November 19, 2025 • 43 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with Ben Souchek, owner of Home Downsizing Solutions. Ben discusses how his company buys houses “as is” from individuals who value the convenience of this service, shares a story of helping a recent client, and compares and contrasts the HDS model to that of the wholesaler’s model. Then, Steve visits with Kris Cevasco from Kenvue, a leader in consumer healthcare. Kris explains that Medicare Advantage plan members leave billions of dollars of over-the-counter product benefits unused annually. As a product manufacturer, Kenvue offers robust educational efforts to increase OTC product benefit utilization by Medicare Advantage members, helping them make informed healthcare decisions and lead healthy vibrant lives. #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise (800) 331-6445
www.SeniorCareLive.com
www.facebook.com/SeniorCareLive
www.linkedin.com/in/stevekuker
www.twitter.com/SeniorCareLive
www.SeniorCareConsulting.com
www.SeniorCareLive.com
www.facebook.com/SeniorCareLive
www.linkedin.com/in/stevekuker
www.twitter.com/SeniorCareLive
www.SeniorCareConsulting.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's Senior care Consultant,
Steve Keecker.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker.
You're Senior Care Consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today. We have a wonderful program on tap with
my friend and special guest in studio, mister Ben Sochek.
He's the owner of Home Downsizing Solutions. If you want
to reach out to Ben write this information down. You
(00:43):
may need his help immediately, you may need his help
in six weeks or even six months. It's eight five
five two nine one five zero zero five. Can also
go online an excellent website loaded with resources Home Doownsizing
dot org. And with that, Ben, welcome back to Senior
Care Live.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Hi, Steve, thank you for having me again this week,
and as always, hopefully I can share some information with
the listeners to be of value to them.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
All right, and you know, let's let's talk about home
downsizing solutions and you know, tell us again, we have
you know, new listeners all the time. I think we're
getting ready to pick up a station in Guam, so
of all the places. So but let's let's talk. Let's
just review home downsizing solutions and how you're able. What
(01:34):
services do you offer?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Sure, the primary service that we offer is to actually
buy a property a house from individuals, especially if they're
downsizing to a smaller home, apartment or senior community. That
is the primary service surrounding that, we try and do
everything that we can to make that transition to the
(01:59):
new home home as easy and stress free as possible,
whether that's assisting in contacting a moving company, assisting in
contacting an organizing and packing company, or any of the
services that a homeowner that's been in the house a
long time or short short time can find a value.
(02:23):
The other thing, I guess I would say that I
tell everybody that we talk to the reason that people
would choose to do business with a company like mine
is if they find value or enough value in the
benefits that we provide, namely being able to buy a
house and it's as is conditioned so that the homeowner
(02:44):
doesn't have to do anything to the house to sell it.
They can take what they want, leave what they don't want,
and whatever's left in the house. Whatever stuff is left
in the house, we take care of it. We are
cash buyers. We have cash available to buy houses, so
we can close as quickly as a title company conject
(03:06):
title and prepare closing vaperwork. So whether that's that has
been in the little twenty four hours, oh, be real
that we've had a contract. We close the next day,
but or of course, whenever a person wants us to close.
And of course one of the biggest benefits is to
be able to buy the house right away so that
(03:27):
the seller knows the house is sold, so that they
have that issue off their plate. But then they can
choose to typically anyway, stay in the house until they're
ready to move. So if they don't know exactly when
an apartment's going to be ready for them, or they
want to be ready when an apartment opens up, then
we can allow them to stay in the house until
(03:47):
they can make that move. So that's probably one of
the biggest thing, but those are the primary reasons why
a person would choose to do business with us.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, so I'm working with a lady who has legal
responsibility for an individual. And it's interesting because I got
the call this last week and I think I'm going
to be working with her to help her kind of
figure out this puzzle. But her client essentially, but she's
the legal power of attorney and all that. But her
(04:20):
client needs to move into assisted living, but she needs
the money from the house to help pay for that.
They had an assisted living community lined up, but that
assisted living community would have to put a lean on
the house. So a promisory note basically that you know,
if it takes two or three months to sell elder,
six months, whatever the number is, that you'll pay us
back and we'll just work with you on that. And
(04:42):
then she called them back and they said, you know,
after we thought about it, no thanks. So if you
are able to help a person out in that situation,
you could buy the house, close on it fairly quickly
as quickly as the title work can be done through
the title company five hours to maybe a few days
to a week, as fast as they can get it done,
(05:03):
and then they have cash in the bank, cash on hand,
and then if you're moving to one of these places,
they wouldn't have to deal with leans or no thanks,
we're not going to do that anymore, Zach, Right, that
really saves That solves that problem.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
That solves that problem. There are companies out there that
do bridge loans for circumstances like that actually, but with
what we provide, we can eliminate that cost or that
issue as well. So instead of having to go out
and get a bridge loan on their house to increase
costs in that manner anyway, we can go ahead, step
(05:37):
in buy the house. As you mentioned, they're going to
have their funds in their bank account right away that way,
in that manner, and then be able to have the
funds to buy into a community or to make the
move or whatever they need to do. That's correct.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Okay, if this is catching your attention, you're like, wait
a minute, wait a minute, why didn't we know about this?
This would help us out in our situation. Out to
Ben Soelchek with Home Downsizing Solutions eight five five two
nine one five zero zero five that's eight five five
two nine one five zero zero five or online at
(06:12):
home downsizing dot com. And I worked with another family
and and I sent them your information. I sent them
a free copy of your book and all that, and
we'll see what they want to do moving forward, But
you are custom tailored for their exact situation. So her
dad lives in a house. He's lived there too long,
(06:35):
according to her, and it's a typical situation, not very common.
And he's a smoker, so they're going to have to
buy all new furniture for his assistant living apartment because
you drag that stuff in there and it'll smoke the
whole thing out.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
She's like, she's completely overwhelmed with what am I going
to do with this house? What am I going to
do with all the furniture? There are some things that
I want out of it. And he is divorced, so
he's single living in this house. And she said, there's
just a few things, but everything else, I don't know
what to do with it. And could you help someone
like that?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So that's a perfect situation of what we can certainly
help with that, where especially if they're items that you're
not going to be able to donate if.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They there's smoke saturated at this point.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
In that environment, yeah, they really can't donate anything. So
the items that he wants to move with him, he
could certainly do that if she has items that she
wanted to take, that's great. If they actually could sell
or monetize any of those things, that's fine. But anything
that they leave, then we buy the house and whatever
is in.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It that is correct, okay. And then you can have
the stuff that you can't deal with, do with anything
with you just have that hauled off and hold out. Correct.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We take care of it in whatever manner that we
can or that needs to happen.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Okay, all right. And then we were visiting earlier before
the program, and you had mentioned a client story and
I think this this individual needed to move to a
senior care community.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Correct. They were this situation. They had already signed up
for community, and they already had a place, but they
didn't know exactly when it was going to be ready
within the next thirty days give or take a week.
That their house was in good condition, but it was dated.
So four coverings, paint, the kitchen was dated.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And that's a lot of work right there. I've had
a lot of money and to.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Get the contractors lined up and all those things.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Oh lord.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
And so they had seen my company's information and decided, well,
let's at least talk to them to see what we
can do, and in this situation, I think they had
seen some of our videos, some of our other information
to actually kind of educate themselves about what I did
and how I went about the process of buying a house.
(08:56):
And so I met with them and looked through the house,
visited with a went over the numbers as far as
what I could do for them, and they were ready
to move forward immediately in that situation because for them,
they'd been there long time and they just knew that
they did not want to deal with the hassles or
rotential hassles of selling a house in a traditional manner,
(09:18):
and they like the idea of just being able to
basically turn over the keys to me and say it's
all yours. Here you do it, and here you do it.
We have movers coming. We just want to make the
move and be done. And so again, convenience, I get,
I guess is a key word of how people find
value in what we do. And so if it's if
(09:38):
the convenience and those benefits are a value, then we
can be a great solution.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And it could be a house that's in good shape,
but you just literally you don't want to deal with it.
You want to walk away. You don't want to deal
with contractors and having hardwoods put in or the carpet
or the painting, or to redo a kitchen first of
all is super expensive and good luck get anyone out
in a timely manner to get that done. I mean
you could be you know, if you started on that today,
(10:05):
you might have your house ready to go by next
spring or summer at this rate. So and there's nothing
wrong with that. You can do that. But if you
don't want to do that, even if your house is
in great shape or okay shape, this might be the answer.
Reach out to Ben. So check Home Downsizing Solutions eight
five five two nine one five zero zero five or
online at home Downsizing dot com. And we'll have more
(10:28):
with Ben coming up. But first, the Senior Care Live
Question of the week, Home downsizing solutions is the same
thing as wholesalers that will buy your house as is?
Is that statement true or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You're listening to Senior Care Live. On the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare live dot com.
All right, back to the Senior Care Live question of
the week. Home downsizing solutions is the same thing as
a wholesaler that will buy your house as is? Is
(11:28):
that statement true or false? And the answer is false.
The answer is false, And Ben, let's talk about that.
Let's talk about the differences between home downsizing solutions and
these wholesalers.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Sure, Steve, that's a good question and something that's uh,
I certainly like to expound about. And one of the
things that I try my best to educate individuals that
are wanting to sell a house, no matter how they
want to sell a house, I do want to educate
people about the process and about the different ways that
they can do that. But coming back to the question,
(12:12):
I consider myself my company quote unquote real home buying
company E. We can actually buy houses. We have the
funds to buy houses, and we actually do buy houses.
That's what we do. If you buy the house directly,
we buy the house directly, and we actually close on
the house. And understandably, if a person only sells one
(12:33):
or two houses in their lifetime, they have probably have
no idea what we're talking about right now, or they
probably don't care either as long as they can get
the job done. But what we term what wholesalers are
in the real estate world are individuals that will they
advertise that they buy houses. When they're on the phone
(12:55):
with you, they will tell you they're going to buy
your house, and even if they send somebody to your
house to look at it, they're they're going to tell
you that they buy the house. And so typically anyway,
if unless you are unless you ask the right questions
and really look at their paperwork, you don't realize that
they're basically only getting the right to buy your house.
(13:16):
They typically have no intention of closing on your property,
and I at least some part of the time, they
have no ability to financially. So their mode of operation
is that they will get a contract to buy a
house and then they will typically ask a home seller
to give them twenty one to thirty days to close,
(13:37):
but they want their contractors to come through and look
at the house to get them quotes before they close.
These quote unquote contractors are actually their potential buyers. Ah
So if they can't flip that contract, sell the contract
to somebody else and make a profit. They're not going
to do that. They will either just walk away from
(13:58):
the transaction or are going to try and renegotiate with
you for a lower price. And either way, when you
the homeowner, think the house is sold, it's not, and
it can leave you in a very bad situation when
you're doing that. So that's really the biggest that's a
big difference is we're actually a company that buys houses.
(14:21):
A wholesaler is someone that buys and sells paper contracts.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, they're flipping it on paper. Correct, it's exactly what
they're doing, and they may or may not have the
funds or the means to actually buy that house, so
they contract it from you, they list it, and then
they very quickly try to flip it to someone else
who's going to buy it, and then that person actually
(14:47):
buys the house. Is that correct, that's accurate.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yes, they the wholesaler themselves, they're again just flipping paper
and that also sense that gives them since the incerdental
risk essentially in doing that, because if the deal doesn't
work out, they just walk away. Since there's no risk
(15:10):
to them, they will often over promise what they can
pay for a house, which makes maybe a real cash
buyer's offer look a little bit lower or can be lower. Yeah,
because we're actually buying the house.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Actually giving a legitimate offer, not an inflated offer hoping
something after.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, that's correct. So that's really the big thing there.
And a number of them too, will like to try
and get a contract over the phone without even looking
at a house. Oh no, And so once they get
a contract, then they will tell the homeowner. Then they
will come out and take a look at the house
and confirm that that's the number. Well, often that number
is going to change because it's very common for them
(15:52):
to say, oh, I didn't realize that this was needing
to be done with your house, or that this was
in disrepair, and so typically that numbers is always going
to change, and not for the better for the homeowner.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
So Ben, So, if I'm out here, I'm in the market,
this is really catching my attention and I want I'm
interested in doing this. How would I know I'm talking
to a wholesaler and not a legitimate home buyer.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Sometimes that's very difficult to know. You can certainly ask
for a copy of their agreement to make sure that
there's not the verbiage in that agreement that allows a
person to resell it automatically on paper, or that gives
the wholesaler control certain control of that selling process and
(16:46):
some of the paperwork where we've can say that they
have the right then to market the property and put
it on the multiple listing service and do all that
just like an agent would. And so all this unless
a person is knowledgeable about that, you can overlook that.
So a person does need to be very careful. What
I would say is to get references. Get references from
(17:09):
a title company, so like in specifically Omar, Kansas City,
I can give potential people that want to work with
me contact information for the local title companies so that
a homewer can call them and say, hey, does this
guy Ben with home downsizing Solutions? Is he real? Does
(17:30):
he actually buy houses? Does he clothes on it? And
they'll hear yes he does, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can
certainly trust him. And so that's that's the biggest thing
there too, is to look for that. Typically I would
say look for a proof of funds, so that usually
a letter from a bank that or lending institution that
(17:51):
shows that they have the funds available. The problem is
the wholesalers, or at least some of them, will create
document proof of unds. Oh boy, so they're not real.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
So it's kind of like pre qualifying a home buyer,
but you're this is in reverse. You're pre qualifying the
home buyer, excuse me, your home. You're prequalifying someone who
would buy your house, not like the couple wanting to
buy you qualify a company. Yeah, yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
So there are some things to do that you can
kind of protect yourself with that, and so anyway, and
also look look for references, look for reviews, look to
see how long the companies have been in business, and uh,
I don't think there are many companies like mine that
have been around for twenty eight years at this point. Yeah,
(18:45):
and with a better business bureau and all of that.
So due diligence is certainly a good thing for.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That Home Downsizing Solutions veteran owned company and the better
business bureau. What's the rating on that?
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
A plus for years and years?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Hey plus, it doesn't get any better than that. Don't
do business with some fly by night company that's just
looking to flip your house on paper. Reach out to
Ben Socheck with Home Downsizing Solutions eight five five two
nine one five zero zero five or online with Home
(19:20):
Downsizing dot com and Ben, thanks for being here today.
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Thank you, Steve, and thanks everybody for listening. If we
can be of value and a benefit to you, contact
us at home Doownsizing dot com or eight y five
two nine one five zero zero five and would love
to be of service to you.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Excellent, excellent, Thank you Ben, and we'll have more coming
up next.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
A recent Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City
provided thirty two million results. It's daunting to think that
there are over three hundred and fifty senior care communities
to choose from in the Kansas City metro and on average,
you'll spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find
a place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming,
that's because it is. I invite you to reach out
(20:25):
to Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two
thousand and two. With our premium service, we do most
of the work for you. You'll spend just a few hours
of your time finding the best place available, and you
can trust us to be objective because we don't receive
reimbursement from any provider. We work for you. To learn more,
(20:46):
call Senior Care Consulting at nine three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine nine four five twenty eight hundred,
a placement service with integrity at Seniorcareconsulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit
seniorcare Live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts here.
We are right in the middle of the Medicare annual
election period and for millions of Americans on Medicare advantage plans,
(21:28):
there's a simple way to save money on everyday health essentials,
and yet so many people just don't know about it.
So to address this, I'd like to introduce Chris Savasco.
Chris is an accomplished marketing professional currently serving within the
Healthcare Professionals Marketing Group at Kenview, and one goal she
(21:49):
has is to help break down the confusion that exists,
particularly among seniors, so more consumers can get the everyday
care they need to live healthy and vibrant lives. And Chris,
with that, welcome to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
You're welcome, You're welcome. I'm really excited about this. Chris,
tell us briefly about can View. Guaranteed most of us,
if not all of us, have used their products, but
may not be familiar with the can View name.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
That is true, ken View became well, not exactly a
household name, but it became a standalone company approximately two
years ago. We were the spinoff of Johnson and Johnson
Consumer Healthcare. So I'm sure many of your listeners you
know Johnson and Johnson, but ken do you Probably not
(22:42):
so much. But we do have many brands that they
would recognize and probably utilize every single day.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I think I have at least half of them in
my bathroom cabinet.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
Most people do you know? So you might not know
ken View, but you certainly know where.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Brand absolutely so. All right, Well, so what are medicare
advantage over the counter benefits and who needs to know
about them?
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Over the counter benefits or sometimes they're called benefit allowances.
They help the Medicare Advantage member by healthcare items without
having to spend money out of pocket, so they can
buy medications that treat symptoms of their back pain or
there arethritis, cough, cold and flu, or digestive health. Those
(23:34):
are just some of the products they canby with these
over the counter allowances or benefit allowances that Medicare Advantage
plans offer to members.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Okay, and why is it important for consumers to know
about their benefits?
Speaker 6 (23:48):
As a leading consumer healthcare company, we have these iconic
brands you know, Taile and all A Veno, New Trigena, Zerotech.
As a company, we are committed to making sure that
more Medicare Advantage members understand these benefits so they could
use them to support their everyday care. We've seen that
(24:13):
overlooked benefits can impact both health and finances. With Medicare Advantage,
the OTC benefit can mean hundreds of dollars in out
of pocket savings each year on products that people rely
on every day, you know, including those painer leaders and
(24:35):
the cough cold flue remedies and skincare items. But one
of the things that I wanted to point out and
it's a big watch out is these funds don't roll over.
If they're not used, they're forfeited, and nationally, that adds
up to billions with a bee, billions of dollars that
(24:57):
are wasted. And that's why it's really important for us
to make sure folks know what's included in their plans
and how to take full advantage of those Medicare OTC
benefit allowances.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
So without that rollover, it's a use it or lose
it type of a situation in billions of dollars. Yeah,
billions of dollars. I mean, that is so much money
for people to literally throw away. Can you tell us
more about that?
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Yeah, the Consumer Health Products Association estimates about five billion
dollars in these allowances yeap that don't get used every year.
That's about seventy percent of the benefits just waste it gone.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh that's awful.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
And you know there's people are concerned about rising prices,
so it's really important to find the ways to save
on these everyday necessities. So you know, Medicare Advantage being
an extremely popular plan, has about thirty million members and
(26:03):
a benefit that they may have because most Medicare Advantage
plans offer. It is an OTC allowance usually around four
hundred dollars a year. That's a lot of money if
you don't use it.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So what type of products are covered
in most Medicare advantage plans?
Speaker 6 (26:23):
Most plans cover a wide variety of self care essentials. So,
for example, you know, as it comes to our brands,
Taianola is covered for pain relief, Zertech for allergies, New
Tragena is covered for sunscreen, luscine for oral care. So
you know, there's a lot that are covered. And these
(26:45):
are products that are used regularly in daily life, so
you know, having them covered through this benefit allowance means
that the people can maintain their everyday routines without having
to worry about the cost. You know, as you mentioned,
you open up your medicine cabinet and you see these
brands in your cabinet. So many people rely on these
(27:07):
every day, And wouldn't it be great if now you
cannot have to worry about the cost of those plants
because they're covered in your OHHC allowance?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Absolutely. Are there any items that are commonly covered that
people just tend not to realize?
Speaker 6 (27:22):
Well, you know, I mentioned the pain relievers and the
allergy medications. People tend to think of like symptom reliefal often,
but there's also things like skin skincare essentials and you
tuoging a sun block. You know, there's listerine mouthwash that's covered.
There's first aid necessities. You know, these are items that
(27:44):
people don't necessarily think about, but they are covered. And
if you have the benefits, it's great to have these
available in your medicine cabinet so you're prepared when you
need them.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You bet, And is there an easy way to make
the most of over the counter benefits?
Speaker 6 (28:02):
So there's a couple of ways that these benefits are
actually utilized by the members. So the first way that
often you see, and this used to be the most
popular way, although it is declining now in popularity, is
that the plans offer either a printed catalog or a
(28:23):
catalog that's available on their microsite. Often, though, these catalogs
are limited in the products that they offer, so you know,
you have a lesser selection of brands and items to
choose from. However, there's a lot of plans that have
other ways that you can utilize their benefits, one of
(28:44):
which is an OTC debit card that you can use
right in the store. So every plan is different. You
have to check with your plan, but the OTC debit
card at retail is growing in popularity. You know, as
I mentioned, the catalogs are often limited in the selection
(29:04):
that they give to the members. When you have this
debit card and you go into retail, the entire shelf
is for you to choose from, so you know, you
can pick the brand that you're loyal to. And we
know that these folks are loyal to their favorite products
and gavorite brands, so they want to be able to
(29:24):
pick up their favorite and trusted products. So this debit
card at retail is really gaining in popularity, not only
for members, but also for plans well. As I mentioned,
it's important to check the plan yourself to make sure
you know what your plan offers you.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I love the idea of that debit card. It's super simple.
You put it in your wallet or your perse, you
go out, you can get your favorite items and like
you said, you're not limited to maybe a shorter list
available in the catalog, so that I love that idea.
Now as a leader, you know, one.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Other thing I wanted to mention about these cards, which
is also with advantage to this member ongoing is that
often the benefit card administrator, the person who actually loads
the money on the card and off the cards, will
give notification to the member, hey you have new funds
on your card, or hey you have funds that are
(30:22):
about to expire. So it actually helps them a little
bit in maximizing those benefits so they're not going to
hopefully go to waste.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Is often Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Absolutely, And as a leader in consumer healthcare, what does
ken View's research tell us about health and personal care routines?
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Ken you had a report it was called a New
View of Care, and the reports show that while most
people don't stop their personal care routines, costs definitely affect
how often they use products. In fact, one in three
consumers the price is the number one factor in sticking
(31:03):
with their routines. So that's where the Medicare advantage OTC
benefit can really matter. It reduces the financial pressure so
that members can keep up with their routines like their
skincare routine, their dental routine where you know, you use
the brushing, the flossing, and the rinsing so you maintain
(31:25):
your mouth. Help so you know, using the benefits gives
them piece of minds that they can choose the products
that you know work best for them and it doesn't
have to come out of their pocket, a.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Way that is excellent. We'll have more with Chris coming
right up.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or at guesto his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I'm Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting. For those
of you working in the business of senior care, I
have an amazing opportunity for you. If you have ever
thought about owning your own business, this is for you.
If you're a nursing home administrator, assisted living executive director,
sales and marketing representative, director of nursing or director of
(32:22):
social services. This is what we do. We help our
clients find the right senior care community. We're not another
run of the mill, free referral service. We're very different.
We offer a placement service with integrity. We're currently offering
special incentives for the first five franchise owners. I call
it the Founder's Club. Take advantage of this amazing incentive
(32:44):
and opportunity for more information about owning your own senior
care consulting franchise. Call eight three three seven two two
three seven two six eight three three seven two two
three seven two six or visit Senior Care canting dot com.
(33:10):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have questions, visit Senior Care Live
dot com. All right, we're back with Chris Savasco from Kenview.
And Chris, thanks for staying over with us over the
break and staying a little bit longer with us here.
I know you've got a super busy day, so I
(33:30):
appreciate your time. And uh, you know, from a product
manufacturers perspective, what role do you see your brands playing
and supporting the health and well being of Medicare advantage members?
Speaker 6 (33:42):
So providing clear, actionable information helping members navigate their benefits
and health choices. That's the key focus for us AS
is combating the lack of awareness that leads to the
billions of dollars in unused funds. We want to ensure
(34:04):
that members know hundreds of their favorite health products are available,
you know, on their OTC benefit allowances and in order
to impact patient out health outcomes and deliver on our
mission to bring everyday care to more people. We need
(34:24):
to make sure that people have access and accessibility to
OTC products. So utilizing the OTC benefits is really an
easy way to ensure that the patients have that access
to the OTC products that they need and use every day.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah. Absolutely, And it still blows my mind. Billions with
the bees. Wow, that's a lot of money left on
the table. That kind of hurts my heart a little
bit here. So so I love this that you're raising
the awareness and helping people take some of those billions
off the table and put that in the form of
products in their in their medicine cabinet and in their UH,
(35:04):
in their pantries, et cetera. So what services or information
can companies like can View offer to help Medicare advantage
members make more informed health decisions.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
We aim to offer the education and the content through
a variety of channels. So we have a website that's
dedicated to information on Medicare advantage and you know, eligible
products in the can View portfolio or typically eligible products.
We have partnerships with health plans where we can communicate
(35:37):
directly with the members and you know, get them to
take action on utilizing their benefits to buy the OTC
products that they need. And we have partnerships for the
retailers so that we create in store materials that you know,
are easy to understand with you know, call outs to say, hey,
this is Medicare advantage eligible and you can buy it here.
(36:02):
You know, So we we really try to partner, you know,
with a variety of folks to make sure that the information,
the awareness, the education is out there and the products
that they can use for their everyday care. You know,
we're committed so that they have the power of everyday
(36:24):
care in their hands, not just by offering our quality products,
but also providing them with the knowledge they need to
make the most of their OGC benefits and not lose
the money. You know, it's it's a lot of money.
Like you said, it hurts my heart to think that
so much of it goes to waste.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It does any We're talking about people, many people on
a fixed income, maybe not a lot of money. So
that's uh, this is a huge, huge deal. I'm so
glad that you're raising the awareness of this. And Chris,
where can we go for more information on this.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
We have a website dedicated to providing some additional information
and some product eligibility. It's Kenview Brands dot com slash
US slash medadvantage.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Right can View Brands, that's k E N v U
E Brands dot com slash US slash med advantage. And
for our listeners, check that out. Don't leave your money
on the table. And if we can, if we can
get the word out, maybe we can take a billion
or two back, maybe all of it back off the table,
(37:37):
because it's a user or lose it benefit and every
dollar counts these days, that's for sure. So Chris, thanks
so much for being here today. I really appreciate it,
and keep up the great work. I appreciate you being
on the show. This was so important and so valuable.
I just can't even tell you how much I enjoyed this.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (37:58):
Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
All right, that was Chris Savasco from ken View And
I tell you what, that number still is kind of
blowing me away. We're leaving billions of dollars on the table. Look,
if you have a Medicare advantage plan and it will
pay for some of these over the counter items. Don't
let that go. Like she said, you know what with
three four hundred bucks a person per year and a
(38:23):
lot of that is just not utilized, which accumulates to
billions of dollars of unused benefits every year. And they
don't roll over. It's a use it or lose it
kind of a situation. Don't do that. And again, ken View,
if you missed the first part of this, it used
to be Johnson and Johnson. They changed some names up here.
They have a huge portfolio of personal care brands. We've
(38:45):
all used them. I'll just touch on a few of them. Listerine,
Johnson's tail and All Nutrigena, a Veno, Motrin, Zertech, Bendadrill,
band Aids. I mean, it goes on and on and
on and on. And these are some of the items
that you could get over the counter with your Medicare
advantage plan. And if it has that, you know that
that add on benefit, which most of them do, take
(39:07):
advantage of that, and just don't let that go. That
billions left on the table. That that hurts me. So
that was that was fantastic information. So we don't have
a whole lot of time left in the program. But
I just wanted to emphasize again and I'm going to
be talking about this from now until you know, throughout
the end of the year. With Senior Care Consulting, my
(39:28):
placement company. We have a placement service, I always say,
a placement service with integrity. We don't receive any reimbursement
from the from the care communities. We get along great
with those folks, we work really well with them. But
we work directly for our clients and we don't receive kickbacks,
if you will, so you know there's no conflict of
(39:50):
interest there. We work directly for you and in the
best interests of you and your family, a fiduciary type
of a model, if you will. But we're working with
a lot of folks right now who you are wanting
to move into a care community. Maybe after the first
of the year. Well, Steve, you know, here we are
during you know, we're coming up into all of the
super busy holiday season. And let me say this, We've
(40:13):
done the research for you. We will save hours and hours,
dozens of hours of your valuable time. People are spending
fifty two hundred hours running around looking at all these places.
Who has that kind of time, especially during the holidays. Okay,
so I would encourage you to do what a lot
of our other clients are doing. Reach out today free consultation.
(40:34):
If we do work together, we can reduce your time
to just a few hours. All right, we'll work you
in to the schedule here. We'll get the search and
selection done ahead of time so that you can get
your name on a wait list and then move comfortably
at your preferred time after the first of the year.
Working with a wonderful family right now and they're thinking
(40:57):
about moving, you know, their loved one approximate you know, springtime. Right,
Let's let's get through the bad weather and move during
the springtime because she'll be coming in from out of state.
So we're going to be working together this upcoming week
making some decisions, getting our name on a couple of
waiting lists. And I just can't tell you how how
important that is and what a fantastic idea that is.
(41:19):
If that's peauking your interest, give us a call at
nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred or
online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. And again we've done
the research for you so you don't have to worry
about that will minimize your time and take good care
of you, and most importantly, we'll provide you peace of mind.
All right, I'm Steve Keeker and I wish you grace
(41:40):
in peace. May God bless you and your family on
this day and always join me next week right here
on Senior Care Live.
Speaker 7 (41:51):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care and they need to know
about you. A unique and successful radio program called Senior
Care Live is the perfect opportunity to let your target
audience know about your amazing products and services. Senior Care
(42:12):
Live is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors,
and if you're aligned with their mission, they want to
talk to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations,
physician groups, home care providers, a state planning and older
law practices, financial advisors, insurance companies, real estate brokers, home
health agencies, and other providers serving the elderly and their caregivers.
(42:36):
Senior Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
so call now at nine one, three, nine four five
twenty eight hundred, nine one three, nine four five twenty
eight hundred, or visit seniorcare Live dot com seniorcare live
dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(43:14):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible?
Of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer replacement service
with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(43:38):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred. Replacement
Service with Integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's Senior care Consultant,
Steve Keecker.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker.
You're Senior Care Consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today. We have a wonderful program on tap with
my friend and special guest in studio, mister Ben Sochek.
He's the owner of Home Downsizing Solutions. If you want
to reach out to Ben write this information down. You
(00:43):
may need his help immediately, you may need his help
in six weeks or even six months. It's eight five
five two nine one five zero zero five. Can also
go online an excellent website loaded with resources Home Doownsizing
dot org. And with that, Ben, welcome back to Senior
Care Live.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Hi, Steve, thank you for having me again this week,
and as always, hopefully I can share some information with
the listeners to be of value to them.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
All right, and you know, let's let's talk about home
downsizing solutions and you know, tell us again, we have
you know, new listeners all the time. I think we're
getting ready to pick up a station in Guam, so
of all the places. So but let's let's talk. Let's
just review home downsizing solutions and how you're able. What
(01:34):
services do you offer?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Sure, the primary service that we offer is to actually
buy a property a house from individuals, especially if they're
downsizing to a smaller home, apartment or senior community. That
is the primary service surrounding that, we try and do
everything that we can to make that transition to the
(01:59):
new home home as easy and stress free as possible,
whether that's assisting in contacting a moving company, assisting in
contacting an organizing and packing company, or any of the
services that a homeowner that's been in the house a
long time or short short time can find a value.
(02:23):
The other thing, I guess I would say that I
tell everybody that we talk to the reason that people
would choose to do business with a company like mine
is if they find value or enough value in the
benefits that we provide, namely being able to buy a
house and it's as is conditioned so that the homeowner
(02:44):
doesn't have to do anything to the house to sell it.
They can take what they want, leave what they don't want,
and whatever's left in the house. Whatever stuff is left
in the house, we take care of it. We are
cash buyers. We have cash available to buy houses, so
we can close as quickly as a title company conject
(03:06):
title and prepare closing vaperwork. So whether that's that has
been in the little twenty four hours, oh, be real
that we've had a contract. We close the next day,
but or of course, whenever a person wants us to close.
And of course one of the biggest benefits is to
be able to buy the house right away so that
(03:27):
the seller knows the house is sold, so that they
have that issue off their plate. But then they can
choose to typically anyway, stay in the house until they're
ready to move. So if they don't know exactly when
an apartment's going to be ready for them, or they
want to be ready when an apartment opens up, then
we can allow them to stay in the house until
(03:47):
they can make that move. So that's probably one of
the biggest thing, but those are the primary reasons why
a person would choose to do business with us.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, so I'm working with a lady who has legal
responsibility for an individual. And it's interesting because I got
the call this last week and I think I'm going
to be working with her to help her kind of
figure out this puzzle. But her client essentially, but she's
the legal power of attorney and all that. But her
(04:20):
client needs to move into assisted living, but she needs
the money from the house to help pay for that.
They had an assisted living community lined up, but that
assisted living community would have to put a lean on
the house. So a promisory note basically that you know,
if it takes two or three months to sell elder,
six months, whatever the number is, that you'll pay us
back and we'll just work with you on that. And
(04:42):
then she called them back and they said, you know,
after we thought about it, no thanks. So if you
are able to help a person out in that situation,
you could buy the house, close on it fairly quickly
as quickly as the title work can be done through
the title company five hours to maybe a few days
to a week, as fast as they can get it done,
(05:03):
and then they have cash in the bank, cash on hand,
and then if you're moving to one of these places,
they wouldn't have to deal with leans or no thanks,
we're not going to do that anymore, Zach, Right, that
really saves That solves that problem.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
That solves that problem. There are companies out there that
do bridge loans for circumstances like that actually, but with
what we provide, we can eliminate that cost or that
issue as well. So instead of having to go out
and get a bridge loan on their house to increase
costs in that manner anyway, we can go ahead, step
(05:37):
in buy the house. As you mentioned, they're going to
have their funds in their bank account right away that way,
in that manner, and then be able to have the
funds to buy into a community or to make the
move or whatever they need to do. That's correct.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Okay, if this is catching your attention, you're like, wait
a minute, wait a minute, why didn't we know about this?
This would help us out in our situation. Out to
Ben Soelchek with Home Downsizing Solutions eight five five two
nine one five zero zero five that's eight five five
two nine one five zero zero five or online at
(06:12):
home downsizing dot com. And I worked with another family
and and I sent them your information. I sent them
a free copy of your book and all that, and
we'll see what they want to do moving forward, But
you are custom tailored for their exact situation. So her
dad lives in a house. He's lived there too long,
(06:35):
according to her, and it's a typical situation, not very common.
And he's a smoker, so they're going to have to
buy all new furniture for his assistant living apartment because
you drag that stuff in there and it'll smoke the
whole thing out.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
She's like, she's completely overwhelmed with what am I going
to do with this house? What am I going to
do with all the furniture? There are some things that
I want out of it. And he is divorced, so
he's single living in this house. And she said, there's
just a few things, but everything else, I don't know
what to do with it. And could you help someone
like that?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So that's a perfect situation of what we can certainly
help with that, where especially if they're items that you're
not going to be able to donate if.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They there's smoke saturated at this point.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
In that environment, yeah, they really can't donate anything. So
the items that he wants to move with him, he
could certainly do that if she has items that she
wanted to take, that's great. If they actually could sell
or monetize any of those things, that's fine. But anything
that they leave, then we buy the house and whatever
is in.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It that is correct, okay. And then you can have
the stuff that you can't deal with, do with anything
with you just have that hauled off and hold out. Correct.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We take care of it in whatever manner that we
can or that needs to happen.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Okay, all right. And then we were visiting earlier before
the program, and you had mentioned a client story and
I think this this individual needed to move to a
senior care community.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Correct. They were this situation. They had already signed up
for community, and they already had a place, but they
didn't know exactly when it was going to be ready
within the next thirty days give or take a week.
That their house was in good condition, but it was dated.
So four coverings, paint, the kitchen was dated.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And that's a lot of work right there. I've had
a lot of money and to.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Get the contractors lined up and all those things.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Oh lord.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
And so they had seen my company's information and decided, well,
let's at least talk to them to see what we
can do, and in this situation, I think they had
seen some of our videos, some of our other information
to actually kind of educate themselves about what I did
and how I went about the process of buying a house.
(08:56):
And so I met with them and looked through the house,
visited with a went over the numbers as far as
what I could do for them, and they were ready
to move forward immediately in that situation because for them,
they'd been there long time and they just knew that
they did not want to deal with the hassles or
rotential hassles of selling a house in a traditional manner,
(09:18):
and they like the idea of just being able to
basically turn over the keys to me and say it's
all yours. Here you do it, and here you do it.
We have movers coming. We just want to make the
move and be done. And so again, convenience, I get,
I guess is a key word of how people find
value in what we do. And so if it's if
(09:38):
the convenience and those benefits are a value, then we
can be a great solution.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And it could be a house that's in good shape,
but you just literally you don't want to deal with it.
You want to walk away. You don't want to deal
with contractors and having hardwoods put in or the carpet
or the painting, or to redo a kitchen first of
all is super expensive and good luck get anyone out
in a timely manner to get that done. I mean
you could be you know, if you started on that today,
(10:05):
you might have your house ready to go by next
spring or summer at this rate. So and there's nothing
wrong with that. You can do that. But if you
don't want to do that, even if your house is
in great shape or okay shape, this might be the answer.
Reach out to Ben. So check Home Downsizing Solutions eight
five five two nine one five zero zero five or
online at home Downsizing dot com. And we'll have more
(10:28):
with Ben coming up. But first, the Senior Care Live
Question of the week, Home downsizing solutions is the same
thing as wholesalers that will buy your house as is?
Is that statement true or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You're listening to Senior Care Live. On the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit Seniorcare live dot com.
All right, back to the Senior Care Live question of
the week. Home downsizing solutions is the same thing as
a wholesaler that will buy your house as is? Is
(11:28):
that statement true or false? And the answer is false.
The answer is false, And Ben, let's talk about that.
Let's talk about the differences between home downsizing solutions and
these wholesalers.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Sure, Steve, that's a good question and something that's uh,
I certainly like to expound about. And one of the
things that I try my best to educate individuals that
are wanting to sell a house, no matter how they
want to sell a house, I do want to educate
people about the process and about the different ways that
they can do that. But coming back to the question,
(12:12):
I consider myself my company quote unquote real home buying
company E. We can actually buy houses. We have the
funds to buy houses, and we actually do buy houses.
That's what we do. If you buy the house directly,
we buy the house directly, and we actually close on
the house. And understandably, if a person only sells one
(12:33):
or two houses in their lifetime, they have probably have
no idea what we're talking about right now, or they
probably don't care either as long as they can get
the job done. But what we term what wholesalers are
in the real estate world are individuals that will they
advertise that they buy houses. When they're on the phone
(12:55):
with you, they will tell you they're going to buy
your house, and even if they send somebody to your
house to look at it, they're they're going to tell
you that they buy the house. And so typically anyway,
if unless you are unless you ask the right questions
and really look at their paperwork, you don't realize that
they're basically only getting the right to buy your house.
(13:16):
They typically have no intention of closing on your property,
and I at least some part of the time, they
have no ability to financially. So their mode of operation
is that they will get a contract to buy a
house and then they will typically ask a home seller
to give them twenty one to thirty days to close,
(13:37):
but they want their contractors to come through and look
at the house to get them quotes before they close.
These quote unquote contractors are actually their potential buyers. Ah
So if they can't flip that contract, sell the contract
to somebody else and make a profit. They're not going
to do that. They will either just walk away from
(13:58):
the transaction or are going to try and renegotiate with
you for a lower price. And either way, when you
the homeowner, think the house is sold, it's not, and
it can leave you in a very bad situation when
you're doing that. So that's really the biggest that's a
big difference is we're actually a company that buys houses.
(14:21):
A wholesaler is someone that buys and sells paper contracts.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, they're flipping it on paper. Correct, it's exactly what
they're doing, and they may or may not have the
funds or the means to actually buy that house, so
they contract it from you, they list it, and then
they very quickly try to flip it to someone else
who's going to buy it, and then that person actually
(14:47):
buys the house. Is that correct, that's accurate.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yes, they the wholesaler themselves, they're again just flipping paper
and that also sense that gives them since the incerdental
risk essentially in doing that, because if the deal doesn't
work out, they just walk away. Since there's no risk
(15:10):
to them, they will often over promise what they can
pay for a house, which makes maybe a real cash
buyer's offer look a little bit lower or can be lower. Yeah,
because we're actually buying the house.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Actually giving a legitimate offer, not an inflated offer hoping
something after.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, that's correct. So that's really the big thing there.
And a number of them too, will like to try
and get a contract over the phone without even looking
at a house. Oh no, And so once they get
a contract, then they will tell the homeowner. Then they
will come out and take a look at the house
and confirm that that's the number. Well, often that number
is going to change because it's very common for them
(15:52):
to say, oh, I didn't realize that this was needing
to be done with your house, or that this was
in disrepair, and so typically that numbers is always going
to change, and not for the better for the homeowner.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
So Ben, So, if I'm out here, I'm in the market,
this is really catching my attention and I want I'm
interested in doing this. How would I know I'm talking
to a wholesaler and not a legitimate home buyer.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Sometimes that's very difficult to know. You can certainly ask
for a copy of their agreement to make sure that
there's not the verbiage in that agreement that allows a
person to resell it automatically on paper, or that gives
the wholesaler control certain control of that selling process and
(16:46):
some of the paperwork where we've can say that they
have the right then to market the property and put
it on the multiple listing service and do all that
just like an agent would. And so all this unless
a person is knowledgeable about that, you can overlook that.
So a person does need to be very careful. What
I would say is to get references. Get references from
(17:09):
a title company, so like in specifically Omar, Kansas City,
I can give potential people that want to work with
me contact information for the local title companies so that
a homewer can call them and say, hey, does this
guy Ben with home downsizing Solutions? Is he real? Does
(17:30):
he actually buy houses? Does he clothes on it? And
they'll hear yes he does, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can
certainly trust him. And so that's that's the biggest thing
there too, is to look for that. Typically I would
say look for a proof of funds, so that usually
a letter from a bank that or lending institution that
(17:51):
shows that they have the funds available. The problem is
the wholesalers, or at least some of them, will create
document proof of unds. Oh boy, so they're not real.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
So it's kind of like pre qualifying a home buyer,
but you're this is in reverse. You're pre qualifying the
home buyer, excuse me, your home. You're prequalifying someone who
would buy your house, not like the couple wanting to
buy you qualify a company. Yeah, yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
So there are some things to do that you can
kind of protect yourself with that, and so anyway, and
also look look for references, look for reviews, look to
see how long the companies have been in business, and uh,
I don't think there are many companies like mine that
have been around for twenty eight years at this point. Yeah,
(18:45):
and with a better business bureau and all of that.
So due diligence is certainly a good thing for.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That Home Downsizing Solutions veteran owned company and the better
business bureau. What's the rating on that?
Speaker 5 (18:58):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
A plus for years and years?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Hey plus, it doesn't get any better than that. Don't
do business with some fly by night company that's just
looking to flip your house on paper. Reach out to
Ben Socheck with Home Downsizing Solutions eight five five two
nine one five zero zero five or online with Home
(19:20):
Downsizing dot com and Ben, thanks for being here today.
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Thank you, Steve, and thanks everybody for listening. If we
can be of value and a benefit to you, contact
us at home Doownsizing dot com or eight y five
two nine one five zero zero five and would love
to be of service to you.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Excellent, excellent, Thank you Ben, and we'll have more coming
up next.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
A recent Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City
provided thirty two million results. It's daunting to think that
there are over three hundred and fifty senior care communities
to choose from in the Kansas City metro and on average,
you'll spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find
a place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming,
that's because it is. I invite you to reach out
(20:25):
to Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two
thousand and two. With our premium service, we do most
of the work for you. You'll spend just a few hours
of your time finding the best place available, and you
can trust us to be objective because we don't receive
reimbursement from any provider. We work for you. To learn more,
(20:46):
call Senior Care Consulting at nine three nine four five
twenty eight hundred nine nine four five twenty eight hundred,
a placement service with integrity at Seniorcareconsulting dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit
seniorcare Live dot com or wherever you get your podcasts here.
We are right in the middle of the Medicare annual
election period and for millions of Americans on Medicare advantage plans,
(21:28):
there's a simple way to save money on everyday health essentials,
and yet so many people just don't know about it.
So to address this, I'd like to introduce Chris Savasco.
Chris is an accomplished marketing professional currently serving within the
Healthcare Professionals Marketing Group at Kenview, and one goal she
(21:49):
has is to help break down the confusion that exists,
particularly among seniors, so more consumers can get the everyday
care they need to live healthy and vibrant lives. And Chris,
with that, welcome to Senior Care Live.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
You're welcome, You're welcome. I'm really excited about this. Chris,
tell us briefly about can View. Guaranteed most of us,
if not all of us, have used their products, but
may not be familiar with the can View name.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
That is true, ken View became well, not exactly a
household name, but it became a standalone company approximately two
years ago. We were the spinoff of Johnson and Johnson
Consumer Healthcare. So I'm sure many of your listeners you
know Johnson and Johnson, but ken do you Probably not
(22:42):
so much. But we do have many brands that they
would recognize and probably utilize every single day.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I think I have at least half of them in
my bathroom cabinet.
Speaker 6 (22:55):
Most people do you know? So you might not know
ken View, but you certainly know where.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Brand absolutely so. All right, Well, so what are medicare
advantage over the counter benefits and who needs to know
about them?
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Over the counter benefits or sometimes they're called benefit allowances.
They help the Medicare Advantage member by healthcare items without
having to spend money out of pocket, so they can
buy medications that treat symptoms of their back pain or
there arethritis, cough, cold and flu, or digestive health. Those
(23:34):
are just some of the products they canby with these
over the counter allowances or benefit allowances that Medicare Advantage
plans offer to members.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Okay, and why is it important for consumers to know
about their benefits?
Speaker 6 (23:48):
As a leading consumer healthcare company, we have these iconic
brands you know, Taile and all A Veno, New Trigena, Zerotech.
As a company, we are committed to making sure that
more Medicare Advantage members understand these benefits so they could
use them to support their everyday care. We've seen that
(24:13):
overlooked benefits can impact both health and finances. With Medicare Advantage,
the OTC benefit can mean hundreds of dollars in out
of pocket savings each year on products that people rely
on every day, you know, including those painer leaders and
(24:35):
the cough cold flue remedies and skincare items. But one
of the things that I wanted to point out and
it's a big watch out is these funds don't roll over.
If they're not used, they're forfeited, and nationally, that adds
up to billions with a bee, billions of dollars that
(24:57):
are wasted. And that's why it's really important for us
to make sure folks know what's included in their plans
and how to take full advantage of those Medicare OTC
benefit allowances.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
So without that rollover, it's a use it or lose
it type of a situation in billions of dollars. Yeah,
billions of dollars. I mean, that is so much money
for people to literally throw away. Can you tell us
more about that?
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Yeah, the Consumer Health Products Association estimates about five billion
dollars in these allowances yeap that don't get used every year.
That's about seventy percent of the benefits just waste it gone.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh that's awful.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
And you know there's people are concerned about rising prices,
so it's really important to find the ways to save
on these everyday necessities. So you know, Medicare Advantage being
an extremely popular plan, has about thirty million members and
(26:03):
a benefit that they may have because most Medicare Advantage
plans offer. It is an OTC allowance usually around four
hundred dollars a year. That's a lot of money if
you don't use it.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So what type of products are covered
in most Medicare advantage plans?
Speaker 6 (26:23):
Most plans cover a wide variety of self care essentials. So,
for example, you know, as it comes to our brands,
Taianola is covered for pain relief, Zertech for allergies, New
Tragena is covered for sunscreen, luscine for oral care. So
you know, there's a lot that are covered. And these
(26:45):
are products that are used regularly in daily life, so
you know, having them covered through this benefit allowance means
that the people can maintain their everyday routines without having
to worry about the cost. You know, as you mentioned,
you open up your medicine cabinet and you see these
brands in your cabinet. So many people rely on these
(27:07):
every day, And wouldn't it be great if now you
cannot have to worry about the cost of those plants
because they're covered in your OHHC allowance?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Absolutely. Are there any items that are commonly covered that
people just tend not to realize?
Speaker 6 (27:22):
Well, you know, I mentioned the pain relievers and the
allergy medications. People tend to think of like symptom reliefal often,
but there's also things like skin skincare essentials and you
tuoging a sun block. You know, there's listerine mouthwash that's covered.
There's first aid necessities. You know, these are items that
(27:44):
people don't necessarily think about, but they are covered. And
if you have the benefits, it's great to have these
available in your medicine cabinet so you're prepared when you
need them.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You bet, And is there an easy way to make
the most of over the counter benefits?
Speaker 6 (28:02):
So there's a couple of ways that these benefits are
actually utilized by the members. So the first way that
often you see, and this used to be the most
popular way, although it is declining now in popularity, is
that the plans offer either a printed catalog or a
(28:23):
catalog that's available on their microsite. Often, though, these catalogs
are limited in the products that they offer, so you know,
you have a lesser selection of brands and items to
choose from. However, there's a lot of plans that have
other ways that you can utilize their benefits, one of
(28:44):
which is an OTC debit card that you can use
right in the store. So every plan is different. You
have to check with your plan, but the OTC debit
card at retail is growing in popularity. You know, as
I mentioned, the catalogs are often limited in the selection
(29:04):
that they give to the members. When you have this
debit card and you go into retail, the entire shelf
is for you to choose from, so you know, you
can pick the brand that you're loyal to. And we
know that these folks are loyal to their favorite products
and gavorite brands, so they want to be able to
(29:24):
pick up their favorite and trusted products. So this debit
card at retail is really gaining in popularity, not only
for members, but also for plans well. As I mentioned,
it's important to check the plan yourself to make sure
you know what your plan offers you.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I love the idea of that debit card. It's super simple.
You put it in your wallet or your perse, you
go out, you can get your favorite items and like
you said, you're not limited to maybe a shorter list
available in the catalog, so that I love that idea.
Now as a leader, you know, one.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Other thing I wanted to mention about these cards, which
is also with advantage to this member ongoing is that
often the benefit card administrator, the person who actually loads
the money on the card and off the cards, will
give notification to the member, hey you have new funds
on your card, or hey you have funds that are
(30:22):
about to expire. So it actually helps them a little
bit in maximizing those benefits so they're not going to
hopefully go to waste.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Is often Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Absolutely, And as a leader in consumer healthcare, what does
ken View's research tell us about health and personal care routines?
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Ken you had a report it was called a New
View of Care, and the reports show that while most
people don't stop their personal care routines, costs definitely affect
how often they use products. In fact, one in three
consumers the price is the number one factor in sticking
(31:03):
with their routines. So that's where the Medicare advantage OTC
benefit can really matter. It reduces the financial pressure so
that members can keep up with their routines like their
skincare routine, their dental routine where you know, you use
the brushing, the flossing, and the rinsing so you maintain
(31:25):
your mouth. Help so you know, using the benefits gives
them piece of minds that they can choose the products
that you know work best for them and it doesn't
have to come out of their pocket, a.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Way that is excellent. We'll have more with Chris coming
right up.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or at guesto his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I'm Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting. For those
of you working in the business of senior care, I
have an amazing opportunity for you. If you have ever
thought about owning your own business, this is for you.
If you're a nursing home administrator, assisted living executive director,
sales and marketing representative, director of nursing or director of
(32:22):
social services. This is what we do. We help our
clients find the right senior care community. We're not another
run of the mill, free referral service. We're very different.
We offer a placement service with integrity. We're currently offering
special incentives for the first five franchise owners. I call
it the Founder's Club. Take advantage of this amazing incentive
(32:44):
and opportunity for more information about owning your own senior
care consulting franchise. Call eight three three seven two two
three seven two six eight three three seven two two
three seven two six or visit Senior Care canting dot com.
(33:10):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have questions, visit Senior Care Live
dot com. All right, we're back with Chris Savasco from Kenview.
And Chris, thanks for staying over with us over the
break and staying a little bit longer with us here.
I know you've got a super busy day, so I
(33:30):
appreciate your time. And uh, you know, from a product
manufacturers perspective, what role do you see your brands playing
and supporting the health and well being of Medicare advantage members?
Speaker 6 (33:42):
So providing clear, actionable information helping members navigate their benefits
and health choices. That's the key focus for us AS
is combating the lack of awareness that leads to the
billions of dollars in unused funds. We want to ensure
(34:04):
that members know hundreds of their favorite health products are available,
you know, on their OTC benefit allowances and in order
to impact patient out health outcomes and deliver on our
mission to bring everyday care to more people. We need
(34:24):
to make sure that people have access and accessibility to
OTC products. So utilizing the OTC benefits is really an
easy way to ensure that the patients have that access
to the OTC products that they need and use every day.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah. Absolutely, And it still blows my mind. Billions with
the bees. Wow, that's a lot of money left on
the table. That kind of hurts my heart a little
bit here. So so I love this that you're raising
the awareness and helping people take some of those billions
off the table and put that in the form of
products in their in their medicine cabinet and in their UH,
(35:04):
in their pantries, et cetera. So what services or information
can companies like can View offer to help Medicare advantage
members make more informed health decisions.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
We aim to offer the education and the content through
a variety of channels. So we have a website that's
dedicated to information on Medicare advantage and you know, eligible
products in the can View portfolio or typically eligible products.
We have partnerships with health plans where we can communicate
(35:37):
directly with the members and you know, get them to
take action on utilizing their benefits to buy the OTC
products that they need. And we have partnerships for the
retailers so that we create in store materials that you know,
are easy to understand with you know, call outs to say, hey,
this is Medicare advantage eligible and you can buy it here.
(36:02):
You know, So we we really try to partner, you know,
with a variety of folks to make sure that the information,
the awareness, the education is out there and the products
that they can use for their everyday care. You know,
we're committed so that they have the power of everyday
(36:24):
care in their hands, not just by offering our quality products,
but also providing them with the knowledge they need to
make the most of their OGC benefits and not lose
the money. You know, it's it's a lot of money.
Like you said, it hurts my heart to think that
so much of it goes to waste.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
It does any We're talking about people, many people on
a fixed income, maybe not a lot of money. So
that's uh, this is a huge, huge deal. I'm so
glad that you're raising the awareness of this. And Chris,
where can we go for more information on this.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
We have a website dedicated to providing some additional information
and some product eligibility. It's Kenview Brands dot com slash
US slash medadvantage.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Right can View Brands, that's k E N v U
E Brands dot com slash US slash med advantage. And
for our listeners, check that out. Don't leave your money
on the table. And if we can, if we can
get the word out, maybe we can take a billion
or two back, maybe all of it back off the table,
(37:37):
because it's a user or lose it benefit and every
dollar counts these days, that's for sure. So Chris, thanks
so much for being here today. I really appreciate it,
and keep up the great work. I appreciate you being
on the show. This was so important and so valuable.
I just can't even tell you how much I enjoyed this.
So thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (37:58):
Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
All right, that was Chris Savasco from ken View And
I tell you what, that number still is kind of
blowing me away. We're leaving billions of dollars on the table. Look,
if you have a Medicare advantage plan and it will
pay for some of these over the counter items. Don't
let that go. Like she said, you know what with
three four hundred bucks a person per year and a
(38:23):
lot of that is just not utilized, which accumulates to
billions of dollars of unused benefits every year. And they
don't roll over. It's a use it or lose it
kind of a situation. Don't do that. And again, ken View,
if you missed the first part of this, it used
to be Johnson and Johnson. They changed some names up here.
They have a huge portfolio of personal care brands. We've
(38:45):
all used them. I'll just touch on a few of them. Listerine,
Johnson's tail and All Nutrigena, a Veno, Motrin, Zertech, Bendadrill,
band Aids. I mean, it goes on and on and
on and on. And these are some of the items
that you could get over the counter with your Medicare
advantage plan. And if it has that, you know that
that add on benefit, which most of them do, take
(39:07):
advantage of that, and just don't let that go. That
billions left on the table. That that hurts me. So
that was that was fantastic information. So we don't have
a whole lot of time left in the program. But
I just wanted to emphasize again and I'm going to
be talking about this from now until you know, throughout
the end of the year. With Senior Care Consulting, my
(39:28):
placement company. We have a placement service, I always say,
a placement service with integrity. We don't receive any reimbursement
from the from the care communities. We get along great
with those folks, we work really well with them. But
we work directly for our clients and we don't receive kickbacks,
if you will, so you know there's no conflict of
(39:50):
interest there. We work directly for you and in the
best interests of you and your family, a fiduciary type
of a model, if you will. But we're working with
a lot of folks right now who you are wanting
to move into a care community. Maybe after the first
of the year. Well, Steve, you know, here we are
during you know, we're coming up into all of the
super busy holiday season. And let me say this, We've
(40:13):
done the research for you. We will save hours and hours,
dozens of hours of your valuable time. People are spending
fifty two hundred hours running around looking at all these places.
Who has that kind of time, especially during the holidays. Okay,
so I would encourage you to do what a lot
of our other clients are doing. Reach out today free consultation.
(40:34):
If we do work together, we can reduce your time
to just a few hours. All right, we'll work you
in to the schedule here. We'll get the search and
selection done ahead of time so that you can get
your name on a wait list and then move comfortably
at your preferred time after the first of the year.
Working with a wonderful family right now and they're thinking
(40:57):
about moving, you know, their loved one approximate you know, springtime. Right,
Let's let's get through the bad weather and move during
the springtime because she'll be coming in from out of state.
So we're going to be working together this upcoming week
making some decisions, getting our name on a couple of
waiting lists. And I just can't tell you how how
important that is and what a fantastic idea that is.
(41:19):
If that's peauking your interest, give us a call at
nine one three, nine four five twenty eight hundred or
online at Seniorcare Consulting dot com. And again we've done
the research for you so you don't have to worry
about that will minimize your time and take good care
of you, and most importantly, we'll provide you peace of mind.
All right, I'm Steve Keeker and I wish you grace
(41:40):
in peace. May God bless you and your family on
this day and always join me next week right here
on Senior Care Live.
Speaker 7 (41:51):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care and they need to know
about you. A unique and successful radio program called Senior
Care Live is the perfect opportunity to let your target
audience know about your amazing products and services. Senior Care
(42:12):
Live is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors,
and if you're aligned with their mission, they want to
talk to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations,
physician groups, home care providers, a state planning and older
law practices, financial advisors, insurance companies, real estate brokers, home
health agencies, and other providers serving the elderly and their caregivers.
(42:36):
Senior Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
so call now at nine one, three, nine four five
twenty eight hundred, nine one three, nine four five twenty
eight hundred, or visit seniorcare Live dot com seniorcare live
dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(43:14):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible?
Of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer replacement service
with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(43:38):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred
nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred. Replacement
Service with Integrity at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.