits and kills your loved one are hits and
kills are sorry. Hit hit hits hits you and puts
you in a wheelchair for life. The most their insurance
pays is twenty five thousand, okay, which is completely inadequate.
And we've talked before about how people can protect themselves

(43:13):
against that possibility by acquiring underinsured coverage. But frequently what
happens as a as a lawyer when when these cases
come in you you begin looking for other possible recovery sources. Okay, right,
And like a real common is something called dram shop

(43:34):
or was it an alcohol impair driver that that caused.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
This case down in a Volley Beach from from last
year with a bride of the groom?

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Because what what what you can if if you can,
if you have the correct facts, you can make an
allegation that the that the bar restaurant oversold somebody basically
got them so, you know, to so drunk they couldn't drive.
And you know all these bars have parking lots, I
mean they know how these people get there. They drive,
and if you're gonna keep pouring them till they're unsafe

(44:08):
to drive, and that's how you you know, that's that's
how you make your money, is you know, you profit
off getting people to drive to you, getting them so
drunk they can't drive, and then watching them drive off, right,
you can make a claim saying hey, you're you're you're
on the hook for this injury. Right, that's called dram shop.
That's just one example. So you look for those situations

(44:31):
and then you say, hey, you're you're on the hook.
So we've got, you know, three million dollars in medical bills,
a twenty five thousand dollar liability. We're coming after you
for the for the balance. And so I think some
of these lobbying groups, special interest groups, insurance companies look
in those situations for ways they can say, hold on

(44:51):
our guy, just poor drinks. They don't have a breath machine,
they're not what do they know? And besides the guy
who actually swallowed the liquor and then drove and then
ran the red light. You know, that's who's they are
so much more at fault. That's that's that's who should
should pay. Like basically, our our insured or our companies

(45:14):
are you know, the businesses we advocate for. You got
to let them slide. I think that kind of question
seemed to me in that vein, and it's one of
one of.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Those poses going after those with the deepest pockets Craig
an unfair proportionality of a settlement.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
It seems like as I.

Speaker 5 (45:31):
Recall it the way it was written, and and one
thing in particular, and I've heard this before when tort
reform kind of has come up as a topic for discussion.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
In the world of.

Speaker 5 (45:47):
Compensation for people who are injured or killed and and
and you know, in accidents are are through negligence, right
the general public, Right, no one imagines it will be
it'll have and to them or their family. No one ever,
just no one ever assumes. Nobody actually ever assumes or

(46:09):
thinks about that possibility. Right, So the general public really
has no interest in that world as far as the
process unless they're involuntarily thrust into it. So the repeat
players are going to be the insurance companies, the companies

(46:30):
themselves that are regularly sued, maybe their lobbying groups. Right,
Those are the folks who are all the time participating
in the world of compensation for accent of victims, right,
And the people who are in that world and who
can sort of advocate our lobby for the rights of

(46:53):
the injured people. That really falls down on personal injury
or you know, personal injury attorneys because we're in that
world constantly. But from the side of the injured person,
there's there's not another advocacy group other than the lawyers.
So when you see people malign trial lawyers are taught

(47:14):
bad about the planes bar, that's a lot of it.
These insurance or these special interest groups trying to basically
be dismissive of you know what side actually can raise
the other point because again, you're not going to have
a grassroots group of public advocating for the rights of
the injured because they just they're not in that world.

(47:36):
I hope I'm answering you.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah, I'm sorry, I've gotten off track here, but they
just popped into my head. Things weirdly do that sometimes
they just pop it into my head, right, Yes, you know,
there you go. All right, So things that can affect
the value of a settlement.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
Just yeah, just just to kind of go through a
few and this is I'm just trying to you know.
And of course, you know, I worry, you know, I
do this program every whatever a couple of weeks, and
I you know, I always worry. I can't I'm gonna
bore the audience to death if we believe, if we
keep going on about you know, no fee nless we
win free compultation, all right. Okay, So here's what I'm
gonna say.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
But you got that in very definitely there, I got
it in very definitely all right. Okay.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
So one thing isn't in a state like South Carolina,
you have every county has a county courthouse, and every
county potentially you know, are you know, has civil lawsuits
that are brought in it.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (48:36):
And one of the phenomenons about a state like South
Carolina is the counties themselves are very different.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
For example, Lexington County, our good gosh, Pickens County up
in the upstate, right is going to be very different
than say, Charleston County as far as the people who
live there and the people who would get called to
jury duty to decide a lows it okay. And there
are databases that track the outcomes of different kind of

(49:08):
cases in different you know, and can compare to different
counties and you know, so there there's a lot of
at least anecdotal and some documented you know, data to
show that similar cases can have different court outcomes in
different counties.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
And and that and that's by and large due to
the type of people that would show up for Jerry Diddy.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (49:40):
And and so when you get in a collision, or
say you get in a car wreck and and it's
a it's a case that could be brought. I'm just
gonna make this this this up. But you know it's hypothetically.
But you get an erect from somebody from say like
Allendale County, right, which I think has a reputation as

(50:03):
being a very sort of pro plaintiff sort of area,
insurance companies may think that that case has more value
than if the case was safe from Anderson County or
Greenville County, right, So.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
More conservative counties. Yes, we have anecdotal elements at least
that they're it's there's data. There's a documented data, okay.

Speaker 5 (50:27):
And and the insurance companies all track the stuff and
they know, I mean, the insurance companies know every single
every time the courthouse door is open and they decide
see a cart case.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Insurance baseball statisticians they keep up with. Yeah, they know
all the numbers.

Speaker 5 (50:40):
And so if if a if a if a wreck
occurred say in in say Pickens County or uh, the
the at fault driver was from Pickens County or whatever
the situation.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
Would be.

Speaker 5 (50:57):
They would know, they would take that into account and say,
well that that case may have less value. We think
it's going to have less value than if it was
somebody say from Allendale County or you know, Orangeburg County
or something like that.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
So then what do they do with that knowledge?

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Are they do they try to offer a lower settlement
to begin with, Yes, to try to keep it out
of court totally, I guess, yeah, they try to offer
a lower settlement.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
And you know, I'll be on the you know, I've
certainly had I don't even know how many I can't
even count the number of times I've been on the
phone with an adjuster, speaking to an adjuster or a
lawyer for an insurance company and they've said, you know, hey, Jim,
this this is you know, this case is going to
be in you know, Newbury County, or this is going

(51:47):
to be in Sparkman County or whatever. They'll say whatever
it is thinking, you know, just pointing out to me that, hey,
we know this is a conservative venue and you've got
a factor that you've got to be realistic in what
you think this case is worth because it's in a
place where you know, our data or our belief is
that just the the average court verdicts are lower. Right,
So that's something that's a little unfair. And I'll tell you, you know,

(52:11):
just a couple of things. Number One, there there's nothing
you can do about it as the injured person.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
I mean, you don't peck googins.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
You and I guess you could just decide not to
drive around Pickens or Anderson County or let them drive
here or let them you know. But but what what
you can do, as far as mean as a lawyer
can do is you know, we also have you know,
can have access to databases. I've got you know, access
to to this and you should just know that historically,

(52:42):
I think people are less mobile and and there were
less outliers and a little more uniformity in the in
the people who would show up for Jerry duty. It's gotten,
it's no longer, it's no as consistent as it used
to be. People people into an accident, give us a call.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
There you go.

Speaker 5 (53:02):
They can reach us at eight zero three three five
nine three three zero one or online at Snell law
dot com. That's three l's spell Law dot com.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
The lawyers and staff at the Law Office of James
Snell are there to help those with injuries and workers'
compensation claims, car accidents on the job, and other accidents
resulting in injuries. They want to help everyone resolve their
claim as quickly as possible, but they'll never recommend you
accept a settlement that's unfairly low. The Law Office of
James Snell recognized by AVA with a ten and an

(53:31):
eight plus rating with a Better Business Bureau. There's no
cost to speak to them. Insurance companies make their money
by denying and minimizing otherwise valid claims. The Law Office
of James Snell can help. They're not looking to try
to take every small mishap, but focus on real injuries
that deserve to be taken seriously. The Law Office of
James Snell. I'm Jim Snell. Contact me at Snell Law

(53:53):
dot com. That's three l's spell law dot com. The
Law Office of James Snell since two thousand and four
with the office is in Lexington and Columbia.