Health and Wellness Show 01-25-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
And Monte You Now time for the Health and Wellness
Show on one oh three point five FM, five sixty
AMWBOC and always on the absolutely free, totally revamped and
very cool iHeartRadio app. I'm Gary David will be joined
by Matthew Terry, John Farley Preservation Specially a little bit
later on. Jeff Howe Health Markets is also in the
mix this morning. The differences between regular medicaids, the traditional

(00:39):
plan with supplements and Medicare, I say Medicaid, Medicare that is,
and Medicare advantage plan. So Jeff will be I had
to discuss that for us. We get started with our
guy Jim Snell from the law Office of James Snell.
Good morning, my friend, good morning. Hey you this weather
we had a couple of days ago, earlier this week.
I suspect y'all probably got a few phone calls after

(01:00):
all that, didn't you.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, well, you know, yes, you know, it's always always
kind of interesting when we have Snowmageddon come through, right,
and you know a lot of people obviously, uh don't
don't try to drive in this kind of weather, yeah,
or that kind.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Of weather, and some do that shouldn't be I witnessed
some of that a couple of days ago.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I will tell you. I you know, it was you know,
Wednesday morning. You know, you wake up and that's you know,
when it's all on the ground still and everything else.
You know. I came into the office because you know,
we gotta we got to take care of our customers
and you know, help our clients. But I noticed, you know,

(01:44):
down three seventy eight had a couple of people that
were trying to still run you know, fifty miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, And then I did see one truck that veered
off the road and was kind of only in you know,
sideways in the ditch with the you know driver outside.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh yeah, well yeah, and again if listen, if you
hit if you hit those icy spots and you're on
off the road, well there's there, you know, nothing you
can do about that. But now if somebody else is
being an idiot, and like we were just talking about,
and and they impact you, well there is something you
can do about that.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
You well, and that's right. And and but one of
the things is, you know it it's even when you
have inclement weather like this, you know, drivers on the road,
I mean still have a duty to you know, manage
control their vehicle and operate it in sort of like
a safe, prudent manner. And you know, just because you

(02:36):
know there's snow or ice or some kind of inclement
weather doesn't give them a free pass if if there's
a collision and you know, somebody gets hurt or you know,
vehicles get damaged or anything else like that.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
So what happens, Jim. Let's say you and I are
both on the road at the same time, and uh,
you know, I'm I'm I'm driving away below the speed level.
I'm trying to be careful, but I hit a spot
and my car veer and runs into you and causes
damage and injury even though I was, you know, trying
my best to be you know, a good citizen and
a safe driver and really a no fault of my own,

(03:11):
I hit you and cause you know, damage and personal injury.
That doesn't Does that does that change the dynamic at all?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
All? Right? So so I'll say this here, here's here's
my kind of lawyer like analysis. Right when you when
you were driving in that kind of weather, it's foreseeable
you're gonna have ice and snow on the ground, you
have got to you are responsible for driving, you know,

(03:42):
basically guaranteeing that you're driving is going to be safe
enough in that ice and snow. You know, be a
little different if it was just some freak unpredictable event,
you know. But but but the fact that you know,
you just you do hit a hit a patch, get loose,

(04:04):
I think you know, likely you're still going to be
held at responsible or fault. And again that's why people
have insurance, sure because you know, part of the liability
for car recks is not is not based on people
having to be intentionally unsafe or recklessly unsafe or grossly unsafe.

(04:27):
It's just it's just standard negligence, which frankly can be
kind of a low standard when you think about it. Right, So,
while that while that wouldn't be a situation where you
would expect punitive damages to be awarded or anything like that,
it is something where if your car is the one
that get that that loses control, I mean you know,

(04:47):
you likely be responsible for for those you know, injuries
and any kind of damages.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Okay, so punitive damages aside the idiot that blew by
me going seventy on twenty the other night is treated
the same now again excluding punitive damages.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, I mean that look that looks if it's ice
and snow and you're going seventy right, Uh, you know
that that that could be something where you where you
you know, you tip the needle into recklessness. And the
standard for a court to consider punitive damages on a
car wreck is recklessness, which is somebody driving with a

(05:24):
what they call a wanton disregard for the rights and
safety of everybody else, and you know, trying to drive
seventy on those kind of roads. I mean that really
is sort of you know, arguably not caring about anybody
else's safety, right.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Just curious. I think I've ever asked you this question.
So and again, a lot of this is if nobody
else's witnesses anything, it's hard for say, the high patrol
to tell. But let's just say, in an incident like
we're discussing, and the higher patrol comes out and they investigate,
and you know, they they say, well, you know, you
don't get a ticket. You know you're orally of fall
blah blah. That doesn't change what happens, you know, And

(06:02):
and and with with personal injury law, does it And
doesn't it Does that have any bearing on that at all?

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Not? Not, not really, I'll tell you this. So, So,
first of all, there's there's UH case law in South
Carolina holding that high patrolmen and by virtue that other
police officers are not UH experts and acts and reconstruction
are qualified to offer opinion testimony about how a collision occurred, right,

(06:32):
And you know they're they're they're they're actually supposed to
be looking for violations of the traffic law right right,
And so you know, their input is really limited to
when they arrived on scene, what did they see, and
what were they told. So as far as how something
happened or the opinion you know, looking at the damage

(06:55):
on vehicles or skid marks and trying to then have
an opinion, you know that they are against hound law
holes that they're not qualified to make that opinion.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
So it really comes down to the accident reconstruction, which
is something that you know, folks like you get involved
in with your.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Team, right correct. And then the insurance companies, you know,
they have their own methodology, their own standards, and their
own way reviewing it. Now that being said, when there's
an accident report, there's a little you know, there's a
form that the police fill out with everybody's name and
address and policy number and whatnot. And it's got a
little box on each side saying contribute to collision yes, no,

(07:34):
and one is circled you know, yes or no. And
obviously if the police officer identifies somebody as contributing or
another side is not contributing. I mean, I know that
has to you know, definitely factor into the insurance adjusters,
at least their initial determination's liability. But it's not anything

(07:56):
that's set in stone by any stretch.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Have you ever run across a situation, Jim, where okay,
let's go back to our example. You and me on
the road at the same time. I say you hit me,
you say that I hit you. The high patrolman has
no way of knowing who did what, let's say, but
in the accident reconstruction that it's almost impossible to tell

(08:19):
who was in fault. Has that ever happened? Have you
ever come across it happens?

Speaker 2 (08:24):
It does happen, And and I'll tell you, you know, ultimately,
if it's something where you know it's that close, it
may be that the insurance companies, you know, may may
elect not to agree to to, you know, make any
payments as far as on liability or are those damages

(08:46):
and you know that is something though that can be
you know, decided in court. And if you take a
car At case to court where you can you know,
actually foul lawsuit for the all the damages, medical bills,
pain and suffering and everything, you get a jury who

(09:09):
here's the who, here's the evidence, looks at the witnesses
when they testify, right, they and the and the judge
instructs them. Their job is to sum up the witnesses demeanor,
determine on their own the credibility, and then if you
can tip the needle just over fifty percent that you've
been able to establish that the other side was responsible,

(09:32):
then you're entitled to compensation.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Interesting, so this is not like in a criminal case
where the facts have to be presented in such as
almost how there's no facts here. It's just well, as
you mentioned, the demeanor of the of the of the
two parties, and who's most persuasive in their arguments, I.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Guess correct, and and and and and in a in
a in a trial setting, it's that jury who serves
as the fighters the fact, and you know, they hear
all the evidence and and they get to see the trial,
you know, as it played out, and then they go
back in that jury room, shut the door, and then
they decide for themselves how it's going to be decided.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Interesting, So be likable in other words, if nothing else, no.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
I'll and that's that's you know, you hear about about
jurors deciding cases based on what lawyer they liked, they
liked the most, or you know, I've heard examples of
people who served on jury duty and they go in
the back and start talking about people's you know, their clothes,
you know, whether or not people's shoes were shined and
and suits were pressed. I mean all those things, you know,

(10:38):
fortunately or unfortunately con factor.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
In Okay, Yeah, we talked about this before. It's been
a while though, a lot of folks might be surprised
to find out that, Yeah, it sounds like the vast
majority of these personal injury lawsuits never actually get to
a court room.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
No, and and and correct, the vast majority of cases
doing up getting resolved. A lot of that, you know,
several I guess gots should probably over twenty years ago, now,
maybe twenty five years ago in South Carolina, you really
started having this emphasis put on mediation. It's actually now

(11:14):
required in South Carolina that before a cart case, as
other types of civil cases also can get to a trial,
the parties first have to meet with the approved mediator
and go through that process to try to resolve it
between themselves. The other thing is, in those type cases

(11:39):
there's something called discovery where can exchange information, you can
interview the other side of the witnesses, and there's an
opportunity for each side to really understand the case. And
then you combine that with getting everybody together in the
same place with the you know, qualified media creator really

(12:01):
does resolve the majority of these, okay.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
But the first step is to try to just you know,
come to an understanding what the insurance company and say, okay,
that's that. Step two would be go to mediation, yes, sir.
Step three would be if that uh, as you mentioned,
what usually mediation solves it. What are some of the
reasons that that sometimes mediation doesn't. I mean, what has
to happen For a year ago, I'm throwing my hands
up in the air to go to court.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Okay, So and I'll tell you this. You know, I've
I've I represent you know, injured people and that side
of these cases. I've also, since two thousand and nine
personally been certified as a South Carolina Circuit Court mediator,
and I've actually been selected on several occasions by both
the insurance company side and the injured person side to

(12:49):
serve as that role of mediator. Right, Okay, so I've
kind of seen it at least from two of the
three positions.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Right, do you have to be an attorney to an
attorney to be a mediator or.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
No? But the vast vast majority or Okay, I'm just
curious and okay, so so, so what can happen Obviously
if there's any kind of coverage issues where maybe there's
a legal question about how much insurance has resolved that
that can that can throw a wrench in it if

(13:20):
there are if either side you know, kind of really
has a very firm position, uh typically in their favor
about the value or the outcome of the case. Like
you know, if if somebody has, say the injured person
has a single er visit, no loss wages, no injury,

(13:42):
you know, other than they got shaken up and they
got two thousand medical bills right, if they go into
mediation expecting that that case is going to settle for
a million dollars and they're kind of firm on that
that case you know, just would not be expected to
settle and converse if you have a case with maybe

(14:03):
fifty thousand medical bills, lost wages, some permanent injury, and
the insurance company for whatever reason, is dead set they're
not going to pay more than you know, ten thousand dollars. Right,
So when parties get fixed, usually in extreme positions and
they kind of hold firm that'll do it. And then
I also say this in situations with with you know,

(14:25):
really high limits and even in catastrophic injuries, if for example,
if it's a ten million dollars commercial policy at play,
those can also sometimes not resolve in mediation, even if
everybody is trying to be reasonable, just because there can
be such still such a gap in you know, people's expectations.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
So a mediator is not a judge and jury a
media just tries to get the two sides to come
together and they both have all parties have to agree,
is that right?

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Correct?

Speaker 3 (14:57):
You?

Speaker 2 (14:58):
And what you typically do is most of what most
times the way these are conducted is the sides are
split into separate rooms. The mediator will spend time privately
with each side, asking questions, getting them to understand, you know,
understanding their position, and then we'll take the information that
each side allows to be shared with the other side.

(15:20):
Will then go to the other side kind of explain
their position, ask more questions, continue to listen, and then
go back and forth trying to build a consensus.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
I just got this visual you running back and forth
between rooms.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
It is. And then you know, and sometimes and you know,
oftentimes mediations begin with the with the first phase really
being the mediator kind of really spending time listening and
understanding the positions. And then at some point sometimes it
goes into the mediator simply going back and forth caring numbers,
you know, because the currency, the only currency available in

(15:56):
those kind of kind of situations is money, you know,
And so ultimately does it does come down to a
dollar figure where each side makes it offer or a demand,
and some of those, you know, the mediators will have
to go back, you know, you know, ten twenty times,
you know, to get the parties, you know, to to

(16:17):
bring everybody together.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Is it typically about a one day affair.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Most of the time. Yeah, it's unusual for you know,
in personal and deltigation for it to go beyond to day,
although in catastrophic cases are more complex cases involving multiple defendants,
they absolutely can't, you know, can't extend into two days
or more interesting stuff.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
As always, Jim, always great to talk to you, my friend.
Folks need to get a hold of you with the
loss of James Nell. What do they need to do?

Speaker 2 (16:48):
All right? So, and obviously and of course we offer
free compultations, so it doesn't cost anything to see to
talk to us. It's eight zero three three five nine
three three zero one. Just give us a call or
they can visit our website at snow Law dot com
three lssnow law dot com.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
All right, always a pleasure, Jim, have yourself going, buddy,
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
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Speaker 1 (17:14):
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Speaker 3 (17:16):
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(18:28):
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Speaker 1 (19:28):
John Farley, Matthew Terry, now our guys from Preservation Specials.
Good one to both of you.

Speaker 4 (19:33):
Morning Gary, A good morning are.

Speaker 6 (19:34):
Y'all being well, it's great you get there right?

Speaker 1 (19:38):
You want how do I get there? And the ones
I get there? How do I stay there?

Speaker 4 (19:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Right? And this doing and this is what we all
think about when it comes to our own, you know,
personal financial situation.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean, I mean, like one of
the questions we get, you know, like and and this
happened just this week.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
A guy called up.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
He said, I think my target number is this, but
I don't know, you know, And and that's that's a
quite reasonable question. And we can sit it. We can
sit down and say, okay, uh, you know, nobody knows
the exact future, but we can give me a pretty
good idea as to where you are.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
I wish I could remember what survey it was. It
was about a week or two back. We were talking
about one morning on the air. Oh I don't know
who bank read or whoever it was, doesn't matter, but
they did a survey of folks and this was not
this was okay, how do you what do you feel
you need to retire comfortable? Right, no real science to that,

(20:32):
just what do you feel you need? And I think
the number was somewhere up around one point four million dollars.
That is what people said, if I recall that correctly.
Others said a lot more than that. Something it all
depends on on your your lifestyle in your working years.
Yeah really, I mean as to what you but the
average was like one point four million dollars. So yeah,

(20:53):
how do you get there? And then how do you
keep it? You know, how do you not run out?

Speaker 3 (20:57):
And then of course then there's that that in addition
to that you go down the road of Okay, so
there are two two of the biggest The number one
problem in retirement would be I run out of money, right,
But the number two problem is I'm now a little
older than I than I was, and I can't do

(21:19):
the things that I really wanted to do. And I
have a pile of money that I'm sitting on.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Right and I'm just sitting there.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah yeah, So so there's so so there are those two,
and it's the balance, right yeah, yeah, And I mean,
like you know, and and it's it's many of the people.
I would say, the majority of people who come to
see us. Our job is is just to say, look it,
You've done a good job. It's now just prudent management
of what you have, right, you know, you know you're
you're not you're not spending like crazy, because if you're

(21:46):
spending like crazy, you're probably not coming to see.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
Us, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So all right, exactly, Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, that
same survey said that the average IRA excuse me, four
to one K balance in this country is somewhere like
an eighty thousand, maybe ninety thousand dollars. Does that sound right?

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Yeah, it's not very high.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, you guys, we talk about planning this is a
comprehensive thing, right, you don't touch all the bases, want
to cover everything. So you know, why not let's talk
about what happens. You gotten there, you've kept it, and
now you don't need it anymore. Okay, sure you've left

(22:31):
it behind. Do you have a plan for that? You
guys deal with that?

Speaker 6 (22:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (22:35):
Absolutely, I mean that's that's so.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
You know, like we talked about, we work in five
areas and one of them is the state planning, right,
and it's it's so an example of that would be
in fact, us working with a gentleman this week and
he's saying, Okay, I want to give stuff to my children,
but I want to do it in such a way,
and you know how do I do this?

Speaker 4 (22:54):
So we set up.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
A plan for him where he is going to contribute
a certain amount on their behalf for his his kids,
and when they get to be retirement aged, they will
have tax free income from the time they're sixty five
to one hundred and a substantial amount.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
See Now, that's the way to do it, right, Yeah, right,
because don't don't give it all to them now when
they're in their twenties or thirties or even forties. Right, yeah,
Matthew Stinger, I'm saying, I mean.

Speaker 4 (23:25):
You guys, yeah, no, Gary.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
The other thing is, like, so when we talk to
folks too, is it's it's you know, people want to
do this thing where you know, it's generally not a
good idea to leave a half a million dollars to
an eighteen year old. You know what I mean, There's
gonna be a red sports car involved, you know what
I mean, things like that. It's all right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
So so there are things that you know, you could
put conditions on it. The other thing that you want

(23:50):
to do is is you really you really want to
make sure that your wishes are preserved, and you want
to also as a as a as a parent, you
want to have the opportunity to make sure that And
this is again it's more than the money. I can
give you stories which would break your heart about you know,
when when somebody passes, it's not always about the money.

(24:10):
It's the emotional stuff that happens. And then the potential
disagreements or arguments that ensue that that that as a parent,
you can have that all set up so that there
is none of that and and and you wouldn't have
you know, the things that we have seen as a
result of that, so good.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 7 (24:31):
And you know, really one of the main conversations that
we're first going to have with the client is, for one,
you know, if if, for one, we go through our
five step retirement review and we do see that they
are indeed going to be okay, and let's just say
we're projecting and we assume that there is going to
be a pile of money left over, that conversation isn't
going to turn to what sort of legacy do you

(24:52):
want to leave? You know, and and that one question,
you know, legacy to the certain people, that can mean
a different thing. Some people that may say, well, that's
just a dollar figure, that's a dollar amouth that I
leave behind. Others they say, well, that's a memory. My
legacy is the memory that more so while I'm living,
while I'm here, I want to take those family vacations.

(25:12):
Obviously that ties into your overall financial plan. Can you
afford to take those financial uh those vacations. But the
second part is that, well, if I want to leave
money behind, specifically to my kids, just as John mentioned,
you know, there's certain sources of planning strategies that you
can employ while you're still here. You can more so
earmark money on behalf of your children. It's way to

(25:34):
that they can receive, they can inherit or more so
just you know, be in their name already to where
they can just benefit from it as they get to
the retirement years as well. So there's a lot of
different strategies that we could deploy that we could talk
with our clients with. And that's the biggest thing whenever
it comes to a state planning is you just want
to make sure that you are button up. You want
to make sure that there's no unintended consequence. Just as

(25:56):
John mentioned, you know it is whenever you come in
and you know, you know the parents always said, well
I'm going to get to the estate planning. Yes, I'm
going to do that. I'm going to do that eventually.
I'm going to go see that lawyer next week. Well,
you know, life happens sometimes, you know, you can't exactly
flip over that clock and say, well, just give me
one more week, I'll do it. You know, if if

(26:16):
something bad does happen, you have no estate planning, well,
well without anything being named, I mean everything is turned
over to something called probate. Probate simply means if you
have an investment account, or you have your home, your deed,
you know, if no beneficiaries meaning people who are going
to inherit those assets, if nothing is listed, it goes
to probate, right, Okay, So that's one big concern of

(26:39):
a lot of our clients is how do I avoid probate?
You know, for one, we want to talk through what
is probate.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
But you know, and by the way, just just having
a will, you still have to go through probate. If
that's what you got as a will. Absolutely there are
ways around that.

Speaker 7 (26:53):
Absolutely, so you know, it can certainly get you know,
much more complicated, but a simple answer, you know, trust
could be the answer. That's how you a solve of
avoiding some probate. You know, you have investment accounts. Investment
accounts are driven solely by beneficiary document, right, Okay.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Oftentimes people are raise four oh one k's those sorts
of things.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
Bank accounts anything, yeah, yeah, and and the and the
story and and this has happened. Okay, So where you know,
a couple are married and then they're not married, and
then there's a new couple that forms and the person
forgot to change the beneficiary on the IRA, right, I've
seen it and and uh and and it happened and

(27:40):
and oh yeah, so you so you just want to
make sure that that that you know, you work with
someone who who can ask you the right questions to say, hey,
are we all buttoned up and make sure that.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
We are so that we know that your your wishes
are preserved.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
And in some cases there may be certain types of
like like certain you know, maybe there's a there's is
a charity, university or you know, animal shelter something uh
and and there are different ways to get your money
to them. And there are even strategies that you can
employ where you maybe give them a certain amount of money,
but they guarantee you a certain amount of income uh

(28:16):
while while that's all happening. So there are all kinds
of things that you could that we can do, uh
to make sure like like you know, if you're a charity,
the charities want their money now or really they.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Want to they want it yesterday.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Right, So but there's different strategies that that can be
employed to to figure out, Okay, what's the best way,
you know, how do we do all this.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
So yeah, yeah, I'm just going to make a quick
mention because I don't rember a banker time of this.
Years ago when we were dealing with my father in
law and it was suffering Alzheimer's and they suggested my wife,
you need to get your name on the checking account too,
because you can have those situations where somebody either is

(28:54):
no longer able to deal with their own finances or
if they pass, well, maybe that that money in that
checking account can't be used to pay any bills or
what have you for them, because yeah, your name's not honest.

Speaker 7 (29:06):
You absolutely you're spot on with that, and you know
that's part of I review. As you come in. We
want to make sure we review all your state and
legal documents. You know, if you've already have a will created,
if you have a trust creative, we want to see
those documents. We want to review them to make sure
that after we do indeed have a conversation, that is
you know what, more so your legal document state. But

(29:27):
that's a big thing. You know, We're just here to
make sure you are truly indeed buttoned up. But just
as you mentioned, you know, in the event of a
aging parent, you know, if dementia does step in, you know,
there's certain types of power of attorney rights that more
so just gives someone that you're appointing that power to
to act on your behalf. That's part of a state planning.

(29:48):
That's part of what we all typically are going to
recommend that people do. You know, husband and wife. That
simple because typically the other spouse, if they're in good
health and in good mind, typically they're going to act
on behalf of the other spouse. Sure, but what complicates
it is if one spouse passes away, you know, then
they're more so just by themselves. And that's where the

(30:09):
power of attorney conversation has to happen. And it is
important that you go ahead and you do that planning
ahead of time while you're still in good sound mind,
so you can kind of think through what strategies, who
I really want to act on my behalf, you know,
all sorts of things like that.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
And that power attorney expires when the when the individual
passes that is correct, right, so in the probate process,
you no longer have that power of attorney you had
while while your loved one was alive.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Right, yeah, Well it depends on how it's set up, right, So, yeah,
you can, you can. There are different ways to set
things up.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
But yeah, yeah, obviously we could spend a whole hour, right, Yes,
I'm talking about all the options here, Yeah, I do.
I am curious though because John Matt, you made yourself
at the outset here how to leave something for your kids,
but they don't get it until they're sixty five and
they get a tax free yep.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
Uh yeah, we've we've got strategies for that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
And in fact, and it was interesting, like I said,
working with this. So so there are there are different
there are different gifts. You can gift things to people, right,
so you can either you know, anyway they're without going
into all the minutia of the details. Yes, there are
ways to do it so that you can get it
to them tax free. And and again we all kind

(31:21):
of you know, anybody who's kind of plugged into the
financial world knows that the US debt clock, you know,
the US debt continues to grow, right, so at some
point it's bigger clock.

Speaker 4 (31:29):
Yeah yeah, yeah, we need a bigger boat. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
So the so the idea is is is that it's likely,
you know, one of the ways to to uh, to
affect the debt is to increase taxes. And and again
you know when we talk about that, historically the taxes,
the income tax rate has been much higher than it
is now. I mean in my lifetime. You know, let's

(31:53):
not forget that. Ronald Reagan when he came into office,
he reduced the highest tax rate from seventy to fifty.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
And now the high is what thirty nine thirty nine?

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Right, yeah, So so and people still say, oh, it's
way way high, and I'm like, well, you can go higher.
So so we can do some planning to get your
airs and you out of that. So get Uncle Sam
out of your business so that this will be tax
free no matter what.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, let's say that you're what you're leaving behind is
already is already you know not in other words, if
you do a four to one k or whatever, you
leave it behind for your kids, well you know, Uncle
Sam's going to get his take. Yeah, you know it's
pre tax dollars and all that. Yeah, but and I'll

(32:37):
just lost my train. I thought, where are I going
with that?

Speaker 7 (32:39):
Well?

Speaker 3 (32:39):
Well, Gary, I once in a while, like I had
a guy command, a guy command the other day, said
I have.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
I'm getting that age.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
And I had a guy coman the other day and
he's like, all right, John, you got to help me
with this. I got a four oh one K and
I don't want to pay taxes, and I'm like, uh,
that's illegal. Right, So that's the way we're crossing the
way around. Body, There's not so much I can do.
I can help you strategize within THEW but there are
certain things we just you know, I mean, I mean
the thing about a four oh one K. If you
know nobody, you've got a tax deduction when you contributed

(33:08):
to it, and you haven't paid any tax on it
in the growth, right, So so you know at some point, uh,
there's probably some Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
I remember what I was gonna say, I mean before
I forget again.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
So you get it.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
You'll be taxed on that as the as the individual inheriting.
I know it. But now what's the level to where
the dreaded inheritance tax kicks in?

Speaker 7 (33:31):
So under the current tax law that we're under. Whenever
President Trump was in office, he signed into effect in
essence under the Tax Cuss and Jobs Act, that exemption
amount went up to and in adjust with inflation every
year but I believe it's now around twelve point nine
to two million dollars per person. So unless I'm not
worried about that, yes, so unless that household has close

(33:54):
to twenty five twenty six million, you wouldn't be bumping
up against that threshold, right, But obviously that can change.

Speaker 4 (34:00):
Years.

Speaker 7 (34:00):
Prior to the new tax COO that we're currently under,
the exemption amount used to be around ten to eleven million,
so nearly doubled under the new law and under the
current law, but again that can change before and that
has been one thing that has been sent out through
Congress multiple times and it's just never got through.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Fully about that, that is that it's just such a
such a crack as a crack up to me is
that it affects, you know, one in every right, It's
it's not very many people, but it's.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
Discussed every day. Well you know, if I got there,
you know, so anyway, Yeah, so there are there are
many bigger fish to fry.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
That we could get to before we get speaking for
myself about that right now, all right, we got to
wrap it up. Guys. We'll continue this discussion next time
around with a John Farley and Matthew Terry from Preservation Specials.
Good to see you guys, and how to folks get
a hold of you.

Speaker 7 (34:49):
Yeah, if you're interested and uh, you know like what
you heard today, please give us a call. Our number
is one eight hundred nine. Retire again, that's one eight
hundred and nine retire.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
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Speaker 1 (37:02):
Do you have how from Health Markets is our resident
expert on all things when it comes to health insurance.

Speaker 9 (37:08):
Jeff, good morning, sir, Good morning, Gary.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
We uh want to talk about and being somebody who
just by if I got my red and blue car
in the mail the other day, Jeff for Medicare is
mine goes an effect come to June. But for me,
I'm still working in on my employee plan, so I'm
just taking the Part AU for now. But you know,
when you get to the rest of the parts, when

(37:34):
you don't have that group coverage through your employer and
you've hit the age of sixty five, then you know
the Part A you get. Then oh my goodness, if
you go to the regular route, you got what parts
c's and d's and g's and all sorts of parts,
and then you have well the other option, which is
to go with Medicare advantage plans. And you know, even
for some folks who are on Medicare right now, I

(37:55):
guess there's still a bit of confusion about what the
differences are and maybe what's right or nothing, what's it's
not right for them?

Speaker 9 (38:01):
That's true. I mean, even if someone's been on Medicare
for ten, fifteen, twenty years, every year they know that
an open rollment's coming up around the corner between October
fifteenth and December seventh, when they can make changes. You know,
we're thinking they're thinking, well, I can't make a change
now there is a plan I'm currently on right for me,
and looking to the future, you know, what does the

(38:23):
future hold? For example, if they're on a Medicare supplement plan,
they know that every year they get older that Medicare
supplement is going to go up in price. We've been
blessed you know, really since the inception of the prescription
drug card program in two thousand and six is that
the premiums of the drug cards have been fairly low,
depend upon which drug card you select. But in twenty

(38:46):
twenty five, with some of the COVID laws going into effect,
and the good news for seniors is that they won't
pay any more in two thousand dollars and co pays
at the pharmacies for example, when they go to you know,
my pharmacy and I article or Riley's Drugs or CBS
wherever they go, when they're paying their copais of the counter,
they'll pay no more than two thousand dollars. Which that's

(39:07):
a law that is going to help with the counter
That's great.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
That's an annual cap, right.

Speaker 9 (39:11):
Yeah, an annual cap, Yes, sir, absolutely, and that's the
first time that we've had something like that. But what
we worry about as insurance agent is that what is
that going to do to drug card premiums? Because if
the insurance companies are taking on a lot of that
overage over the two thousand dollars in costs, then that
will probably be passed down the consumer as far as

(39:35):
monthly premium.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
So this is not a case where the government bio
taxpayers is picking up the rest of the tab. This
is a cost that the pharmaceutical company is going to
have to eat, right.

Speaker 9 (39:47):
More specifically, the insurance companies. Okay, so interesting enough, the
pharmaceutical companies, we're not giving a very large percentage of
the liability over that two thousand dollars in costs. The
insurance companies were given the bulk of that percentage. So
of course it's the insurance companies that bill you every
month for the monthly premium to have the drug card.

(40:11):
And then of course I only say why do I
need a drug card? Well, part of that initial law
in two thousand and six for the prescription drugs is
that if you do not have a prescription drug card
or credible coverage through your employer like you would have,
but if you do not have a prescription drug card,
you will be penalized. So everyone had a prescription drug
card now, and it's really not that big a deal.

(40:33):
I mean, we have prescription drug cards out there. They
are fifty cents a month, So having a drug card
is really you know, it is not that burdensome premium
wise right now for most people. There are some people
who take more expensive drugs who need a higher price
a prescription drug card, and their drug card might be
over one hundred dollars a month. Now, say, however, in

(40:55):
twenty twenty five, that one hundred dollars a month plus
premium could be the norm the exception. So you're saying, okay,
So now if you're say seventy years old, and you've
been on a Medicare supplement since you were sixty five,
and you've been on a drug card, and maybe you're
paying one hundred and ninety dollars for your supplement, now

(41:15):
you're paying fifty cents for your drug card. Now if
your drug card goes up to how to throughout an
easy number for math, one hundred dollars a month. Now,
now you've got from one to ninety and fifty to
two hundred and ninety dollars a month. That may make
a lot of people look a little more close to
Medicare advantage come this open enrollment season in October. So

(41:38):
it's good to start preparing and start realizing, you know,
what is Medicare advantage and is that an option for
someone who's currently on a Medicare supplement and drug.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Card right right, and again you're talking about seventy seventy two,
seventy five years old. You're more than likely on a
fixed income. And you know they've come to one hundred
bucks a month that you you aren't.

Speaker 9 (41:58):
Expecting, that's correct, and so and that's pushed a lot
of people to Medicare advantage. And you know, there's a
lot of fear about Medicare advantage because when it first
came out in two thousand and six, most of the
Medicare advantage plans were HMOs, and no one likes a
HMO because the HMO means you have to go to

(42:19):
this particular doctor, and if you have to go to
a specialist, you need to referral from that doctor to
go to this particular specialist, to go to this particular hospital,
it's very restrictive. However, Medicare advantage plans that I sell
are all PPOs, meaning you can go anywhere that takes Medicare.
It does have a network, and so you definitely get
lower costs when you go in network. For example, if

(42:41):
you've got a Blue Cross Medicare Advantage PPO, every hospital
in the state the networks. You can go to Lexington,
you can go to Prismo, you can go to musc
and Charleston. You know, you can go where you want to,
and you can even go out of state. So if
they're in network, you'll get the same low costs. In
Colorado get Alecta Medical Center. If they're out of network,

(43:03):
you still go to that doctor in Colorado who you
just might pay a higher copey. So you know, a
lot of the fears about HMOs and Medicare advantage, you know,
I can lay or put those fears to rest when
I meet with people and talk to them about Medicare
advantage and see if it's the right fit for them.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
And I guess I think you've told us before, Jeff,
that in the last couple of years, the number of
people on these advantage plans is now more than those
who are on supplements or right at the about the
same number, is that right, it's a percentage.

Speaker 9 (43:39):
That's correct, that's correct. You know, in twenty twenty two
to the last year, we have data from more seniors
purchased Medicare Advantage plans than Medicare supplement plans. So Medicare's
seplins had always been on top, you know, until twenty two,
and I'm and I can say with confidence at twenty
three will be even more so when that data comes

(44:02):
out that Medicare advantage more Medicare Advantage plans were sold
to Medicare supplements. And there's a lot of reasons for that.
Is that Medicare Advantage plans have zero premium, right, And
the second reason is they provide extra benefits like three
thousand dollars in dental benefits, some vision benefits, pre pair
of glasses, hearing, a discount, some gym memberships, flex cards

(44:25):
that's the card you take to a grocery store CBS
and get food and over the counter like vitamins or toothpaste,
things like that. So they provide a lot of value. Now,
of course, with anything in life, there is a give
and a take, right, Well, okay, zero premium, you get
all this extra stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Well, pardon the cynic in me, but you know when
I first and I guess maybe one of the big
reasons for the boom and these is that, I mean,
let's face it, insurance companies have been advertising the heck
out of these for a while. Now, I mean, you
can't spit without hitting one of those ads. But yeah,
I mean the sending to me says, hmm, I don't

(45:08):
pay anything and I get all this stuff. What's the catch?

Speaker 9 (45:12):
Yes, And so the catches is that there's higher risk. So,
for example, if you're on a standard or i'd say
the most popular Medicare supplement plan, now the plan G
where your only risk health wise is the part be deductible,
which just two hundred and forty dollars. So if someone
turned sixty five in June and I write them a
Plan G for June first, the first time they go

(45:34):
to a doctor or urgent care or emergency room, or the
first time they receive medical treatment after June one, they'll
be billed that two hundred and forty dollars. Then they're
done for the year. They're one hundred percent covered. That
person has been a coma all summer, wake up on
Labor Day, and they owe nothing right because they already
pay that two hundred four dollars deductible, so their risk
is very low, Whereas on the Medicare advantage plans, you know,

(45:57):
the maximount of pockets could be anywhere from five thousand
to eleven thousand dollars, depend upon what plan you choose.
Now I will say that that's not a deductible. You
just pay small copays along the way, and if those
cops ever added up to that five thousand, then you
would be died at the five thousand if that's your

(46:17):
max out of pocket on that particular plan. So sometimes
people get confused, They're like, I don't want to pay
the first five thousand.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
You wouldn't.

Speaker 9 (46:25):
So like on most of the Medicare advantage plans, you
get your primary doctor who pay a zero or ten
dollars cope. You go a specialist you'll pay a fifteen
or thirty five dollars cope, so you have small cope.
MRI is one hundred and fifty night in the hospital,
three hundred fifty dollars a night the first five nights.
Things like that. They're very delineated on the copays that

(46:45):
you pay, but if you had a very bad year,
but certainly that risk is out there. But the Medicare
advantage studies show that less than one percent of people
on Medicare advantage plans hit their MAXI amount of pocket.
So you have to have a really bad year to
hit your math. It's out of pocket on this plan.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Well, the ironic thing about this, Jeff, seems to me
that all right, so folks who could most afford to
take the risk under an advantage plan of having to
come out of pocket, you know, five ten thousand dollars
or what have you in a calendar year, are the
same folks who probably are in a financial situation to
best afford to stay on a supplement planned and pay
the money each month and not take the risk.

Speaker 9 (47:24):
That's true. And for a lot of those people, that's
the decision, you know, is would you rather just put
money away into a savings account and have that ten
thousand dollars, say, in a savings account every year? So
if you had a bad year, or if you have
twenty thousand in an account, if you have a bad year,
then that money's at your account and it's growing interest.

(47:45):
That's your money right, Or do you want to mail
off a check to an insurance company for a supplement
and a drug card and once you mail those checks
the insurance coming every month, they're not coming. That money's
not coming back, whether you go to a doctor that
month or not, whether you have a prescription field that
month or not. That next month the premiums are due again.
So it's just two completely different ways of doing your

(48:07):
Medicare insurance coverage. No wrong or no right, by the way,
and I do not push one or the other. I
just explained the differences and lay out the packs and
talk to a person about their doctors, their medical treatment,
their prescriptions, and they give them an educated you know,
educate them and they make an educated decision on which ones,

(48:27):
which path is right for them.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
Now you mentioned again with the changes in the prescription
card plan under the supplements, that you could see your
price really go up here over the course of the
next year or so. Now does that not applicable if
you're on an advantage plans.

Speaker 9 (48:43):
That doesn't hit you there, It should not hit as
much because Medicare advantage plans have so much else going
on as far as money that received from the government
for people who are on those Medicare advantage plans for
the healthcare and for the prescription drugs. It could you
could see in the Medicare advantage plans maybe the benefits

(49:06):
not growing as much, just as a dental or the
vision of the hearing, you know, some of those benefits
being pulled back or maybe capped. You know a lot
of time, you know, over the years, we've seen dental
go from five hundred benefits two one thousand to two
thousand to three thousand. So maybe next year they don't
go to four thousand or right, maybe there capped or
there or they're lowered, do you know, so maybe we

(49:27):
see effects in the Medicare advantage plan that way internally
do not? I think we're going to see much effect
on the premium, So I think that's going to stay
you know, zero to you know thirty, you know, somewhere
under thirty dollars, certainly on the Medicare advantage side.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
So do you do.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
You foresee in your crystal ball, mister Howell, or do
you think that that maybe the government's long term plan
is to try to push everybody off the supplements to
the advantage plans. Is that is that an advantage to
the government.

Speaker 9 (50:00):
Well, when the law was passed in two thousand and four,
it was a George Bush was in office w right
with the Republican Congress, and it was a vote. It
was a law, believe it or not, that Democrats agreed
to back in those days when.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Congress was when.

Speaker 9 (50:20):
They would talk to each other and they would make compromises,
and the law.

Speaker 8 (50:23):
Of you passed.

Speaker 9 (50:24):
That's the way Congress was in two thousand and four.
So this is a law that the government sees as
an advantage for the government's keeping Medicare viable. Right, because
every time a person signs up for a Medicare advantage plan,
the private company they sign up with, Blue Cross, at
Na Humana, whoever it is, that person becomes that private

(50:46):
company's responsibility and they are now off the Medicare books.
Medicare still regulates those companies, but Medicare now if that
person having big gets cancer, has expensive treatment, Medicare is
no longer putting the bill for them. The private insurance
company is. They've taken them that risk. So I think
long term that is that is what the government would

(51:07):
like to see.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Absolutely interesting, Yeah, it certainly seems that way or it
seems like more and more people are moving that way regardless,
So the point may be moved here a decade or so.

Speaker 9 (51:19):
Possibly well, And I don't you know, I don't know
if Medicare or somethings will ever totally go away. It's
probably not that bad. But I do believe that Medicare
advantage plans will just continue to be more and more
attractive as you compare the two options, and so it
may be harder for someone to say no to Medicare
advantage when they look at the two options as the

(51:41):
years go off.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Right before, before we wrap things up here, I just
want to ask this question because I always wonder when
I see these ads they say, put in your zip
code to see what what what benefits you know you
might be able to get. What's that all about? Why
do they need your zip code?

Speaker 9 (51:56):
Yea, every state has different Medicare advantage plan, and you
can have a different Medicare advantage plan available to you
buy county. So it drills down to buy county, not
only just by state. So what zip code you live
in and what county you live in matter greatly is
to what Medicare advantage plans available to you?

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Is that based on the number of people that are
actually on advantage plans in those counties.

Speaker 9 (52:16):
Or that's a factor. Certainly, people in Florida have the
best Medicare advantage plans available to them because it's most
popular in Florida. I mean, they're the Medicare advantage taken
right in Florida, I think is around to eighty five percent.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
Really, wow, So.

Speaker 9 (52:33):
It's huge in Florida.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Okay, Well, lots of questions to ask, and the guy
the answerest has been with us for the last seventeen minutes,
Jeff Hall of Health Markets. If you'd like to sit
down with Jeff and discuss the options you can do that.
How to folks get a hold of you, my friend.

Speaker 9 (52:48):
Yes, my office is right beside the flight Deck restaurant
in Lexington and the flight Deck shops Health Markets Insurance
and you can give me a call or text my
number at eight zero three six seven eight eight one
tw My website is my name Jeff Powell dot com,
Jeff Hwle dot com.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
All right, thank you, Jeff, appreciate you, buddy.

Speaker 9 (53:08):
Thank you. Gary.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
The lawyers and staff at the law office of James
Snell are there to help those with injuries and workers'
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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

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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

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dot com. That's three l's spell law dot com. The
Law Office of James Snell since two thousand and four,
with the offices in Lexington and Columbia.