Health and Wellness Show 11-04-23

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Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Good afternoon, and welcome into aspecially timed edition at least of the Health
and Willness Show here on one ofthree point five FM at five sixty AMWVOC.
Good to have you with us.My name is Gary David. This
show normally heard at nine o'clock everySaturday morning, but of course pre empty
today to this time slot because ofour best game cut coverage. Don't remember,
as soon as that game is over, we're back on with our fifth

(00:30):
quarter postgame calling show once that finalwhistle blows this afternoon over at Williams Brice
Stadium. But we got a lotof great information here for you today.
It is open enrollment season for Medicare, and Jeff Howell, our expert from
health markets whose services are totally freeto you, is going to join us
coming up a little bit later onthis half hour to talk about the options

(00:51):
you have whether you're enrolling in Medicareor maybe your first time into Medicare.
And you've got a lot of questions. He's got some answers for us.
Deals happening and what's new at Carefreeboat Club out at Lake Murray. Matt
Lyons, the owner of care FreeBoat Clubs here in the Midlands is going
to join me in the next halfhour on this special Saturday afternoon edition of

(01:14):
the Health and Wellness Show here onone of three point five FM and five
sixty AMWVOC. We get things thatare going though this afternoon with Aaron Plot,
the owner of Massage Mechanics. Goodafternoon erin Gary. How are you.
I'm wonderful, wonderful, Thank youand I hope you are as well.
You guys are doing very well.It's a day's topic. Well you

(01:37):
don't look sick yet. Oh thatyou don't look six. We get a
lot of this and you know,typically, you know, when somebody has
a condition that they're dealing with,whether it's a chronic condition or it's sort
of you know, something that they'retrying to fight off, you know,
you get a lot of frustration fromthose clients because they are in pain or

(02:06):
in discomfort or you know, theirwhole bodies and systemic inflammation. And what
they get the most is so youdon't look sick, you look fine.
You should take more naps, youknow, or maybe change your diet.
You know, people don't realize howdebilitating autoimmune issues or even just chronic inflammation

(02:28):
issues can be, you know,and a lot of times people are like,
well, what kind of diseases areyou talking about? What kind of
disorders are you talking about? Soon the autoimmune side of things, we're
talking about stuff like rheumatory to arthritis, we're talking about lucas, We're talking
about inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes typeone, Jillian Barret syndrome, chronic inflammatory

(02:54):
poly neuropathy, even thoriasis, likeI have thoriasis. And you know the
thing about autoimmune diseases and a lotof these chronic inflammatory diseases like gybromanalgia and
you know, uh, chronic pelvicinflammation, and you know, chronic fatigue
and things like these. They're reallytriggered by stress. You know, it's

(03:21):
always some sort of outside trigger,especially in autoimmune disorders, where your immune
system gets triggered by an outside youknow, a stressor. And what it
does is it starts producing antibodies thatinstead of fighting and affection, they start
to attack your own body, soyour body is trying to eat itself essentially,

(03:45):
and it can be horribly debilitating andpainful. And there are so many
stressors that can trigger this, youknow, financial stress, emotional stress,
not getting enough sleep, you know, digestive stress. Maybe you're you know,
stress eating and you've got some lactoseissues and ice creams only thing that
makes you feel better or in thisworld stress exactly, you know, And

(04:12):
so managing that stress, you know, no matter what that particular stress is,
or if it's a combination of alot of different types of stress,
is one of the main ways thatpeople who have these chronic inflammatory situations where
they might not look sick on theoutside, but they have a day to

(04:33):
day struggle, or they may bewell for months at a time and then
they have a flare up and theyare debilitated, you know, And how
often is not only you don't looksick, but how often do we we
don't even know that we are sick? Right right? And I mean,
I know, I've got several clientswho have kind of been in that world

(04:55):
of immune system disorders that they don'thave an act will diagnose this yet,
because you know, their doctors knowsomething's wrong, but they haven't hit on
whatever it is yet. You know, they're doing all these tests, they're
constantly being prescribed, like pregnozone andbiologics and things like that to try and
maintain and manage the symptom, butthey still don't really know what it is.

(05:20):
Tell me they got fibromiolagia. Theyjust lump it all on that,
Like I cannot tell you how manypeople come in and they're like, they
don't know what's wrong with me.So they told me it was fibromyolga.
And yes, fibro is one actual, you know, disorder, and it
affects a lot of people. Whatis what we hear it all the well,

(05:43):
okay, catch all, but Imean, by definition, do we
know what fibromyalgia is, how itaffects your body? Fibromiolgia is, it's
a collection of symptoms, and it'syou know, chronic pain, chronic fatigue.
A lot of times you'll have likenerve pain, like you know,
sometimes there's some neuropathy. There's definitelymuscle weakness, there's you know, there's

(06:06):
a lot of different things that happen. And fibromyalgia is never it's very rarely.
I don't want to say never,it's very rarely. By its delf
So fibromyologia, it tends to mostof the people that I see who have
an actual diagnosis of fibrorrhagia also haveaccompanying disorders, whether it's rheumatoid arthritis,

(06:30):
or they have hashi motos or they'vegot you know, I mean, there's
always kind of something that goes alongwith that. And it's it's unfortunate because,
you know, because you don't quoteunquote look sick. A lot of
times people are just like you know, they write it off after a certain
period of time. Oh they're lookingfor attention. Oh they're you know,

(06:50):
they're just you know, lazy oryou know, hypochondriac whatever that is right.
And the thing is is there aregenuine issues that go on with these
diseases, and a lot of timesin the early stages of them, no,
you don't look sick like somebody who'sjust been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and

(07:11):
it's in the early stages of it, they aren't going to have joints that
are super swollen and twisted, andyou know, like what you see from
somebody who's struggled with it for yearsand years and years. You know,
somebody who has just been diagnosed withyou know, hashimotives. You know that's
something that causes you know, jamageto your thyroid plant and your thyroid hormones.

(07:33):
So over months and years, you'vegot fatigue, constipation, weight gain,
super dry skin, high sensitivity tocold. You know, these things
taken individually, it's like, Okay, that's not really that big of a
deal. But when it happens allat one time and your body feels like
it's under attack, that's where theproblem is, you know, and other

(07:57):
things can develop from that because themark of an autoimmune disorder is that your
immune system is overreacting or underreacting,so you're much more susceptible to infections and
to you know, developing other autoimmuneconditions because your body is under such a

(08:18):
high state of constant inflammation. Sothat's it's a waterfall effect in a way,
and so that's why it is reallyimportant, especially if you don't have
a specific diagnosis yet, it's importantto do all the things that you can
to kind of minimize that inflammation,so that diet, you know, making

(08:39):
sure you're eating a low inflammatory diet, or if you have done any type
of food sensitivity studies through a nutritionistthat show that there are certain things that
you eat that cause higher levels ofinflammation in your system. You know,
avoid those things Aaron that really you'vehad the s done or not that we

(09:01):
know are highly inflammatory things we shouldall be staying away from. So alcohol
is one of those things that causesin moderation. It's not a horrible thing.
But how often do people have onedrink at dinner and then they don't
drink again for a month? Youknow, I mean that's not typical.
If you do drinks, then you'regoing to have a drink or two here

(09:24):
and there all the time. Thechronic drinking is really the more thing that
they're talking about. They're smoking isa horribly inflammatory thing that you can do
for your body. A lot ofpeople are mildly lactose intolerant or very lactose
intolerant. So dairy is something thatthey've been studying that's been you know,

(09:46):
kind of showing to show a goodbit of inflammation. Some people have sensitivities
to gluten. Some people can't processdairy. Some people can't you know,
there's a bunch of different things.I wouldn't say that there's like one thing
where every he's like that, youknow, the awful bad things some people
can't process, like red meat,you know, So it's really unique and

(10:07):
individual. And if you think yourdiet is you know, affecting your inflammation
levels in your body and is reallymessing with you you're having frequent diarrhea or
constipation, or you're you know,just constantly uncomfortable, bloated, having bowel
issues, definitely check that out,Like go to your doctor, advocate for

(10:30):
yourself and demand that like certain testsbe run, you know, to check
for these certain things, but alsoask for a food sensitivity test. They
don't show everything in the world,but they can give you kind of an
idea of things that might be affectingyou more than others. So you don't.
Yeah, let me let be saidhere for a second, because if

(10:50):
you've been listening for the last tenminutes, we're talking to Aaron Plot from
Massage Mechanics. She does massages,but not just massages, therapeutic massages.
So you listen to all this stuffyou're telling us, this is the wealth
of knowledge you've accumulated over the yearswith your experience and your education. And
you put this in the play hereand you mentioned too several minutes ago.

(11:13):
One of the keys here when youfind yourself in a situation is those outside
stresses So let's talk about therapeutic massagesand how they can help well. So,
one of the things that we've alwaystalked about is the hormones that are
developed in your body that your bodyproduces when you're under stressed. So those

(11:33):
corticosteroids that your body produces naturally whenthey're high, you know, when your
body's producing a lot of them,it's because you're under a lot of stress.
These are not good for your system, they're not good for your heart,
they're not good for your organs,and they do cause a large level
of inflammation in your body. Sowhat a massage will do is it calms

(11:56):
the nervous system, so your brainstops sending signals that everything is going you
know, everything's on fire. Youknow. Your brain stops doing that and
it starts producing you know, oxytocin. It starts producing serotonin and dopamine.
And these are the hormones that calmyour system, that tell your body that

(12:16):
your faith and that you're okay.They are your repair hormones. Serotonin is
one of the greatest things that alreadyproduces when we're asleep. Dopamine is it
can reroute signals in your brain forpain, you know, endorphins are wonderful
pain relievers, and so getting thatmassage a you're getting that comforting therapeutic touch.

(12:45):
You know, when we're working withpeople that we know have automate immune
disorders, you know, we're modifyingwhat we're doing based on what their system
can take. So if we're workingon someone who is the very sensitive to
cold and they've been developing like reallyhard skin because they've got you know,

(13:05):
sclerodema, we're going to work onthem differently. Then we're going to work
on somebody who has say hashimotos oryou know, fibromyologia. If somebody comes
in and they've got a pelvic inflammationdisorder, you know, there are things
that we're going to do that's goingto help release those muscles that are so

(13:26):
tense because you're constantly holding yourself right, so we all we all want it
right now, right, we wantit right now. So the question would
be, I mean, how manyhow many sessions is it going to take
before you start to feel a bitof a difference. Oh, you'll feel
a difference immediately when you come infor your first session. You will feel

(13:46):
a different the minute that you getoff that table. It is the studies
that show the effects the benefits ofmassage on your circulation, your respiratory,
you're entire systemic being, and howgood it is for you. It doesn't
just apply to people who have disorders. It applies to literally everyone, and

(14:11):
the benefits are broad and wide.They have shown that one hour of a
Sweetish massage, which is a fairlygentle, you know, gliding massage,
it's very rhythmic, very very relaxing. One hour of that is equivalent to
eight hours of sleep. Wow.So it really does do wonderful things for
your body, and it does wonderfulthings for your system to be able to

(14:35):
stop and pause and start to repair. And if you do it on a
regular basis, especially when you havea syndrome that is causing your body to
tense up a lot. You're dealingwith the mental stress and the fatigue and
things like that, and your bodyis going through a lot of stress and

(14:56):
so all of that tension your musclesreact to and you kind of walk around
in a state of tension and yourbody, your brain has an adaptability to
where it's not necessarily making you awarethat you're constantly tense. You kind of
get used to it, and sothen when you come in and we release
everything and you're able to relax outlike that is such a huge benefit.

(15:18):
And your blood is your circulation ishelping to repair things and everything, and
we're really getting fluid moving and gettingyour immune system involved in a way that's
beneficial. You know, it reallydoes wonders for people's mental and physical you
know, well being. And themore often you do it, the better.
How often should you do it?Okay, once a month maybe,

(15:41):
I would say for just your averageperson who doesn't really have any issues and
everything, once a month is agreat place to start. If you've got
chronic pain problems, if you've gotchronic fatigue problems, if you you know,
have nine kids and they drive youinsane. But you know, if
if you're an athlete, then Itend to say somewhere between once every two

(16:04):
weeks to to like maybe once everythree weeks. The more often you come
in, the better the benefit foryour body. You don't look sick,
you might even know you are sick, but a therapy the massage can certainly
be helpful. Air how do folksreach at massage mechanics? So the best
way to reach us is by well. The best way to book an appointment

(16:26):
is to go on our website.That's www dot Massage Mechanics sd dot com.
We have an online booking app there, or you can give us call
it the office. It is eightzero three five two zero six two nine
one. If we don't grab it, please leave us a voicemail. We
stay pretty busy, so we willcall you back as soon as we can.

(16:48):
But any questions that you have,or any concerns, or if you
just aren't sure what you need thebook, definitely call us. You know,
we're always happy to help guide you. And we also do free consultations.
So if you're not one hundred surethis is what's going to work for
you, we got you go talkabout it all right, Aaron, thanks
as always have yourself a good weekend. You do the same thing. And
and I are back on on legMurray. We're out there. But we

(17:11):
love boating. We've owned three differentboats over the course of our years together,
and you know it took us threeto finally realize, you know,
as much fun as it is,boy, it is sure a hassle.
So we don't own the boat anymore, but we are now members of the
care Free Boat Club out of LegMurray, and we have like you will
when you join us, unlimited useboats, unlimited use of wave runners and

(17:34):
kayaks, and free access and useof boats at over one hundred and thirty
locations all across the nation. Theygot a great fleet over at to care
Free Boat Club. They have adouble decker pontoon. Love it, try
tune ski boats, a center lineconsole, fishing boat. I mean you
name it. All of them loaded, loaded, and the industry's best member

(17:59):
to boat ratio, and they canprove it to you get more access to
boats when you want to be outon Lake Murray. And by joining the
care Free Boat Club this cost aboutone third the cost annually of actually owning
a boat. So skip the hasslesand just enjoy the fun like we are
with care Free Boat Club. Findout more by calling eight three three four
to two six twenty eight forty fouror by going to carefreeboats dot com.

(18:22):
Carefree Boat Club Boating without owning.It's about time. Welcome back to the
Health and WELNA Show on one ofthree point five FM and five sixty AMWVOC.

(18:44):
Let's talk about health insurance coverage nowat Jeff Howell from the Health Markets.
Hey, we we we reconvened acouple of weeks ago for the first
time this season, and now we'reinto it. It is Medicare open enrollment
and we've got what's to December theseventh, Is that right? That's correct?
Last day is December seventh. Okay, good. So Now for folks

(19:06):
who have been on Medicare for awhile now and you know, just kind
of letting things ride, there arealways good reasons why you should at least,
you know, check into it becausethere may be better options for you.
Correct. That's correct, Even ifit's as simple as looking at a
different prescription drug card. Those changeevery year. Prescription drug cards go up

(19:27):
in premium, the formulas could change, meaning your drug prices can change,
So it's always good to look atit every year. And then, of
course those people on Medicare advantage plans, it's definitely good to look at it
every year. For example, there'sone company where my network is not going
to be in network right now onthe Medicare advantage side, so all those

(19:52):
people on that plan have been setletters about that. So every year is
differently, So every year between Octoberfifteenth and D ten percent of it's good
to sit down with an agent,whether it's someone like myself or the current
agent they have, and look atall their options for next year. You
know, it sounds, Jeff,as though in any given year there could

(20:15):
be a lot of things to takea look at here, there could be
a lot of things that could change. That's correct. That's correct. Premiums
go up or premiums go down ondifferent plans, benefits changed. And we
have carriers who greatly increase the dentalyou know, they can go from two
thousand dollars in gental benefits one yearto in twenty twenty four. That carres

(20:37):
often three thousand, five hundred dollarsin general busess. And if that's not
the plan that you're on and twentytwenty four, you might suspect you had
some dental work coming up that mightbe a better fit for you if all
the other benefits you know, arekind of the same. So you know,
it's very particular to a person's needs. And we just look at we

(20:59):
look at their needs. If welook at their doctors who look at their
prescriptions, and my services are freeto them, so I do all that
work and they don't have to worryabout it. They can come in for
thirty minutes or maybe even less,and we can look at all their benefits
and paywork to them, and theycan go home and be happy and they
won't have to fret about it anymore. So for folks on the traditional Medicare

(21:22):
the party, well, everybody gotto Part A and Part B anyway,
But going with a supplement and aprescription drug plan, would it be fair
to say that there are oftentimes fewerchanges if you go that route then if
you go with one of the advantageplans. So if you own the health
insurance, let's talk about the supplement. Okay, So once you purchase a

(21:45):
Medicare supplement, let's say ten yearsago, you purchased a Plan F.
A Plan F is a traditional planwhere Medicare covers eighty percent. Your Plan
F covers either twenty percent in general, and you don't anything when you go
to the doctor of hospital. Youronly change you're going to see on that
Plan F is premium. Every yearyou get older, that premium goes up.

(22:10):
It's an age based on policy,and an insurance company at any time
could raise the rates on that supplement, for everyone in the state. So
you know you're going to get arate increase on your birthday month, but
you could also get at another timeduring the year, possibly on a statewide
basis. That company would have topetition the South Trine Department of Insurance and

(22:33):
get that rate increase approved. Butthey do, then your premiums could go
up once or twice a year onyour supplement, but the benefit of itself
on the plan f will not change. Now, it's the drug card that
you have to have that goes withit, that's separate, a separate card
that has a separate premium. That'swhere we're seeing a lot of changes in

(22:53):
twenty twenty four. Okay, Soso that might be reason enough to contact
I fail for someone like myself andtake a look at the prescriptive drug options
for next year during this open rollup here. And I want to ask
you something else about that that drugcard in a second. But first,
going back to the annual increases ofthe age based increases, is that is

(23:15):
that pretty steady each year a certainpercentage that goes up. But what what
what what kind of numbers were talkingabout? Jeff? It depends on the
company. Okay, But I wouldsay anywhere between four to ten percent,
depending upon the companies and a person'sOkay, all right, so now back
back to the drug card here.Yeah, as you said, there are
a lot of changes coming up intwenty twenty four, it seems like.

(23:36):
So so let's talk about some ofthose. What sort of changes are we
looking at here? So there's somedrug cards that have drastic premium increases.
There are drug cards that have drasticpremium decreases. Drug cards have changed the
deductibles. Some have raised of deductibleson their brand drugs. Some plans have

(23:56):
decreased their deductibles of their brand drugs. So it's just very specific to the
prescriptions that a person takes and wewould tailor it to them. And everyone
who's on a drug card should havegotten a letter notifying them of their changes,
called the annual Notice of change letter. Some people miss that letter,
but sir, when they should knowif their drug card is going up in

(24:19):
price dramatically, and that would bethe perfect person for me to meet with
because there may be another drug cardout there that better suits their needs.
Okay, so the supplement changes onan annual basis just age based, but
that's typically about what we're looking at. There nothing else in that coverage changes

(24:41):
in the supplement, it's still thesame. But sometimes those premium increases can
price a person out of a supplement. So you know, if you're you
know, if your supplement goes upto two hundred and fifty dollars a month
and then your drug cards now seventyseven dollars a month, you know,
three twenty seven on a fixed incomemay just may be out of your price

(25:03):
range, and so you may startlooking at that. A person may look
at the math. I say,okay, if I take three twenty seven
times twelve, you know, andI add that up, you know,
to that number would be a quickcalculation on my calculator here retweet even times
twelve. Right, yeah, butthis is part of what we do when

(25:26):
we sit down with people is dothese calculations. Right, So that's about
four thousand dollars right over thirty ninehundred dollars. So if you could take
that thirty nine hundred dollars and putin the bank and instead get a zero
premium Medicare advantage plan, and themath becomes, you know, in a
reasonable year, would a person spendthirty nine hundred dollars on their copas right

(25:49):
with the Medicare advantage plan. Andthe answer is no, now, of
course you do. No one hasa crystal ball. You can't predict the
future. And there are other considerationsto look at with Medicare advantage versus the
Medicare supplement. But just looking atthat basic mass of the premiums, you
know, that's something that we lookat. You know, if you're only
going to the doctor two or threetimes a year for medication, prescription refills

(26:15):
and maybe one or two specialists,that its per year. You know,
could we take that thirty nine hundreddollars put it in like a kind of
a health savings account, so tospeak, put in the bank. You
get to keep that money instead ofmailing those premiums to insurance companies every month.
Get a zero premium Medicare advantage planthat gives you health insurance, prescription

(26:37):
drug coverage, and some extra benefitsplay dental vision, hearing, a discounts,
gym memberships, over the counter benefits, even money to buy food with
these some of these plans. That'ssomething to look at. Now, the
advantage plans again that comes with acopay and a deductible, Is that right?

(27:02):
Most of them do not have deductibles. Also just have straight coping.
So for example, you know,say you paid ten dollars at the primary
doctor, thirty five dollars as aspecialist. You go in the hospital,
you pay three hundred and fifty dollarsa day for the first five days.
You know, these are the typeof framework a lot of these Medicare advantage
plans have, and they have maxamount of pocket limits. So for example,

(27:25):
in a bad year of a personwent to the hospital multiple times or
vanber Bid had chemo, there youknow, costs to add up. All
these Medicare advantage plans have a maxamount of pocket and a lot of them
are around six to nine thousand dollarsspending upon the plan that we're talking about,
So there is a ceiling to yourrisk when you have a Medicare advantage

(27:48):
plan. So what almost sounds Jefflike if you've got you know, ten
thousand dollars give or take that you'vebeen able to set aside and you don't
touch that money, you can leaveit there like a like a health savings
account that the worst case scenario forany given year is you might spend that
ten thousand dollars on copays. It'sgoing to max out at some point in
time. At the same time,you're not paying anything for that plan.

(28:12):
Yes, that's correct, you've gotit. And so let's that's just year
one. So let's say year oneyou have a good year. Year two,
you have a good year. Nowyou've saved right out about you know,
seven to eight thousand dollars in premiumsthat you would have paid for that
Medicare supplement your drug card just nowin your money that you've got your saving
account. And then you put ontop of that the two to three thousand

(28:37):
dollars in Medicare advantage plans give youfor dental coverage and vision coverage and hearing
a discounts and all these all theseextras that you're getting the value adds.
That be the more so when yousaid down with folks, Jeff, folks
like me who you know, Igotta I gotta look at that soon here
I'm sixty four this year. Doyou find that folks who were you know,
at the young are inda that's spectrum. Do they tend to gravitate towards

(29:02):
the supplement or the advantage plan anddoes that change with age. That's a
good question. So in twenty twentytwo, which is the last year they
have statistics for, was the firstyear that more Medicare Advantage plans were sold
over Medicare supplement really, so itwas fifty one percent Medicare advantage compared to
the traditional late of doing Medicare.So the trend is going towards Medicare advantage.

(29:29):
And I believe Mickey Haley talked aboutMedicare advantage last week and see the
proponent of it. It was theMedicare Advantage was a plan during the George
W. Bush administration in two thousandand four, enacted in two thousand and
six the Medicare Advantage and Prescription DrugPlan Act. So it is it's a
trend is going that way because frankly, it makes Medicare advantge plan makes a

(29:56):
lot of sense now saying that therethere are disadvantages to a Medicare advantage plan
that I always educate my clients about, such as Medicare advantage is a network
based plan. Now I only sellPPOs, which is a lot different than
HMO. A PPO essentially means thatyou can go in or out of network

(30:18):
as long as the carrier you knowwill take Medicare and your PPO card and
file, you're fine. But nowan HMO, which I do not sell,
is a very tight network, whichmeans you can only go to certain
doctors in network, certain specialists,certain hospitals. But these PPO plans,
many of them are zero premium.For example, Blue Cross Blue Shield has

(30:42):
a zero premium and a nineteen dollarspremium plan every hospital in the state's and
networks. So the network concerns witha plan like that, are, you
know or not so bad? Andyou can actually travel to forty eight different
states and at the Blue Cross landand have end network coverage. The question,

(31:03):
yeah, so you cross cross statelines, you're you're pretty safe with
a plan like that. It soundslike that's right. And with the the
you know or other companies as well. You know, the PPO travels across
state lines. That's right. Now, the traditional the supplement that that that
does too, correct, that's right. So when you do it the traditional
way, Medicare is primary. Soyour only question to a doctor a hospital,

(31:26):
whether in state or out of state, is do you take Medicare?
And then the supplement rides along withthe primary Medicare. So you're You're definitely
good across state lines with the traditionalmethod. And I'm not predisposed to one
method or the other. Frankly,they're both. They both work for my
clients, and so it's really particlarto that particular client I'm sitting with is

(31:47):
which solution fits them the best,and that solution may change, right,
So one may start out with thesupplement and have it for two or three
years, and they'll come back tome during this open rollments say Jeff,
I'm just not going to doctor thatmuch and I'm tired of mailing these checks
off every month. Let's look atthe Medicare advantage solution that happens every day
now. And we've talked about thisbefore, but it can go. You

(32:12):
just can't willingly switch between one andthe other every year, can you.
I mean there are stipulations and restrictions, is that right? There are restrictions,
especially on the supplement. So betweenOctober seventh and excuse between October fifteenth
and December seventh, if you're ona Medicare advantage plan, you can always
change to another Medicare advantage plank.No worries. If you're on a Medicare

(32:37):
supplement a drug card between October fifteenthand December seventh. You can choose to
switch to a Medicare advantage plan anyyear during that time, no worry.
All. The issue becomes if you'reon a supplement and you change that advantage
plan, you essentially have a oneyear free look if you've never been on
a Medicare advantage plan before. Forthose twelve months. Let's say you know

(33:00):
someone's on to suppling a drug card. They come into my office today,
they choose a Medicare advantage plan whichbegins January one, twenty twenty four.
They essentially have to December thirty one, twenty twenty four, where they can
call me and say, Jeff,I want to go back on my supplement,
and there'll be no underwriting, there'llbe no questions asked. I can
put them right back on the supplementthey're on. However, once that year

(33:23):
goes through, and now we're inJanuary second, twenty twenty five, if
they call me, then I canwrite an application for a Medicare supplement for
them, but there will be healthquestions, there'll be underwriting, so it's
not guaranteed. So that's the stipulation. Okay, so you can go back
to it, but your health isgoing to be a big issue, a

(33:44):
big factor here, that's right.And so you think, you know,
who would call me on January second, twenty twenty five if they're paying zero
bring on a Medicare advantage and everything'sgoing well, right, Yeah, it's
probably someone who may have something mayhave happened, and they're like, you
know, I'm just and they're alittle concerned about the copas they would have

(34:06):
on a Medicare advantage plan. Andso at that point, I don't know
if they would pass through underwriting ornot. So that's that's something I talked
with all my clients about. Nowwe'll make a pitch for blue Cross in
this regard. If you're turning sixtyfive, like you know, Gary,
you're coming up and you choose aBlue Cross Medicare advantage plan, blue Cross

(34:27):
has extended that trial period of thirtysix months, so they'll give you three
years where you can try that BlueCross Medicare Advantage plan. And in that
three year period, if you decideyou'd rather have a supplement, you could
have it guaranteed issued to a BlueCross Medicare supplement. So that is a
very big feather in Blue Cross's Medicareadvantage cap. There's the only company who

(34:51):
has extended that to thirty six monthsto the post to twelve Okay, so
this is this is the private insurancecompany's rules, not the government's rules.
Well, essentially the government rule istwelve months, yet the minimum that has
to be and Lucra off is theonly company that has extended at the thirty
six months. Okay, good,all right. Well, a lot of

(35:12):
questions that folks have, and again, as you mentioned, they can sit
down and talk with you. Itdoesn't cost them a dime, that's right.
It's free to call me at eightzero three six seven eight eight one
two one. That's eight zero threesix seven eight eighty one twenty one.
You can call or text that number. And my office is right beside the
flight Deck restaurant and elections and welcometo come down any time. There you

(35:36):
go. Say hi to Ted Formulato flight Deck one. Thanks, Thanks
Garry, all right, thank you, Jeff, appreciate everybody, and that
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three seven three one twelve twelve.That's eight zero three seven three one twelve
twelve or go to mollymaid dot com. Welcome back to the Health and Weller

(38:01):
Show on one O three point fiveFM and five sixty AMWVOC, and a
good afternoon. If you've never heardthis show in this time slot before,
that's because it's not normally here quiteHostley. It's usually airing at nine o'clock
on Saturday mornings, but with ourbest game cut coverage kicking off at nine
this morning, we are a bumpto this time slot. So it's good

(38:22):
to have you with us. Weappreciate that. In good afternoon to you.
Hope your weekend is going well.I'm Gary David again back with the
Health and Wellness Show. Just tohave talked to it, to Aaron and
to Jeff and now we talked toMatt. Matt Lyons Carefree Boat Clubs out
of Lake Murray. Good morning,Good morning. See I'm so used to
saying that I always work in themorning all week long, Saturday. Good
afternoon. How are you, buddy, good hug right, See I did

(38:45):
did doing real good. Okay,man, it's not the first time I've
done that, all right, Solet's get caught up. Man. It's
the off season, but you stillgot stuff going on on the lake.
We do anytime the weather gets nice, we tend to get all our members
or a whole bunch of them wantto go out, you know, for
a little bit. So last coupleof weekends haven't been horrible. It's a

(39:06):
little bit cold today, it's beena little bit cold this week, so
a lot of last minute usage whichwe allow and embrace and like we're staffed,
boats are stowing the water. Soit's a year round thing, right
it is. It is where thisis the time of year. We pull
the boats out, we do someannual maintenance on and we do some repairs
of some scratches and scuffs and thingslike that, and then make decisions what
boats we're gonna pull out of thefleet and what boats were going to add

(39:29):
to the fleet. So I justbought another double decker, so we'll have
two in the fleet next year.Yep, yep. And then went and
looked at a brand new boat manufacturerout of the Texas, out of Dallas,
Texas and debating, I'm picking uptheir boats. I wanted to see
the quality of them, how theylook that sort of thing. So a
lot of exciting stuff going on,very good. We're read the milder today

(39:49):
that do you remember mingos going ontoday? It is yep, our remember
Mingo's going on at Bar three seventyeight there right near where we're at at
south Shore, And it's eleven thirtytwo, so I think we've got about
forty people coming out, Ok,forty people there. Now, Yeah,
it's come out of the hour orso and that, but this is part
of the club. Okay, absolutely, yeah, it's just taking that battle
boat and joining Lake Murray. ButI mean, it's it's it's it's a

(40:13):
club. It's a social thing too, it really is. We have a
lot of members who are from differentareas, so they don't have the friends
they grew up with for forty yearswhere they lived before. So they're down
here now meeting new people, newway to connect with different people, do
different things, try different things.And we also purchased recently a new tailgate
trailer, so it's got two fiftyinch screen TVs, a bathroom, a

(40:35):
KEG graaider, a YETI cooler,two grills on the back. And we're
going to start taking that to yougamecock games, oh and invite our members
out for that for more member activityand so forth. So my hope is
that it'll be up ready and runningby the time Kentucky comes to play because
that's where my daughter goes. SoI'd like that to be our first one.

(40:57):
But we're gonna keep working on it. I need stuff to do on
the off season. Two as muchas my members do. Now we've been
talking about you know here in theoff season. It's the special still running
right now that the sign of stringis absolutely so let's talk about that.
So that is a eighty percent offthe initiation fee. Yeah, no payments
of any kind until February first,and then it's our normal rate for our

(41:21):
normal usage. We at Carefree,we don't have forty different programs. We
don't keep trying to upsell you getyou in with. It's only fifty dollars
a month, and that's for oneboat, one day a week, you
know, So we we have oneprogram which gives everyone the same access,
the same availability. We're currently runningat four members per boat as our member
to boat ratio, which is stillsuper low compared to the industry and so

(41:45):
forth, and Carefree Bow Clubs beinga national chain, which you're a franchising
here, I mean even actually they'vegot a limit as to how many members
per boat you can have. Theydo then you're below that limit, way
below We're way below it. Theirlimit for a properly run the right kind
of club would be ten to onewould be the maximum. We're far below
that because it's like joining the gymin January. You join a gym.

(42:07):
In January, you go every day, and by February you go once a
week. By March, you forgotwhere the gym is. When you join
a boat club, you're gonna wantto go a ton that first year you're
in. That second year, you'regonna go quite a bit. By the
third year you become a normal userof the club. So I need to
manage that member to boat ratio withhow many years we're around. So far,

(42:28):
we just about completing our first year, and then we'll next year we'll
bump the member to boat race showup a little bit, but not much
because we're still gonna have a lotof new members. And by the third,
fourth and fifth year, we'll startpushing towards that seven to one ratio
and go from there. And it'sreally about a terrific story that you this

(42:49):
is not like you've never been yourown boss before in business, but this
is your first time in this business, right it is. Yeah, it's
my first time owning a boat club. I've fortunate or unfortunate. I've owned
a couple bars and grills, acouple of restaurants, business program business,
golf course, marketing, business,promotional products business. I've kind of done
everything. I've been a financial advisorfor ubs, so I've literally done it

(43:12):
on I'm pretty sure I've got someadd going on, but so far,
this has by far been my favoritebusiness venture, and it's allowing me to
do some other things as well.We've got one second location under contract that
includes a bar and grill. Theformer Afraid Not is still under contract.
We're still moving forward with that.It's just been a slow, trying process.

(43:32):
There's a lot of stuff that goeson behind the scenes no one ever
knows about. It's not just let'sbuy a marina that happened to have a
bar and grill. It's you know, how what do the docks look like?
There's eight entities that have to signoff on your docks there? Oh
yeah, oh yeah, it reallyis, and it's all for good reasons,
but it's bureaucratic red tape. Yougot to try to get through.

(43:54):
This adds the benefit and the challengeof it has a gas doc. That's
a whole another four entities. Igot to sign off on that. Then
it has and everybody else. Thenthere's a bar and grill, so there's
three more entities you got to signoff on that as well, and then
you've got to get a bank tofigure out how to appraise it, and
then you got to get funding andall that fun stuff. So it's been

(44:16):
more challenging than I would have expected. But we're still in the game,
we're still working for it. Westill plan on having a North Side location
come no matter what happens. Okay, and this is an addition to your
current South Side. Look, absolutely, I am not leaving South s fum
Marine. They've been wonderful to methat it's a really good owner, they're
a really good team. There,good location. I don't want to do

(44:39):
that to my members where they gotto travel further and go where I choose.
I want to be next kind ofthing. So we'll always be right
right there, okay. Yeah,And that's that's a very communi location.
A lot of folks in Lexington andthat that Gilbert and that that part of
the part of the county. Soand again the you just mentioned you're looking

(44:59):
at more boats. Hey, whenyou're in the restaurant business like your you
got to manage your inventory and youknow how much beef will we get and
how much of this will we gethow much No different here, right,
no different? And it's you gotto figure out which boats, which motors
are the best for your maintenance,for your wear and tear, for your
members, ease of use. Howbig do you get the boats, how

(45:22):
small do you get the boats?How many fishing boats you need? So
one of the one of the mainthings we're trying to get from our member
mingle today is what the members wantfor next year. Do they want more
fishing boats than what we have?Do they want a wake surf boat?
Do they want a third double deckor do they want another thirty foot pontoon
with a grill on the back.At the end of the day, it

(45:44):
has to be a club that existsfor the members, so they have to
have a say. I can't makeeveryone happy, but I got to make
the majority happy. It's not Matt'sclub, right exactly exactly. And it's
been a we've unfortunately and I've beentied up in some other projects here for
the last a month or so andand haven't able to But I'm so looking
forward to getting back out there.I mean, I enjoy well, not

(46:06):
like this past week when we hadjust like you know, what was that
Wednesday when it was fifty two andbreezy. You know that would not have
been a good but I just youknow, you get the low seventies,
mid seventies, I mean, Ijust really enjoy getting out there and doing
that thing. So hopefully getting backout there real soon, missing it,
missing our time out of like Murray, I can promise you that. Yeah,
my hope is it'll get. It'llget warmer, things warm up a

(46:27):
bit, and a lake will fillback up a bit too. That's a
little bit of a challenge that's beena little shallow, yes, this part
of this time of the year.But it'll get it'll fill back up.
So let's talk about the process herenow, because for folk and you have
mean, you could a variety ofpeople as members of this club. Some
of that have had a lot ofboating experience. They come to a boat
club for a certain reason. Otherswho have never voted before, they have

(46:50):
a whole different reason for coming toa boat club. I mean, but
it fits both bills, right,It absolutely does. It fits people who
have tons of experience, people whohave none, people who are great boats
drivers, people are horrible boat drivers. We put everyone out on the water.
We do it on the water training. It's completely free. It's included
in your program and anyone that's goingto drive the boat will happily put through
that program so that they're safe andthey're less likely to damage a boat.

(47:14):
I mean, it's a little bitselfish of me to say I want to
train everyone, but we do itbecause we want you to be safe.
Sure, a dead member doesn't pay, and we want you to that song.
Boat doesn't bring any money exactly,we want you to want you to
have fun and get out on thewater as much as you can. But
this, I mean, this isa really good time of the year for
folks. I guess I'm thinking whodon't have a lot of boating experience because

(47:37):
the likes is wide open. Itreally is. You can go out there.
My wife and I took a boatout on this past Saturday and went
to Nacho Margarita and had a greattime. And one of the things that
made it great was wasn't super busy. Right, that's a place that is
you know, there's been some thingsonline people wait an hour or two hours
for a table. Where we pulledup, the weather was a little bit

(48:00):
but it was fun when and whatwas funny is as we were leaving,
one of our members showed up inone of our boats, so I got
to see a member out and uh, you know, I got to have
some Margarita's and it was it wasgreat. I mean, this is the
lake is, in my opinion,really coming along. The restaurants on it
are are my opinion, stepping uptheir game a little bit. There's getting

(48:22):
more of them on the lakes aswell. We need more. Yeah,
yep, yep. We've got atsouth Shore. They're I haven't seen them
have this much activity in the restaurantthey're building for quite a while. So
they're there. They're wrong. They'redoing the food thing there too. They
are. Yeah, they're taking oneof the buildings. They're repurposing it as
a restaurant. I believe it's goingto be a grabbing go but kind of

(48:45):
a very high quality food and soforth. So that's going to be here
before twenty twenty four. And thenSan Jose's opening up down the way.
They've got some activity going on thereas well. Charlie's Fisherman's warf Ali's Fishermen.
You walk in, it's like you'regoing back to the fifties. Yeah,
I love it is it is.That's uh yeah, there's there's a

(49:07):
lot of good things going on inthe lake. So I'm I'm one of
the people that likes what they're doing. I'm hoping to be more a part
of it. I'm hoping that we'llclose on the fraid not and have that
open and uh get some more solidfood to the boaters on the lake.
That's right, more than just adog there. Fraid was a restaurant there,
yep, yep, tiki Ut restaurant. From what I've investigated and looked

(49:29):
at, that should be relatively easyand quick to open. The actual restaurant
that used to be there will bea bit more of a challenge, but
we'll figure it out. Okay.So, uh, now's a well for
not just the lake is wide open. But as you mentioned, you got
the initiation special running right now,which I mean is you're you're basically given

(49:50):
out in a way. Yeah,it's it's challenging trying to manage that throughout
the year and so forth and figureyou know, when's the right time to
charge what And what we learned wasApril, May and June are the big
months where everyone wants to join that'swhy you know, kids are about ready
to get out of school. Weather'sawesome. You want to be on on
the lake. We get that.The problem is it's a supplying demand equation

(50:10):
in normal economics. So we're goingto charge more because we're going to be
busier and we're not able to planas much. So on the off season.
Right now, we can charge quitea bit less and still make the
math work and still be a viablebusiness because it helps me getting members and
now because then I know how manyboats to buy. If I pre buy
a boat, I get a betterdeal than buying it out of a local

(50:32):
boat store because we need it.Yeah, yeah, exactly right. So
it's good. It's good business onmy part to sign people up in the
latter part of the season. Andit's if you want a boat you're going
to join, whether it's my clubor another club, or you're going to
buy a boat, it's going tocost you more in the spring than it's
going to cost you today. That'strue. That's exactly true. Don't come

(50:55):
yell and I warned you heads upon that one, and just againe this
around here. Yeah, they'll there'llbe times when you want to get out
on the lake because it's too doggonecold. But I mean we have our
we we have our moments. Imean we've had some warm December certainly,
and we've had some warm januaryes.And there's plenty of opportunity to get out
there now and again a great timeto especially if you're new to it,
right out there and learn with nobodyelse out there around you. And there's

(51:19):
enough folks that live in the areanow that are from up north. Yeah,
where this isn't all that cold,exactly right, we've seen cold.
This isn't it all right? Soright now y'all are still and we'll stay
out right besides South Shore Marina absolutelyseventy eighth. It's where you're located.
There. You'll head on out andtake it, take a look. And
in the meantime, folks want toget signed up, they want to be
uh or get more information about becominga member and learn all the learn all

(51:43):
all the stuff's going on. Whatdo they do? My friend? You
can go to carefreeboats dot com.You can email me at Matt M A
T t at carefreeboats dot com,or you can call or text me direct
on my line on my phone eightfour seven, two two, six,
seven, five seven nine Right Carefreeboat Clubs l Murray Matt always good to
see you, my friend. Thankyou, sir, okay, enjoy the
rest of the member. Enjoy aparty today and will do it we again,

(52:06):
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