Health and Wellness Show 09-20-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:28):
And we'll welcome you in now to the Health and
Wellness Show on one O three point five FM and
five sixty AMWVOC. It is wonderful to have you spending
some time with us this morning. We do appreciate that.
Coming up, we're talking to Jim Snell from the law
office of James Snell. Jeff Howe Health Insurance. Will discuss
that with the proprietor from Health Markets over in Lexington.

(00:49):
First up, let's talk about your money. Let's talk about
peace of mind. It's John Farley, Matthew Terry, preservation specialists.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Dudes, what's up?

Speaker 3 (01:00):
What's going on?

Speaker 4 (01:01):
I don't know it, man, False starts off, fall starts
on Monday.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's right, Oh yeah, two days away. Yeah yeah we
are yeah yeah yeah. So do we expect the temperatures
are really cool down? Yeah? They will eventually eventually. Yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
So I always ask, you know, the question, So there,
here's the here's the uh so on the equinox. Uh
what place on the Earth gets the most sunlight?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Gotta be somewhere along the equator right now. This could
be a trick question. Gary.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
Yeah, we all get twelve hours on that deck. We
all get the same because it's because what's happening is
the sun is shining directly over the equator, and so
it doesn't matter north pole, south pole, everybody in between.
We all get the same amount of something.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
That's its sun equinox.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's equal, you know, is that a d I think?

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, everybody gets the same thing.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, everybody gets the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, and then we have to give too.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
We don't just get, We give. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, and we want to talk a bit about the
giving part today. Oh yeah, whether you want to or not.

Speaker 5 (02:06):
We laughed, we laughed, But yeah we're crying.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, yes we are, because I mean, yeah, we're into
the let's see, I guess fourth quarter is not until October,
you know, on the calendar, but we're approaching that time,
and if you haven't already started to think about it,
it's time to start thinking about trying to produce that
tax bill as much as you can for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, And there are a lot of ways to do that.
And this is one of the things you guys specialize
in at preservation specialists, right, is effective tax planning.

Speaker 6 (02:38):
Yeah, it's absolutely staple in our opinion to everyone's retirement plan,
the current situation. You know, I've never met anyone who says, Matthew,
I just love paying taxes, Can you help me pay more?

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Right?

Speaker 6 (02:50):
I mean, I think we can all agree if we
have the option to, we'd love to pay a little
bit less.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
We'd love to pay nothing.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
But yeah, but.

Speaker 6 (02:57):
Obviously we can't continue on as a economy and nation
if we did that. But regardless, what we always want
to do for clients is you're exactly right.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Gary.

Speaker 6 (03:07):
As we are approaching the fourth quarter of the year
and the final turn, we encourage you to sit down
talk with your advisor or either tax professional to just
evaluate your current situation to see if there's anything that
you should be taken advantage of. So you know, as
we're coming up on the year end, that can be
things such as making contributions into retirement accounts. That could

(03:30):
be making contributions into your retirement plans, that could be
making contributions into a health savings account if you have
a high deductible healthcare plan. There's a number of different
planning opportunities that you can take advantage of. But I
would say one big way that we are very much
going to differ and even maybe go against what your

(03:50):
typical CPA would recommend to you. Is we believe in
looking at taxes not just for twenty twenty five, but
over the course of your lifetime. How can and we
not only save you taxes this year, but we more
importantly care about how can we save you from paying
taxes over the course of over the coming years and
over the remainder of your life. So for us, what

(04:13):
that really means is is that we all know on
July fourth, earlier this year, the passing of the One
Big Beautiful Bill, it extended our current previous tax code,
meaning the tax brackets that we have. And what that
really allows is it gives us all more time and
more opportunities to plan and to consider whether or not

(04:37):
we want to intentionally pay taxes today, To go ahead,
move that money to a roth account, to give a
number of years of growth and dividends and all that
that you will receive from that point on, that's all
tax free.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
That's yours to keep. We think about we're all.

Speaker 6 (04:56):
Encouraged typically to put money into a traditional four one K.
Really stop to think what you're doing is you receive
a deduction whenever you put money in that's good, right,
I mean it, Yeah, we're okay with that.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
But think about all.

Speaker 6 (05:10):
Those years of growth that you were receiving on that
money that you invested. If I also say, would you
rather pay taxes on all that growth in the future,
or would you rather pay taxes on the money that
goes in and then all the growth after that point
is tax free?

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Right?

Speaker 6 (05:26):
Well, not out of ten people are going to say, Matthew,
I want to choose the latter option. I want to
choose the option that says, let's pay taxes today. I
want to say, whatever growth we receive after that part,
that's mine to keep. You don't have any io us
attached to Uncle Sam.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah on that part.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
And until just recently it was an employer sponsor playing.
You didn't have that option, but now you do.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah most of the time.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
To endpoint.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Yeah, And if you're and if your employer still doesn't
offer that, uh, it's it's if enough people ask for it,
most employers will change that. It's not that expensive. I mean,
my customer thousand dollars to ree, right, you know, to
have the documents for your four one k rewritten to
accommodate a roth. But you know, it's not I say,
a thousand. I don't know what the numbers, but it's
not a lot. You can you can have that set up.

(06:10):
So yeah, and that is definitely the way to go
because think of it this way again. A couple of
weeks ago and Slot was in town. We had him
come and speak with our with our clients, and you know,
he's he's in his seventies, and he talked about, you know,
the baby boomer generation and what were the tax rates
and everything, and he made this really important point and
he said, you know, you ask people our tax rates

(06:31):
high and the first answer is yes, they're really high.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
They're really high.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
And he says, I'm just going to remind you of
something baby boomers stopped in nineteen sixty four. From nineteen
sixty three to nineteen sixty four, the highest tax rate
lowered from ninety percent to seventy seven percent.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Right, and he.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Says it's like UK kind of taxes.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Yeah, it's out of the you know, and he said,
let's just remember right now taxes are effectively on sale.
Our highest tax rate now is less than half of
what the highest tax rate was, you know, at the
end of the Baby boomers right, and if you do
the math on this, he said, look at you know,
even if you're you know, twelve, twenty two, twenty four,
these are cheap taxes relative to probably what they're going

(07:17):
to be in the future, simply because the debt continues
to grow. And how do you manage that? And there's
a four letter word math that that accounts for that.
I mean, there's no way around it. Well, okay, there
maybe there is.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
You keep kicking the can down the road. What does
that mean?

Speaker 2 (07:30):
I don't you know.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
You listen to people like Ray Dallyio and he has
a lot to say about this sort of thing. The
point is is that, you know, we don't know exactly
where the future holds, but what we do know is
that taxes are cheap right now relative to historical standards.
So it's a good time to take advantage of things
and do some planning. And there are plenty of articles

(07:53):
that will make the point that tax planning can be
more important than the returns on your in terms of
how that affects your portfolio twenty years down the road.
How does that affect how much money you have in
your pocket? If you do this thing right that that
is a huge part of the plan. So yeah, so
we definitely work with folks and try to get things

(08:14):
as tax efficient as possible in everything that we do.
And there are definitely strategies that you can say, okay,
let's get you here, and so you know, one of
them is we talk about the rock con version.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
That's one.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Another one though, is is is permanent life insurance that
has cash value. And again I don't want to get
into all the weeds on that, but the idea universal
type of life, yeah, or there's that's a good one.
That's you know, there are different that's one example, yes,
But the idea is is if you accumulate cash value
in a life insurance account and you start it early enough,
even if you don't start it that early, I mean,

(08:45):
you know, then what happens is you can borrow that
cash and use it yourself later on, and as long
as that cash value never goes to zero, you don't
know a dime on that. So that's basically tax free
income for you and most people in retirement. And we've
done this a lot with folks where we say, okay, uh,
you've got your money in certain investments, in stocks, you've
got it in different things. You know, let's diversify you

(09:06):
into a lot of different areas. One of them would
be this, and this gives you a lot of levers
you can pull because in addition to being able to
use the cash, that's one when you get into retirement,
a lot of policies now allow you to take the
death benefit and use it for long term care, because
that is one thing that you know, So there's a
there's a lot of there's a lot of option. We

(09:29):
have a lot of options for you, and and that's
that's good. Uh, you know, really diversified. Not just okay,
I've got diversified in stocks because I have energy stocks
and industrials and you know, banking, but diversified in everything
that's available for you.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
So, Matthew, how do you when somebody comes down and
sits down with you?

Speaker 7 (09:46):
Guys?

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Again, as John just alluded to, our focus has always
been on our return on our investment and so so
so somedly now you're telling somebody, okay, let's not Yeah,
that's important, but but you know, over the long tal
long haul, you know, it may well be better to
be focusing on reducing these taxes. Absolutely Later years and

(10:08):
people go, well, I won't return. Yeah, I mean that's
got to be a hard sell in certain instances.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
You're exactly right, Garry.

Speaker 6 (10:16):
You know, for us, as comprehensive planners, we want to
make sure that we're creating a plan that they communicates
and fits all together. But the reality is most of
us we our sole focus is on investments. But really
what a good portion of our focus should also be
on should be on our tax diversification. And what I
mean by tax diversification is of the money that you've

(10:37):
saved for retirement, how's it going to be taxed?

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Right?

Speaker 6 (10:40):
Money that is in your four to one k traditional
four to one K plan, that's forever taxed. Any withdraws
that you pull out, you don't know. Whenever you make
a contribution in you don't know what your tax rate
is going to be in the future whenever you retire. Sure,
but if you put it into a rough account, well
you know what today's tax rates are.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Certainty.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, absolutely, you have certainty.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
There's no question mark there to say, Matthew, I know
for a fact I'm signing up to pay taxes at
twenty two percent or twenty four percent. As John alluded
to before tax rates are historically low. Well, I know
we don't enjoy paying those, but the reality is, how
do you have certainty, how do you have confidence, and
how do you have peace of mind? Well, you truly
have peace of mind if you have money in that

(11:24):
never tax bucket such as a Wroth IRA, they can
double tax rates. It doesn't matter for money that is
within that Wroth account.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah, it occurs to me because we had this discussion
a month or two back about you know, was talking
social security and solvency and you know, the trust fund
going belly up and this and that, and then yeah,
I think what was the uh there or predictions that
you know, whatever your benefit is now, it could be
reduced by twenty five percent or something like that, you
know in the next couple of years. Spots you hear

(11:52):
that and you're like, no, but this is kind of
the same thing here. You don't know you could retire
today and be paying a certain tax rate when you
would draw that money from most traditional funds, it could
be a whole lot worse than that five, ten, fifteen
years down the road from now, when you're still trying
to with all that money and now you're getting twenty
five percent or more than that less.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
Yes, you're absolutely right, And it's one of those things
that if you have money in that traditional four to
one k or traditional IRA, I mean Uncle Sam is
our silent partner. I mean he has the liberty to
come in and say, Matthew, I know last year I
got twenty four percent on the money that you took out,
but this year I want twenty eight or I want

(12:35):
thirty two percent. The reality is that's what Congress has
the power to do. Whenever they ride into effect a
new tax code. They define the tax brackets and we
have no option but to pay that.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (12:47):
So that's the thing doing tax planning today. It allows
you to have certainty, It allows you to have peace
of mind, and it allows you to sleep well at
night knowing that, regardless what's to happen in the future
for tax rates, you're going to be set. You have
a plan for it, and you feel confident about it.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
And it's just different for everybody, right, I guess, depending
on well.

Speaker 4 (13:06):
Yeah, yeah, there's no one size fits all. There there
are some general rules of thumb, which is, uh, never
tax is better than always tax, right, I mean, you know,
there's certain things that you know, so uh yeah, but
but there is no one size fits all. And then
it you know, it also depends on on how do
you feel, uh you know, as certain people say, well,
I want to leave a certain amount of money to

(13:27):
my heirs and you know, my kids, and this sort
of thing. And one of the things again we keep
referencing Ed's luck, but he's he's a funny guy, but
he was. He gets up there and he has this
New York accent, you know, he's very new. He's like,
it's about you. It's not about your kids, okay, it's
about you, you know. And so he's saying, they have
plenty of money. And by the way, you are the

(13:47):
ones that are kind of figure out how to spend it,
not them. They already know how to spend it. Believe me,
they do, you know. So he's just going on and on.
But but that's really the thing, and and it's it's
you know. Then then it goes to this analogy that's
used all the time. You know, you're on an aircraft
and and they say, hey, if the oxygen masks deploy,
put it on yourself first. And then of course, you know,

(14:08):
and and then and so he's like, and that's how
it is in the financial world. Of course, he added
the joke, and he said, and then you you put
it on the kids that your favorite kid first and
then your next favorite kid next, you know. But but no,
But the point is is it really is about taking
care of yourself and making sure you're all you're all
buttoned up. And it's not uncommon that we we get

(14:28):
you know, look at people come in. They've been saving, saving, saving,
and they are not able to get out of that
saving mode, even when in retirement and even when there's
never a chance they could spend as much money as
they as they've accumulated.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
So you know, there's certain strategies you say, look it,
you've earned this.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
It's time to go do things and enjoy yourself and
have the confidence to do it.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
I do wonderful time to time.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Though. It's a generational thing, you know. I mean, well,
I can't speak for you, man, but for John and
I for our parents' generation and their parents. I mean,
you held on too every thin dime you could. Yes, yes,
I mean you just did. Suppose you go back to
that that that depression era generation. I mean, and we
have the stories or you know, you know somebody like that,
probably your grandparents, you know, then that's the way they were.

(15:13):
But you know, I wonder now with the generations that
are coming up now they're Matthew y'all, y'all like to
spend money.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
There much less that way.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
We're much much better at stimulating the economy by continuing
to spend.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Okay, we're just very giving in that way. Okay, you're welcome.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
And thank you. We appreciate that.

Speaker 6 (15:33):
But it still creates an issue, right, how are we
going to retire? What are we going to do to
plan for that? So now you're right on.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Well, I won't be right. I have to worry about that,
that's all I y'all. Yeah, but yeah, I worry.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
About my kids, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (15:46):
And uh, you're talking about rother me, our youngest, you know,
without even me prompting him all this, So you'd have
been proud of me. We've had a discuss the other
day and he talking about this for one case. Yeah
I got a row for one case. You go, man, Yeah,
way to go, and twenty seven years old with the
roth four oh one k you know, And I said,
you just keep plugging along yeah.

Speaker 6 (16:07):
Keep on doing what you're doing. Absolutely gonna you're gonna
be happy that you took that path in the future, right, absolutely,
all right.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
We've got to wrap it up there, Preservation Specialists. It's
all about peace of mind.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please give us a call.

Speaker 6 (16:21):
We'll be happy to sit down talk review your tax
situation at eight oh three nine retire.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
That's eight oh three nine retire.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Y'all have a great weekend you two, Garrett, thank you. Season.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Hi, this is John Farling. Now let me ask you,
is your retirement inflation proofed?

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Here's what I mean.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
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 2 (16:49):
You inflation proof it.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
Our team at Preservation Specialists can show you strategies to
help combat inflation so it doesn't outpace your retirement income.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Call us today at eight.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
O three nine retire to learn more. Inflation could take
a huge chunk out of your retirement savings, but it
doesn't have to. With some simple planning, Inflation can go
from being a major disruption to just a minor annoyance.
Call the team at ato three nine retire now to
start inflation proofing your retirement today at three nine retire

(17:21):
that's eight three nine retire.

Speaker 7 (17:23):
Securities offer through Okado's capital member Finner and SFPC Advisory
Services off through Okados. Will Preservation Specialists and Arcadios are
not affiliated through any ownership.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
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
couldn't use that nowadays? Jeff Howell in Health Markets do
all the grunt work for you. They make the calls,

(17:51):
compare the plans and prices, and find you the insurance
plan that fits your needs. Best of all, their help
is at no cost to you. They work with nationally
recognized insurance companies to give you the affordable insurance you're
looking for. So whether you're self employed or in a
small business, an individual or seeking a family plan, they
have you covered literally from head to tone. Called Jeff

(18:14):
Howell in Health Markets at eight O three six seven
eight eight one two one or visit Jeffhowel dot com
that's eight oh three six seven eight eight one two
one or Jeff howl E dot com and let them
find the right insurance for you.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
We welcome you back in. It's the Health and Wellness
Show on one of three point five FM and five
sixty AM wvoc As. We welcome in Jim Snell, who
is right now sitting down behind the microphone from the
law office of James Nell.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Good morning, my friend, Good morning.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Why do I need to hire a personal injury defense lawyer?
I mean, why can't I just deal with the insurance
company myself? Why do I need to give up money
to a lawyer to do what I can do all
on my own.

Speaker 7 (19:14):
I think it's a great question, and I'll tell you
sometimes you don't need you don't need a lawyer, and
uh not every case and not every situation. Uh, lawyers
are helpful. I'll just say it, right, okay.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
Uh, Well we may start right there, yeah, right, and
you tell you've you've you've told people this before.

Speaker 7 (19:36):
We've called your office, right, absolutely, Okay. So first thing is,
obviously lawyers do charge money, right the church fees.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
And by that's based on a contingency.

Speaker 7 (19:50):
It's it's typically a contingency. And so like for example,
my office, you know, people U you know, we're we're
discussing being hired for a case. There's a written engagement agreement.
It's all put in writing, but pretty straightforward. And typically
it's a contingency, which means people don't pay any money

(20:13):
up front. We're only paid if there's an actual collection.
For example, if you know, the case just doesn't materialize
for whatever reason, you know, they don't owe us anything.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
And I don't think people realize you that in the
process of that, your office is incurring costs.

Speaker 7 (20:32):
Yes, and I'll tell you in a significant you know
case you know, with significant injuries and insurance, I mean,
it's not unusual for this case is to get in
you know, this costs sometimes to be in the thousands
or tens of thousands, you like medical manpractice. I mean

(20:55):
they're there. They are those cases where law firms will
invest one hundred thousand or more in a case.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Right. So all right, So so here's what I'll say.

Speaker 8 (21:02):
So the.

Speaker 7 (21:04):
You know, the two I think there are two goals
in an injury case that people could have when they
hire a lawyer, right, Number one is kind of the
convenience factor and kind of done for you. You no
longer have to deal with, you know, talking to them.

(21:25):
You don't have to be the one that goes around
and collects your you know, your medical records, your bills.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
You know, there's a.

Speaker 7 (21:37):
There's a convenience factor, right, And for some people that's
real significant.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
For someone's not. But I'll say that that that's that's one.

Speaker 7 (21:45):
Thing, and uh and so and and and those you
know people who that's very significant. I mean that could
be a reason they might always want a lawyer, right.
But but the other is the situations where you know,
getting professional assistance is going to get you more money

(22:05):
in your pocket even after the fees are paid, than
you would get on your own, right. And that's kind
of primarily my focus in my practice. You know, we
we get calls from people with with cases, usually kind
of smaller situations, and it's a smaller case, but it's
significant to them. So sure, I recognize that. But the

(22:26):
situations where you know, the case only has so much value,
there's only going to be so much to be paid,
and then you know, if we get involved and you know,
kind of center letters make our calls do our thing.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
You know, maybe we.

Speaker 7 (22:39):
Juice it up a little bit, but it's it's not
going to be enough to compensate for the for the fees, right.
And I'll tell you one one area this actually comes
up pretty regularly. You know, I'm here because you know,
we represent injured people. Right, So people who've you know,
had you know, been in car wrecks or got heart
at work or good gosh, had some helping people lately

(23:03):
with some slipping falls. Yeah, and actually those those can
be those cans be pretty legit. Uh but but I'll
say that's that's you know, that's what we do. You know,
we do get calls from people who are just upset
with the the settlement on their the damage to their car,

(23:27):
right like the cars you know, gonna be totaled, and
they're only offering me, you know, ten thousand, and I
think I need to have twelve thousand or whatever, I whatever,
whatever the amounts are. And you know, situations that are
just strictly limited to property damage, not always, but but
an awful lot of the time, you know, those are
not situations we're hiring a lawyer actually has beneficial because

(23:51):
once the lawyer takes their cut, You're never gonna get
your money, right, maybe.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Maybe maybe you got your twelve thousand instead of your ten.

Speaker 7 (23:58):
But now you know, after their foott yeah, now after
your fees, you're you're you're you're lesson when you started.
So obviously that's those are situations where if it's simply
property damage, oftentimes it doesn't make sense. Again, there can
be exception with everything, like for example, situations where a

(24:20):
drunk driver like hits apart car. There actually are some
some arguments we made that you're entitled to PENI the damages.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
Even though you were in the car in the car, so.

Speaker 7 (24:34):
There's some exceptions. But but like you know, those situations
and typically like the smaller type of of situations, I
will also tell you cases and we see this in
slipping falls and that's an area called premisves liability. We
see situations where people you know, they call people don't know.

(24:54):
I mean, you know one thing, people, I think people
have this assumption that you know, all lawyers are effectually
ambulance chasing, you know, signing up frivolous cases. Right, I
will assure listeners, right, some of.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
The advertising you would tend to make you believe that
and I will tell you.

Speaker 7 (25:14):
My office gets calls all the time from you know,
it's the public, right, We get calls about all kind
of scenarios, you know, including people who have customer service issues.
I mean, but you know they're unhappy, right, you know.
Or these are people that are clearly in the wrong themselves,

(25:39):
but they feel aggrieved, and and and and but you
have people that that maybe got injured, right, but there's
not any clear responsible party or any going to be
any clear liability that someone else is responsible.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Right, you know, you.

Speaker 7 (25:58):
Trip over your own feet, right, so yourself, Well, you
know that happens at a store, and they want to
follow claim, you know that they you know, it'll be
some say, say a false situation where they do get
injured in a store or restaurant, but it's not the
restaurant or the store's fault. It just happened to happen there, right,

(26:19):
And so often what can happen is a lot of
times those those businesses may have insurance policies that actually
will pay out a small amount of money just because
there was an injury on the premises, and it's usually
very small and it's kind of capped, right, And if

(26:40):
that's all there is to get. You know, hiring a
lawyer doesn't help because you know you're not able to
get any more. Yes, so I'll tell you when you
one of the things we do, you know, my staff
does this at the first level is just talk to people.
Find out, hey, what what happened, how are you injured,
what's your story? And you know, we're trying to make

(27:02):
sure that you know the people we invite to go
further on with us, you know, have the type of
cases and situations that are legitimate that we can help.
It's no problem to have a friendly conversation with somebody
and just say, hey, this is not you know, necessarily
a legal matter or something that we could assist you with.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Right.

Speaker 7 (27:23):
We do it all the time because I will tell
you if you sign up, you know, frivolous cases and
junk cases and you know, meritless cases. As a as
a law firm. I mean, you're not gonna you're gonna
be losing money.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
You can get the reputation.

Speaker 7 (27:36):
Well, I don't know about Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
For example, you a personal injury defense lawyer who continues
to bring cases to court, you know, over and over
and over again, frivolous cases. I mean that's gonna tarnish
your reputation in that court is not after a while,
and you're taking real seriously, I think.

Speaker 7 (27:54):
I think I think that's a risk, but I think
I think likely what's the worst risk is you're not
gonning to pay your and you make your payroll, You're
gonna go broke because if you you know, you put
this money into a case, and you put all this,
you put time, and and you get zero for it,
I mean you you effectively can't afford to do that

(28:16):
on an ongoing basis.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
So I mean, I mean you're taking undershake.

Speaker 7 (28:19):
You know, responsible established lawyers, I mean typically are very
good at screening and not bringing cases that are frivolous
or meritless. It doesn't mean you can't bring a difficult
case or a case with challenges. Doesn't mean that at all.
It just means that you've you know, you're you've got
to you're gonna have a good faith belief that the

(28:40):
case has merit and you've got a reasonable chance of success.
I will tell you in our in our local area,
right so I'm my primary office is in Lexington, Okay,
do an awful lot of work in Colombian and actually
had a satellite office in Columbia. By reputation, if you
take a case to trial in Lexington, right, all the

(29:03):
insurance companies believe, and I think there's data to kind
of back this up that the people who show up
for jury duty in Lexington and juries are who decides
cases a go to trial. Primarily those are going to
be the most conservative anti I'm gonna call it strong terms,

(29:25):
but kind of kind of pro I won't say pro defense,
but they're kind of anti lawsuits. They're just kind of
always skeptical, right, and they're more likely I think people
believe to return defense verdicts are lower verdicts compared to
other parts.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Of the state.

Speaker 7 (29:40):
Interesting, I mean so and being something else. You know,
these cases for settlement or value or average result of
trial can be different depending on what county they would
be heard in.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Interesting.

Speaker 7 (29:56):
So you know a case in Lexington County or Pickens
County that's the other one, may you know maybe assumed
at least by insurance companies to be worth less than
a identical case that was in oh, I don't know,
Hampton County or Florence County. Richland, Yeah, you know, Richland

(30:22):
is remarkably similar to Lexington, really, I think as far
as the but it doesn't necessarily have the same reputation
or stigma. But I don't I don't know how different
than the Drew pelection.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
But the case, I'll ask a stupid question here. I
think the answer to that case has to be heard
in the county in which the injury.

Speaker 7 (30:38):
Occurred, or or or are typically where the defendant resides.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Where it is okay, the defendant, the case meaning the
at fault party, the at fault party.

Speaker 7 (30:50):
And venue. And like I said, venue, and you have
this concept in legal actions, you have this idea first
fell of jurisdiction. Does the court have the authority over
a certain type of case or an individual And for example,
like in South Carolina, our trial court that would handle

(31:12):
personally inder cases is typically going to be the state
circuit court, right, they call it common police. And you
may have situations where any court, any common police court
in the state, may have jurisdiction. Right, But then you
get into what's the venue. And then the venue really
is the analysis that determines what county the case will

(31:34):
be perfectly filed in, and and there can be some wrangling,
you know, you file cases or LOSSI can be filed
and then the defendant is like, hey, this is the
wrong place.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
We need to get it moved.

Speaker 7 (31:48):
And there are certainly situations, you know, where cases get
transferred from county to county as venue issues get sorted out.
Judges can make rulings to get it, you know, where
they think it should be.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah, but I think you've told us before, Jim that
on a percentage basis, of the cases that you take on,
very few of them actually wind up going in front
of a jury.

Speaker 7 (32:10):
You know, that's stain. A lot of people, you know,
of course, are afraid. That's the god thing. A lot
of people are afraid that they call lawyer it's going
to mean they're going to go to court. And look,
there are cases that need to There are cases that
certainly do need to go to court. You know, there
are cases where the you know, for whatever reason, the
at faul party or the insurance companies are just unreasonable,

(32:32):
you know, with you know, what they're willing to settle
or how much they're willing to offer. But I'll tell
you you know, oftentimes, you know, getting the case correctly,
I'll call it worked up, you know, getting the medical records,
getting any supplemental medical opinions, bringing in consulting experts, doing
different things right can help maximize the chance of getting

(32:53):
it settled right before it would go to court. But
I'll tell you you know, when an insurance company or
defendant refuses to be reasonable, right, that's you know, and
primarily that's determined by the client, right sure. I mean
I always think people should, you know, not feel constrained
to accept something they don't think is fair or reasonable.

(33:15):
They've always got that right to you know, go to
court and have a court to fide.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
The other day.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
And there's, of course that's another step in between that,
which is the arbitration step, mediation media mediating. Typically, Yeah,
arbitration has to take place before you actually could go
to a court.

Speaker 7 (33:29):
That's required, yeah, And of course arbitration is where an
arbitrator tells you what the decision is going to be.
Mediation is where the parties get together and talk through
it and try to all mutually agree on the results.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (33:42):
And I will tell you mediation is required in South
kind of before injury cases and lots of other types
of cases go to trial. I think it's resolving like
ninety percent of cases to go through mediation some number
like that. And mediation, you know, absolutely can be a
fairy effective tool because although when a case settles through mediation,

(34:07):
everybody may not like the outcome or be overjoyed with
the outcome, but everybody's agreed they can live with it, right, okay,
And so often when a case goes to court, one
side or the other is going to be very unhappy
with the outcome. And in the mediation because it's an agreement,
everybody's at least agreed they can live with and that's

(34:30):
got some value.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
You know, absolutely, absolutely, So if you're feeling like you've
you've got a case to bring, you know, feel free
to pick up the phone and call you and and
if you know it turns out that you know, it's
really not worth your while as the injured party is
like going to return you know, any more money, you're
gonna lose money on the deal.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Don't get your feelings hurt. It's not personal, oh gosh no.

Speaker 7 (34:51):
And we want to see people get the get the
best result and get the most money in their pocket,
you know, the in the end of the process. So
so basically just all people have to do it's free consultation.
Reach out to us at eight zero three three five
nine three three zero one. Our visits online at Snell
Law dot com. That's three ls snell Law dot com.
And like I said, we help people with car rex

(35:11):
workers' compensation, slipping falls of any type of injurcase.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
You name it, Jim, Goodness you mar thanks sir.

Speaker 5 (35:18):
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(35:38):
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(36:01):
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one or Jeff Howle dot com and let them find
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Speaker 8 (36:19):
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a certified mold inspector. We can help you test the
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(37:01):
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Harris with Classic Systems. Eight O three six two six
two seven four eight eight O three six two six
two seven four eight.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Jeff Howe from Health Marcus. Jeff, Good morning, sir, Good
morning Gary. We talk a lot.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
About for old folks like me, math for those who
are sixty five and older, and Medicare, But today we
want to focus on the uh.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Well, at least for me, younger.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Folks, those hundred sixty five and the options you've got,
and uh well, the future of healthcare for those undred
sixty five.

Speaker 9 (37:43):
Yes, and often those conversations go hand in hand, especially
we're talking about a married couple. You may have one
spouse who's working and who's turning sixty five, and they're
going on Medicare, and maybe it's time for them to retire,
and you know, they're losing their group health insurance, but
they're going to be in a good position on Medicare.

(38:03):
But then they have a younger spouse and maybe sixty two,
what do they do for the next three years. That's
often the conversation that I have with my clients.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, we thought about that then in my household.
Not that I'm going to retire anytime soon, but if
I did, my wife is almost a considerable younger to
be but I got about four years on or so
we'd have to have that conversation, I.

Speaker 9 (38:25):
Guess, right, absolutely, So, you know, of course, we just
had an election, and we have the new president and
his new team and they're doing lots of things, and
how does that felt affect healthcare? You know, we really
don't know yet. You know, of course, Robert Kennedy was
confirmed as you know, head of Health Human Services, but no,

(38:48):
we have doctor Oz who's in the confirmation process or
head of CMS. THEMS is in charge of them, helped
health insurance for Medicare, in for the under sixty five
the Affordable Care Act. So you know, there's a lot
of moving parts right now in DC and we don't
really know where. You know, the under sixty five market

(39:11):
is going to be come November first for the new
open enrollment. So you know, I was in DC a
couple of weeks ago and I have a few ideas
where it may be heading.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Well, you want to share those with us, or it's
just this is your magic eight ball you're looking at here.

Speaker 9 (39:26):
I mean, really, no more in a magic eight ball.
It's a prediction. But essentially, what we have currently in
the marketplace is that we have the laws from COVID right,
the Inflation Reduction Act, the American Rescue Act, which extended
subsidies past their normal levels. So for example, if we

(39:47):
take that family at two that we were just talking about,
the sixty five and the sixty two year old, it's
only them on their taxes, right, their tax household of
two before COVID, I would have this chart on my
computer when we meet with them, and if they made
one penny over just throughout an old number, but let's
say seventy two thousand, right, so when they followed jointly

(40:10):
on their taxes for that particular year, so twenty twenty five,
and they're gonna make more than seventy two thousand dollars
a tax of income, then they would get no subsidy,
meaning the federal government would not pay any portion of
their health insurance. They would have to pay full price.
So that's sixty two year old younger spouse to be
looking at a premium they may not like. Frankly, however, and.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
I'm gonna let's just pause right there for a second,
because there's a I guess for folks who aren't on
the Affordable Care Act, never have been, they've always had
employee sponsored plans or or they're you know, on Medicare.
Now over sixty five, there was this this thought that
what's been so off referred to as Obamacare is actually
the government healthcare system. It's it's well in this case

(40:56):
a lot of times, right, blue cross, blue shield, it's
just the government. So yeah, in those days, I guess
the rate that before these uh uh, you know these
these these stipends would have been similar to that in
the old days, is going out on your own. I
guess to a blue cross blue shield and micro policy,
would it be correct?

Speaker 9 (41:17):
Correct? I mean blue cross blue shield here in Lexing County.
You know, it was a great plan. Every hospital and
the states and network and so you'll find, you know,
most doctors take the blue cross blue shield. That's with
their Portable Care Act. So you know, you wouldn't have
an interruption networks more time than I and so the
plan itself would blue cross. But the money part, you

(41:41):
have to negotiate the Affordable Care Act, right, okay, so
how much it will cost?

Speaker 2 (41:45):
So prior to COVID.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Uh, you're you're basically in this again in this example,
you're sighting here, you're paying the full.

Speaker 9 (41:53):
Load, right, Okay, unless you made unless you're on the
subsidy chart. So essentially, unless that couple of two is
making between twenty thousand and seventy two thousand. Talking in generalities,
that's generally correct. So if they were on that chart, however,
they said, Okay, my estimated income is going to be
sixty thousand, Well then the federal I'M would pay a

(42:15):
portion of their health insurance. But that made seventy two
thousand and one dollars that they're one dollar over. They
were out of luck. What happened during COVID is the
number that that last number, that seventy two thousand, got expanded.
And I've seen my clients, you know, they can make
around two hundred thousand still get a subsidy. Unfortunately, these

(42:38):
expanded subsidies are set in the sunset or go away
on December thirty first, twenty twenty five, so at the
end of this year. So unless something is done, unless
and it'll have to be Congress who does this, it
cannot be done by executive order. So less Congress acts
and extends these subsidies, you know, these expanded subsidies, that

(43:00):
we're going to go back to the old way of
looking at the chart. And if you're not on the chart,
you're out of luck. So that's the biggest change we
could see for twenty twenty six health insurance premiums.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Well, I'll get up my eight ball, I'm bagic eight
ball and say that again, considering the current political climate
and the cost cutting measures that we're seeing talked about
left and right, that again, as you mentioned, this would
be a congressional act, not an executive act. But boy,

(43:33):
I don't know, see if you agree with me on
this or not. I'm thinking these things probably go away.

Speaker 9 (43:39):
I think you're right. I think you're right, and so
I think they would have to be for it to
be for these expanded subjects to be extended, they would
have to be framed in a certain way as to
where it looks like at the cost cutting measure, and
I really don't see how they can frame it in
that light. So I think more likely than not, they're

(44:02):
going to go away. So then we go back to
the old system, and there's a lot of people who
have been paying these reduced premiums due to these expanded
subsidies who are still in their sixties, and they may
have one two three years ago before they reach Medicare age,
and they will most likely see their premiums go up.

(44:25):
January one, twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
Unfortunately, just throw out some spitball numbers here, will you, Jeff?
I mean, what in this again, using this example of
the same couple, what might they be paying now and
what might they be paying in twenty twenty six? Yeah?

Speaker 9 (44:41):
Sure, So let's take a sixty two year old eight
thousand dollars in income. They're probably getting enough subsidies to
where their premiums could be around the four hundred or
five hundred dollars a month range. For that one sixty
two year old. You take the subsidence the way, it
could be around twelve hundred dollars. Oh my goodness, it's

(45:03):
a big difference.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
That's a big number, Jeff, twelve hundred a month.

Speaker 9 (45:10):
People are want to be in shot come this open
enrollment is if these expanded substies are not continued now,
I would think the alternate argument to that would be, well,
shouldn't the top price come down?

Speaker 8 (45:23):
Right?

Speaker 9 (45:23):
So had the top price been inflated because these subsidies
are so prevalent, right, So if the top price of
plans twelve hundred and the subsidy is eight hundred, So
if someone's painting net four hundred, if the expanded subty
goes away, will that top price of twelve hundred come down.
Who knows, you know, that's something to be to be seen.

(45:48):
We don't know, you know. Op enrollment will start in
November one. It's November one to December fifteenth or twenty
twenty six. So we just we're going to have to
wait and see what the prices look like, what the
subsidies look like. And it's going to be a waiting game.
And but they're going to have to act soon. You know,
insurance companies don't exactly you know, turn on a dime

(46:11):
most of these plans, and most of these companies must admit,
you know, there are plans options to CMS, you know,
around May. So we've only got a few months for
them for a lot of this to work out. You know,
we can't go into open enrollment November and not know anything.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
So what what what happens?

Speaker 1 (46:31):
What happens if yeah, this this doesn't get even taken
up until this summer or early fall, or what are
the insurance companies going to go and just set higher
rates just in case?

Speaker 9 (46:43):
I would think that would that would that's not a
that's not out of the question, right, so or at
least the same rates. So we just don't know. So
we don't know, we don't know. You know, when I
was in d C, there's I was. I was there
on the day when the Tuesday when the budget was

(47:04):
trying to get pasted, and so that was that was
an interesting day.

Speaker 6 (47:08):
But it.

Speaker 9 (47:11):
You know, DC. I think it's interesting the power is
not what the legislature right now. Right obviously, the Democrats
don't have the votes, they don't have power. But I
also kind of found the Republican legislators didn't really have
much power either. They're kind of sitting around waiting to
get there directed from the executive branch. And I just

(47:32):
think that what happened in healthcare is going to have
to probably come from a director from the executive branch,
and the legislators will follow suit.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Is it usually the case, though, Jeff, that any kind
of we'll look at this as an entitlement, entitlement, okay,
these these subsidies, is it is? It's an entitlement, okay?
Is it usually the case though? Historically that once the
government hands out something like that, it's very difficult to
take it away. I realized this is kind of kind
of different. This is just allowing it to sunset and

(47:59):
go away, but well, it would be taking it away,
and a lot of times in DC there's not much
of an appetite for either party to do something like that.

Speaker 9 (48:07):
That's true, that's an old Ronald Reagan quote. That's right,
you're right. So I mean it's possible that these expanded
substies continue that based on that light and somehow, somehow
it's framed politically, you know, to where they continue or
maybe they extend it for one years. That's a possibility,

(48:31):
so we shall see. But for someone who needs insurance
now in March of twenty twenty five, you know someone's retiring,
they're coming off group health insurance, they still get the
expanded subsease for the rest of this year, guaranteed till
December thirty first. And I meant with people every day
who they're retiring, or they just moved to South Carolina,

(48:54):
or they're switching jobs, they're taking a job that does
not have health insurance, they're getting married, getting divorced, have
a kid. There's many reasons why people are buying health
insurance every day currently, and they can still take advantage
of the lower prices guaranteed.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
So so explain to us, Jeff now because anybody could
go on the healthcare dot gov website. I think that's
a website, isn't a healthcare dot go and do this
for themselves. But yet you offer a free service to
assist folks in this process. Why do folks want to
come to somebody like you at health markets versus just

(49:31):
hop on a computer do with themselves.

Speaker 9 (49:33):
That's right, So my service is free. You sit down
with me. In about fifteen or twenty minutes, I can
put you on the right plan that fits with a
person's particular doctor. They're particular prescriptions. Healthcare dot gov is very,
very confusing, and no two plans are the same. You
may look at one Blue Cross plan and think, oh,

(49:54):
that's a great price. That's for me, then find out
that prison is not in that network because it's an agent,
and it doesn't if you don't research, or you don't
know what you're looking for, and you would never know
that just looking on healthcare dot gov. Or you may
pick a oh a better Molina looks good, but then
you find out when you want to go to a dermatologist,

(50:15):
you can't the closest one than Charleston. So I don't
let that happen to my clients, and so I find
out who their doctors are, what their prescriptions are. You know,
you may a person could pick a plan and their
prescriptions not covered under a certain plan and they would
never know that. And so there's a lot hidden on
healthcare dot gov, and there's a lot that's confusing. And

(50:37):
I sit down and I make sure that my clients
are taken care of and we don't put them in
a bad position.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Again, for folks going on Medicare, for us older folks,
you do the same for them as well.

Speaker 9 (50:46):
Of course I do that the right We sit down
with someone who is turning sixty five, or maybe they've
worked past sixty five and now they're retiring, and we
look at their prescriptions and doctors and see if a
Medicare supplement and drug card or possibly a Medicare advantage
plans the right fit for them. No two people are
the same. So even even two spouses can be on

(51:08):
completely different plans because one plan with one spouse and
one plan with fit another spouse.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Okay, I've been wanting to ask you this for a
while now. You talked about this earlier, and so just
briefly go back and touch on this. You talk about
okay on Affordable Care Act, and it's in particularly subsidies
go away, and you're you're thinking, okay, I won't be
making over seventy two thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
A year, but you don't really know, right, you don't.

Speaker 9 (51:35):
Really know, and self employed especially.

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Exactly, and suddenly you come up making more than seventy
two thousand a year. What happens? How is it government
getting that money back from that's all to the tax apparatus?
How does that work?

Speaker 9 (51:50):
That's where that's where everything is screwed up. So if
someone sits down with me and says they're going to
make seventy two thousand twenty twenty five when they file
their taxes April fifteenth, twenty twenty six for the twenty
twenty five year, the line to look at, the most
important line is line eleven of your federal ten forty

(52:12):
was called a jessin gross income. And so that line'll
be compared with their guests. So if that line says
one hundred and two thousand and not seventy two, then
the federal government will say, hey, well, you were paying
four hundred dollars a month for your health insurance. You
should have been paying six hundred dollars a month. We're
going to pop you another twenty four hundred on your

(52:33):
taxes two hundred dollars time twelve.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
This is why it's so important to talk to folks
like you and anybody wants to sit down and get
your your absolutely free services.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
What do they need to do?

Speaker 9 (52:42):
My friend, yes, glad to help. My office is right
here by the flight Deck restaurant in Lectington. Health Markets Insurance.
My phone number eight zero three six seven eight eight
one two to one. You can call her text that's
eighth three six seven eight eight one two one.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Ya Jeff and Health Markets and Lexington Thanking you. I
appreciate everybody as always.

Speaker 9 (53:01):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
This is the Health and Wellness Show on one O
three point five FM and five sixty AMWVOC. 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 as settlement

(53:25):
that's unfairly low. The Law Office of James Snell recognized
by AVA with a ten and an 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

(53:46):
be taken seriously. The Law Office of James Snell. I'm
Jim Snell. Contact me at Snell law dot com. That's
three l's spell law dot com. The Law Office of
James Snell since two thousand and four with off. This
is in Lexington and Columbia.