Health and Wellness Show 12-21-24

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Good morning and welcome now the Health and Wellness Show
here on one of three point five FM and five
sixty amwvoc Oh. We got a full hour and a
lot of very good information to pass along. Christy cost
going to join us one more time this morning from
Providence Home, where especially this time of the year, it's
difficult on the men they're trying to help, But she'll
talk about that the importance of what they do, and

(00:34):
if you're not familiar with Providence Home, she'll be here
with all the details and how you can help out now.
It was just confirmed this past Monday, but we had
heard of it about a week or so before that
ATNA pulling out of election to Medical Center and those
who are. If you're on a Medicare advantage plan and
you chose that as your provider, well you got some

(00:57):
morek to do here. Jeff Halle from Health Markets will
be to talk all about that and what your options
are right now. But we get started here on our
last visit this year with these guys. John Farley Matthew
Terry from Preservation Specialists, Good morning to you both. What
a Gary, Hey, good morning man. We're already at the
end of twenty twenty four. My goodness, Yes, hard to

(01:18):
believe it. When did that happen? Well, we had news
this past week and I don't know it's all about
the economy, but but you know, the fate of the
economy has an impact on all of us, obviously, especially
what if you guys do, and that is trying to
help folks you know, I mean, sail through as comfortably

(01:39):
as possible in their retirement years, right, and that, by
the way, that starts by planning long before you get there, obviously.
But let's start there. Let's start with the news out
of the Fed this week and the way the markets
had reacted. I know, back on what Wednesday, I guess
it was to that. As we always say, it's not
so much what was there a rate cut or not,

(01:59):
because markets they kind of they got a pretty good
idea that's happening. That's all kind of baked in the cake, right,
It's a factor, definitely. Yeah, But then everybody hinges on
what this Jerome pal or whoever the current FED chief
is after that, and so that we saw it was
not a good day on my mistake if you had

(02:20):
your money in the market, certainly, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, So the thing was is that the whole idea,
you know that the whole FED rate cut has been
to try to you know, so the whole thing went
up because inflation was very high. So that was one
of the tools that they can one of the levers
they can pull to say, Okay, let's get inflation back down.
So then, you know, as of several months ago, the

(02:42):
decision was, Okay, inflation looks like it's getting in the
range of where we want, so now we can do
some things where we can cut some interest rates and
that'll be good. And then so there are two things
that are happening and they that seemed to change their
course a bit, which was one inflation still isn't down
where they wanted, No, not quite.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
It chicked up a little bit last last readout, did it.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, it didn't yep. And then the second thing was
that with a new administration, the FED probably wants to
have some bullets in their gun, if you will, should
they need to use them in if there are any impacts,
you know, further down. So I think those were the

(03:26):
two reasons that Paul said, hey, we're going to slow
down this cut in interest rates, and so the markets
reacted to that. You know, it was almost three percents,
you know, just in one day basically. But you know,
on Thursday the markets started to climb back, you know,

(03:47):
so yeah, yeah, so you.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Know, it's it's so interesting speaking about you know, you
talked about it being baked into the market. I mean,
ninety seven percent of people were expecting a twenty five
mass point cut, meaning a quarter of a point. And
that's exactly what Jerome pal did and then lo and
behold just because he lowered down his long term expectations,
meaning looking forward to twenty twenty five, that's really what

(04:11):
spooped the market. And certainly that's just the piece about
as you get closer and closer to retirement, you know,
being you know, having all your money within the stock market.
You know, obviously we don't always believe that that is
the best approach.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
So and so many folks think, you thought, and you know,
we all know the word you diversify, but so many
of us always thought, well, diversification means don't put all
your money into stock A or stock B or you know,
maybe do some stocks and some bonds. You know, get
something that's gonna earn you some some income and you know,

(04:48):
and spread it out, maybe go to mutual fund or whatever.
But you guys have a different definition of diversity at
preservation specialists.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, and I think that's really important, and not
only diversification in terms of your investments, but your overall
plan too. So frequently what will happen is that people
will say, Okay, you know, I'm really really focused on
my specific return, but actually planning can have a far

(05:16):
more important impact on your retirement outcome than you know,
a return specifically on your investment. So if in other words,
you know, how do you do your tax planning, for example,
that could have a huge impact on where you are ten, fifteen,
twenty years down the road. Right, that's a very significant thing.
Where you take your money from? What bucket you take

(05:39):
it from? That can have another significant No, do you
take it from your retirement account, you take it from
your savings? Do you take it from something you may
have inherited? But how do you you know, what do
you do? So there's a lot of things that go
into it that are not simply you know, how is
my return on my investments? And in particular, there's a

(05:59):
lot more to it then how is my return on
my stock investments? Because as you say that, that can
be fraught with all kinds of you know, there are
there are we refer to these things, you know, they
did the economists call these these black swan events, right.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yes, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
And if one of those things comes along at the
wrong time for you in retirement, that's that could be
really bad if you're all of your money is in
something that that is susceptible to those sort of things.
So if you think about a two thousand and eight
or a two thousand uh uh and and so our
strategy is going to be do this extensive planning. And also,

(06:36):
as you mentioned, diversify investments, not just in stocks and bonds.
And in fact, it was interesting a guy came in
the other day and he's all he knows is stocks
and bonds, and that's understandable because that's all that's been
in his four on one K and his wife's And
he came in and he said, what you're offering is
far more risky. And I'm like, actually, it's far less risky,

(06:57):
you know what I mean. I mean, we could make
a very strong he says to you know, when you invest,
when you diversify your investments outside of just stocks, and bonds.
You're not. Your eggs are not all in that one basket.
Therefore you have you have much more diversification, and you
can show objectively that you know this is better for
you for the long run. This is this is going

(07:19):
to give you the peace of mind that you're looking
for in retirement.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
So Matthew, what are we talking? What are these other
investments that mister Farley is alluding to here, I mean
outside of stocks and bonds.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, you know, that's a great question. And you know,
obviously most people that come through our doors, they are
familiar with both public stocks and public bonds because, as
John mentioned, that's simply all they really have access to
within their four to one K. But the steps above
that is what we're trying to give them access to
is things in the private world. So that could be

(07:50):
things such as making private loans. You know, you think
about a public bond, A public bond is.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Becoming Uncle Vinny, right baby, that's it.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
So a public bond that is simply backed by the
issuer itself. So if I'm just going to pick a
random company, but let's just say Apple. If Apple offers
a bond, the only person that says that there is
continued value to the bond is simply apple. If something
were to happen to them, if there was some form
of downturn or bankruptcy, you know, yes, you would more

(08:27):
than likely get some money back, but it certainly wouldn't
be one hundred percent of your initial investment. On the
opposite end of the spectrum, if you actually invest into
the private world and you buy things that are the
equivalent of a private bond, those are backed by collateral,
and that's really what you're looking for. It's a way
to give you that same type of return profile, which
is generating income. Right, That's what a bond does. It

(08:49):
pays you income, and the objective is is how do
I collect the most amount of income at the least
possible risk. Right, that's what we all want. We all
want the highest possible return, but we serve they don't
want to take as much risk because what if that
black swan event happens. So that's the piece that we
want to give you diversification within things within the private
world because again, over the loan course of your retirement,

(09:12):
that's what it's all about. Preserving your nest egg and
what you've worked in what you've worked so hard to
save over all your working years.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, and get and so the thing about it is here,
so to piggyback on that, you know, if you think
about a bond as a non collateralized loan. You go
into a bond fund, there's no collateral, there's nothing backing
it except for the good faith of the company saying
we're going to pay you back. Right, most of the
time they do.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Listen, if you walk into a bank and you got
bad credit or you know, right, typically they're not giving
anything about collateral. Right, So.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
To give you the idea of the more risky versus
less risky, think about banks issuing loans to people who
are buying houses, right, they will go up to eighty
percent of the value of your house. So you put
down twenty percent, they will loan you up to eighty percent.
We work with companies who have a collateral loan to
value of forty percent, So it's half of what banks

(10:06):
are willing to give for a personal you know, for
a personal loan for someone's home. Right, So we're you know,
so in order for us to not get paid, the
value of that collateral would have to drop by sixty percent, right. Yeah,
So these are the kinds of things that we work with,
and we work with these companies who have been doing
this now for decades, so they effectively act like banks,

(10:28):
but they are not banks because the banks have After
two thousand and eight, the FEDS came in and made
it far more restrictive on banks in terms of certain
types of lending. But so these middlemen have sprung up
as a result. And these middlemen are like, okay, we'll
do that lending, but we're really conservative.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
I mean, we're not.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
You know, our loan to values are way lower, lower
than certainly mortgages on banks, and we have collateral on
everything that we lend on.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
So you when you move into this this arena here
for this this sort of an investment. Even then though
you're not talking about just one company, I guess you're
talking about it, maybe a group of portfolio of companies.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, I mean one company we work with in particular,
you know, I mean they have four thousand loans and
and you know they're the size of that fund is
twenty three billion, you know, and and you know, and
and you think, you say, twenty three billion sounds big,
except when you look at the the market for private

(11:26):
loans in the in the US alone is one and
a half trillion annually, right, so, and and that banks
are not meeting, so yeah, so there's a lot there
where where these and the other thing is remember that
if you're one of these companies who issues these loans,
there are restrictions on how you can foreclose should you

(11:47):
choose to, if you're a bank. Right, but these guys
are not banks, so they just simply set the terms, right, So.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
They so you're as a bad analysy. Probably it's like
you're buying into a mutual fund of a company that
has a.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Bunch of collateralized collateralized loans. Yes, it's exactly what it is. Yeah,
And and these things have done really well historically and
they continue to do well, and we and again remember
this is this is you know, people get nervous. Well,
you're a remember so when General Motors h had bankruptcy
declared bankruptcy in two thousand and nine, Okay, the people

(12:23):
who got their stocks, people who bought stocks got about
three percent of their original money, people who had bonds
got about twenty. But the people who had the collateralized
loans to General Motors got one hundred percent of their
money back.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yep. That's that's it.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
In other words, so when people say this is more risk,
it's like, no, it's far less.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
It really is.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, and that risk is and that's now you don't
now again, you're not going to experience the growth that
you can with the stocks.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Right, So there's a trade off.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
But when you get into retirement for a certain amount
of your money, that's not the game you're playing because
if you're playing the growth thing that time, we need
to give you the peace of mind need. We need
to take a certain percentage of your assets and turn
it into peace of mind, which is turn it into
income for you that you know you can count on
and you're not worried about. You know, you're out on
the golf course and the market goes down here, that's

(13:11):
no way to live, you know that, that's no way
to be.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
You know, what's your own black Swan moment?

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, absolutely right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
I got about three minutes or so left, so we
can't get too deep into it. But something else do
you guys talk about as real estate, not in maybe
the traditional sense that people think when you say.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Real estate, correct, Yeah, So we use a professionally managed
targeted real estate. And just to give you some background
on that, So think about like a two thousand and
eight the stock market during that time top to bottom
was around fifty percent in the calendar year of two
thousand and eight to drop by about thirty seven percent.
Commercial real estate dropped by fifteen and people still paid

(13:50):
their rents, so you still got your income, you still
got your dividend. So we know we do not go
into shopping malls. Just want to be very far I
thank you. Yeah, but there are all kinds of other things.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Well they say that young people are starting to want
to go to malls again, believe it or right. Yeah, yeah,
yeah that figure.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Well we'll wait for that to pick back up, but
you know, take a bit.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
But but so think about things like apartment complex is
huge demand for that storage and it's huge amount cell.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Powers on every block. Yeah you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean there's all kinds of stuff where there's a
lot of demand for that, uh, warehouses that that the
amazons and people. Yeah that's so. So if you work
with companies who own those buildings, they sign up these
longer term you know, anywhere from depending on the time,
but they can be pretty long term leases with very
good companies, so you're getting you're getting a solid dividend

(14:39):
and some growth over the years. And again another asset
backed investment as opposed to a bond, right right, So yeah, yeah,
so that's kind of thing. Those are the kind of things. Again,
what we're trying to create for for you is we're
trying to create real peace of mind in retirement so
that you're not spending your now. If you want to
spend your time uh uh, you know, market and buying

(14:59):
and selling it fine, but for what you need to
live on, for what your income is going to be,
we want to take we want to we want to
take that stress level off and just give you the
peace of mind to know where you are.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Well, it's right, un name, it's preservation specialists. You're spot on, right.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, yeah, you're exactly right. And really the biggest thing
that we're trying to do is we're trying to solve
your problems obviously, and what are those stressors in your
life as you are approaching retirement or either in retirement.
That's the reason that you know, really, I would say
I love what I do because each person's situation is
just a little bit different that comes to comes to

(15:36):
our office, and the benefit of that is really just
the rewarding piece of being able to provide them that
piece of Monet's as John talked about. I mean, that
is just so rewarding in itself.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
So as we get right to onver to twenty twenty five,
looking for a new strategy, looking for a little peace
of mind to preservation Specialists, you guys, I know we
sit down and talk to new folks every day. Be
happy to talk to you two. How do they reach
you guys and get the ball rolling in the new year.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah, feel free to give us a call just at
a three non retire again, that's at three non retire
or feel free to check us out online. Just type
in preservation Specialists into Google and you'll see us right there.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
All right, John Matthew always great to see you guys.
Have a Mary Chris, Gerry, Mary Chris and Marry Christmas.

Speaker 5 (16:21):
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Speaker 2 (17:22):
Hi, this is John Farling. Now let me ask you
is your retirement inflation proofed? Here's what I mean in
retirement chances are you run a fixed income with variable expenses.
So how do you not run out of money when
the cost of just about everything continues to go up?

Speaker 1 (17:39):
You inflation proof it.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Our team at Preservation Specialists can show you strategies to
help combat inflation so it doesn't outpace your retirement income.
Call us today at eight O three nine retire to
learn more. Inflation could take a huge chunk out of
your retirement savings, but it doesn't have to. With some
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(18:01):
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Speaker 6 (18:14):
Securities offer through Okado's capital member Fenner and SPC Advisory
Services off there. Kados Well Perservation Specialists and Arcadios are
not affiliated through any ownership.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Hey, welcome back to the Health and Welda Show on
one of three point five FM and five sixty AM
WVOC and welcome back to Christy Cox who was with
us a month or two back. Christy Cox with the
Providence Home here at Columbia.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
Christy, good to have you back with you, So great
to be back with you. Gary. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
We were on a month or two back, talked about
the big gala that you had coming up with. Yes, sir,
and I hope things went well with that it was all.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
It was pretty amazing.

Speaker 7 (18:53):
You know.

Speaker 6 (18:53):
We had Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty come in and
that was right, that was the week before the hurricane, right, yeah,
And so I didn't in my personal house. We didn't
have power for nine days, so I went and stayed
with my friends. Well, my husband held down the fort
so I could, you know, have a shower before we
met Willie Robertson. But you know, all things considering, it

(19:17):
was pretty miraculous what the Lord did. And we had
it at Shandon. And again, the funny thing is like
in the middle of this they were having this big
hurricane relief effort, so it was it was crazy town,
but it worked out good.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Well, good, yeah, all's well that ends well.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yes, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Well, this is that time of year, and let's reset here. Christy.
I think most folks have heard of Providence Home, but
maybe some folks aren't. Exactly. I don't know exactly. All
it is your mission and what you do with Providence.
Let's start there again today.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
Well, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 6 (19:55):
Yeah. Providence Home now is almost sixty two years old,
and a lot of folks don't know about us. Actually,
I call us the we you don't see because a
lot of people, you know, Oliver A Gospel is a
wonderful organization has its footprints in Columbia for a couple
hundred years, I think, so Providence Home less so, but
we have been around now more than six stay decades

(20:17):
and we are a ministry for men breaking the shackles
of addiction, drugs, and incarceration. And so we have this tidy,
nice little campus on North Main Street and we can
house sixty men and we are for transitional housing to
these folks.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
So our guys come in, they have to be interviewed.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
We say, you don't just take anybody, and everybody.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
Is a process, right right, there is a process.

Speaker 6 (20:41):
We you know, we certainly have men who are or
have been homeless, but we're not a homeless shelter per se.
We want guys to come into the program who have
really said enough, you know, I don't I want to
change my trajectory, I want to be there for my family,
I want to get back into the community. And so
we try to take those men that are really ready

(21:02):
to transform their lives. And then when they get to us,
they have to work. If they're able bodied, we help
them get jobs. We hook them back up with all
the security nets, medical, dental, you know, to get their IDs,
everything they need to get back on track. And then
we have some programming and we are unabashedly christ focused,
but certainly we don't discriminate against anyone, and we have

(21:26):
men from every faith and background as part of our
Providence Home family. And usually we say guys stay between
four and twelve months. But one of the best things
about Providence Home is there's no okay, you have three
weeks to get healthy and we're sending you back out.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
If a guy is working and working in.

Speaker 6 (21:42):
The program and it has come to himself enough to know,
you know what, if I leave right now, I'm just
going to be triggered.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
I'm going to go back. He can stay. And so
that's been a real blessing.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh I was gonna ask you, how would you go
A boy making the decision went okay, time is up,
and its time to get back out there and become
a you know, a productive member of society and to
your family as well.

Speaker 6 (22:06):
Right, we have our program director and our caseworker who
really get to know these guys pretty well, and we
just work with them on making those kinds of assessment,
and you know, we don't want it to turn into
a place where a guy wants to stay just because,
let's face it, it's inexpensive.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
You know, they pay one.

Speaker 6 (22:22):
Hundred and twenty five dollars a week for all their
meals and all their laundry, which is quite a deal.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
But we don't want to do that.

Speaker 6 (22:30):
We really work with them to see, okay, is this
guy can can he really go back out into the community.
And some of that assessment might include, you know, has
he restore relationships with his family, does he have a
bank account, what does employer say about him? How's his job,
where's his spiritual life? So we have all these these
kind of things where we can assess are you able

(22:53):
to go out instance.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
So again, Providence Home is not just an organization that,
you know, give somebody a roof over their head for
a night or a hot meal. There are needs for
you know that that that's a need out there there
that needs being met by organizations. But miss it's a
rehab program.

Speaker 6 (23:10):
It sounds like yeah, I mean it's we we don't
do rehab. We take guys who have already been through rehab.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
But rehab from a just your soul exactly.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
We provide that transition.

Speaker 6 (23:21):
It's hard to come straight from you know, being at
say a Morse village and getting clean, yeah, but then
going right back to the same place that that got
you in that predicament. So we were that landing pad,
You're exactly right, and and that transitional to hope to
really help them hopefully transition to the next phase of
their life.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
And and you know, we have to be honest.

Speaker 6 (23:43):
Everyone who has dealt with addiction, which is most of us,
even if it's not in your family, knows it's not
easy and knows that triggers come and it's really it's
a really really hard walk with lots of setbacks. But
there are guys who overcome and those are the ones
that we celebrate.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
What would you venture to say? And I'm sure this's
changes from time to time, season to season, year to year,
decade to decade, but the success rate in being able
to turn lives around, I mean, it's got to be
heartbreaking when you invest so much time into somebody and
it doesn't work out, but it happens.

Speaker 6 (24:20):
Yeah, I mean, if you looked at it was if
it'd be like a baseball game and you looked at
the numbers, and you know, like what success looks in
baseball and real life.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Would be like, oh, that's not very successful.

Speaker 6 (24:30):
You know, that's exactly right, exactly, You're an all star exactly.
And so that's kind of how we like it. In
an addiction. There are I mean there are, There are
plenty of success stories. There are a lot of men
who come back, who who relapse, but then they come
back a second time and they are much more successful
the second time.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
But it's just it's, you know, the funny thing, Gary
and I might have talked to you about this before.

Speaker 6 (24:55):
What we see a lot of time is that actual
happiness and trigger a guy like we had a guy
who had his license gone for fifteen years, all the
things that he did, he finally earned it back.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
He had his own truck. He was so excited.

Speaker 6 (25:11):
Well, when the DMV handed him that driver's license, in
his mind, like all of us, the first thing he
says is, Ah, this great thing happened to me.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
I want to go celebrate, you know.

Speaker 6 (25:21):
And so he wanted to go have a drink, because
that's how a lot of people celebrate, and so they fight.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
That a lot when good things happen.

Speaker 6 (25:30):
Honestly, tax time is a trigger because when guys get
kind of an influx of cash, that.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
Can be a trigger.

Speaker 6 (25:39):
So it's addiction is just an evil foe, and you
just you literally have to have the constitution to wake
up every day and say, I for this minute, I'm
going to be sober, and the next minute, I'm going
to be sober.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
And for folks who have not been through that or
had family members as you men should go through that.
That's that's for life.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yes, yeah, I mean that.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
The same tendencies that got you that situation to begin
with can strike you five, ten, fifteen years down the row.

Speaker 4 (26:07):
And we see that.

Speaker 6 (26:08):
We had a guy in our program who was if
you had told me anyone in the world would relapse,
I would say, but not him.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
I mean so like he could work at a bar,
he could be around.

Speaker 6 (26:20):
Beer, he could be and he was so anti everything,
you know, he was just so squared away. And then
something happened and he relapsed.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
And it was just stunny because he had.

Speaker 6 (26:32):
Been clean for years and years and years and adamantly
so like totally at peace, and then something triggered him
and he's back in the pit again.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, this time of year, the holiday time of year,
it's tough on a lot of people. I suspect it's
very difficult on the men in your program that maybe
separated from family and friends and such. I mean, it's
it's gonna be hard.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Yeah, you're exactly right.

Speaker 6 (27:02):
More than any other time of the year, this is
when we really are very purposeful in dealing with our guys, because,
like you said, when we all think of holidays, it's
home for the holidays. And you know this this season,
after this election, there might be some arguments and and
everything else, but still, I mean, you're home for the holidays,
and family is family. And so if you're a guy

(27:25):
who has been addicted or in jail or done both
and kind of really blown up your family, this is
the time when those those demons come back and really
haunt you, and and the what ifs, and the loneliness
and the you know you just you know, that holiday feeling.
You just want to feel warm and fuzzy and surrounded
by love and that that hope of the season. And

(27:48):
so while we can't give them their their their biological families,
this is the time that prominence Home staff and and
all the people who generously donate, and our churches really
come around our guys, and as much as we humanly possible,
we try to make Providence Home their family and their home,
and not just about good meals or gift cards or thing,

(28:09):
but really help them feel loved and supported during this time.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
You mentioned churches and other organizations. I mean, it really is.
It's a team effort with what you do, because I
think we talked a few months ago that it's not
like you've got a a huge staff of folks over
there that's exactly right for Providence Home, but you rely
on the help of so many others.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
Yeah, we actually have a very very small staff and
it's kind of remarkable what we can do.

Speaker 6 (28:34):
We really only have five or six paid staff from
the outside and then the rest are guys who have
gone through the program who help us out in various
divisions like doing the laundry and security, and that's all important.
But the kind of the office ministry staff is very
very small. But like I always say, God does a
lot with a little and we've been so blessed. We

(28:56):
know it takes state or federal funding at all, and
that's because we want to maintain our autonomy and we
want to kind of be able to to work with
our men in the way that we see fit with
any kind of you know, without those government chains sort
of telling us what we need to do.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
And so when you do that, you lose a lot
of funding obviously if you're not accepting it.

Speaker 6 (29:17):
And so that's where our churches and individuals and corporations,
faith based folks come in and they really help us
out because they believe in our mission and they're just
a blessing. They especially this time of year, we get
countless turkeys and church groups coming in and you know,
they'll come in and they'll cook this amazing meal and
then they you know, do bingo with the guys or

(29:40):
seeing Christmas carols and you know, it's just those little
things during this especially this time of the year, that
means so much.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, and then you get into the new year, and
for so many people that's okay, you know, time to
make a commitment to do this or that, a fresh
start and this or that and again. But for some
people the new year can can be kind of wow, Okay,
it's a new year, and here I am again. But
what an opportunity to turn things around?

Speaker 8 (30:08):
Right?

Speaker 6 (30:08):
Right?

Speaker 1 (30:09):
These are folks who have an opportunity to do more
than most people when it comes to turning their life around.

Speaker 6 (30:13):
Here. Yeah, and we really do hope that during the
holiday season that that we lay that groundwork, that that
you that there's enough hope infused in them that they see. Okay,
you know, we all get a clean, clean slate. You know,
whatever your religious belief is, I believe with Jesus he
when we repent, he gives us a clean slate. And

(30:33):
we try to have the guy see that that you're
your yesterday's don't define your tomorrows. So you're right, you know,
in January can be a little bit of a slog too,
But okay, let's get at it. We we we've got
through the holidays, We've learned some lessons about ourselves, and
you know that we can cope. And now let's make
it a goal that next Christmas we will be with

(30:55):
our families.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Right right? Are they allowed the men allowed to see
their families at all while Providence home? How does that work?
They go out to work and come back, But are
they allowed to leave and spend time if through the
holidays with family?

Speaker 6 (31:08):
They absolutely are. They have to get a pass. They
have to get it's called just a week in pass,
and they just have to justify what they're doing. So certainly,
if they're going to go with their families, they can
get a weekend pass, and you know, as long as
it's a good reason, we will let them go. But
they're not allowed absolutely have to refrain from any substance

(31:28):
while they're away. And then when they come backs, yeah, yeah, exactly,
And a lot of times we will do random drug
tests when they come back just to keep them on track.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
But I will tell you, you.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
Know, there's there's one story that just blows our minds.
This This gentleman Tom came in less than a year.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
Ago and he was so just out of it. He
was just so broken.

Speaker 6 (31:55):
He had tons of anger issues and to the point
where we thought he won't be able to do this
because he was just so angry about everything and and
you know, fighting this addiction and just had a lot
of a lot of things in his background. Well, it
was just like watching a walking miracle because for a
couple of months he sort of stayed in that bitter

(32:17):
space and then all of a sudden he started really
participating in chapel and all the time he'd be talking
to our caseworker about he's going to get his daughter back.
He's gonna, you know, this is his goal. And at
the time, honestly we're like, okay, that's a good goal.
But you know, really, you wonder how someone who's so
broken can even go about that. Well lo and behold,

(32:37):
a year later, he transformed himself. I mean he you know,
through through God. But he got his mental health together,
he got his spiritual life together, and he got his
daughter back. Yeah, and it's just he's just a great
dad and it's just amazing to watch him with his daughter,
and so those are you know, that doesn't happen all

(32:59):
the time, but when it happens, man, you just that's
why you're here. You know.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
How can folks help out Christy?

Speaker 4 (33:06):
That's a wonderful question.

Speaker 6 (33:08):
We always love donations, donations even ten dollars. We can
get five meals for a guy for ten dollars, so
that's huge. We call it a white Christmas. If you
want to donate anything white, think undershirts, think socks, think
paper towels, toilet paper, toilet paper, toilet paper. There's always

(33:28):
huge love to take that and that we are campus
physically is located at three four to two one North
Main Street and if you're familiar with North Main Street
in the area, it's literally right next to Burger King
on North Main Street. Yeah, so before you hit Monticello
Road and you know that area actually.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Is really being referred to so wonderful.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Yeah, yeah, so it's it's pretty cool to be there.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
And then if you want to donate online again, ten
dollars goes a long way. It's Providence Home Columbia dot
org Archie.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
All right, so yeah, consider this as a as a
gift this holiday season.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, Christy, always good to see.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
You, appreciate you so much.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Frank you bye and we'll talk again.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
So all right, Merry Christmas, Christmas.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Take care, Thank you.

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Speaker 1 (36:31):
We welcome in Jeff Howell from Health Markets with UH.
Well again some some some big news with a hospital
and an insurance company. Jeff, good morning, my friend, Good
morning Gary. So what's what's the I guess recently we
just found out that there's a parting of the ways
between what ATNA and LEX in to medical center. Is
that right?

Speaker 8 (36:50):
Unfortunately, that is correct. So this is really the first
time in a very long time as long as I
can remember, that UH insurance company and a hospital have
part of ways. After the Medicare annualine ROMA ended. So essentially,
you know October fifteenth December seventh is an annual enrollment

(37:10):
when people on Medicare can choose their Medicare advantage plan
for the next year. And during that time, of course,
we had we had assurances from ETNA and LEX and
Medical Center. Frankly that at a Medicare advantage was not
part of the contract negotiations. We had heard rumblings that

(37:32):
the group side or the commercial side, if they were,
that they were negotiating at the February first contract. They
didn't know if at the Group Health would still be
a network on February one, But they said no problem
with the Medicare advantage side, no worries on the Medicare
advantage side, and lo and behold. On December eleventh, that changed,

(37:56):
and letters went out and posts were made on people
my chart account who have lex and Medical Center as
their doctors that at the Medicare advantage may not be
in network come February first, and so essentially it might
be time to start looking for other plan options. So,
which is a shot to all of us. Frankly, so

(38:16):
you've got.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
You've got customers and folks you know, all across this
area had had taken advantage of the DNA on the
advantage plan, only to find out then after the fact
that yet, no, hah.

Speaker 8 (38:29):
That's correct. And that was very disappointing, I must say.
Because luckily we're not taping this on December eleventh, you
probably would not I would not have been a very
good mood since but I certainly was.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
I was.

Speaker 8 (38:43):
I was not very happy with my representatives who had
assured me that Medicare was not not in play in
these contract negotiations, because you know, what I told them,
and the way I feel is that you know, senior
citizens and you know, of course especially in our community,
who we care about here in Lexing County, they should

(39:03):
not be used as palms and negotiations, right, and that's
exactly what's being and that's exactly how they're being used,
you know. So from you know, taking Medical Center's word,
what they're what they told me, and what was actually
in writing is that at the eleventh hour, you know,
or essentially you're right after open ROLLMA ended around.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
December tenth past midnight, in right.

Speaker 8 (39:27):
Past midnight at a pulled pulled the Medicare advantage from
Lexington or they essentially reduced their fees so much they
included the Medicare advantage as part of the negotiations, essentially saying, okay,
if you want to sign a if you want to
agree to our fees on the group commercial side, then
we're going to reduce our fees on the Medicare advantage

(39:49):
side so much that you're going to lose the Medicare advantage.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Okay, so this is a bargaining chap, yeah, because that
was the original rub was the commercial.

Speaker 8 (39:56):
Side, right and correct. So that's very just disappointing, very disappointing.
But luckily there is a law and that's called the
open Enrollment which lasts between January one to March thirty one,
which which actually you know this this situation was in
mind as other situations, so a person on a Medicare

(40:18):
advantage plan can make a one time change. So my
January is getting booked up with all my clients because
I've already told them, let's go ahead and get on
the calendar in January. And if this, if this contract
does not get resolved, then we're going to we're going
to make a change for February first. So luckily ATNA
is still in network with lex and Medical Centers until

(40:40):
February first, So everyone who has at a Medicare advantage plan,
they're going to be in network in January. But if
we need to make a change to someone that is
in network, which is if Blue Cross, Blue Shield of
South Carolina, then we'll do so on February one and
and that's done. We'll pay that price for what's happened.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
So what is your what's your thought on this, Jeff? Now,
if this were me and you know, I had signed
up for Medicare advantage with that NAH, and I come
to find out this news, and I come sit down
with you next month, and you say, well, okay, now
Edna's back in. You can still make the change.

Speaker 8 (41:17):
Or not, you can still make the change.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Most people would, right, They're going to be ticked off
enough to say, well, the heck with you, ed Now,
I'm going somewhere else.

Speaker 8 (41:24):
That may just happen. Now, if you can pick a day,
but before I meet with let's say that I'm meeting
with a client on January thirty first, right, and before
that day at an elected medical center, made an agreement.
You know, what we do is what we always do
with our clients. We'll look at the doctors, we'll look
at the prescriptions, we'll look at the benefits, and we'll

(41:47):
put I'll put my client on the best plan for them.
But if a client, if but let's say two companies
are equals, let's say as equal to company Company B
in almost every way, then if a client says I'm
done with that and done well. I can't hold them
against them for making that decision, frankly, right.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
No, huhuh. There been a rash of these recently. It
seems like this is like the third one in the
last maybe year or less.

Speaker 8 (42:15):
That's true. You know, we still have Humanita and MUSC
not a network, so that never got resolved. And then
last year it was Chris Money nine Healthcare, which got
resolved on April one, twenty twenty four. But as we
talked about in the past, these are getting unfortunately more
and more common. As these national for profit insurance companies,

(42:40):
they're beholden to their shareholders right to make as much
profit as possible so their stock goes up. They want
to pay these our hospitals, our local hospitals here in
the Midlands as little as possible, and so in these
hospitals don't have much leverage or much tools to fight
back with other than saying, well you just want to

(43:01):
be in network with our hospital.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
How how popular is the plan here? I mean, I
would I'm just guessing here that maybe the Blue Cross
Blue Shield when it comes to the advantage plan is
maybe the most popular in this area.

Speaker 8 (43:16):
I would say there's I would say there's four in
this area that are very popular, and almost equally so
United Healthcare, Humana at nun Blue Cross and has a
very large market share in Luxain County, very large. And
so there are many people I'm sure listening to the
show who have at the Medicare advantage i D card

(43:37):
in their pocket. And so it's it's very disappointing that
this would happen after December seventh. I certainly didn't see
it coming, and you know, the rumbling on the commercial
side concerned me. But when I get assurances from all
parties and writing that Medicare avanage is not part of
the negotiation, you know, it really puts an egg on

(44:02):
certainly a lot of people's faces, and it's very disappointing.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Right, absolutely, just curious now because you mentioned that. So,
but this does allow folks between January one and I
think you said March thirty one to make a one
time that's a one time change for this calendar year, correct,
not that's just twenty five okay?

Speaker 8 (44:18):
Correct?

Speaker 1 (44:19):
If you blowed chance to make any more changes, Okay,
just listen, what would have happened or could this have happened?
Would have had to come down April one and said
we're pulling out. What would happen?

Speaker 8 (44:30):
Then, Yes, that would have been That would have probably been.
That's probably the worst case scenario because that at that
point in time, a person has no really I guess
way to make a change from one carrier to another carrier.
We would have to maybe, you know, talk to Medicare

(44:52):
and see if any special exception would be allowed under
that circumstance. I've never seen that happen, however, I'm never
ever seen that happen on December eleventh. Yeah, so I can.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
I would.

Speaker 8 (45:06):
I would say in the past, oh, that's not possible,
But now I can't say that because now it seems
like anything is possible.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
I'm never one to uh to ask for you know,
government intervention as much of anything, but it would seem
like there ought to be some kind of a law
that would approved that would prohibit an insurance company from
pulling the stunt like that. After that, you know, grace
period is over all.

Speaker 8 (45:27):
Right, and that's something you know. I work with a
group of insurance professionals. We go to Washington every every February,
and this is definitely gonna be a top of the list,
these these contract negotiations and these changes, and how how
our clients are being used as pollings these negotiations, and
how something definitely needs to be done.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
Absolutely okay, So again to recap, if you're holding a
that in a card and you're you're in network at
election in the medical center, you won't be after what
in the January correct February one as a February one.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
And.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Again, Uh, what you hope is that somebody's not sitting
out there and not aware of this. Do they get
notification from ETNA or election in the medical center?

Speaker 8 (46:11):
LECs and Medical Center has been very good about notifying
its clients. They they posted it on their my chart
in the morning of December eleventh, and then letters went
out right after that. So patients should have either one
or two ways. You either read it on their my
chart computer or their app on their phone, or received
a letter in the mail.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Well, you know, there's gonna be somebody out there who
just totally misses all that, right, and they're going to
get a rude awakening.

Speaker 8 (46:37):
That's true, that's true, but it's well, we try to
get the word out as much as we can, certainly
and talk to our clients and you know it, and
it may get resolved, it may not, but either way,
we want to We want our clients to be prepared,
and certainly we welcome people who are not our clients.
We'd be happy to meet with you in January and

(46:57):
look at all the options. You know, it's disappointing that
is happening, but we'll do the best we can to
help and help as many people as.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
We can, certainly, and of course that's always free, right, Yes.

Speaker 6 (47:10):
My.

Speaker 8 (47:11):
Services are free, so do not cost anything, and I'm
glad to help.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Do you recall another time in the span of less
than a year that we've had not one or two,
but three different situations like this?

Speaker 2 (47:22):
No?

Speaker 8 (47:23):
No, this is very unusual, for sure, and I hope
it's not a trend for the future.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah right, okay, Well, something else going on, and although
help me understand this. So the open marketplace enrollment period
endo December fifteenth, but not really.

Speaker 8 (47:39):
Or that's a good point. So it's interesting in how
they do the commercials with Healthcare dot Go, they push everyone.
They extended it actually to December eighteenth, but eventually the
commercials were pushing people to December fifteenth, which is a Sunday,
and then because it fell on a Sunday, they extend

(48:00):
the open aroma for January first coverage to December eighteenth.
And of course now we're talking about people under sixty five,
people who are on the individual marketplace for individual health insurance. However,
that is not the deadline. So the true deadline is
January fifteen.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
January fifteenth, Okay, So anyone.

Speaker 8 (48:19):
Who would get the policy between December nineteenth and January
fifteenth will have a February first effective dates. So, like
anything in life, health care, I go knows that action.
You know, deadlines, breed action, right, So they're pushing everyone
to the first deadline, then the second deadline December eighteenth,

(48:41):
and now you'll see commercials and radio ads pushing everyone
to get enrolled by January fifteenth, which is the true
drop dead deadline.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
Okay. Yeah, Now, of course you have options here. I mean,
you can go on the government website. But again keep
in mind it's it's a government website. They're not always
the easiest to navigate.

Speaker 8 (49:05):
It is probably the trickiest website I've ever been on
them like that, it is very tricky, and I have
many clients that have come to me, and they have
been on there, and they've tried and tried, and they
put all their information in time and time again, and
keep getting a thousand dollars a month premiums. And they
come to me and I show them a premium of

(49:27):
one hundred and fifty dollars. You know, it's just because
it's tricky how how the subsidies are applied, and how
what questions you have to answer exactly the right way
to get the subsidies at a person there with their family.
Absolutely so.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
In other words, even if you were to charge somebody
in this instance, you know, eight hundred and fifty dollars
for your expert advice, they'd pay that off in a month.

Speaker 8 (49:52):
I wouldn't do that.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
But you know, you don't charge them, You don't try
to folks anything. It's absolutely free, sir.

Speaker 8 (49:57):
But yeah, yeah, I appreciate the analogy, but yeah, my
services are free. But yeah, I think it's just it's
the way the website's written and the questions they ask
are not defined well. And so you know, if someone's asked,
for example, you know, are you offered an HR? Well,
you know these acronyms people and people don't know what

(50:18):
they mean.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
I have to ask you what that meant. I have
no idea, right and.

Speaker 8 (50:22):
So exactly, So you answer yes to the wrong question,
your subsidies knocked out, and then you know you've got
You've got this gigantic price staring you in the face,
and you have no idea what to do. So I'm
always glad to help them people with with healthcare dot
go and get them individual health insurance. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Now just a quick question here before we wrap things up.
Let's say we're in a situation someone has maybe a
spouse who is working and has coverage to their employer,
but you know, you start adding on, you know, family
members and stuff. It gets a little outrageous. Can that
Can that spouse who's not employed go on the open marketplace?

(51:03):
Or are they or is that going to be so? No, No,
I'm sorry, your spouse has covers their employee. Gotta go
with that.

Speaker 8 (51:09):
Luckily, that law changs in twenty twenty three. So it
used to be the old way that if one person
was offered group health insurance, that essentially knocked the whole
family out of subsidies, which makes the health insurance affordable
in the individual marketplace. But starting January one to twenty
three now on the employees. Essentially now only the employee

(51:31):
has to stay with their group health plan, and spouse
independents can now shop the open marketplace and get subsidies
and get affordable health insurance.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
Okay, okay, And what I mean, what's the average I
always hate asking this question because it's so many variables involved.
I know, but I mean, the average subsidy for the
average person, you know, gets this this coverage down to
about what range at any given month.

Speaker 8 (51:54):
I mean, yeah, yeah, you're right there. There are so
many variables, but I'd say the average customer pays around
two hundred dollars a month for their health insurance if
I had to put an average on it.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
And we certainly know that if you've ever covered a
spouse on your employee health plan, is going to be
probably a lot more than that.

Speaker 8 (52:14):
Yes, usually it is absolutely.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Okay, so does January fifteenth deadline for that, So keep
that in mind. And again, as we started talking about originally,
if you're on Medicare advantage and ATNA, then they call
this guy right here and go over and sit down
and talk to him by the end of January, certainly
before then to see what your options are.

Speaker 8 (52:37):
That's right. We'll be here our office right beside the
flight deck, restaurant, health markets and GLAD to take walk ins,
and GLAD to set appointments and help people and make
sure they're not left out in the cold after February first.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
All right, so eight three six seven eight eight one
two one right six seven eight eighty one to one.
And your website is your name?

Speaker 6 (53:00):
Right?

Speaker 8 (53:00):
Yes, Www dot Jeff Howle dot com.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
All right, Jeff, thanks so much, buddy, thank you here.
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

(53:25):
accept a settlement that's unfairly low. The Law Office of
James Snell recognized by AVA with a ten and an
eight plus rating with a Better Business Bureau. There's no
cost to speak to them. Insurance companies make their money
by denying and minimizing otherwise valid claims. The Law Office
of James Snell can help. They're not looking to try
to take every small mishap, but focus on real injuries

(53:45):
that deserve to be taken seriously. The Law Office of
James Snell. I'm Jim Snell. Contact me at Snell law
dot com. That's three l's spell law dot com. The
Law Office of James Snell since two thousand and four
with the office is in Lexington and Columbia,