Rethink Healthcare Together - HSAs Prev Care Wellness Programs

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Happy Sunday with Brian Thomas. Hosaid that I think you
have KRC Morning Show except on Sundays when I get
to facilitate a conversation with John Ruhman and sometimes the team,
which we did last week from Cover sincey a better
way to get medical insurance coverage. You work with a
broker like John Roulman or one of the team members
that cover since the they are working for your best interest.
They do a deep dive analysis of where you are

(00:28):
in your life, what insurance policies and I say policies
because it's layered covers. They work with one hundred of
different insurance companies, thousands of policies, and as John described
it last week, plug the holes that exist in all
of the insurance policies you probably had over the years.
Something's not going to be addressed or covered. There's that

(00:48):
word again. What they do is they get a policy
that does address those holes in the other policies, and
so they have a package of insurance which handles all
of your medical needs, accidents, emergencies, and out of pocket
liability as well as dollar one coverage for so many
medical claims. And you never hear about that with the
vast majority of insurance policies out there, one size does

(01:09):
not fit all. To reach, John and the team initiate
the conversation at no obligation to you. This is a
service they'll be happy to provide for you. Call them
up at five one three eight hundred two two five five.
That's five one three eight hundred call or I would
say more easily depends on who you are. But go
to the website coversinsey dot com as a forum you
can fill out and answer as much of the information

(01:32):
as you can. They will not sell it to anybody.
They will not disclose it to anybody. It's confidential, but
it'll help get the process started so they can do
this analysis on your behalf, and trust me, you'll be
glad you did. And for those in the listening audience
who are listening outside of the greater Cincinnati area, this
is beyond just the Cincinnati area. They cover and can
deal with medical insurance across all fifty states. It's a

(01:55):
full operation for anyone anywhere out there listen. So that
just happens to be the website for here locally. But
welcome back, John Roman. This is another edition of Rethink
Healthcare together.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Absolutely, welcome and good morning, Brian.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Always a pleasure, my friend. All Right, some of the
topics we haven't talked about or at least have it
in a while. Let's start off with health savings accounts.
This is different than what's.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
The other wealth matching accounts. Yeah, so health savings accounts,
I mean they's been around since I first started selling insurance, right, so.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Just the one where you get to keep the money,
you can keep the money, Okay, I've got one of those.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah. Hcs are great and I really like them, especially
for your younger listeners and then people that really don't
have a lot of medical expenses. A lot of times
if you're on a group plan and you don't have
you know, a lot of ongoing issues medication costs because
remember HSA qualified plan, you have to buy a qualified
plan in order to do it. Typically doesn't have prescription

(02:53):
drug coverage, doesn't have doctor visit, doesn't really have any
first dollar coverage until you meet a pretty significantly high
deductible six, seven, eight, ten thousand dollars. Right, so again
you were you're on the hook for that first let's
say eight grand before the insurance could be pays a
dime for anything. So again, this is gonna be typically
for your healthier individual. So when I first started out

(03:14):
buying health insurance, when I got to boot off my
parents' insurance, right, I was like, well, what am I
gonna buy? I don't I'm not sick, I don't use
I mean I was even getting physicals back then. So
I'm like, I'm like, do an HSA. So an HSA
qualified plan. So I had the high deductible health plan,
and then what enabled me to do is start putting
additional money away pre tax works just like an IRA, because.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
That high deductible plant is a lot cheaper.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
In some senses.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, see one side.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Back then, back then it was it was significantly cheaper.
We're talking it was forty percent cheaper in some cases.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
That's what freezes up the money that you can part
which was.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Free, which you absolutely got to correct. We've seen a
big change in that kind of more recently because most
of the HSA qualified plans are still in the marketplace,
so you had to go through the ACA and get them. So,
you know, we do recommend for some clients that are
getting pretty big tax credits and stuff like that, but
being able to fund that separate account does make really
good sense. Again, like I said, it works like an IRA.

(04:08):
You're basically putting all that money in pre tax that
might last you the rest of your life. You can
leave it to your beneficiary. You can add your wife
to it eventually if you get married or you are.
The nice thing about the HSA account is, even though
later on, you know, when I started having a family
and kids and all that stuff, I decided to make
a plan that had a little bit more benefit first

(04:29):
dollar coverage, I still had a lot of money socked
away in my AHSA.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
I've never tapped in mind, no, But the.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Problem is I couldn't fund it anymore because I didn't
have the qualified plan to do it. But the money
was still there, so I was able to use that
money to cover the coopeis cover the smaller deductibles and
out of pocket expenses that we had. Yes, with three
kids later, it definitely ran out, but I mean we
were covering all of our medical expenses, and that the
nice thing, especially even for some of my listeners that
maybe not exhausting their the HSA account. The beauty behind

(04:57):
it is you can actually use it when you go
on medicare to pay your part B premiums that one
hundred and eighty five bucks a month, and therefore you
can use that money pre tax It's like it's a
great piece, you know. Of course, it's like anything. It's
it runs into an IRA. You can take the money
out of eventually and pay taxes on it, just like
a normal IRA. But it does give you a little
really good flexibility. And here's the here's kind of the

(05:20):
funny thing, Brian. So I can purchase an HSA right now.
Let's say I can get a good tax credit or
or I'm getting it through an employer, and I'm like, well,
I want that HSA because it is cheaper through my group.
I want to be able to fund this additional account.
But I'm still scared of the seven thousand dollars aductable
right right, Well, this is where we can come in,
because I can still fill that gap with secondary insurance policies.

(05:43):
They can still go and buy the indemnity plans, the
accident policies, the cancer policies, everything that will actually pay
off that deductible forum, so they don't they actually have
that first dollar coverage. Yeah, and still fund in HSA.
It just you just have to have that on the
major medical side. So anything you add on additionally still
let you qualify to fun health savings account. That's the

(06:04):
beauty of the HSA accounts. So you just get so
many more options to put money in different areas.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
And you can use that money to pay the premium.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Can't use it pay premiums? Oh you can't, No, because
it's basically you know, it'd be pre tax or if
you're self employed, I can write it off and then
I'm writing it off with it write off of well
cat's it's kind of like you're double dipping the tack scenario.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
I'm just trying to think outside of the box, man.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Trust me. I mean, I'm sure Brian, you were not
the first person to think. But no. But again, like
I said, any of those medical expenses, even the over
the counter medications, you can use HSA's that pay for
things that insurance will never cover. I've known people to
use it for botox and augmentations, and I mean it's
just anything that medical that you can go through, which
is just nice because insurance usually doesn't kind of cover

(06:48):
those type of things.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Well, let's talk a little bit about telehealth and I
mentioned this a bunch of times in the past. One
of the benefits of having gone through COVID is that
telehealth sort of became ubiquitous. It became easier to get
in touch with your doctor because everybody had to stay
away from each other. Allegedly, as we found out, that
was ultimately a lie. But you know, you could get
on telehealth and talk to your physician. I know that

(07:11):
you've mentioned in the past the brilliance of the telehealth
for mental health services that are out there. Those are
very affordable, and you can get in touch with a
therapist over the over the telephone very easily, or through
a video conference call.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
This is morphedin something that you know. I've been doing
telehealth for twenty years. I mean when I first started
in this business, I was like, what is this cool thing?
You can just call and talk to a doctor writes
your prescription. It's free through your insurance. Just twenty years ago.
Most people didn't figure this out the COVID, right, you know,
I've been educating clients on it as a first line
mechanism for their insurance because again, I don't want you

(07:48):
to pay copa's I don't want you to have any
of that pocket expenses. I want to show you how
you can use your insurance and get you to carry
that you need so that you're not paying anything to
do that. And telehealth is one of those really massive
UH programs that almost every single package that we build
out for individual clients or self employed clients, our group
clients encapsulates telehealth. It is something that's in there for

(08:12):
every one of them because again it also helps keep
costs down, you know, so rate increases and different things.
Even on the group side, the goal is not to
hit the group with big expenses or a lot of expenses.
It's to keep the costs down so they don't get
big renewals. One of theseest ways to do that is telehealth.
And you know I mentioned last week when we had
the team here is you know, I rely on them

(08:34):
a lot to bring me products that they're seeing at
a out there. And actually one of my one of
my agents, Zach you who is here, he brought me
a newer product that we had and we've looked at
a lot of different telehealth options, was a very affordable
telehealth option that had free unlimited usage for mental health.
And I mean that was massive because a lot of

(08:55):
telehealth still charge copays and someone charge to give you like,
you know, four or five visits a year. This one
was unlimited. Using it, you can literally call someone every
single day. And I was we really deep dive into
this thing. We went way down and like trying to
figure this man out. I mean, you can get the
same therapist. You're not dealing with a different person each time.
Like yeah, and just the stigma behind it for some

(09:19):
of us that don't want to go and sit in
a waiting room at a facility or an office. You know,
we can do this some comfort anywhere. At a client
that told me one time it goes John, I just
I literally go out my garage. I sit in my
car in my garage in the dark, and I talk
to my because I just don't want people to know
that I'm doing it, but I feel like I need it.
I'm like, that's awesome that you have that availability and
it's free, you know. So like I I'm such a

(09:41):
big proponent of that all right.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
In my notes here, and this is where I think
you shoulder the burden for people understanding the fine print
and reading the policies and knowing what the language is
in the policies. I mean, know, this is like reading
stereo instructions. Man, It's not exactly like a Mintioner novelhere
you're gonna want to be a page turner. But how

(10:07):
important is even in your situation where you're the broker
and where you will iron out and solve people's claims.
As I regularly like to emphasize, the team remains with
you if you're insured through John and his team, and
they will deal with claims, disputes and other components. You're
gonna have like four policies maybe five, And I was
a Jeff who had the seven policies that each of

(10:30):
the employees got for. And you might not know under
what circumstances any which policy goes. Call John and the
team and they'll explain it to you. But is it
still important for your clients to read the language and
an insurance policy.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
I think so too. I mean, I think you always
have to educate yourself, right, I mean, we just don't
want to be out there and just can be completely uneducated.
And everything that we do, I mean, we're going to
point out a lot a lot of things that make
the most sense in your current situation and we'll talk
about things that are for the future. But it's amazing,
you know, like, you know, because some of these policies
have so many different line items and different things that

(11:04):
they cover. And y'all get clients and we do their
annuar review and they go, John, yeah, I said what
happened last year?

Speaker 1 (11:09):
They go X y Z.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
I'm like, oh, great, that worked out really well. Well,
I didn't use my insurance for it. I'm like, butt
your insurance pace for that. Really, I just forgot. I
was like, you know, we kind of give them a one. Sheoter.
I was like, it's on there. It shows you that
it was. I was like, but you know, and we
walk them through it and they can still file the
claim and cut the reimbursement and all that stuff. But
it's you know, it's you want to understand insurance because

(11:30):
I mean, it's something you're paying for, you know. It's
and the other thing too, really kind of understanding your insurance,
you know, and our end. You know, We've talked about
this numerous times. How weird we are. I mean, I
think because I mean I wanted to be a lawyer,
you are a lawyer. I mean, there was some point
in our lives where we made the decision that sitting
there just reading all day long and understanding what things
say and try to, you know, mentally grasp what it means.

(11:54):
I mean, that's what I've done, and I've looked at
so many different insurance policies over the years, and that's
how I was competitive in the beginning, you know, being
able to say, hey, this is this is your current policy,
and I would highlight the concerns, like do you understand
what these mean? Well, most time they would say no.
I was like, I would explain it to them, and they're
holes in the bucket, holes in the bucket, So like
I don't want this. I was like, but you're paying

(12:14):
for it. This is yours. This is what you have
right now, and listen. I mean the when I started
this twenty years ago, there was really bad products and
there's still really bad products out there today. And there's
bad products that millions of people are in that don't
know they're in a bad product, and you know, we
have them call in. I mean, I probably run into

(12:37):
one of these weak minimum and it just it's painstaking
because you feel that you're like, oh my god, thank you,
I'm glad we met you before you had a claim,
but you'd be so so often it's people calling in
because they have one of those policies and they've had
an issue, yeah, and they're like, they're not paying I
just want had a surgery and this company, like they said,
pays five hundred bucks for a surgery and my surgery

(12:59):
is fifty thousand. So where am I coming up with
forty nine thousand, five hundred.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Or you're in one of those meta share plans, Andy,
just say no, we're not going to pay it.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yep, we ran out of money this month, so sorry,
come back to us next monk to you. Most those
can happen, you know. And like I said, it's just
really getting down and into that. And like thy, I
tell most people, if you're paying for your own health insurance,
I mean, I'll be honestly that ninety five percent of
the time I can help you. I mean, it's it's
crazy numbers. Especially if you're paying for you own health insurance.

(13:29):
Just give us a call and do review. The best
thing I can tell you to do is every single
one of my team has been absolutely trained that if
you're on the best product, we will confirm it with you.
Let you know you have the best product. Stick with
where you're at, don't let anybody ever take you off
of it. But more often than that, we end up
finding all those holes and sharing that with them and
then showing them an alternative option. And that's the craziest

(13:51):
part is is just there's a lot of scams out
there in this business and it gives us a really
bad name and insurance. You know, I've always thought when
it getting in to insurance, I was always thinking of
that that guy selling life insurance of Bill Murray and
Groundhog Day. I didn't want to be that guy just
constantly getting on Bill Murray like, right, buy some life insurances, Well,
buy some life insurance, and then he hits the puddle.
I laugh at him. You know that's I mean, that's

(14:12):
not what I wanted to do. And then I realized
that educating clients, really taking to heart what they need
and understanding their situation, helping them through that. I mean, Brian,
I have clients that have been with me for two decades. Yeah,
you know, they're not going anywhere because every redoer review
we have big tweaks and changes. It's not nothing that
I write you today is going to have to be concrete,

(14:35):
set in stone for the next thirty or forty years
in your life. We constantly adapt grow, new products come around,
I'm gonna recommend them to you, and if I saved
your money gets you more coverage. That's always my goal.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
I think part of the problem with American medicine is
we end up getting sick and then the problem needs
to be resolved. Here's a pill for that, or you know,
you can't engage in preventative care, and there are are
there are there aspects of preventative care that you deal

(15:07):
with in the insurance realm that people might want to consider.
I mean, are there incentives to get people to regularly
see their doctor to get ahead of medical problems that
they might encounter.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I mean it's actually kind of kind of funny.
We talked numerous times on the show about the colonoscopy,
coal rectal exam scenarios, right, And you know what I'm
alluding to is the fact that if you're going in
for your you know, fifty year old, you know I'm
gonna go get my coal rectal exam because that's the

(15:38):
time I'm supposed to do it. I just want to
make make sure I'm good in that department, right, and
I know we all dread that, but they put you
out and then then you wake up and they say, hey,
we found the poll up, so we had to remove it,
and now we have to go get a biopsy and
a pathology report on it to make sure it's not cancerous.
So it knocks it out of being that free preventative
care and throws into a diagnostic situation. Well, now you're

(15:58):
looking at a two or three thousand hards but minimum
because it's going to go against your adoptable and I
know a lot of people get scared of that. I've
actually heard of people going, I'm not going to go
get that done because of those situations. You know, when
we build out our products, because we do so much
first dollar coverage. Again, my goal was to show you
that you're going to pay very little for that scenario,
regardless of how it comes about. That's because our plans

(16:22):
are going to pay you for those surgeries. On top
of you know, if the major medical plan maybe even
pays them for free. You know, I got clients right
now that do our packages, and maybe we're on the marketplace,
you know, on an ACA Obamacare plan and they get
their mammogram for free, but their secondary plan pays them
two hundred and fifty dollars just because they had a mammogram.
So literally, I'm building you a plan and go get

(16:44):
your mammogram and it is free. The insurance is actually
going to pay you two hundred and fifty dollars to
do it. So tell me why you wouldn't exactly, you know,
So we're I've almost come tenfold because it's like when
we first started and most insurance companies didn't even want
to pay for preventative care. It is very hard for
me to find plans that did. And then now we're
at a point where everything's free and people still aren't going.

(17:06):
So now I'm incentivizing to go. But again we share
that with you because again, at the end of the day,
if you are getting your physicals, and you know, my
kid is going to go get two hundred and fifty
dollars every time he gets a physical, and I have
three kids at seven hundred and fifty dollars, my major
medical covers I for free. For my wife and I
it's another five hundred, So I'm getting twelve hundred and
fifty dollars for my secondary insurance just because we get

(17:28):
our physicals each year, Well, that pays for like three
or four months of the premium of my secondary policy.
I'm literally showing you, if you do what I'm telling
you to do, the extra benefits you're getting will help
pay the premiums. So it's like, get the good package
because you know it incentivize you to do it.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
It certainly does. And then the other component of that
getting ahead of things. Obviously, you want to do the
preventive care. You want to get your mammograms, you want
to do your correctal screenings, because removing a pole up,
even if you had to pay for, I would argue,
is better than getting cancer and having to deal with that.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Oh, absolutely so.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
But wellness programs the idea of, you know, living a
healthier lifestyle so that maybe you can avoid some of
the medical implications for not doing so.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, and again it's this is kind of a mixed
pill bag because you know, there's a lot of wellness
programs out there. There are things that we can build
into your group plans, your individual plans and show you
how you can do different things, like you know, weight
weight loss programs and different things. So a lot of
major medical plans don't even want to pay for these things.
I've actually seen big group plans like turn Around because

(18:34):
of the new tricipizide and the ozepic and those manjournals,
all those things are like, we're gonna cut out weight
loss because we have it in our insurance plan. We're
gonna have to cover these new twelve thirteen dollars on drugs.
So a lot of the smaller group plans have started
cutting out weight loss management and just different things that
make people healthy. And you know, a lot of the
things that we actually have and we can instill for

(18:55):
groups actually have a lot of these pieces in there.
The other thing too, is you know, if you have
an indemnity policy that says, you know, we pay one
hundred and fifty dollars, let's say for a doctor visit,
they don't care if you're walking in for a weight
loss visit. They don't care if you're walking in there
and talk to your doctor because I need to quit
smoking and I've struggled with it. They're just gonna pay
because you went to a doctor visit, even though maybe

(19:15):
your primary care coverage doesn't do that. So I think
it's definitely worth a conversation because you know, we live
in a day and age where a lot of US
citizens are overweight, a lot of us have issues, right,
a lot of us need telehealth or mental health pieces.
So getting into a lot of these things is really helpful.
And I'm a firm believer in it myself. I mean
I've used almost everything that we have. I mean I've

(19:39):
tackled the fitness program. You know, I use that three
to four times a week so as my family. And
that's something that we've instilled through through our office, you know,
to help our employees. So there's some some really good
benefits out here to improve the overall health and wellbeing
of ourselves. And again, if you're listening here and you're
an employer, I mean, what's better than making your employees healthier,

(20:02):
right and getting them more out of it, having more
energy winning a show up to work because they're you've
helped them in a fitness program or a weight loss
program and now they feel better, you know, I mean
that's it just helps productivity.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
It certainly does. Let's fast forward in the notes to
the health insurance for families. You know all often focus
on that, on this, on this this program, so We'll
just look at that kind of concept because a lot
of people out there have families, they got to get
medical insurance for them and create some complications like if
you're dealing with Obamacare plans, as he regularly pointed out,

(20:34):
you know, the deductible out of pocket responsibility adds up
pretty dang quickly.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, it really does. And it's again, this is all
about choosing exactly the right plan. There are plans even
in the marketplace again going back to the word covered, right, Yeah,
careful care for the word cover, because I mean, you know,
I can go out and buy a plan tomorrow and
it says maternity is covered, and then I realize that

(21:00):
I'm on the hook for the first ninety two hundred.
So we go in and have a national you know, childbirth,
and it's the average prices twelve to fifteen grand. I'm
paying ninety two hundred of it, Like that's that's insane.
There are also some plans that have co pays for that,
so we call them our maternity plans. So I know
some of the companies that actually have the maternity plans
where you might only have a fifteen hundred or three

(21:20):
thousand dollars co pay for the entire thing. It's also
a really good point that we have secondary insurance plans
that will actually help pay off you're deductible. This is
not something you can call me while you're pregnant and
go John, I heard about the maternity plan, you know,
six months pregnant. I went this on my plan before
I deliver. This is something that you need to do
ahead of time. So that's why we say it's a

(21:42):
family plan. So if you're you know, you know, I
have one of my agents here last week, you'll he's
going to be getting married this year. And I said
them down the other day and had that conversation with
them like, hey, are you are you Are you getting
on the all the all the maternity coverage plans that
we have. He goes, yeah, cause she's kind of pushing
it sounds like that makes sense in your situation, Like

(22:03):
have those convers And that's the whole big thing is
that when they work, When you work with me and
my team, Brian, it's a partnership. You know, we're that
person that you're going to reach out. You're thinking to me,
like your CPA, You're gonna talk to me every at
least once a year, right, talk to me once a year,
tell me about your situation. Let me know when those
life things change. Because yes, when I met you at
twenty six because you got kicked off your parents' insurance,

(22:24):
you're not the same dude. When you're thirty or thirty five.
Your family changes, you might get married, you might have kids.
I mean, the things constantly adapt and change, and we're
here to work through that with you and constantly adapting
your package and what we're offering you to meet your
current and future lifestyle needs.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Well, how about budgeting for healthcare? I think, and we've
talked about certain aspects of this. If you're just thinking
about the monthly premium, but you haven't done the math
on out of pocket liability responsibility copays, if they are
an issue, the math can often work out much much

(23:03):
different into your disadvantage if you go for the sort
of the cheapest policy.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Oh yeah, we get people all the time to call
on like, I want that one hundred dollars month plan.
I'm like, don't really, I mean because I mean, I mean, yes, guys,
there are some plans out there that I might be
able to help you at at that level. But at
the end of the day you're gonna be calling me
back when you use it and going, this ain't paying
anything because it doesn't at that level. Right. So the
term that I don't mean, I don't know where I

(23:30):
heard it. I mean, I don't even know if I
came up with it. I've been doing so long, But
I call it the true cost of health care. Right.
So the true cost of health care, number one is
what you're paying in premium, right, and then number two
what the out of pocket? The maxim out of pocket
on your insurance policy is right. So again, if you're
on a marketplace plan group plan, you know you're buying

(23:50):
an individual plan. It's your deductible plus the co insurance.
Don't don't get confused by that eighty twenty thing. I
get so many people that I find that by gold
plans and the marketplace because it's a fifteen hundred dollars reductible,
but it has the same maximut of pocket as the
bronze plan at half the price, so you know it
still has ninety two hundred dollars out of pocket or
very similar. So what you want to do is you

(24:11):
look at that ninety two hundred, right, and now let's
say your insurance premium is let's say it's just five
hundred bucks a month, right, so it's fived. So let's
say six thousand plus the ninety two hundred, right, So
that's your at your financial exposure. So basically every year
you're on the hook for fifteen thousand, two hundred dollars.
So let's look at your what your true monthly cost is.

(24:33):
So your true monthly cost isn't five hundred dollars. If
you end up having to use this plan, you're out
twelve hundred and sixty six dollars a month. Yeah all right,
So really my goal is to beat that number, and
it's not going drastic over the five hundred. But what
have your plans six hundred or six fifty, But you'll
never hit twelve hundred. Oh you'll never have to pay
that out of pocket, right, I'd much rather pay an

(24:55):
extra hundred bucks a month and ever have to be
on the hook for fifteen grand a year. Oh yeah,
I mean that's and that's what we're gonna do and
break it down for you. So yeah, sometimes I you know,
some of your listeners, we might recommend paying a little
bit more to never have to pay that expense, because
it's not a question of if, it's when it's going
to happen, and God forbid, it's something that drags on
for years. You're hitting that maximum out of pocket every year.

(25:18):
It's not a one and done. It's January first comes
and and everything gets refreshed back to zero and now
you've got to go hit that deductible again. And it's
just it's just a crazy scenario. And we've seen so
many people have to go through that. So again, that's
your true cost. And when you're budgeting, you know, can
you budget that number? And if you can't, we definitely
need to have a conversation.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Fair enough. Well, that's part of working with you, because
you'll walk people through this math and can compare the
right plans and you know, basically just break this down
and explain why you know, the cheapest ain't the best
at all. It never really is. I I have learned
that from you over the years. Over the last couple
of years.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, and again, even even getting the those really big
tax credits, we ran into a client within the last
few weeks that completely under estimated as income last year
and goes I have a great insurance plan. I'm only
paying like fifty bucks a month. I'm like, but sir,
on your application you put into the government, it said
you made twenty eight thousand dollars a year, and you

(26:19):
told me you make one hundred and fifty. I was like,
you do realize that you're still on the hook for
this money?

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Like, just because the government's going to front end and
help you pay for the insurance and you file your taxes,
they're going to call back to seven hundred bucks a
month they gave you, so we get be paired. You know,
you'd pay that backed check.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
So well in the many couple of minutes here, can
you provide the listening audience with maybe some more cost
saving strategies generally speaking, since we're talking about money here.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, I mean listen, the best piece of advice I
can give anybody when it comes to health insurance, medical,
whatever you're doing on that side, think about it exactly
like you would do with anything else in your life.
You want to shop healthcare. People don't realize that they
can do that. You know, getting low costs MRIs is

(27:09):
not a low cost and the same machine. It's just
they're cheaper areas out there. Avoiding doing labs at a
doctor's office that's attached to a hospital. You know, God forbid.
I mean I've personally witnessed that. I mean, you know,
one of my family members went in one time. We've
been using the same doctor for years. And then, of course,
you know, when you know, twenty ten happened and most

(27:30):
of the doctors started selling out the hospital groups. I mean,
then all of a sudden we saw that go from
private practice to you know now being owned by XYZ
Hospital Group. And we went in for the same blood
work we've had every year, and then all of a sudden,
the bill went from like sixty dollars to nine hundred
and eighty. I was like, well, it's the same chest, right,
how is this ten times more expensive?

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Mentioned that the imaging services I do commercials for affordable
imaging services, I mean echo cardiogram five hundred bucks you
go to hospitals can be thirty five hundred bucks.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, I mean, and that's the crazy So, I mean,
the best thing you can do is, you know, if
the doctor recommends something, a great doc, that's great, I
want to take your recommendation. What is this going to cost?
You know? And what most people don't realize and then
a lot of situations we've helped even clients with this
when they have high reductible plans is sometimes cash price
is better and most people don't realize that. I mean,

(28:22):
I've had a lot of clients save tremendous amount of money.
I had a client one time we worked at a
cash price in the amount of surgery went from thirty
five thousand to less than four grand. Wow, because I
did a cash price up front. And here's a trick, Brian.
All we did is that I just need to dynamize Bill,
because even though we got the cash price he paid
up front on his visa, we still submitted the claim

(28:44):
to the insurance as secondary policy paid more than that. Bill.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
So, I mean, there's just if you're not going to
walk in the Best Buy tomorrow and look at a
TV on the wall without a price tag on it
and go, here's my credit card, bill me, We're never
gonna do that. The first thing we're gonna do is
gonna ask the price, is there an open box, is
there a cheaper option? And then I'm gonna look at
every website. I'm going to Sam's Club, I'm going to Amazon,

(29:12):
I'm going to Walmart. I'm looking everything right there. While
I'm on the shop, I feel back said we did
this a Toys r US when we love toys for
us my kids, and we did exactly the same thing.
But I mean Amazon, whatever it is, because we're gonna
shop it. So shop healthcare guys.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I can't implore you enough or let John on team
shop it for you.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
We do.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
We have what you do.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, we have a Kelly Blue book like for cars.
We have the same thing. It's called a healthcare blue
but we have it for us. It actually share little pricing,
a really area.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Before you get service. You called John and the team
John Rolman covers Sincy, thanks for doing what you do.
It's coversincy dot com. That's where you fill the format
to get the process started. Or call five one three
eight hundred call five one three eight hundred two two
five five. This has been another edition of Rethink Healthcare
together with John Rolman.