November 20, 2024 • 29 mins
A Free Defensive Driving course for young drivers in Alabama is coming, what can be learned? Senior Instructor Matt Reilly tells us about the BRAKES program. Then Rosemary Elebash state director of Alabama’s NFIB joins us to share positive economic news for Alabama Small businesses.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
How many times have you been driving down sixty five
and some joker does something stupid and you think who
taught you to drive? And the answer a lot of
times is maybe no one. And that's a real problem
in Alabama. Hello, I'm John Mounds and this is Viewpoint
Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. Joining me now is
Matt Riley. He's a senior instructor with b r ak Ees.
(00:22):
Matt welk to a Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, thank you very much, John, pleasure to be here exact.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So what does breaks as the acronym, what does BREAKS
stand for?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, we're a nonprofit charity that was started back in
two thousand and eight after NHA top field racer Doug
Herbert probably received the worst phone call any parent can
get that as two boys were killed in a horrible
car accident. So he got together with the students at
the high school that his teams attended and they put
their heads together and they came up for a name
(00:55):
for a nonprofit Breaks, be responsible and keep everyone safe.
So what we try to do is have a program
that spreads the awareness about safe driving, but most importantly
provides three hour hands on defensive driving school.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And defensive driving is so important for people who maybe
are just driving, as they say, right off the hood.
They're not really thinking way down the road. They're thinking
about what's happening right here, right now, and they react,
and sometimes they react in a way that can be deadly,
you know. Is one of the biggest problems you have
is if somebody, a young driver especially, is driving along
and you hit a low shoulder and you go, oh
(01:34):
my gosh, you pull your car back on the road,
you do it too fast and you flip the car over.
You kill yourself, you kill other people. It's a very
dangerous thing. So it's a great it's a great thing
that I think that you guys do. So I understand
bu ak As Breaks is coming to Alabama this weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We are so we're going to be at the Barber
Motorsports Park this weekend. We have classes set up for
both Saturday and Sunday, and our program is free of
charge for the public as long as you meet the
requirements basic requirements of fifteen to nineteen minimum with a
permit in about thirty hours of seat time. Folks can
(02:11):
go online put on the brakes dot org to sign
their young driver up. And what Doug discovered right after
the boys got killed is, as you said earlier, car
crashes are the leading cause of death for teams, and
Doug was like, we got to do something about this,
We got to change that. So we're not a driver's
that program, but we are a supplement to that. I
(02:31):
guess you could consider us the college level of driver training,
and we in a controlled environment like Barbera Motorsports Park,
with our own fleet of vehicles, we can put the
students in emergency a base of type situations and then
see how they're going to react. And then it's a
small group of students, so we can provide more hands
on training and we can do repetition muscle memory. So
(02:54):
we'll put them into a skid situation and see how
they're going to react. And what weather driving or winter drive,
I mean panic braking, to learn how the analog braking
system works. Distracted driving, and then like you said earlier,
the drop wheel. That's probably what the number one killer
of teams across the nation is when they take their
eyes off the road for a split second and the
car veers off to the right, it hangs the right
(03:16):
side tires off into the shoulder and then they panic
and most students will jerk the wheel to the left
and hit the brakes, and that just sends them right
into oncoming traffic or into the woods. And so we
have these exercises set up and we try to teach
them awareness, hands on training to know how to be
better prepared to pilot that car with their siblings or
(03:38):
friends in that vehicle. And our goal is to get
at one home safely from each trip they've taken a car.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountsin speaking with Senior instructor Matt Riley
with breaks. Matt, what about distracted driving? That is such
a big deal right now, And that's not just by
the way young people, even older people are having a
problem with they can't take their eyes off their phone
even when they should have their eyes on the road.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It's a huge problem. And in fact, I'm a victim
of a distracted driving accident. Back in two thousand and six,
My mother in law was killed in a crosswalk in
my neighborhood because of a high school senior that was
texting white driving. And you know that was back in
two thousand and six, and that's why I got associated
with Doug and the charity, and ever since then we
just seen distractor driving get worse and worse. More smartphones
(04:24):
are everyone's hand. Obviously some people use it for directions,
but a lot of people are still you know, texting, people,
making phone calls, you know, watching movies. So we really
fight that and try to warn the teams about that.
You know, in most states now have laws that you
can't be distracted, you know, driving distractively. We tell parents,
(04:45):
don't text your kids when you know they're behind the wheel.
You know, download Live three sixty through sixty five and
track your kids that way, but don't be trying to,
you know, text your kids while they're driving, because you're
going to force their attention and their eyes off the road.
And some young drivers don't think the cell phone use
and or change in the radio station, are talking to
(05:05):
somebody in the car is really a distraction. But we
always remind the kids anything that pulls your eyes off
the road and your hand off that steering wheel is
now a distraction. So that could cause you just to
take your eyes off for a split second and then
something happens and you become part of that accident. So
it is a big problem. And most manufacturers now have
(05:26):
these big iPad type screens in the center of the vehicle,
and they don't have switches and knobs anymore for following
controls and certain controls of the vehicle, so you have
to touch a screen and it's just pulling everyone's eyes
off the road. So it is a big problem. We
try to combat as much as we can.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You know, might have a daughter, she's about to turn fifteen,
and I have the Live three sixty five app on
her phone. You know it also and she's not driving
just yet, but do you know that it also has
a thing that shows distracted drive incidents of distracted driving. Now,
it doesn't work if you're riding in a car because
it still shows it doesn't know whether you're the passenger
or the driver, but still it does demonstrate that. So
(06:04):
you know, if your kid was out driving around with
their friends last night, you pulled up behigh, So you
were using your phone at this time, this time and
this time, tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, So that we tell parents that could be a
tool that you could use to your advantage to kind
of keep track of the teams and you know, and
we don't want the teams that feel like their mom
and dad are big brother watching them. But you know,
we're just trying to condition them that they have to
keep their eyes and hands on the road. And let's say,
for example, you're driving with your sibling on the way
home and someone calls you to pick up bread on
(06:35):
the way home. You know, rather than the driver trying
to figure that out and deal with the phone, just
pass it off to your passenger, make them your secretary
and say, hey, talk to my mom, see what she needs.
You know, and maybe mom just wants them to pick
up milk on the way home. But you could use
that those apps like that to kind of track your
the student's behavior behind the wheel and help them. The
(06:59):
other thing, we mandate that one of the parents attend
our driving school with their team, and we do actually
put the parents behind the wheel to teach them some
stuff too. And one of the things we tell the
parents is that you are setting the tone to how
that team's going to be as a driver from here
on out. The way you hang onto the steering wheel
with the proper hand position or not, if you wear
(07:19):
your seatbelt or not, and if you're using your phone
why you drive. You're showcasing to your team that it's
okay to do that. So we have to curb the
parents also from using their phone, because they're seting the
pace for the rest of the driving career.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And I always thought that it's not just about what
you're distracted eyes. Sometimes it's about distracted mind because even
when you have the hands free and thinking, oh, I'm
not looking at the phone, but if your mind is
elsewhere and your mind is not on the road, you
can very easily make mistakes like you're changing lanes and
not bothering to fully check those mirrors. That sort of thing,
and those kind of things can be deadly well.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
They definitely can. You know, a stressful day at high school,
you flunk the tests, I mean, didn't ask out to
the prom, you lost a big game. You know, you
could be focused on something else and not paying, you know,
fully attention to those mirrors and what's going on in
front of you. Also, we have a lot of sleep.
You know a lot of children and teams who are
sleep deprived. They're staying up late because they they're active
(08:14):
and they're in clubs and sports and they got to
get their homework done and they spend a little time
on the on the phone, you know, use them you know,
using that before they go to bed, so they're they're
getting less sleep. So we have a lot of young
teams who are driving around sleep deprived or if they're
on medication or if they took a certain medication. We
have that problem too, you know, where certain teams are
(08:35):
getting a hold of Grandma's pills or something, and you know,
so we we do have some issues like that. You know,
obviously a device or something in the car with you
loud music, just a simple thing as a bee flying
in your vehicle in the summertime, you're swatting out a bee,
that could be a problem. And then you you you know,
you also have if they you know, if they're drinking
(08:56):
and driving, are on pharmaceutical drugs, or just sleep deprived
of those can be a distraction and effect you're driving
and your decision making. And that's the biggest thing. We
want these teams to make good decisions. That way it'll
get them home. So you got to learn how to
make good decisions behind the wheel.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
One of the things that has changed for a lot
of drivers. I've been driving for what thirty five years
something like that. Is our cars have a lot of
technology in them, stuff that didn't used to be in there,
and sometimes people rely too much on that technology. For example,
when backing up to use just the cameras as opposed
to using your mirrors, because a lot of times the
camera can't see everything like you can with your mirror,
(09:33):
or the lane keeping assistance where it kind of tries
to keep your car in the lane. But again, I
think sometimes people can rely too much on the technology
and not the best practices to really keep the driver
in control as opposed to keeping the car in control.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, you've really hit one on there. We've noticed in
the last probably four or five years there's a tendency
for drivers to rely too much on the cars. So
one of our exercises as we teach proper seating position
and we and we teach them how to adjust their
mirror so there's no blind spots anymore. And one of
the comments who will get from the students and their
(10:10):
parents is, oh, my car has the blind spot detection light.
I'm like, well, you really don't need that if you
have the mirrors adjusted correctly, And they always joke and
they say, well, why did why didn't they teach that
and drivers that because they used to teach teams how
to parallel park, and nobody wants a parallel park anymore,
so that kind of went out the window. And then yeah,
(10:30):
now you have these backup cameras, they just focus on
the camera, they don't look at the side of the vehicle,
and they still wipe out the side of the garage
door because they didn't realize how close they were to
the door and the and you know, in the.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Or the nose of the vehicle because when you go
when you're going backwards, you're not thinking about how you
swung the nose to the left while you're turning to
the right going backwards. And I wasn't watching the front.
I was watching where the car was going, not where
the back. Yeah, that kind of thing. So, yeah, all
of those are such such important things to remember, right, And.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Also, anulock breaks that's something that's been on the market
for thirty plus years and probably every single class we teach,
we're not only the parents but the teams. We're teaching
them how to use that technology to help them have
more control in a panic stopping situation. And because the
computer takes over and it pulsates the braking action. You
don't walk up the brake, so now you still have
(11:17):
rolling friction, which gives you steering control and you can
avoid something in front of you. If someone made a
panic stop or jumped out in front of you, you'd
have a better chance of trying to miss them. Ironically,
when we did schools out in the northern California area
where a lot of those kids are driving Tesla's because
they're manufactured out there, they didn't want to do the
(11:38):
antalog breaking exercise because they told us their car stops
for them. And I said, what if you drive mom's
minivan or jump in the dad's truck, it doesn't have
you know, it doesn't have that automatic braking on it.
You still have to learn how to use the brake pedal.
And they were like, but I don't want to learn.
My car does it for me. So we're fighting out
a little bit the technology they're adding to the vehicles,
and you know, we have to work around that a
(11:59):
little bit and just kind of open the team's eyes
just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Okay, Matt, so this weekend's event going on, how many
classes do you have so We.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Will actually have three classes on Saturday and then we
have two classes on Sunday, So if the folks go
online put on the breaks dot org and they can
see the availability of the slots there. It's a three
hour commitment. We do ask that a parent attend with
their team. We supplied the instructors, the cars, the facility.
(12:30):
Just show up at your desired time you pick out
there at Barbara Motorsports Park will take great care of
the kids. They'll learn a ton in those three hours.
Parents will get a chance to get behind the wheel
and we have a separate talk with the parents about
how to be a better coach and some other things
that they need to think about with liabilities and insurance
and that kind of stuff. So it's very educational three
(12:51):
hours we jam pack that day. Most kids come kicking
and screaming, but by the time they get out of there,
they're loving it. They had a blast, they love the training,
and they want all their friends and siblings to attend
the program later, so we're looking for a great turnout
out there. We're so fortunate to have Barbaramas Sports Parks
supporting us and all the good folks that support the
(13:12):
charity and looking forward for a big weekend.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And you said, although it's free, that you do have
to I guess make a deposit or something like that
to reserve your space.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, so what we won't We want a little skin
in the game for the parents so that the kids
don't went out in the morning. That nobody wants to
get up early on a weekend day. So a ninety
nine dollars refundable donation is what we ask for upfront,
and that that kind of puts a little skin in
the game, has a little care for the parents and
the teams to show up and then they take the
(13:42):
program and if they want to donate that to the charity,
that's great or you know, we are a nonprofit charity,
which is awesome. But if they if they need that
money back, we also understand that too, and they can
they can go ahead and ask for the donation back
and we can we can credit it back. So since
Branks is a five O one C three charity, it
is tax deductible. But if they need it back, we understand.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
It's a great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Here in Alabama, it's happening at Barber's but you guys
travel around, right.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
You do these events at other places too, don't you.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah. We started out at Zmax Dragway and Charlotte fifteen
years ago. This last weekend we just celebrate our one
hundred and fifty thousand students through the program. We're now
nationwide and we've been traveling around trying to get to
more markets and more pockets of the youth of the US,
and Birmingham has been one of those cities we've been
kind of looking at, and we finally were able to
(14:35):
get the facility donated and get it on the schedule,
so we're super excited about that. And then also the
good folks at the Barber Motorsports Park have a great
motorsports museum and they've offered free a free enrollment for
the parents and the teams that take the program this
weekend too, so they can spend some time this weekend
(14:58):
and visit that museum, which is really cool. We just
look forward to a great partnership there. Hopefully we can
get as many teams signed up and get them trained
up and make them a little bit safer and make
the roads a little bit safer around burn.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So a day of information and entertainment. Sounds like a
great time for everybody. Matt Riley, thank you so much
for joining us today on Viewpoint Alabama. Thank you, John,
and you're listening to the Alabama Radio Network. My name
is John Mounce and I'm always excited to hear about
positive news involving businesses in our area. Joining me now
to talk about some optimistic news is our own state
(15:34):
director of the NFIB or the National Federation of Independent Businesses,
Rosemary Alabash.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Rosemary, welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Good morning, and thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So I understand the Optimism Index has risen by two
point two percent in October. What is the Small Business
Optimism Index.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
It's a survey that we do monthly across the nation,
and we serve by our small business owners and we
ask them certain questions. And we've been watching the Optimism
Index for months now, so it's been on a thirty
four month below the historical average. But in October we
(16:11):
saw an uptick of two point two points and so
we look at that as a positive sign for Alabama's
small business owners.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Historically speaking, does this tend to rise as we go
into the holiday season.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Sometimes it follows the holiday season. But I think now
John more people were optimistic about changes in the election,
and they probably knew more than some of the posters
did because they talked to their customers every day, So
I think that had something to do with it. They
(16:48):
felt a sense of optimism and they felt like people
were listening to the problems that they.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Had, And that was going to be my next question
when it comes to a new administration in Washington. Are
there any policies in particular that are interesting to these
small business owners or is it more just the overall
tone of change in the country that's driving this.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Well, I think the change in the tone. But one
of the things that's so positive for that NFIB's number
one of the agenda item is to make the twenty
percent tax deduction that was done during Trump's first administration permanent.
That tax deduction actually expires December thirty first, twenty twenty five.
(17:29):
So we've heard from our members loud and clear and
they need this permanent. So looking at these election results
and now that the US House has been called, business
owners feel very positive that they're going to get that
twenty percent tax deduction permanent. The other thing that they're
seeing is that rules and government rules and regulations, whether
(17:52):
it's federal, state, or local, is a hindrance to business owners,
particularly small business owners. So with the incoming administers and
the Senate in the house, business owners are seeing that
federal rules and regulations will likely be reduced, are even eliminated.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
And that's so important because we definitely need guardrails to
keep us safe. But there's an awful lot of red
tape and rules that are just there because I don't know,
rulemakers decided they do what they do, which is make
more rules. And these rules cause problems for businesses, like
say saying you have a parking lot with four spaces
and three of them have to be handicapped to me
to meet you know, eighty A compliance stuff.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Or either you have as I refer to the puddle
in the parking lot where you have water that stands
and EPA says, you know, that's an environmental hazard.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Rosemary Alabash is the Alabama State director of the NFIB.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Rosemary, what are some of the other.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Challenges that businesses in the state of Alabama right now
are facing the lack.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Of qualified employees and that has been an ongoing theme
for years now that business owners cannot find qualified employees.
And I will tell you that in this report, it
showed that eighty seven percent of business owners had openings
(19:11):
and they were trying to hire in October, but eighty
seven percent of these businesses had few or no qualified
applicants for those open positions. So when you don't have
enough employees to man your business, you're not going to
have those sales that you need. So one of the
things that NFIB Alabama has been working very closely with
(19:31):
the Alabama Community College system. They've implemented a new program
called the Innovation Center. They are doing short term credentials,
and these credentials in the workplace are based on what
businesses need, and they've been a great partner with NFIB
and other trade groups in identifying those short term credentials
(19:54):
that employees or potential employees could get.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Rosemary, in the state of Babama, we have we don't have.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I guess the minimum wage, as you say in Alabama,
is the federal minimum wage, which is still seven dollars
and twenty five cents an hour. Now, I'm not a
big proponent in raising the minimum wage because I think
that that puts an undue burden on businesses when they
could be when you know that doesn't allow you to
price labor at the appropriate level. But at the same time,
(20:21):
if businesses offered more, do you think they'd get more
qualified employees if they're able.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
To offer more, John, I'll be honest with you. I
don't have a single member that's paying minimum wage. They're
all paying way above minimum wage, and they're still a
shortage of workers. I will tell you that Alabama is
in the bottom part of the nation in labor force
(20:46):
participation rates, which means that forty three percent of Alabamians
ages sixteen to sixty four or not in the labor force.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And Rosemary, that is confusing, of course, because we still
all need money to eat and to pay our rent.
So how are people able to survive if they're not working, John.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I can't answer that question. I do know that we
offer a lot of government benefits to people identifying those
problems to overcome.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
That.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
One has been childcare. I will tell you that Alabama
legislature passed the first childcare tax credit last session. They
are working on implementing that and hopefully that will help
get people back in the labor force. But that's a
big issue that we're going to have to overcome.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So back to the original point here, which was the
optimism index, that businesses are looking forward to a new administration,
some changes in Washington, and some of these probably will
trickle down to changes in Montgomery and changes in the
state of Alabama. Business is going into twenty twenty five.
Do we anticipate additional hiring. Maybe there's been more money
available to pay because I imagine if a job paid enough,
(21:57):
if a job, say was paying fifty dollars an hour,
you get people in there. It's just you can't really
charge that and make a hamburger for you know, five dollars.
So at some point there needs to be I guess,
a happy medium where the price of the product is
not is not greatly inflated, but we're still able to
pay enough to entice people to come back to work.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
One of the things that I think you're going to
see in this administration is that inflation will come down
because energy cost will be reduced. You know, one of
the things that's been the theme of this whole election
cycle is we're going to produce energy in this country. Again, Well,
transportation costs add to the cost of each and every
(22:39):
item we have, And I always tell people every single
thing that you put in your mouth to eat or
you put on your body comes by truck, and the
cost of fuel, the cost of insurance, all of that
adds to the cost that the consumer pays. So if
we end up do seeing the energy that we need
(23:01):
in this country, you're going to see your reduction in
those inflation numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
In fact, we could have a situation where we're creating
so much energy in this country that we become a
net exporter and we're selling our energy to other countries,
which would be a benefit.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
To us as well.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Absolutely, it would be Rosemary.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Businesses that are interested in finding out more about the
Optimism Index or any of the things that the NFIB does.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Do you have a website they can go to.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
We do.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
It's NFIB dot com. We have a great research department.
There's all kinds of information there. If you go to
the Alabama page, you can certainly contact me. I'm always
happy to help business owners here, directing them in what
they may need to go or if I can be
a resource in any way.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Rosemary Alabash, the state director for Alabama for the NFIB
Thank you so much for joining us today on Viewpoint.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Alabama, Thank you so much, and up.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Next on Viewpoint Alabama. This month is many people's open
and role including open enrollment for Medicare and Medicaid. Joining
us now Shannon Hills, the regional administrator from the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
She talks with JT all.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
Right, with this open enrollment thing happening with Medicare right now,
pretty important to should everybody get in and do this
and do it every year? A lot of companies say, look,
even if you're not changing anything, you need to come
back in and say, okay, I want to do this again,
that again and then submit.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Is that true with Medicare as well?
Speaker 6 (24:28):
Everybody, even if you've been doing this for a year,
two or three or ten, do you need to come
back every year and go through this open enrollment process?
Speaker 7 (24:35):
Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (24:36):
It's important every year to review your prescription drug and
health plan coverage because they can change and by comparing
you can save money, find coverage better tailored to you
or both.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Well, let me ask you this.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
If you don't come back on and do the open enrollment,
do you get cut off or do you is it
just stay the same and continues.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
We individuals that are currently on metday Care, your coverage
will remain the same, so it will roll over.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
But it's so important to.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Go online because here's what's really important. When you review
that coverage on Medicare dot dot enter.
Speaker 7 (25:13):
All of your prescription drugs.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
You can see a side by side comparison of things
like coverage costs, quality ratings, premium, deductible, out of pocket.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
Costs, and more.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
So it's really important that people review their coverage every year.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
And this applies to everybody on Medicare only, not just
those that are full Medicare. For instance, I just got
on a few months ago. I'm on parts A and
B because my wife is still insured and I go
through her for the other parts. If you're only doing
one of the ABC's ds, how many letters are there
down efgs?
Speaker 7 (25:52):
Great question, it's Medicare's A, B, C and D.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
So yes, it is important to go online and just
do that side by side comparison.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
All right, So when you go online and you talk
about a side by side comparison, tell me how that works.
You compare? What are you comparing costs?
Speaker 7 (26:12):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Yeah, you're comparing. You can input all of your prescription
drugs because one.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Of the things that is.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
New is the two thousand dollars cap for out of
pocket costs on prescription drugs, and so it's really important
that when you go online you enter all of your
prescription drugs. You can review your current plan as well
as other plans that are available. And what's really important
(26:41):
to take full advantage of that two thousand dollars cap
that covers prescription drugs on your health plan.
Speaker 7 (26:49):
So we really want to make sure that.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Individuals with Medicare are entering all of their prescription drugs
so they can find the best plan to take advantage
of that two thousand dollars cap.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
All right, let me ask you, does this apply to me?
I'm not on C ANDD. Does everybody get the benefit?
If I'm just on A and B and my wife
still handles the insurance with the United Healthcare for me
with the prescriptions, can I still take advantage of this cap?
Speaker 5 (27:18):
That is a great question. The two thousand dollars tap
is available for those on the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan
or Part D, so that is where that two thousand
cap applies.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
Yeah, you know when people have questions about this, and
I get bumped. The minute I turned sixty five, I
got three thousand emails from eighteen thousand different providers saying,
come on Medicare with us. We'll come over here and
join Medicare with us. And I'm like, wait a minute.
How many medicares are there? So, I mean, is this
just advertising for different What's going on with all the
(27:54):
different people that are involved with medicare as far as providing.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
It for me?
Speaker 5 (27:57):
There are a number of health insurance plan that are
part of the Medicare program. But what we really want
to encourage.
Speaker 7 (28:05):
People to do is when you go online to medicare
dot does, those are the official sources for information on Medicare.
You can also call the toll free number at one
eight hundred Medicare. So we really want to direct people.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
To those official sources for.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
Information, great advice, and there are people there that you
can talk to and you can get a live body
and actually walk through the comparisons and everything you need
to have answered.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Absolutely at one eight hundred medicare that's available. You can
go online to ship help dot org. That is the
state health insurance program. So for people in Alabama, if
they want it free personalized health insurance counseling. So just
someone that can walk them through here are my health conditions,
(28:53):
help me think through what typle plan?
Speaker 7 (28:56):
Is it a Part A or B plan? Is it
a Part ART CRD plan?
Speaker 5 (29:01):
Which is Medicare advantage or prescription drugs? When you contact
that local SHIP office, they can really provide that personalized
health counseling to help individuals make the best decision for
their needs.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
Okay, I'm not sure what I heard. Could you spell
that website for me?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Please?
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Absolutely, ship Ship Health Help DOTRG.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
All right, very medic say health insurance program.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Boy, what great information. Those of you involved with medicare
getting ready to there you go. Shannon Hill's Regional Administry Shannon,
thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 7 (29:37):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those
of the staff, management, or advertisers of this station.
How many times have you been driving down sixty five
and some joker does something stupid and you think who
taught you to drive? And the answer a lot of
times is maybe no one. And that's a real problem
in Alabama. Hello, I'm John Mounds and this is Viewpoint
Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. Joining me now is
Matt Riley. He's a senior instructor with b r ak Ees.
(00:22):
Matt welk to a Viewpoint Alabama.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, thank you very much, John, pleasure to be here exact.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So what does breaks as the acronym, what does BREAKS
stand for?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, we're a nonprofit charity that was started back in
two thousand and eight after NHA top field racer Doug
Herbert probably received the worst phone call any parent can
get that as two boys were killed in a horrible
car accident. So he got together with the students at
the high school that his teams attended and they put
their heads together and they came up for a name
(00:55):
for a nonprofit Breaks, be responsible and keep everyone safe.
So what we try to do is have a program
that spreads the awareness about safe driving, but most importantly
provides three hour hands on defensive driving school.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And defensive driving is so important for people who maybe
are just driving, as they say, right off the hood.
They're not really thinking way down the road. They're thinking
about what's happening right here, right now, and they react,
and sometimes they react in a way that can be deadly,
you know. Is one of the biggest problems you have
is if somebody, a young driver especially, is driving along
and you hit a low shoulder and you go, oh
(01:34):
my gosh, you pull your car back on the road,
you do it too fast and you flip the car over.
You kill yourself, you kill other people. It's a very
dangerous thing. So it's a great it's a great thing
that I think that you guys do. So I understand
bu ak As Breaks is coming to Alabama this weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We are so we're going to be at the Barber
Motorsports Park this weekend. We have classes set up for
both Saturday and Sunday, and our program is free of
charge for the public as long as you meet the
requirements basic requirements of fifteen to nineteen minimum with a
permit in about thirty hours of seat time. Folks can
(02:11):
go online put on the brakes dot org to sign
their young driver up. And what Doug discovered right after
the boys got killed is, as you said earlier, car
crashes are the leading cause of death for teams, and
Doug was like, we got to do something about this,
We got to change that. So we're not a driver's
that program, but we are a supplement to that. I
(02:31):
guess you could consider us the college level of driver training,
and we in a controlled environment like Barbera Motorsports Park,
with our own fleet of vehicles, we can put the
students in emergency a base of type situations and then
see how they're going to react. And then it's a
small group of students, so we can provide more hands
on training and we can do repetition muscle memory. So
(02:54):
we'll put them into a skid situation and see how
they're going to react. And what weather driving or winter drive,
I mean panic braking, to learn how the analog braking
system works. Distracted driving, and then like you said earlier,
the drop wheel. That's probably what the number one killer
of teams across the nation is when they take their
eyes off the road for a split second and the
car veers off to the right, it hangs the right
(03:16):
side tires off into the shoulder and then they panic
and most students will jerk the wheel to the left
and hit the brakes, and that just sends them right
into oncoming traffic or into the woods. And so we
have these exercises set up and we try to teach
them awareness, hands on training to know how to be
better prepared to pilot that car with their siblings or
(03:38):
friends in that vehicle. And our goal is to get
at one home safely from each trip they've taken a car.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountsin speaking with Senior instructor Matt Riley
with breaks. Matt, what about distracted driving? That is such
a big deal right now, And that's not just by
the way young people, even older people are having a
problem with they can't take their eyes off their phone
even when they should have their eyes on the road.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It's a huge problem. And in fact, I'm a victim
of a distracted driving accident. Back in two thousand and six,
My mother in law was killed in a crosswalk in
my neighborhood because of a high school senior that was
texting white driving. And you know that was back in
two thousand and six, and that's why I got associated
with Doug and the charity, and ever since then we
just seen distractor driving get worse and worse. More smartphones
(04:24):
are everyone's hand. Obviously some people use it for directions,
but a lot of people are still you know, texting, people,
making phone calls, you know, watching movies. So we really
fight that and try to warn the teams about that.
You know, in most states now have laws that you
can't be distracted, you know, driving distractively. We tell parents,
(04:45):
don't text your kids when you know they're behind the wheel.
You know, download Live three sixty through sixty five and
track your kids that way, but don't be trying to,
you know, text your kids while they're driving, because you're
going to force their attention and their eyes off the road.
And some young drivers don't think the cell phone use
and or change in the radio station, are talking to
(05:05):
somebody in the car is really a distraction. But we
always remind the kids anything that pulls your eyes off
the road and your hand off that steering wheel is
now a distraction. So that could cause you just to
take your eyes off for a split second and then
something happens and you become part of that accident. So
it is a big problem. And most manufacturers now have
(05:26):
these big iPad type screens in the center of the vehicle,
and they don't have switches and knobs anymore for following
controls and certain controls of the vehicle, so you have
to touch a screen and it's just pulling everyone's eyes
off the road. So it is a big problem. We
try to combat as much as we can.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You know, might have a daughter, she's about to turn fifteen,
and I have the Live three sixty five app on
her phone. You know it also and she's not driving
just yet, but do you know that it also has
a thing that shows distracted drive incidents of distracted driving. Now,
it doesn't work if you're riding in a car because
it still shows it doesn't know whether you're the passenger
or the driver, but still it does demonstrate that. So
(06:04):
you know, if your kid was out driving around with
their friends last night, you pulled up behigh, So you
were using your phone at this time, this time and
this time, tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, So that we tell parents that could be a
tool that you could use to your advantage to kind
of keep track of the teams and you know, and
we don't want the teams that feel like their mom
and dad are big brother watching them. But you know,
we're just trying to condition them that they have to
keep their eyes and hands on the road. And let's say,
for example, you're driving with your sibling on the way
home and someone calls you to pick up bread on
(06:35):
the way home. You know, rather than the driver trying
to figure that out and deal with the phone, just
pass it off to your passenger, make them your secretary
and say, hey, talk to my mom, see what she needs.
You know, and maybe mom just wants them to pick
up milk on the way home. But you could use
that those apps like that to kind of track your
the student's behavior behind the wheel and help them. The
(06:59):
other thing, we mandate that one of the parents attend
our driving school with their team, and we do actually
put the parents behind the wheel to teach them some
stuff too. And one of the things we tell the
parents is that you are setting the tone to how
that team's going to be as a driver from here
on out. The way you hang onto the steering wheel
with the proper hand position or not, if you wear
(07:19):
your seatbelt or not, and if you're using your phone
why you drive. You're showcasing to your team that it's
okay to do that. So we have to curb the
parents also from using their phone, because they're seting the
pace for the rest of the driving career.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And I always thought that it's not just about what
you're distracted eyes. Sometimes it's about distracted mind because even
when you have the hands free and thinking, oh, I'm
not looking at the phone, but if your mind is
elsewhere and your mind is not on the road, you
can very easily make mistakes like you're changing lanes and
not bothering to fully check those mirrors. That sort of thing,
and those kind of things can be deadly well.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
They definitely can. You know, a stressful day at high school,
you flunk the tests, I mean, didn't ask out to
the prom, you lost a big game. You know, you
could be focused on something else and not paying, you know,
fully attention to those mirrors and what's going on in
front of you. Also, we have a lot of sleep.
You know a lot of children and teams who are
sleep deprived. They're staying up late because they they're active
(08:14):
and they're in clubs and sports and they got to
get their homework done and they spend a little time
on the on the phone, you know, use them you know,
using that before they go to bed, so they're they're
getting less sleep. So we have a lot of young
teams who are driving around sleep deprived or if they're
on medication or if they took a certain medication. We
have that problem too, you know, where certain teams are
(08:35):
getting a hold of Grandma's pills or something, and you know,
so we we do have some issues like that. You know,
obviously a device or something in the car with you
loud music, just a simple thing as a bee flying
in your vehicle in the summertime, you're swatting out a bee,
that could be a problem. And then you you you know,
you also have if they you know, if they're drinking
(08:56):
and driving, are on pharmaceutical drugs, or just sleep deprived
of those can be a distraction and effect you're driving
and your decision making. And that's the biggest thing. We
want these teams to make good decisions. That way it'll
get them home. So you got to learn how to
make good decisions behind the wheel.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
One of the things that has changed for a lot
of drivers. I've been driving for what thirty five years
something like that. Is our cars have a lot of
technology in them, stuff that didn't used to be in there,
and sometimes people rely too much on that technology. For example,
when backing up to use just the cameras as opposed
to using your mirrors, because a lot of times the
camera can't see everything like you can with your mirror,
(09:33):
or the lane keeping assistance where it kind of tries
to keep your car in the lane. But again, I
think sometimes people can rely too much on the technology
and not the best practices to really keep the driver
in control as opposed to keeping the car in control.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, you've really hit one on there. We've noticed in
the last probably four or five years there's a tendency
for drivers to rely too much on the cars. So
one of our exercises as we teach proper seating position
and we and we teach them how to adjust their
mirror so there's no blind spots anymore. And one of
the comments who will get from the students and their
(10:10):
parents is, oh, my car has the blind spot detection light.
I'm like, well, you really don't need that if you
have the mirrors adjusted correctly, And they always joke and
they say, well, why did why didn't they teach that
and drivers that because they used to teach teams how
to parallel park, and nobody wants a parallel park anymore,
so that kind of went out the window. And then yeah,
(10:30):
now you have these backup cameras, they just focus on
the camera, they don't look at the side of the vehicle,
and they still wipe out the side of the garage
door because they didn't realize how close they were to
the door and the and you know, in the.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Or the nose of the vehicle because when you go
when you're going backwards, you're not thinking about how you
swung the nose to the left while you're turning to
the right going backwards. And I wasn't watching the front.
I was watching where the car was going, not where
the back. Yeah, that kind of thing. So, yeah, all
of those are such such important things to remember, right, And.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Also, anulock breaks that's something that's been on the market
for thirty plus years and probably every single class we teach,
we're not only the parents but the teams. We're teaching
them how to use that technology to help them have
more control in a panic stopping situation. And because the
computer takes over and it pulsates the braking action. You
don't walk up the brake, so now you still have
(11:17):
rolling friction, which gives you steering control and you can
avoid something in front of you. If someone made a
panic stop or jumped out in front of you, you'd
have a better chance of trying to miss them. Ironically,
when we did schools out in the northern California area
where a lot of those kids are driving Tesla's because
they're manufactured out there, they didn't want to do the
(11:38):
antalog breaking exercise because they told us their car stops
for them. And I said, what if you drive mom's
minivan or jump in the dad's truck, it doesn't have
you know, it doesn't have that automatic braking on it.
You still have to learn how to use the brake pedal.
And they were like, but I don't want to learn.
My car does it for me. So we're fighting out
a little bit the technology they're adding to the vehicles,
and you know, we have to work around that a
(11:59):
little bit and just kind of open the team's eyes
just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Okay, Matt, so this weekend's event going on, how many
classes do you have so We.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Will actually have three classes on Saturday and then we
have two classes on Sunday, So if the folks go
online put on the breaks dot org and they can
see the availability of the slots there. It's a three
hour commitment. We do ask that a parent attend with
their team. We supplied the instructors, the cars, the facility.
(12:30):
Just show up at your desired time you pick out
there at Barbara Motorsports Park will take great care of
the kids. They'll learn a ton in those three hours.
Parents will get a chance to get behind the wheel
and we have a separate talk with the parents about
how to be a better coach and some other things
that they need to think about with liabilities and insurance
and that kind of stuff. So it's very educational three
(12:51):
hours we jam pack that day. Most kids come kicking
and screaming, but by the time they get out of there,
they're loving it. They had a blast, they love the training,
and they want all their friends and siblings to attend
the program later, so we're looking for a great turnout
out there. We're so fortunate to have Barbaramas Sports Parks
supporting us and all the good folks that support the
(13:12):
charity and looking forward for a big weekend.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And you said, although it's free, that you do have
to I guess make a deposit or something like that
to reserve your space.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, so what we won't We want a little skin
in the game for the parents so that the kids
don't went out in the morning. That nobody wants to
get up early on a weekend day. So a ninety
nine dollars refundable donation is what we ask for upfront,
and that that kind of puts a little skin in
the game, has a little care for the parents and
the teams to show up and then they take the
(13:42):
program and if they want to donate that to the charity,
that's great or you know, we are a nonprofit charity,
which is awesome. But if they if they need that
money back, we also understand that too, and they can
they can go ahead and ask for the donation back
and we can we can credit it back. So since
Branks is a five O one C three charity, it
is tax deductible. But if they need it back, we understand.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
It's a great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Here in Alabama, it's happening at Barber's but you guys
travel around, right.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
You do these events at other places too, don't you.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah. We started out at Zmax Dragway and Charlotte fifteen
years ago. This last weekend we just celebrate our one
hundred and fifty thousand students through the program. We're now
nationwide and we've been traveling around trying to get to
more markets and more pockets of the youth of the US,
and Birmingham has been one of those cities we've been
kind of looking at, and we finally were able to
(14:35):
get the facility donated and get it on the schedule,
so we're super excited about that. And then also the
good folks at the Barber Motorsports Park have a great
motorsports museum and they've offered free a free enrollment for
the parents and the teams that take the program this
weekend too, so they can spend some time this weekend
(14:58):
and visit that museum, which is really cool. We just
look forward to a great partnership there. Hopefully we can
get as many teams signed up and get them trained
up and make them a little bit safer and make
the roads a little bit safer around burn.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So a day of information and entertainment. Sounds like a
great time for everybody. Matt Riley, thank you so much
for joining us today on Viewpoint Alabama. Thank you, John,
and you're listening to the Alabama Radio Network. My name
is John Mounce and I'm always excited to hear about
positive news involving businesses in our area. Joining me now
to talk about some optimistic news is our own state
(15:34):
director of the NFIB or the National Federation of Independent Businesses,
Rosemary Alabash.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Rosemary, welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Good morning, and thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So I understand the Optimism Index has risen by two
point two percent in October. What is the Small Business
Optimism Index.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
It's a survey that we do monthly across the nation,
and we serve by our small business owners and we
ask them certain questions. And we've been watching the Optimism
Index for months now, so it's been on a thirty
four month below the historical average. But in October we
(16:11):
saw an uptick of two point two points and so
we look at that as a positive sign for Alabama's
small business owners.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Historically speaking, does this tend to rise as we go
into the holiday season.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Sometimes it follows the holiday season. But I think now
John more people were optimistic about changes in the election,
and they probably knew more than some of the posters
did because they talked to their customers every day, So
I think that had something to do with it. They
(16:48):
felt a sense of optimism and they felt like people
were listening to the problems that they.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Had, And that was going to be my next question
when it comes to a new administration in Washington. Are
there any policies in particular that are interesting to these
small business owners or is it more just the overall
tone of change in the country that's driving this.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Well, I think the change in the tone. But one
of the things that's so positive for that NFIB's number
one of the agenda item is to make the twenty
percent tax deduction that was done during Trump's first administration permanent.
That tax deduction actually expires December thirty first, twenty twenty five.
(17:29):
So we've heard from our members loud and clear and
they need this permanent. So looking at these election results
and now that the US House has been called, business
owners feel very positive that they're going to get that
twenty percent tax deduction permanent. The other thing that they're
seeing is that rules and government rules and regulations, whether
(17:52):
it's federal, state, or local, is a hindrance to business owners,
particularly small business owners. So with the incoming administers and
the Senate in the house, business owners are seeing that
federal rules and regulations will likely be reduced, are even eliminated.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
And that's so important because we definitely need guardrails to
keep us safe. But there's an awful lot of red
tape and rules that are just there because I don't know,
rulemakers decided they do what they do, which is make
more rules. And these rules cause problems for businesses, like
say saying you have a parking lot with four spaces
and three of them have to be handicapped to me
to meet you know, eighty A compliance stuff.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Or either you have as I refer to the puddle
in the parking lot where you have water that stands
and EPA says, you know, that's an environmental hazard.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Rosemary Alabash is the Alabama State director of the NFIB.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Rosemary, what are some of the other.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Challenges that businesses in the state of Alabama right now
are facing the lack.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Of qualified employees and that has been an ongoing theme
for years now that business owners cannot find qualified employees.
And I will tell you that in this report, it
showed that eighty seven percent of business owners had openings
(19:11):
and they were trying to hire in October, but eighty
seven percent of these businesses had few or no qualified
applicants for those open positions. So when you don't have
enough employees to man your business, you're not going to
have those sales that you need. So one of the
things that NFIB Alabama has been working very closely with
(19:31):
the Alabama Community College system. They've implemented a new program
called the Innovation Center. They are doing short term credentials,
and these credentials in the workplace are based on what
businesses need, and they've been a great partner with NFIB
and other trade groups in identifying those short term credentials
(19:54):
that employees or potential employees could get.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Rosemary, in the state of Babama, we have we don't have.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I guess the minimum wage, as you say in Alabama,
is the federal minimum wage, which is still seven dollars
and twenty five cents an hour. Now, I'm not a
big proponent in raising the minimum wage because I think
that that puts an undue burden on businesses when they
could be when you know that doesn't allow you to
price labor at the appropriate level. But at the same time,
(20:21):
if businesses offered more, do you think they'd get more
qualified employees if they're able.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
To offer more, John, I'll be honest with you. I
don't have a single member that's paying minimum wage. They're
all paying way above minimum wage, and they're still a
shortage of workers. I will tell you that Alabama is
in the bottom part of the nation in labor force
(20:46):
participation rates, which means that forty three percent of Alabamians
ages sixteen to sixty four or not in the labor force.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And Rosemary, that is confusing, of course, because we still
all need money to eat and to pay our rent.
So how are people able to survive if they're not working, John.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I can't answer that question. I do know that we
offer a lot of government benefits to people identifying those
problems to overcome.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
That.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
One has been childcare. I will tell you that Alabama
legislature passed the first childcare tax credit last session. They
are working on implementing that and hopefully that will help
get people back in the labor force. But that's a
big issue that we're going to have to overcome.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So back to the original point here, which was the
optimism index, that businesses are looking forward to a new administration,
some changes in Washington, and some of these probably will
trickle down to changes in Montgomery and changes in the
state of Alabama. Business is going into twenty twenty five.
Do we anticipate additional hiring. Maybe there's been more money
available to pay because I imagine if a job paid enough,
(21:57):
if a job, say was paying fifty dollars an hour,
you get people in there. It's just you can't really
charge that and make a hamburger for you know, five dollars.
So at some point there needs to be I guess,
a happy medium where the price of the product is
not is not greatly inflated, but we're still able to
pay enough to entice people to come back to work.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
One of the things that I think you're going to
see in this administration is that inflation will come down
because energy cost will be reduced. You know, one of
the things that's been the theme of this whole election
cycle is we're going to produce energy in this country. Again, Well,
transportation costs add to the cost of each and every
(22:39):
item we have, And I always tell people every single
thing that you put in your mouth to eat or
you put on your body comes by truck, and the
cost of fuel, the cost of insurance, all of that
adds to the cost that the consumer pays. So if
we end up do seeing the energy that we need
(23:01):
in this country, you're going to see your reduction in
those inflation numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
In fact, we could have a situation where we're creating
so much energy in this country that we become a
net exporter and we're selling our energy to other countries,
which would be a benefit.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
To us as well.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Absolutely, it would be Rosemary.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Businesses that are interested in finding out more about the
Optimism Index or any of the things that the NFIB does.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Do you have a website they can go to.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
We do.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
It's NFIB dot com. We have a great research department.
There's all kinds of information there. If you go to
the Alabama page, you can certainly contact me. I'm always
happy to help business owners here, directing them in what
they may need to go or if I can be
a resource in any way.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Rosemary Alabash, the state director for Alabama for the NFIB
Thank you so much for joining us today on Viewpoint.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Alabama, Thank you so much, and up.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Next on Viewpoint Alabama. This month is many people's open
and role including open enrollment for Medicare and Medicaid. Joining
us now Shannon Hills, the regional administrator from the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
She talks with JT all.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
Right, with this open enrollment thing happening with Medicare right now,
pretty important to should everybody get in and do this
and do it every year? A lot of companies say, look,
even if you're not changing anything, you need to come
back in and say, okay, I want to do this again,
that again and then submit.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Is that true with Medicare as well?
Speaker 6 (24:28):
Everybody, even if you've been doing this for a year,
two or three or ten, do you need to come
back every year and go through this open enrollment process?
Speaker 7 (24:35):
Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (24:36):
It's important every year to review your prescription drug and
health plan coverage because they can change and by comparing
you can save money, find coverage better tailored to you
or both.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Well, let me ask you this.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
If you don't come back on and do the open enrollment,
do you get cut off or do you is it
just stay the same and continues.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
We individuals that are currently on metday Care, your coverage
will remain the same, so it will roll over.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
But it's so important to.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Go online because here's what's really important. When you review
that coverage on Medicare dot dot enter.
Speaker 7 (25:13):
All of your prescription drugs.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
You can see a side by side comparison of things
like coverage costs, quality ratings, premium, deductible, out of pocket.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
Costs, and more.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
So it's really important that people review their coverage every year.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
And this applies to everybody on Medicare only, not just
those that are full Medicare. For instance, I just got
on a few months ago. I'm on parts A and
B because my wife is still insured and I go
through her for the other parts. If you're only doing
one of the ABC's ds, how many letters are there
down efgs?
Speaker 7 (25:52):
Great question, it's Medicare's A, B, C and D.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
So yes, it is important to go online and just
do that side by side comparison.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
All right, So when you go online and you talk
about a side by side comparison, tell me how that works.
You compare? What are you comparing costs?
Speaker 7 (26:12):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Yeah, you're comparing. You can input all of your prescription
drugs because one.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Of the things that is.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
New is the two thousand dollars cap for out of
pocket costs on prescription drugs, and so it's really important
that when you go online you enter all of your
prescription drugs. You can review your current plan as well
as other plans that are available. And what's really important
(26:41):
to take full advantage of that two thousand dollars cap
that covers prescription drugs on your health plan.
Speaker 7 (26:49):
So we really want to make sure that.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Individuals with Medicare are entering all of their prescription drugs
so they can find the best plan to take advantage
of that two thousand dollars cap.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
All right, let me ask you, does this apply to me?
I'm not on C ANDD. Does everybody get the benefit?
If I'm just on A and B and my wife
still handles the insurance with the United Healthcare for me
with the prescriptions, can I still take advantage of this cap?
Speaker 5 (27:18):
That is a great question. The two thousand dollars tap
is available for those on the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan
or Part D, so that is where that two thousand
cap applies.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
Yeah, you know when people have questions about this, and
I get bumped. The minute I turned sixty five, I
got three thousand emails from eighteen thousand different providers saying,
come on Medicare with us. We'll come over here and
join Medicare with us. And I'm like, wait a minute.
How many medicares are there? So, I mean, is this
just advertising for different What's going on with all the
(27:54):
different people that are involved with medicare as far as providing.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
It for me?
Speaker 5 (27:57):
There are a number of health insurance plan that are
part of the Medicare program. But what we really want
to encourage.
Speaker 7 (28:05):
People to do is when you go online to medicare
dot does, those are the official sources for information on Medicare.
You can also call the toll free number at one
eight hundred Medicare. So we really want to direct people.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
To those official sources for.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
Information, great advice, and there are people there that you
can talk to and you can get a live body
and actually walk through the comparisons and everything you need
to have answered.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Absolutely at one eight hundred medicare that's available. You can
go online to ship help dot org. That is the
state health insurance program. So for people in Alabama, if
they want it free personalized health insurance counseling. So just
someone that can walk them through here are my health conditions,
(28:53):
help me think through what typle plan?
Speaker 7 (28:56):
Is it a Part A or B plan? Is it
a Part ART CRD plan?
Speaker 5 (29:01):
Which is Medicare advantage or prescription drugs? When you contact
that local SHIP office, they can really provide that personalized
health counseling to help individuals make the best decision for
their needs.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
Okay, I'm not sure what I heard. Could you spell
that website for me?
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Please?
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Absolutely, ship Ship Health Help DOTRG.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
All right, very medic say health insurance program.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Boy, what great information. Those of you involved with medicare
getting ready to there you go. Shannon Hill's Regional Administry Shannon,
thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 7 (29:37):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those
of the staff, management, or advertisers of this station.
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