Health and Wellness Show 10-18-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Good afternoon and welcome in. It's the Health and Wellness
Show at a special time. Yeah, because of our best
game god coverage, we were pretty empt a the two
o'clock this afternoon. So you may not be normally hearing us, well,
you don't every now and then when we have a
depending on game time for football games. So if you've
never heard the program before, let me remind you that
you can hear it every Saturday morning, this very show,

(00:28):
the Health and Wellness Show at nine o'clock, our normal
time here on WVFC. Well, this afternoon, we'll be talking
about health insurance needs with Jeff Howell from Health Markets.
We'll talk to John and Matthew, John Farley, Matthew Terry
from Preservation Specialists. How to get started with those guys
to preserve your retirement. First up this afternoon, it's our
buddy Jim Snell from the Law Office of James Snell.

(00:49):
When it comes to personal injury law, yes, and settlements
just things, maybe even we might consider us lay folks
to be just random things that can actually affect the
value of a settlement in a in a personal injury case.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely, and they're and and they're out there therese there
are these things that can be It just seems so
at first. They can seem so subjective that they really
do kind of strike people as being unfair. UH, are
are kind of baseless, But I can tell you absolutely
do effect. You know how insurance companies are potentially even courts,

(01:28):
how they may evaluate or what they may do with
a given situation.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Let me ask you this before you get started. Yes,
And and I don't know if this applies or not.
And I meant to ask you this a few weeks. Well,
I guess it was. I don't think we've I guess
we have maybe And chattis this has happened? Uh? Back
during the Republican primary, there were non binding ballot questions
on that ballot. One of them had to do with

(01:54):
UH settlements and lawsuits. The question was, well, should you
know a settlement be based on let's say a party's
participation in whatever took place that that led to something
happening a non binding referendum? That was most everybody who

(02:23):
answered that question answered yes, they should be now again
non binding. But just because they put it on the ballot,
we make you think this is somewhere where they're heading.
Do you have any thoughts on that.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Have you?

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, well I was going to say for you know,
of course, yeah, the the Sales Republican primary, right, right, Okay,
so how did you know I would be familiar?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
By the way, Jim may be the only Republican a
lawyer out there.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
In the world of personally and uh litigation and claims
like I go to these national legal conferences and they
are uh, they are all on I mean kind of
left leaning Democrats. Law school was like that, right, I
mean all the everybody's like I didn't, you know, left
leaning and all that. Yes, I was very happy to

(03:22):
go to h to my precinct in Lexington and uh
and cast.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
My ballot for for Trump.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
All right, I'll just say it now.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm happy to do it. Okay, so I'll tell this.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Okay, you hit me with that by surprise, right, Typically
I would I would, I would, which is fine. I
would typically, But I want the question I think you're asking.

Speaker 5 (03:43):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
It's something that was put together I think by uh
and this is just my if I remember the question correctly,
or a question similar to that. It was something to
do with the proportionality damages after yeah, and if and
I'm happy to do a little research and follow back up.
But typically stuff like that is and without commenting on

(04:04):
that specific ballot initiative directly, but just generally in that world,
it's typically insurance companies and our lobbying groups or specific
industries that are advocating for legal changes to minimize what
they would be responsible for in the event of typically

(04:26):
a catastrophic or major incident.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Right, and so.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Because sometimes in especially in a we talked about this before,
in a catastrophic case, right where someone is going to have,
you know, maybe massively injured, maybe they're going to be
permanently injured, have a brain injury, or be paralyzed, or
there's a death right. One of the things we've covered,
I think extensively is the the the typical motorist in

(04:55):
South Carolina has a twenty five thousand dollliability. So that
means that driver hits and kills your loved one or
hits and kills are sorry, hit hit hits hits you
and puts you in a wheelchair for life. The most
their insurance pays is twenty five thousand, okay, which is
completely inadequate. And we've talked before about how people can

(05:15):
protect themselves against that possibility by acquiring underinsured coverage. But
frequently what happens as a as a lawyer when when
these cases come in, you you begin looking for other
possible recovery sources. Okay, right, And and like a real
common is something called dram shop or was it an

(05:39):
alcohol impair driver that that caused.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
This case down in a volley Beach from from last
year with a bride of the groom? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Because what what what you can if if you can,
if you have the correct facts, you can make an
allegation that the that the bar restaurant oversold somebody basically
got the so you know, to so drunk they couldn't drive.
And you know all these bars have parking lots, I
mean they know how these people get there. They drive,
and if you're gonna keep poring them till they're unsafe

(06:11):
to drive, and that's how you you know, that's that's
how you make your money, is you know, you profit
off getting people to drive to you, getting them so
drunk they can't drive, and then watching them drive off. Right,
you can make a claim saying hey, you're you're you're
on the hook for this injury. Right, It's called dram shop.
That's just one example. So you look for those situations

(06:34):
and then you say, hey, you're you're on the hook.
So we've got, you know, three million dollars in medical bills,
a twenty five thousand dollar liability. We're coming after you
for the for the balance. And so I think some
of these lobbying groups, special interest groups, insurance companies look
in those situations for ways they can say, hold on

(06:54):
our guy, just poor drinks. They don't have a breath machine,
they're not what do they know. And besides the guy
who actually swallowed the liquor and then drove and then
ran the red light, you know, that's who's they are
so much more at fault. That's that's that's who should
should pay. Like basically, our our insured or our companies

(07:17):
are you know, the businesses we advocate for. You gotta
let them slide. I think that kind of question seemed
to me in that vein, and it's one of one of.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Those poses going after those with the deepest pockets. Craig.
An unfair proportionality of a settlement. It seems like, as
I recall the way it was.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Written, and and one thing in particular, and I've heard
this before when tort reform kind of has come up
as a topic for discussion.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
In the world of.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Compensation for people who are injured or killed and and
and you know, in accidents are are through negligence, right,
the general public, right, no one imagines it will be
it'll happen to them or their family, right, No one ever,
just no one ever assumes. Nobody actually ever assumes or

(08:12):
thinks about that possibility. Right, So the general public really
has no interest in that world as far as the
process unless they're involuntarily thrust into it. So the repeat
players are gonna be the insurance companies, the companies themselves

(08:34):
that are regularly sued, maybe their lobbying groups. Right, those
are the folks who are all the time participating in
the world of compensation for accent of victims, right, and
the people who are in that world and who can
sort of advocate our lobby for the rights of the

(08:57):
injured people. That really falls down on personal injury or
you know, personal injury attorneys, because we're in that world constantly.
But from the side of the injured person, there's there's
not another advocacy group other than the lawyers. So when
you see people malign trial lawyers are taught bad about

(09:17):
the plainess bar. That's a lot of it. These insurance
or these special interest groups trying to basically be dismissive
of you know what side actually can raise the other
point because again, you're not going to have a grassroots
group of public advocating for the rights of the injured
because they just they're not in that world. Hope, I'm

(09:39):
answering you.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, I'm sorry, I've gotten off track here, but they
just popped into my head. Things weirdly do that sometimes
they just pop it into my head. Right, Yes, you know,
there you go. All right, So things that can affect
the value of a settlement.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Just yeah, just just to kind of go through a
few and this is I'm just trying to you know,
and of course you know I will you know, I
do this program every what, every couple of weeks, and
you know, I always worry I can't. I'm gonna bore
the audience to death if we believe if we keep
going on about you know, no fee nless we win
free compultations. All right, Okay, so here's what I'm gonna say.

(10:15):
But you got that in very definitely there, I got it.
In very definitely, all right. One thing isn't In a
state like South Carolina, you have every county has a
county courthouse, and every county potentially you know, are you know,
has civil lawsuits that are brought in it.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
And one of the phenomenons about a state like South
Carolina is the counties themselves are very different.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
For example, Lexington County, our good gosh, Pickens County up
in the upstate, right is going to be very different
than say, Charleston County as far as the people who
live there and the people who would get called jury
duty to decide a loss it okay. And there are
databases that track the outcomes of different kind of cases

(11:11):
in different you know, and can compare to different counties.
And you know, so there there's a lot of at
least anecdotal and some documented you know, data to show
that similar cases can have different court outcomes in different counties, Okay.

(11:31):
And and that and that's by and large due to
the type of people that would show up for jury dutty, Okay.
And so when you get in a collision or say
you get in a car wreck, and and it's a
it's a case that could be brought. I'm just gonna
make this this this up. But you know it's hypothetically.

(11:53):
But if you get an erect from somebody from say
like Allendale County, right, which I think has a reputation
as being a very sort of pro plaintiff sort of area,
insurance companies may think that that case has more value
than if the case was safe from Anderson County or
Greenville County, right.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
So more conservative counties. Yes, we have anecdotal elements at
least that they're it's there's data.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
There's documented data, okay, And and the insurance companies all
track the stuff and they know, I mean, the insurance
companies know every single every time the courthouse doors open
and they decide see a cart case. Insurance baseball statisticians
they can keep up. But yeah, they know all the numbers.
And so if if a if a if a wreck occurred,
say in in say Pickens County, or the at fault

(12:48):
driver was from Pickens County or whatever the situation would be,
they would know. They would take that into account and say,
well that that case may have less value or we
think it's going to have less value than if it
was somebody, say from Allendale County or you know, Orangeburg

(13:10):
County or something like that.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
So then what do they do with that knowledge? Are
they do they try to offer a lower settlement to
begin with, yes, to try to keep it out of
court totally.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
I guess yea, yeah, they try to offer a lower settlement.
And you know, I'll be on the you know, I've
certainly had I don't even know how many I can't
even count the number of times I've been on the
phone with an adjuster, speaking to an adjuster or a
lawyer for an insurance company and they've said, you know, hey, Jim,
this this is you know, this case is going to

(13:40):
be in you know, Newbury County, or this is going
to be in Spartman County or whatever they'll say, whatever,
whatever it is thinking, you know, just pointing out to
me that, hey, we know this is a conservative venue,
and you've got a factor that you've got to be
realistic in what you think this case is worth because
it's in a place where, you know, our data or
our belief is that the average court verdicts are lower.

(14:03):
People been engine accident. Give us a call, there you go.
They can reach us at eight zero, three, three five
nine three three zero one or online at Snell Law
dot com. That's three L's spell law dot com.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
All right, jaboys, good to see you, bet it we're
out of time. Thanks man.

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(14:56):
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Speaker 6 (15:15):
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(15:36):
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(15:58):
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Speaker 1 (16:04):
About told the Law Show.

Speaker 6 (16:08):
Eight one two one, or Jeff Joints w l E
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Speaker 1 (16:14):
For you you that's.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Right, trying to straighten this politicians out, that's right. But yeah,
I was there on behalf. I was a voluntary I'm
a volunteer with the American Cancer Society GOOD and I
was a volunteer lobbyist. I'm walking the halls of the
State House talking to them, are representatives, have breakfast with
many of them, Representative Caskie from my district in West Columbia,

(16:40):
and many of the representatives just talking about how the
legislature can help send public funds to help for cancer research. Specifically,
yesterday we were talking about colon cancer prevention. We were
talking about how to put more money towards some team

(17:02):
smoking prevention, not just cigarettes, but probably even more on
topic is these jewel right, the vaping and they make
them in Strawberry and me on whyme and you? Of course,
when vaping first came out, they said that they were
coming out to help smokers get all cigarettes right. But

(17:22):
then their marketing and every anything else told a different story.
It was geared towards teenagers, and you know, just trying
to fight that battle because if you can stop the
smoker early, then not certainly you know, will benefit them
their whole life. And of course and medicaid expansion. So

(17:43):
the North Carolina Legislature, which is a Republican legislature, recently
passed Medicaid expansion as many states have. And you know,
I as a health insurance a Medicare insurance agency, it
on a daily basis where someone comes into my office
and they don't make enough money to get a subsidy,
mean the Affordable Care Act, you know, health insurance is

(18:05):
not affordable to them, but they also don't qualify for Medicaid.
They're in this between a rock and a hard place
where they can get no health insurance. And what that
means for cancer prevention is they have no health insurance.
You know, if you have health insurance, you get no
cost screenings like colonoscopies and mammograms and pap smears and

(18:25):
physicals where early detection, of course is the key to
cancer treatment. So that's what we were talking to our
state centitors and representatives about and hopefully we made an
impact yesterday.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well, I sure hope you did. Interesting, you know, I
mean what Jeff Ballpark, do you know kind of what
percentage of the population here in the state falls into
that category you just mentioned. You can't qualify for the
subsidies on the Affordable Care Act, but you don't qualify
from Medicaid either.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
I at one time saw a statistic around thirteen.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Percent the real question.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Wow, but it's a pretty large number.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Wow. Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
That's a lot of people who need help, you know.
And I mean, you know, sometimes when we talk to
our representatives, we just say, what's in it for them? Right?
Wasn't in it for the state of South Carolina? I mean,
obviously the citizens have benefit those citizens, but you would
get about two billion dollars in federal funding if they
made that decision to go that, right. Oh really, Okay,

(19:23):
So I know a lot of politics are involved, and
I believe when you know, all this is kind of
tied to twenty ten, twenty fourteen, when Affordable Care Act
was first passed the medx K expansion began. But it's
kind of just educating them on we're past all that, right,
that's that's ten years ago. You know, that's not all.

(19:44):
That's not not what medicaid expansions about now. It's about
it's about helping people getting well health care and preventive care,
and that's very important. Person.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, no doubt. Well I know again, thank you for
what you're doing. Is a volunteer for the American Cancer
Society because uh, you know, maybe maybe one day, maybe
one day, Jeff, maybe you know.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
I was talking to representatives about you know, artificial intelligence
and how you know, we hear all about the you know,
you know the Terminator movie, right, how dangerous artificial intelligence
can be. But frankly, cancer research and funding the artificial
intelligence is the way to go because that's the good
side of artificial intelligence. That may be the key to

(20:29):
breaking through and finding curves to some of these cancers.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
That would be, that would be that would be nice,
That would be nice. You have You're involved in a
number of things though, you know, as I recall we've
talked in the past.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah. I also I'm on the board of the National
Association of Benefit Insurance Professionals here in South Carolina, and
we will go to d C soon and talk to
our congressman and senators up there about national issues as well.
I will definitely talk about that when I get back
to DC. But you know, I feel like, yeah, I

(21:05):
just hate sitting back and you know, I wish I
wish things were different, you know, with this law, or
I wish things were different from my health insurance and
medicare clients this way. I wish drug prices were different.
I tried to be proactive and do what I can,
you know, what little I can to do what I
can to at least I feel like I'm in the fight,
you know.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, be the change, Be the change.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Every little bit help, hope.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, absolutely, Well, you're uh, And I guess this time
of year allows you the bit of a bit of
a downtime in order to pursue those sorts of things.
We're at all the open seasons now, right. You know,
we had our Medicare open season late last year, and
the Affordable Care Act the open season h ended middle
part of last month, so you know, or earlier this month.

(21:51):
I guess it was so h But still, I mean,
things happen, and situations and life situations change, and people
like me get older and need to go on Medicare,
and so there's still you know, plenty of plenty of
good things to talk about here. Let's let's talk a
bit about Medicare. And I have a bit of a
vested interest in this because you know, come come June,

(22:11):
I'll hit that magic age of sixty five. Yes, congratulations, Yeah,
I've made it this far. So now we'll just use
me as an example. I'll need to come and sit
down with you sometime in the next couple of months. No,
I guess I could do it now. Just hadn't gotten
by to sea yet, jep. But I will be soon.
But you certainly want to start this process sooner rather

(22:34):
than later.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Right, Sure, it's never too early. I meet a sixty
year old, sixty one, sixty two year old who are
just planning because, especially when a person is retirement planning,
you know, healthcare cost, of course, is the biggest consideration
on whether they can afford to retire, not afford to retire,
So early planning is always key. But in your situation,

(23:00):
on March one, which is ninety days before your eligibility day,
which is the first day or birthday month, which is
June first, right is your June birthday, your Medicare will
start on June one. You'll call medicare between March one
and June one. The earlier the better, because Medicare is
you know, it's not a fast, but it's not a

(23:21):
fast but think more like Titanic, right. You know, you
got to want to get to the government. You got
to get to them early and get the process going,
you know, ninety days before and you will choose whether
you want to. Of course you'll everyone gets Part A.
Everyone is going to enroll in Part AS if you've
worked ten years in this country since you were sixteen

(23:43):
years old. Part A is free, right. The Part B
is the one that costs money for most people, calls
one hundred and seventy four dollars and seventy cents. And
then you will choose if you want to elect to
take Part B June first, or if you're on a
group health plan, if you like to stay on that
group health plan a little while longer and defer Part BE,

(24:04):
So that'll be your choice.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Is that always the best choice?

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Every person's different. So I mean some people are on
a group health plan where they pay absolutely nothing and
they have Cadillac coverage, and so the best choice for
them is to defer BE. Other people might be on
their spouse as a group health plan where they're paying
like fun, Yeah for the best the best you know
for them is to take BE. So every person's different.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
And of course maybe you have a spouse on your plan.
That's true.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
So if you're turning sixty five and your spouse is
sixty one, what would you leave in the group health plan?
Mean for your spouse. And so I oftentime meet with
the husband and the wife whichever one's turned sixty five,
and the younger spouse, and we talk about, you know
what a health insurance plan for the sixty one or
sixty two year old will mean to the next three

(24:59):
or four years for them.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Right, And so in that situation for somebody who is
going to come off their health plan, their employee sponsored plan,
and it was a better move for them to take
the part be But yet their spouse now is without insurance.
That that's a life event that would qualify the spouse
then to be able to sign up for the open
market place insurance.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Right, that's absolutely correct. So then I could shop and
get that spouse a Blue Cross individual plan with possibly
a subsidy depend upon their income prediction for twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Absolutely okay, Oh so so tell I mean this whole
process of and I have again a bit of a
vested interest in it, right now, this whole process of
getting on the horn with the government and talking to
the people that Medica is this, How painful is this?

Speaker 3 (25:47):
So there's two ways it's notable, really three ways they
is to just go online to secure call.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
It a Okay, hang on just that way, yeah, hang on,
I think our line is kind of breaking up a
little bit, all right, I don't want somebody to miss
out what you just said. There, let's see we can get.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
That hear me?

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Now, Yes, that's much better, thank you. Okay. So you
were talking about going online is one way to do it,
So let's let's go.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Let's talk about that stay dot gov and you would
I'm going there and elect. You know, if you were
taking Part B, you would sign up for Parts A
m B, if you were deferring Part B. That's also
where you can go on there and elect Part A
and defer Part B. Or you can call Medicare winning
under Medicare, and when you call them, they're going to
make you a phone appointment with one of their Medicare

(26:39):
employees representatives. And that's usually I found about four or
five weeks out. So that's why if you're going to
do it that way, call that first week in March
for June first, you know, three months out, or they'll
set you an appointment at a local Social Security office
if you prefer to do it in person. So when
you call one hundred Medicare, you tell them you'd like
to call to someone person, because maybe you're doing more

(27:02):
than just the Medicare. Maybe you're electing so security benefits
and that's that could be very complicated. The money part,
which is a completely separate part, right, so you don't
you don't have to take Social Security when you get
on Medicare. You can just take the Medicare and keep
waiting on the SOBI security. They're completely separate, the money
and the health insurance. But but you can go to

(27:24):
the Strong Therma building with so Security offices in Richland County,
or you can go to the Aken office or the
Clinton office Orangeburg office. So you have choices for which
office you want to go to. But that's the way
you get on Medicare. And then once you get on Medicare,
they'll tell you that famous red, white, and blue Medicare
card and that's you come see them, come see me

(27:45):
or someone like myself. And as a licensed insurance agent,
we can walk a person through their options for their
Medicare insurance and their prescription drug plans.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
All right, So it starts with that, and I'll ask
you this, Jeff, So, yeah, your you got A, you
got B You're going totally on Medicare now, so you're
going to have to have both of those. Now, well
you're talking about where you go from there. That's that's
a whole separate issue, and that's where you go to
advantage plan or or take the supplement or what have you.

(28:15):
I think it was the Medicare supplement, right, Uh.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
That's correct. Do you have you have an A or
B choice, So it's it's one or the other. You
either go with a Medicare supplement or what's called a
medicapp plan with a prescription drug card. That's choice one
or choice two. You go with the Medicare advantage plan
that has a health prescriptions all built into one one card,
which provides extra benefits like dental vision, hearing, gym memberships,

(28:43):
over the counter benefits, things like that. So you know,
and you know, I sit down and know two people
are the same. So you know a lot of times
I'll I'll meet with a neighbor and they'll get one plan.
Then they'll a further neighbor and they'll come back and
they'll say, why did you Why did Jerry get this?
Why did I get the other? I go, well, you
were coming all completely different people. You know, completely different

(29:08):
health profiles, take completely different medications, completely different you know,
even though you live across the street from each other,
no two people are the same.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, let me back up again here and make sure
I've got this clear. And uh so you say I'm
going on the website, and going on the website, you select, okay,
the part A, which everybody's got to take. But then
the part B is that's the you take that you
go or you go with an advantage plan. Is that correct?
Am I missing? Or is there another piece?

Speaker 3 (29:37):
You know, you always have to have B before you
even get to that intro.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Okay, you've got to have B, all right, but that
is if you're going on to medicare correct? So you say,
sign up for those two online or in the office
or the soci Security Administration office, which, by the way,
I don't know how it is now, but the last
time I went over there a couple of years ago,
I don't ever want to do that again.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
A lot of my clients go to the Aching office
or the Clinton office. They go to a smaller office
or orange first they do.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
That's a good call. So you sign up for AMB
and then come see you and decide where you go
from there with the acts.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
Okay, guys, And the only reason that a person would
not take B, the only reason is if they were
on a very good group health plan, or if they're
on a group health plan that covered their spouse really well,
and their spouse would lose that group health coverage if
they came off the group. That's the only reason. Because
if a person just doesn't do anything, and believe I've

(30:33):
met plenty of these people who just they just didn't know.
You don't know what you don't know, right, And so
I mean, if you just do nothing and you stay
on the Affordable Care Act and or you just don't
have insurance at all, you just keep having no insurance
and you do nothing. I mean, there's some pretty big
penalties for not getting B when you're first eligible, if
you don't have a group health plan or what's called

(30:54):
credible coverage. So yeah, and there's penalties for not having
a part in D drug cover. You get penalized double
not having B or the drug plan. So it's definitely something.
The three months before you turn sixty five are very
important to be proactive and make a decision to get

(31:14):
Medicare A and B unless you have that group health plan.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
If you're turning sixty five in the next month or two,
time to get hopping.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
Right now, that's right, that's right. It's the end of January.
If you want February first, you're you might be out
of Look it might be a March one effective day.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah right now. Yeah. Well, and again if if you stay,
if you decide you like to stay on your employees
employees sponsored health coverage, you still got to get the
Part A. You've got to sign for that regardless.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
But you got to and you still got to proactively
call and tell them you're deferring Part B. I many
people make that mistake or they get the Part B
when they don't need to, and they pay that one
seventy four a month as well as paying their portion
towards the group health insurance when it's really doing nothing
for them whatsoever. Now there's there's exceptions to that with

(32:06):
like the State Health Plan and PEBO where you have
to get the MP. But I'm talking to the general rule.
Someone who just say works, you know, say they're a
self employed plumber and they have a group health plan,
and you know they have ten ten people work at
their plumbing company. They they really need to make a choice.
They need to and usually the choice for them is

(32:29):
getting the Part B and going on Medicare because you know,
the coverage is so good and for one seventy four
a month, and if you get a Medicare advantage plan
for zero premium, you know that's those premiums are hard
to beat.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, that's hard to be yes. And again, but if
you stay on your your group plan, you have the
Part A, you got the got the little red white
and blue card, but you don't really use it for anything, right,
and it's just you got it, right, is that right?

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, it would just say Part A on it and
it would just sit there and do nothing, kind of
lay dormant until one day you retire, one day you
come off that group health plan. Then about you know,
ninety days before you do that, you would call Medicare back,
say when you're sixty eight or you know, whenever you're
leaving your group health plan and say okay, now I'm
ready to activate Part B. And so then then they

(33:16):
would get the red, white and blue card with the
A and B both on it. Then they would come
see me and we would set up their supplement drug
card or Medicare advantage.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
And you find Jeff Howell. We're sir.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Yes. My office is a flight deck right outside of
the front door of the flight Deck restaurant and the
flight Deck shops in Lexington. My website is my name
www dot j E F F H O W L
E dot com and my phone number. You can text
or call eight zero three six seven eight eight one
two one. That's eight zero three six seven eight eighty

(33:48):
one twenty one.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Good stuff, all right, Jeff, thanks buddy, have a good weekend.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Man.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Thank you, Gary, I have.

Speaker 6 (34:08):
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and with Jeff Howell and the team at Health Markets
in 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,

(34:28):
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 toe. Called Jeff

(34:51):
Howell in Health markets at eight oh three six seven
eight eight one two one, or visit Jeffhowell dot com.
That's eight oh three up an eight eight one two
one or Jeff Howle dot com and let them find
the right insurance for you.

Speaker 7 (35:08):
Good morning. This is Larry Harris with Classic Systems. I'm
a certified mold inspector. We can help you test the
air in your home ten minutes per sample, one sample inside,
one sample outside. If we do it in the morning,
we'll have the lab report that afternoon and then we
can discuss with you what protocols you need to take

(35:30):
to clean the air in your home. Particularly if you
have coughing, sneezing rashes on your body. This could be
because of mold that's in the air. Let us come
do air testing for you. The fee is only seventy
five dollars per sample and we can get the lab
report back the same day, so you know if you

(35:50):
have any airborne issues in your home. This is Larry
Harris with Classic systems eight three six two six two
seven four eight eight three six two seven four.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Eight Welcome back in today Health and Wellness Show one
of three point five FM and five sixty amw DVOC.
We're it's time now for John Farley Matthew Terry from

(36:23):
Preservation Specialists to join the program. Good to see you as.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Always, Jerry, how are you hey?

Speaker 1 (36:27):
I got no complaints, man, yeah I do. I don't
have anyone want to publicly air. You are a public figure,
so yeah, well that's debatable.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
We talk.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
I still enjoy our segments because there's so enlightening, not
just for me but for everyone listening. And a couple
of weeks ago we talked about, you know, achieving peace
of mind. You know, how do you get there? Well,
you get there by proper planning, and but not just
proper planning, then when you get there into retirement years
upper maintenance. Right. Uh. And I'm just I'm curious this morning.

(37:06):
Let's let's talk about this guys. Somebody has heard us
talking over the years and says, you know what I
want to I want to sit down and talk to
these guys. What's the process? I mean, how how does
how do you go from that first introduction to you know,
becoming a client. What's involved? What should people expect? I

(37:27):
don't know. Let's just let's just start there with that
first phone call.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
Sounds great.

Speaker 5 (37:30):
So what we do is the first phone call is, uh,
what we're going to ask you to do is assemble
everything you got because a lot of times people and
and you know this is very common. You have the
life insurance in this drawer, you have the the you know,
four O one K statement in that drawer.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
You know, all these different things. He's talking about me.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
But.

Speaker 4 (37:50):
Yeah, just say it. Gary. We were going to reveal
personal here, but.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
No. But what happens is, so what we do is
we ask you to gather your stuff up and bring
it in. And the other thing we're going to do
is we're gonna before you ever get there, we're going
to send you the first book written by Pat Our
founder Pat Streep. Yeah, and it's not a hard book,
it's not a technical book. But what it does is
it takes you through seven significant things to be aware

(38:21):
of in retirement. Now, we're fully aware of those things,
and some people who come in aren't necessarily, but this
is a way to give people an idea Hey, this
is a relatively easy read book. If you don't want
to read it, fine, that's fine. But if you do,
this will give you an introduction into why we do
what we do.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Right.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
So, then in that first meeting, once you come in,
before we ever get to all the stuff that you brought,
we're going to ask you a lot of questions. First
thing we're going to ask you is, so, what does
retirement look like for you? Okay, so you've been working
for this many years. What are your thoughts on retirement?
And you know that is different things for different people,

(38:58):
but we want to get to what that means for you.
What do you want to be doing in retirement? And
in some cases, I would say more than some some
people are like, well, I don't ever want to fully
retire because I really like what I'm doing, you know,
I want to keep doing the part of this.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
So we.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
You know, go through that.

Speaker 5 (39:15):
Then we say, okay, the next thing we want to
ask about is what do you want to do with
your money? Okay, so we obviously want to give you
a nice retirement, but is there any charity that you've thought, Hey, this.

Speaker 4 (39:28):
Is meaningful to me.

Speaker 5 (39:29):
I want to make sure it goes there are there children,
are there? Is there anybody in your life who could
be financially dependent on you that we need to account
for that sort of thing. Then we keep going down
the list of questions that we'd ask. We'll ask things like, okay,
you know, where are you in terms of your life
insurance and these other things. When you get to this age,
many people don't need it, but they still have policies, right,

(39:50):
and so we want to do is we want to
look at those and make sure that they are doing
what is in your best interest. Then we go through
a kind of high level income expense situation, and then
we work our way down into all of the details
of okay, with this, what can we produce that will
be a recommendation? So what we'll do after we and

(40:13):
these meetings can be you know, lengthy, frankly, I mean,
you know, even me an hour long where you're asking
all these questions, and our job is to ask all
those questions so that we know, Okay, we understand where
you are, we understand where your priorities are. And then
we schedule a second meeting, and in that second meeting,
we would have a first level custom built retirement plan

(40:34):
for you just.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
An overall those second meeting.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
Yeah, yeah, and in that we would say, okay, this
is where you are in these five areas. Okay, we
again we talk about income insurance if you need it, investments, taxes,
and a state. So these are the five areas that
we would say, Okay, this is where you are in
these areas. Now, some people come in and there, you know,

(40:58):
they're seventy eight, they're all buttoned up in all these areas.
Really what they want is someone to make sure that
they're managing their assets appropriately. Some people come in and
they're you know, in their fifties, and there's a lot
to do to make sure all of these all of
these things are buttoned up. So yeah, so then by
the second meeting, we will be able to say, okay,
this is where you are from a in some cases

(41:23):
reasonably granular level, and in other cases it will be
a little higher looked down.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
So, Matthew, when you have these conversations, I'm just curious,
is there is there one particular area like that John
just mentioned, or one particular question or whatever that seems
to most people go uh huh.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Yeah, well that's a good question.

Speaker 8 (41:45):
I mean, you know, for each person in each family
that comes in, I mean having them answer, hey, what
does your dream retirement look like?

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Right?

Speaker 8 (41:54):
Sometimes people have given that question a lot of thought.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
See I always think of ask that's probably the one,
because you can't. I want to find.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
That that's right.

Speaker 8 (42:01):
I mean, And some people that just rattle off and
say these are all the different things I want to do.
And others say, you know what, Matthew, I've sent my
entire life work, and you know, I feel like I'm
on this hamster will life just doing what I can
to keep up. But no, I haven't given it a
lot of time to what that retirement looks like. I mean,
it's harder to say, I would say for someone that is,
you know, in their forties or fifties. As you get

(42:23):
closer to sixties and you get closer and closer to
that retirement date, just because you're closer to that time,
obviously you're giving it a lot more thought. But that's
the biggest question that I would say that I have
trouble getting an answer from from my younger clients that
I work with. But it is an important piece because
depending upon what they want to do, obviously that's going
to dictate how my recommendation and plan is going to

(42:45):
be created and build out well.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
And I wanted to bring that up because, as you say,
with your younger clients, it's kind of difficult, but John,
it is not unusual for people our age to go
I don't know. Yeah, sure, right, And then let's talk
about that psychological emotional part of it. Okay, let's put
the money aside. For us. You know, suddenly you've hit
that cliff and you're going over the edge and bam,

(43:07):
one day you're working as you have all your life,
and the next day you're not. Yeah. Uh And and
that's for some people that's a problem.

Speaker 5 (43:14):
Yeah, yeah, and and and I would say, and and
I don't want to I don't want to pigeonhole genders,
but uh, it tends to be more of a problem
for us men, sure, you know, because that's been a
lot of our focus for our lives and then our identity.
Yeah yeah, yeah, So so there are there are definitely
times now there are there are, but everybody's individual and

(43:36):
we want to work through it.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
And let's be real clear. You guys are not psychologists.

Speaker 8 (43:42):
Sometimes we almost like therapist, you know, sometimes where those
meetings go.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
But now, but but but the bottom line is what
what we what we what we really strive to accomplish this,
This is that this is what we do every day.
So it's kind of like, you know, I have a
problem with my foot and I'm going to go see
if doctor. And my guess is he's going to say, yeah,
that's that, because I see that every day.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
But it's I don't know what it is.

Speaker 5 (44:06):
I just know it hurts, right, So so I hopefully
that's what we give to people, is that that that
knowledge base and the understanding that that again, money is
simply a means to an end, right, So like you know,
one example, and then and this happens a lot, like
people will come in and they'll say, hey, should I

(44:27):
pay off my house? And you know this sort of thing,
and and my question back to them almost all the
time is going to be, all right, I'm going to
give you a financial reason as to why you should
or shouldn't. But what matters more than that is how
this makes you feel.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
Right.

Speaker 5 (44:42):
So if you always had in your mind that by
the time I get to retirement, my house is paid off,
then that may be the answer. Now I'm gonna we'll
talk back and forth like if you have a you know,
you got a loan a couple of years ago when
the interest rates were down at two percent. You know
I could give you a financial reason why that might
not make the most financial sense. Sure, but what really

(45:05):
matters is peace of mind, because that's where that you know,
how are you going to sleep well at night? And
let's let's work that through.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Do you find that, Matthew vary from person to person,
family to family, A couple of couple, I know, but
typically the average client you sit down with from the
get go, from that very first sit down to the
time when the light bulb goes off and they're like, wow, okay, good,

(45:41):
how long does that taking? How quickly can you get there?

Speaker 4 (45:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (45:45):
So, you know, we have the first meeting with clients typically,
and as John mentioned, we're just going to ask you
a ton of questions, make sure we understand your situation,
go through that wellness check up, make sure we get
all your bottles right, we understand your situation. And then
a second meeting we present you and we say, hey,
this is how we can help you. The ball's in
your court, completely up to you. Some people say, Matthew

(46:06):
I'm ready to go. Let's get started planning, just like
that others and they may say, I want to go home.
I want to talk about this with my spouse, and
they'll contact us in the next week, two, a week more.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
If your spouse internet meeting, that's probably a problem to
begin with.

Speaker 5 (46:19):
I'm thinking most of the time, yeah, most of the
time you want both of them there, but frequently Okay,
So you know, Gary, you've seen me, I eat well,
I don't cook, right, So we have a division of
labor in my house. Right, I will do dishes, but
somebody's got yeah, you don't want to eat my cooking, right.
So it's not that uncommon for people to have division
of labor in their relationships.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
It's just the way it is.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
You know.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
It's funny.

Speaker 5 (46:39):
I talk to my sister and I was at her
house and I was like, Patty, what's the WiFi password?
She goes not my department, you know what I mean? Like,
she's just she knows what she does when he does
that thing. So it's not that uncommon for one member
of her to have to have, you know, more expertise
in finance as opposed to the other. Said, it's usually

(47:01):
a good idea to have both people there, just to
make sure that even if you don't get all the details,
you can kind of size the person up and say, Okay,
is this someone I want to work with if something
should something happen to the person who is fundamentally in
charge of the finances, Am I comfortable that now this
guy is going to be managing this and does this

(47:22):
person have my best interest at heart?

Speaker 3 (47:24):
You know?

Speaker 4 (47:25):
I mean, I've seen a lot.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
Of situations where people, you know, I've been working with
this guy for thirty years, and they come in and
they have like, you know, literally six or seven certain
type of products that I'd be like that guy had
a quota. That's what was going on there, you know
what I mean, you know, and so you really, you
really want to make sure that, Okay, are these people,
you know, in my best interest? And by the way,

(47:48):
you know, this is a plug for our company. But
I will tell you we are independent, we always will be,
and we are open to whatever is in the best
interest of the people we serve. So we are licensed
in every area, so we can do whatever we want,
and we are not subject to some parent company that
restricts what we can choose. To do, which is a
really important thing. So yeah, so and by the way,

(48:10):
I also do want to point out first meeting, second meeting,
no cost, no obligation, right, It's just these are we're
getting to know each other in that circumstance, so.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
You can actually get a you'll create a detailed plan
by the second meeting, and no cost and no obligation.

Speaker 5 (48:25):
Yeah, right, there will be certain now to be clear,
it won't be as as you know, all the ies
dotted and all the tea's crossed as if we start
to work together.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
But yeah, we've got a road up only. Yes, absolutely,
we give you it. This is where you are, this
is where you where you'll be. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (48:40):
The biggest point in that second meeting is to say, hey,
these are some areas of concern, right, and these need
to be addressed. These are some ways that we could
potentially solve for that. But of course we're not going
to give you all the answers, right, That's why you
have to make that decision. If you feel that we're
a good fit to hire us, to partner with us,
and like you said, hey Matthew, I'm ready to get going.
Let's start planning. We'll have that third meeting, we'll sit down,

(49:03):
we'll create our punch list of this is where we're
going to be going over the following weeks. And that's
what happens. I mean, we schedule after someone says we
want to move forward, after we go through some housekeeping
items that we have to get past. There's probably going
to be a strand of three or four planning meetings
after that, and then we're going to be doing annual

(49:23):
check ins, we're going to be doing annual tax planning meetings,
all those things. We continue to foster and adjust that
plan as needed.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Because I was going to ask you that, I mean
those initial meetings, how long as it take before the
rubber hits the road. Somebody's ready to go, it's maybe
the fourth meeting or so, okay, we got a button down, boom,
let's go.

Speaker 9 (49:39):
That's the first domino that falls. You're absolutely right, And
it also depends on the person and we are open
to that right. So there are some people who once
they get in they're like, Okay, my life is busy.
I trust that you're going to do the right thing here.
So by third or fourth meeting, you're ready to go.
But I can tell you there was a woman I
met with. I grew very fond of her. Unfortunately she

(50:00):
she's no longer with us.

Speaker 5 (50:00):
But I literally had ten meetings and and we did
weekly meetings. She wanted to know everything and and I
was absolutely fine with that. She was, uh, you know, listen,
she wanted all the details. Great, let's do it all.
But most people are probably in the middle. And usually
what we do is, once we decide to work, we're
gonna want to We're gonna want to get you you know,

(50:21):
like three or four meetings in a row, and then
we schedule thereafter as needed. But that way we can
we can get the plan going for whatever the punch
list is for your circumstance.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
So, yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Know, my wife likes to watch HGTV and I like
to watch football.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Yeah, I've been there, Garrett, Right, yeah, right.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
But there's you know, so I'll be in the rooms
and all those shows are on and I'll watch a
little better now and then it's getting it interesting. But
you see these shows, I think it's all fabricated anyway.
You know, John, you're the attainments that this works, where
you know, they're looking for a house and the husband
and the wife they don't want you in anything nothing.
How often does that happen when you sit down with
a couple where it's like they're just on poll opposites

(51:05):
of what they want retirement to look like, what they
want to spend money on. Yeah, and how do you
bring that together or do you go?

Speaker 4 (51:13):
Okay, that's a really good point.

Speaker 5 (51:14):
Well, what I would say is this, most of the
time people are on the same general page.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (51:21):
But it's also not uncommon to have one person in
the family who is who is more of the saver,
and one person who's more of the spender.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
So that's a that's a circumstance. I those are those
are common scenarios where we just have to talk it
through and say, hey, here's the circumstance, and we can
show you, with our software in black and white, where
you're going to be, you know, with given a few assumptions,

(51:50):
where you're going to be five years, eight years, ten years,
fifteen years, twenty years down the road. So we can
give you the peace of mind to say, you've got
this money to spend, go have fun, you know, go
do your thing.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (52:04):
And and and it's interesting too, Gary, you bring up
a great point. Another area that a lot of times
I will see, you know, maybe a spouse for a couple.
They'll have difference and opinions on is legacy right. Some
say I want to spend every last dollar and I
don't care if there's anything left, and others say, no,
I want to make sure that I leave behind a
certain amount to children or grandchildren or whatever that case is.

(52:25):
So you know, again, this is their money. It's not
my job to tell them, hey, this is you should
or you should not spend. It's just my job to
help them accomplish their goals.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
You get to mind, you these guys are produci areas.
Are not marriage therapists either. Yeah, you got to start somewhere.
It starts with a phone call.

Speaker 5 (52:43):
Yeah yeah, and meeting yeah aight oh three nine? Retire
aight oh three nine, retire, Happy to sit down again,
first two meetings, no cost, no obligation.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
And I will also point out that some people are like, well,
I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I would also remind
anybody that it's it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion. Again,
no cost, no obligation.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Yeah, all right, John and Matthew. Good to see to
both of you.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
Thanks Gary, Thanks sir.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
The lawyers and staff at the Law Office of James
Snell are there to help those with injuries and workers'
compensation claims, car accidents, on the job and other accidents
resulting in injuries. They want to help everyone resolve their
claim as quickly as possible, but they'll never recommend you
accept as settlement that's unfairly low. The Law Office of
James Snell recognized by AVA with a ten and an

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

Speaker 2 (53:49):
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.