Co-Host Frenesa Hall, MD with Guest Melissa Blatt of Indipop

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's time now for the Patti Conklin Show, exclusively on
healthylife dot net Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, hello, folks, this is Forvanessa Hall and Patty is
off today. She's gotten covered up and I'm so happy
to have my guest Melissa Blatt, founder of indie Pop.
All you folks out there struggling with health insurance coverage
and the exhorbs orbitant rates that they're charging, this program

(01:03):
is for you. Indie Pop is a curated healthcare marketplace
offering significant savings compared to traditional insurance, and Melissa is
going to share with us the details of that. But
before that, first, welcome Melissa for Macgreen to be a
guest of my show today.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah, great to be here.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
So before we get started, because you have an interesting background,
you know, just share with us briefly what your background
is and how you came to create indie pop. Sure.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Absolutely, it actually came from my own struggle. When I
left corporate world five years ago. I was faced with
being now at a nine nine contrastor and responsible for
finding my own healthcare. And as you know, in our country,
goes by your employment status, and with helpcare dot Gov,
it can go by your earnings to see if you

(02:06):
qualify for any subsidies your zip code.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
You know, are you full.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
Time, are your part time? And so I had high
hopes that I can go into that marketplace, and you know,
I saw the commercials. I thought, oh, maybe there is
a ten dollars plan, but that wasn't the case, and
I ended up being quoted for, you know, a bronze
Ahmo with a nine thousand dollars deductible and it was
because I was in my late forties, it was about

(02:31):
six hundred a month and I was new to this.
I didn't know I was now responsible for my healthcare
and I was very nervous about I didn't want to
go without. And so what happened was it led me
on this search.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Of what is out there?

Speaker 5 (02:52):
What is.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
What is already in the market. And I kept coming
up with insurance after insurance after and they all work
the same until I learned about another model, which is
we can dive into that now if that, if that
makes sense for you, just want to stop me.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
In tell me what you did before though, you know
how oh what was your previous? Okay, you know, because
because you know, just to get a sort of a
whole picture of you know, where you came from and
how you got to.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Do what you do. Well, it wasn't it wasn't a
straight line. I actually studied film and TV in New York.
I've always been a creative person, you know. I did
make my way out to LA and worked in entertainment
industry for a while behind the scenes, ended up in
nonprofit which I loved, and then ended up working in technology.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
For the lack.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
I'd say, you know, ten years. So you know when
when people say to me, wow, like, yeah, how did
you even start indie pop? Well, every I think opportunity
or or endeavor that I've had had led me to
be able to launch my company. H They all, all
the all of the moments added up to this one

(04:11):
and I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
I know that feeling. You know, it's like each step
you don't know where you're going, but when you get
to your next step, you see how the previous step
prepared you for what you were going to do. And
then you look back, you know, especially when you get
to a certain age, and you look back and you

(04:36):
see all the little pieces that that fell into place,
and at least for me, I can see where. Boy,
if I had made this choice instead of that choice,
it would be a totally different ballgame, I'd be in
a completely different place. But but I see that. You know,

(04:59):
here I am today, and you know, I'm happy with
where I am today. I think you are as well.
But it's it's sort of comforting to know that even
the difficult times that have occurred in the past, and
the hard decisions and so forth, you know, have led

(05:21):
me to where I am today, and so I can
be you know, okay with some of those experiences that
weren't so good. It sounds like you enjoyed the things
that you did before. But I mean, you know, all
of us have had challenges along the way.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
So I think the challenges give us the opportunity for
growth and that you you know, even when you like
I don't think of anything as regret or a mistake,
because if you can learn from it, then that's giving
you the opportunity where life can take you. You know,
the best scenario or the best maybe analogy is a

(06:01):
road trip. The best road trips are the ones where
you have the detours that take you to that that
you know by that still by diner that you would
have never gone to because you would have just gone
straight through on the I ten the whole way through.
And if when you get taken off course, those are
the moments in life that can be the most colorful
and the biggest lessons are that you meet a person

(06:23):
that changes your life.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
You just never know, yeah, you never know, or you
find some just lovely little you know, cove or whatever.
And I think, like you said, you run into people
that you would never have met and maybe would never
have spoken to other than that situation, and then you
find some kindred spirit and so I you know, totally

(06:45):
relate to that. So what did you do in technology?

Speaker 5 (06:51):
What a.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
CRM company? So almost any company or any small business
owner is going to have a database that helps keep
you know their clients in a platform. And this particular
company was a startup here in Arizona, so I was
I really got to be a part of the growth
of the company and work in all departments of the

(07:16):
customer journey, which is really really It gave me a
lot of insight into you know, the first like talking
to a customer, the lead that comes in to after
a sale, to what happens, and all the different departments
how they can work together. But more importantly, it was
a really great role model for culture, for culture of

(07:37):
a company, because I think companies that have really great
culture and the employees are part of that culture, then
they feel valued and they know what they stand for
and maybe they know their why a little bit more
so you might not just be selling widgets, it's why
are you selling the widgets? What does it do to

(07:58):
help the world? Or that take a person when you
have this with it, like what is your why? What
is your why? Why you're doing what you're doing?

Speaker 3 (08:07):
You know that doesn't seem to be the mo of
a lot of companies. You know, where that the employees
are the widgets and you know they're not valued in
that way. It also sounds like that company gave you
a lot of the tools and knowledge to launch Indipop

(08:30):
because all the things are leads customers, and and obviously
recognize that creating that that inclusive culture where each person
is valued for what they do, what they bring to
the table, helps the entire organization progress and improve and

(08:50):
and put out a good product. And uh and I
think that you know from talking to many of my
friends who have been in the corporate world, and my
excuse it's in the corporate world that's just not always
the case, and you feel more like a pawn rather
than having your contribution really valued. I mean, I know

(09:15):
when I have my medical practice, every person in my
practice was valued because we couldn't do it without it.
I mean, every person played a role to make sure
that the patient was taken care of. And so so
uh we you know, I think that I think you
reached out to me on LinkedIn, I think, or somebody

(09:37):
I don't know. Yeah, and you know, I get all
these requests on LinkedIn, and some of them are just
so lame, it's just mind numbing. But when you reached
out to me, it was at a point when my
company decided that life insurance wasn't a business that they
wanted to be in anymore, and so my position was

(10:01):
going to be dissolved in three or four months. And
I'm thinking, my goodness, you know, here I am, I'm
going to have to go search for another job. I
don't know what's going to happen. I'm going to get
three months of health insurance, but after that it's cobra,
and the Cobra is ridiculously expensive. And I thought, you know,
it's got to be another way. And then you know, boom,

(10:24):
you reach out to me, and I thought, I need,
I need to know about this because I might need
this service. And then we got to talking and I
was thinking, my goodness, I know so many people who
are self employed. I'm a good friend of mine's paying
over one thousand dollars a month for insurance. And people

(10:46):
who had, you know, certain medications that were covered and
they had a reasonable cope, and now all of a sudden,
you know, four hundred dollars for their medication. I mean,
there's all sorts of challenges out there that that traditional
health insurance creates. Not to mention the you know, well

(11:08):
from a physician standpoint, you know, mother, may I get
this test from my patient, May I order this prescription
from my patient, all this paperwork, and then on the
patient side, you know, just jumping through hoops to get
things done, and you know, all of these charges. So

(11:28):
I've never heard of health exchange. I mean, it was
completely foreign to me, and I have to admit I
can't say that I totally understand how it works. But
but I think this is so valuable for people out there,
particularly right now, when they are going to be changes

(11:51):
in healthcare and they're going to be people that have
been on Medicaid that are not going to have coverage
and they won't be able to full or the traditional insurance.
And so I think this is a really important topic
right now, so people can see, you know, well, maybe

(12:12):
there is something out there that can help me and
my family not just be left, you know, at the
mercy of the hospital. You know. I think there's a
big disconnect in this country, an understanding and the real
cost of health care that oh, you know, people don't

(12:32):
have health care, you know, that's just their problem, blah
blah blah. But it's a societal problem. When people don't
have access to healthcare, emergency rooms become flooded and they're overwhelmed,
and so there's inappropriate use of the er because people

(12:56):
have nowhere else to go, which means that when you
are sick and you go to the er, then you know,
don't complain about a ten hour twelve hour wait. You know,
we did it to ourselves as society. So talk about
you know, so the overview of what a health exchange

(13:16):
is and how that works.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
Well, Ours isn't a health exchange. Ours is healthcare membership.
So if you think about uber versus taxi, they're both
taking you to the same You're getting to the same
place you need to go, but you're using a different
model to get there. And so you have the option
to use insurance. And then you have this other alternative
model which is called a cost share or health share,

(13:42):
and that is a completely different model. So with insurance
you have a transfer of risk, you have underwriting, and
then you have the ACA, the you know Obama pair
where you're going to put in your employment status and
your earnings and see if you qualify for a subsidy.
Those subsidies then can reduce your pre or you might
even be able to be on Medicaid, which is subsidized healthcare,

(14:08):
so that you are not paying for your health care.
Most self employed Americans, especially if you're a ten A
nine contractor, believe it or not, over thirty two percent
make over one hundred and fifty thousand a year. They
don't qualify for any tox subsidies. So what ends up
happening is they're paying the most for health care, so
for a third of the workforce. And as this workforce
grows and more and more people are becoming contractors and

(14:30):
not speaking benefits from a company, then this is where, yeah,
how do we serve these people with healthcare? How do
we serve the people with affordable accessible health care? And
that's where so indie pop it stands for independent populations.
And these are all the people that are not getting
their healthcare through a company or an employer and they're

(14:53):
on their own to find an access healthcare. And what
we did was create a marketplace of this alternative product
in the market because most Americans don't know that this
model exists, and if they do, they don't know how
to search, like, well, there's many out there, Why is
this this particular healthcare members that better for me than

(15:15):
another one? And based on that well, you know, we
can help match them, but we we curated the best
of the best of the plans and put them into
one one place.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
Ah, So you're the clearinghouse for the best plans health
exchanges out there. Yeah, yeah, okay, And and I think
you said that you have nine plans at this point.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
Yeah about mine?

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, and and so, and this is available for individuals,
for families as well, individual.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
Families from all business owners.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
M hm. And what about prescription coverage because that's a
big hot issue. And then in this country, the cost
of medications is ridiculous. I mean, we do have good
RX out there. And then the the plan that Mark
Cuban created, I can't remember the name of it costs

(16:20):
and so there are yeah, and so there are ways
to get some of those costs down. Are these exchanges
affiliated with these plans or do they have their own
separate pharmacy coverage?

Speaker 4 (16:37):
They so many of the options do include a prescription benefit.
And it is all about getting finding the pharmacy with
the lowest costs. So if you know like medications are,
you can go to a CVF versus a costco or
your local growthery store. And why is it twenty four here,

(16:58):
thirty six there, fifty four there, Like ry does it
range every data? Prices can fluctuate. Actually, so these these
plans also, you know, have discounted pharmacy or our prescriptions,
and you know, it's it really is an eye opener
for people once you pull the curtain back of how
our healthcare system runs. And a lot of times when

(17:20):
you pay cash for something, it could actually be lower
than your copay on right.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
So yeah, which which is kind of shocking, you know,
like why would your copay costs more than the drug?
I mean, it really is astounding and I've actually seen
that before, and you know, and people wonder why, at

(17:47):
least in this country, there's this big distrust of the
healthcare system because it's not working for the people. You know.
And I know when I had my practice, which was
not nineteen ninety two to two thousand and two something
like that, some of the CEOs for health insurance companies,

(18:12):
we're making twenty million dollars a year. You know, that's
twenty million dollars just for them. That's paid out of
people sweat from their premiums. You know, and people ask
me from time to time, you know what what's your
solution to the healthcare issues that we face today? And

(18:34):
I think we have to take the profit out of
out of it. These companies can't be on the stock exchange,
you know, the company on the stock is change. They're
beholden to their stockholders period. The CEO is going to
get fired if the stockholders aren't getting value for their investment.
But that money is the lifeline. Is this the money

(18:59):
that people are paying out and what fraction of that
are they getting back? And so you know, I think
more and more people and it's probably going to be
more people as we move forwards during this time, are
going to need some other solution because you certainly can't
afford to go without health care coverage, because the leading

(19:23):
cause of bankruptcy for individuals is health expenses. You know,
you have a catastrophic event, an accident, a cancer diagnosis,
don't get me started on that. You know where infusions
of whatever it's forty thousand dollars a pop. I mean,
that's not something an individual who doesn't have insurance can

(19:48):
can sustain. So you know, there we have to have
more options, and health exchange I think are going to
become more and more are popular in the next years.
And you know, I wonder I haven't done this, and
maybe we should do this and week at a later time.

(20:09):
But I wonder what my insurance that I pay right now? Uh,
you know my insurer, my employeer covers you know, a
big part of my insurance. But I still pay a
premium each month. I would love to sit down and
compare what I'm paying versus what I could pay through.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, and we do ye.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
And you see that that the exchanges are often better.
So but let's let's well, we've we've got to take
a break. We're gonna come back to that. I have
to pay breaks. Thanks folks paying with us.

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Speaker 3 (23:28):
Okay, we are back with Melissa Blatt of Indie Pops,
the curated healthcare marketplace that is an option instead of
the exorbitant rates from health insurance companies. And you know
and for the self employed the small business owner, this

(23:53):
is something I really want you to pay attention to
because this can be the solution that you've been looking for,
could be a way to offer some kind of health
benefits to the to your people. You're you know, five
per people in your company. So so let's just if

(24:14):
you would take just a high level sort of overview
of health exchanges and then talk about just the basics
of how they work, and then well, later on I'd
like to get it how Indie pop helps people and
connect them with what their needs are.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
So the mar Our marketplace when you come to it
doesn't have any insurance products at all. There's you're not
going to find the you know, the insurance programs. They're
all called cost shares. We like to call for subscription
based plans because you're become you're subscribing, you're becoming a member,
and there's a big fund that's being managed and out

(24:57):
of that fund, it's they're shared ouncicho for your medical expenses.
So some plans are literally just for high cost medical
more of a catastrophic plan. Some have robust benefits like
unlimited primary care, chiropractic care. So each one is a
little different and it's not a one size fits all,
so you know, we we can help match people to

(25:17):
the best fit according to Hey, I have a health
savings account, do you have something that's compatible that I
can can use for my health care? Yeah, we do.
I have a twenty six year old, you know, going
off of my insurance plan. Do you have something that's
really low cost that can protect him from a you know,
a high cost deductible for a broken lug?

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yes, we do.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
So that's basically, you know, when you come to Indipop,
you're you're getting exposed to these cost shares that then
you have to decide, well, which one would work best
for myself or my my little small group that that
i'm you know that I have.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Does that make sense? Yeah? Yeah absolutely? And uh and
it's coverage for any age, this coverage for eight children.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
Yes, So how it works, we'll get into the weeds
a little bit, but it's important. Is eighteen to sixty
four is eligibility. Once he turns sixty five, you will
go on Medicare. So yeah, you can be you know eighteen,
have a US residence and enroll. We are not tied
to open enrollment dates, which is really great because you

(26:27):
can be you should be able to join or enroll
in a healthcare plan on your timeline, not you know,
just because it's November and open enrollment was offered, so
we're not also your your rate of your plan is
not determined by your employment status or your earnings. So
I can quote someone in San Antonio right now that

(26:48):
might be interested in the HSA compatible plan, and he,
you know, he's in his thirties. It's three twenty five
a month, while the same thirty five year old in
Sacramento it's the same rate thirty five. I don't need
to know he doesn't even need s technically to be employed,
and I don't need no earnings to say this is
how much it's going to cost to have access to

(27:08):
this healthcare membership. Now, there is something called pre membership
conditions because if you can imagine, there is a big
fund that is being managed. So if we did have
if somebody came on the plan pregnant, then let's say
two months later after she became a member, she gives birth,
she put in two months of membership into that into

(27:31):
the fund, and she's already using it. So for pregnancy,
there is something called a look back period where if
you are pregnant at the time of enrollment is considered
a pre membership condition and it's not eligible for the
cap of expenses that typically our plans would have. So
the actual healthcare membership would negotiate the best cash pay

(27:54):
rates for her. Though in some cases you know that
that can work out really great because in our country,
pregnancy can range. It's so you know, with insurance, I've
heard people pay twenty five thousand out of pocket. So
now other conditions like diabetes, are high cholesterol at high
blood pressure, those would not those can be excluded from

(28:16):
this pre membership condition if you're medically managed who Each
layout works a little differently with their look back period.
But the good news is is once you know, if
you're in your second year of membership, almost ninety percent
of you think of our plans will then share up
to twenty five thousand towards that condition that you came
on with. So the longer you stay on the membership,

(28:39):
the more that they will contribute to your pre existing condition.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Okay, so let me just repeat what I heard. So
you join your member and your payments go into a
fund that is managed, and when you join, if you
are all ready pregnant, that's a pre membership condition where

(29:06):
you can't give birth in two months and have only
put in two months of into this fund. But I
think you said that this individual would get help negotiating
the best possible rate where they are to give birth,

(29:27):
so that exactly at a minimum, they're going to pay
the best rate and not just get posed. And so the.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
Assistance, yeah, a medical advocacy comes with each one of
the healthcare plans because they are on our side, they're
on the member's side. They want you to get the
best care at the right price. And many people do
not realize and I mentioned this with prescriptions, that even
paying a cash perod for imaging could be less than

(29:59):
your copay. And so this idea of fair medical pricing
and knowing exactly what something should cost is really important.
And I have found with some of our memberships that
they actually can do the cash pay rate between five
to ten thousand for a natural childbirth. Now we do
have one plan. It's very interesting. So let's say that
you're you're six months pregnant and you come on to

(30:23):
the plan and you put in three months of membership.
They will actually count that as part of your contribution
to the three months that you were on the plan,
and then they would pay the difference. So they actually
they don't want to penalize you. They want to help you.
But most of the plans will say, look you're not
eligible for that low out of pocket rate. And I

(30:44):
can explain, by the way, did I explain the difference
between a deductible and what we call an IUA Please,
I don't think I have yeah, okay, okay, deductible. I
think we're all familiar with. The deductible is the amount
you're going to be responsible before the insurance kicks in.
And what is it. It's tied to the calendar or yeah,

(31:07):
the calendar year. So what happens in January.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
It restarts starts over.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
So if you broke your leg in December and you
needed physical therapy or you know, a CT scan to
see how that leg is healing. In January February of
let's say twenty twenty six, what happens is you're deductible
started at zero again and you have to It's like

(31:31):
you're being hit. You have to pay for it twice
at that point because you're like, oh my god, I
got just hit my deductible for this broken leg. Our
plans have they don't have deductibles. They have i UA's,
which is your initial unsharable amount i UA initial and
sharable amount, the amount you're responsible for before the health
Share kicks in, and that's it's most of them are

(31:52):
in increments of one thousand, twenty five hundred and five thousand.
They're fixed. That is your portion. So let's take the
one thousand IUA. For example, you sign up for a
three hundred and twenty five dollars a month plan, and
your max out of pocket for that particular medical need
is one thousand dollars. For the broken leg, you break

(32:13):
your leg, SKIP, you pay your one thousand dollars, and
then in January you do not have to pay one
thousand dollars over again or start paying for pet Physical
therapy is included in the medical The IUA file follows.
The medical needs deductible follows the calendar year.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
I see fantastic. Okay, we've got to go to another break.
We'll be back, folks. Hang on, We've got more useful
information for you. Okay.

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Speaker 3 (35:14):
Okay, folks for nessa hall here with Melissa Blatt of
Indie Pop and just before the break, you are comparing
the initial ensurable amount to a deductible. I mean, we
all know about deductibles, and you know it's the calendar year.
So if you're, as you said, broke your leg in December,

(35:36):
you're paying the deductible, will get that surgery to fix it.
Come January you have to go to physical therapy for
that leg. Bam, you're hit with that deductible again. So
I want you to just repeat how the initial aturable
amount works because I think this is a really key
benefit of health exchanges.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
Yeah, so the initial unsharable amount is a set predetermined
rates that you when you enroll or join one of
these healthcare memberships, is you select. So just like the
higher deductible, the lower your premium might be the five
thousand iuas it would be a lower monthly than the

(36:23):
one thousand IUA because you're paying more out of pocket
for that five thousand IUA. Now, all it works is
by incident. So if I'll give an example of you
have a family and you have kids in sports, and
one of the kids breaks their leg in soccer, and
you chose the one thousand AUA so for that particular

(36:44):
medical need, that is a one thousand B that you're
responsible for. Then three months later, your husband needs an
emergency appendectomy that is a separate medical need that is
a thousand dollars IUA and that is capped at three
of those in a year for high cost medical. So
we can say to a family, if you select this

(37:07):
one thousand iuas for the membership, the max high cost
medical that you would allow to pocket would be three
thousand in a calendar year. That would be three separate incidents.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Okay, And if the kid broke their legs in December,
that IUA one thousand dollars is paid, and that is
for the global treatment of that incident, that medical problem.
So because January and February they're going to physical therapy,

(37:42):
you know whatever, they have to follow up, you know,
you said, MRIs or whatever, they're not paying that thousand
dollars again because it's not tied to the year for
the incidents, tied to the actual medical condition that's being treated.
And that's a big difference because with the traditional insurance,

(38:02):
you're deductible is the calendar year. Come January, you're starting
all over. So yeah, okay, you're going to physical therapy,
but you've got one thousand dollars deductible, but you have
to pay again even though you just paid it, you know,
three weeks earlier. So that's huge. And then you're saying
that that you could see you have three separate incidents

(38:25):
in a year, you're saying that the max is going
to be three thousand. So if the other child had
some event then after the other three, then they wouldn't
have to pay the iu A again for that. So yeah,
if so.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
Again we're speaking high level, because each plan is it
could be different, but high level, what usually would happen
is if the fourth medical need is over five hundred dollars,
then it would be what we call shared with the community.
So it gives you more predictability for your out cost
pocket of what you might be spending in a calendar year,

(39:06):
a little bit more clear than insurance, which we have
subductibles co insurance copays and then max out of pocket
and then throw it in and out of network and
you don't know, you don't know. I've heard people get bills,
you know, a year or two after their their surgery,
they're still getting bills.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Oh yeah, and you know, you you go to the
hospital for this emergency, and the hospitals and network. The
surgeon in network, but the anesthesiologist isn't in network, and
they give you a medication that's not in network. So
now all of a sudden you've got these ridiculous charges
that you have no control. You can't pick the anesthesiologists

(39:47):
that's going to take care of you for your surgery.
It's you know whoever's there when you go in. And
half the time, even when you're to elective, you know,
you don't know about the anispciologists. That's one of the
things that that I've seen people get caught with the surgery.
You go to, you look through your plan, you find

(40:08):
the surgeon that's on your plan, then them you know,
you're hit with.

Speaker 5 (40:12):
This networks they're contracted and you know, look if it's
if it's an on plan surgery, uh, I'm most insurance says, Look,
if it's an emergency surgery, you're just tied to your deductible.

Speaker 4 (40:29):
If it's a plan surgery and you gought on network,
then you're going to be responsible and you would have
to appeal, you know to you know that you would
because if you if you look in your insurance and
this might be really good to These are the top
three things we've seen with people with insurance that just
to be aware of when you're reviewing your policy is
in and out of network caps. So it's really important

(40:52):
that you do have a cap on on your responsibility amount.
If you go out a network, it's it's your responsibility
to know how much if I do, you know, have
a surgery or see a doctor that's not a network.
The what the potential financial exposure is. The other thing
that we.

Speaker 5 (41:09):
Found is.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Er visits.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
I was just looking at a plan right now that
said you are responsible for the full amount of the
er visit. Yeah, no, M sorry, yes, yes, it can
run thousands and thousands of dollars. And I had one

(41:35):
one member who shared with me that they did have
an unexpected two in the morning er visit and it
was a seven thousand dollars deductible that he had to
oh for the particular er visit. And I said, did
you appeal it? And he said, oh, I can do that. Yeah,
I mean it turned out to be a spring nightfall,
you know, or like, it shouldn't cost seven thousand dollars

(41:57):
because you needed access for healthcare in the middle of
the night. M. So what we see it we usually
guide people and if you want to stay on your
insurance plan, no ahead of time, what something could be.
So you're not so surprised. Or you can explore and
look for particular options that in the ar visit. You

(42:18):
might want to look for a dedicated copey a copy
of two fifty for the yar visit right or or
or you know, a co insurance of it's eighty twenty
even that could be expensive if you have a twenty
five thousand dollars yard visit.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
That built. So now let's let's shift to Indiepop because
you know, you all, everybody's on the same page, everybody's
in alignment. You know, they're wanting the best for the
most economical costs. So when a person engages with Indiepop,
someone is working with them to help them understand what's

(42:57):
going on. So talk us through a but when a
person calls, what's the process because I think, you know,
I know that health insurance is such a challenge for
most people and it's not written in the most user
friendly way, and so you know, talk about what Indiepop

(43:23):
is going to do with that person when they engage
two because it sounds like education is a big part
of it.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
Yeah, So that is one one thing when you work
with us at Indiepop. Not only do we help match
you with the right option. But we are another resource
for you while you're on the plan. We have onboarding
that help if you can understand your benefits, the likelihood
that you find value in your healthcare plan source that

(43:55):
you know you if you really understand what benefits you have,
then you could say, oh wow, hey, I know what
I'm getting for my money. And so this is an
important factor of.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
You know, we give you resource pages.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
And we have videos you can watch. We you know,
we can help escalate it if things go off track.
I mean, it's still healthcare, but not being fool ourselves
that this is magic. It's it's still sting with right,
this is just a plan and the whole healthcare system
with billing and codes and okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Okay, we got to go. Time goes by so fast.
We've got to go to break yeah, and we'll be
back shortly. Folks hanging with us.

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Speaker 3 (47:08):
We are coming back for our last segment. The time
flies so fast, Melissa, you were starting to talk about
the different features that indiepop and healthcare exchanges have because
that really help people understand what their options are, what's

(47:29):
going to be the best plan for them. And then
after they're enrolled in exchange, you know, there's even more support.
Can you you know, let's spend this last segment explaining
to folks. You know that they're not in it alone
and they have an advocate to help them navigate this system.

(47:50):
So so talk about that if you would.

Speaker 4 (47:55):
I think you know, many of us, if we have
used insurance in the past, we know the process. You
sign up, you get an ID card, you figure out
your network, and then you're on your own. You're just
trying to figure it out. You'll call it, Oh, I
know I have to have surgery. Let me find out
what my benefits are. But the healthcare system is very complex,
and you have doctors needs, patients needs like doctors too.

(48:19):
They have insurance so that they can accept insurance so
that their patient can come see them. But the doctors
have to be reiversed from those insurance companies. There's paperwork involved,
there's reimbursement rates. It's very complex, and when you're doing this,
you know, on your own, trying to figure out when
the healthcare needs comes up, it can be very daunting,

(48:40):
and it's very daunting also to read a policy and
to not know what to look for in them into
the in that plan, like you might look at the
premia and go, oh, I can afford that, and then
you don't know the rest of it. What potentially could
happen if you do have a directful disease and what
may what may happen. So we're here as advocates and
a resource to kind of educate and explain a little

(49:05):
bit more deeper into the into healthcare how some things work.
And you know, if indiepop our memberships are an alternative
which one might be the best fit for you. And
these these particular memberships do have that medical advocacy that
comes with the plans. They have membership services that they

(49:25):
can help you find the discounted labs or the imaging
center to go to, or you know, which pharmacy might
have a particular medication cheaper or can we go direct
to the manufacturer to get it. These are options that
many of us don't know that are that are out
there because we're so used to just getting the ID
card and following what you know, what's in that particular

(49:48):
network and that's it.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Yeah, yeah, so there's actually someone to call that actually
has your best interests at heart and will work with
you to get at the best for you. And that's
just that's like you said, it's putting some care back
into healthcare and not just you know, get your card
and then your world the dice. They're on your own,

(50:12):
you know. The The other thing is that you know
we're all on the same page, you know, in the
traditional setting. I mean, it just seems like there's such
adversarial relationship with it. I mean it certainly, as a physician,
I had an adversary relationship with the health insurance company
that didn't want to pay me for my work, you know,

(50:36):
so you know that really got old. I think you know,
this is a key different that the actual exchange is
working to help you find what you need. I mean,
I had never heard of going direct to a drug company,
except if it was some experimental something or other. Are

(51:00):
direct to a drug company to get the best price
on the medication. And certainly, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you
certainly didn't have the the insurance company trying to find
you the best price on your medication. And as you
said earlier, sometimes the copay was more than what it

(51:23):
would cost to pay for the drug out of pocket,
which makes absolutely no sense. But you know that's something
that people can do right now when they go to
the pharmacy say what's my copay? Well, how much it
would be out of pocket if I just paid for it?
And you might be surprised that you know, certain drugs

(51:43):
you know will cost less, which really begs the question
of well, is the insurance company really looking out for
you if the copay for your drug is more than
what the drug costs, that makes no sense.

Speaker 4 (51:57):
Well, I don't think they're looking out for you. When
when how for a for profit company? How do you
make profit? So it goes it just goes back to
you know, healthcare is it's a massive system and with
the top question we'll get asked every day is can
I keep my provider? And that relationship with your doctor
is so important and doctors don't want to lose patients

(52:18):
to networks that change every year, right right, And that's
confusing too. It's confusing for a front desk of a
doctor's office to be constantly explaining or you know, it
takes up a lot of time and everything. What the
nice thing about our memberships through indiepop is. In most
cases doctors will get paid the usual and customary rate

(52:40):
the day of the like let's say the visit, or
in some cases, in some of our plans, they reimburse
in forty five days. Cash Flow is a big issue
for independent practices, and to have that cash flow and
be paid and not have to go through all the paperwork.
It's boom, my patient case and they paid the CAFP

(53:01):
ride and it's done. The money is in the account.
The patient got the care that they needed with the
provider that they wanted to go to, and it's a
win win. It's a win for the providers and it's
a win for the patient. The continence there is such
a huge factor because you're a doctor, especially a family practitioner.
You know, and just look at you and go, she's

(53:22):
not smiling today. I know, Melissa, what's going on when
you're going to a new doctor every time, you know,
because of your insurance, it can be very jarring and
they can miss something. They don't know you, right, I'm
very high I'm speaking high level and from my own
personal experience, I hope i'm not, but it's true.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Really knows me, they know me. Yeah, But this is
an important point because I know when my had my practice,
every year people were getting different insurance, so they'd come
to me, and then the next year they'd go somewhere else,
and then the next year they had different insurance and
they'd come back. And that wasn't serving in anyone. And

(54:00):
as a physician, if you can, you know, maintain your
population of patients and they're not flopping back and forth,
then you have stability that you can count on and
to be able to get paid, know that you're going
to get paid in a few days and not have

(54:22):
to call and and constantly chase your money. I mean
I was one doctor and I had seven full time staff,
you know, and two of those people spent the majority
of their time chasing down payment from the insurance company.
When it's ridiculous, and you know, and it's difficult to

(54:45):
run a business in that way when you when you're
you're doing the work, later you're waiting to get paid.
So I thank you.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
I don't think thank you, thank you don't do that.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Yeah, thank you so much for joining me today. I
think that this is really informative for folks out there,
and it's indiepop dot Co O. Correct, that's correct.

Speaker 4 (55:16):
I N D I C O P dot co O. Yes,
that's correct, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
Yes, and go to the website. Check it out. Call
get yourself educated. Compare what you're paying now with with
what you're getting, and compare the two in exchange. And
particularly if you're I mean anybody, but particularly a small
business owner, self employed person, you know this is a

(55:40):
way to get care back into healthcare and to make
your dollar really work for you. So thank you, Melissa.
I appreciate your time with so much. Thank you, and
you stay well and folks will be back next week.
It'll be Martha Boone, urologist extraordinary and she'll be talking
about common urological issues and what you can do for

(56:02):
them and some important things to know about them. So
take care and stay well.

Speaker 4 (56:09):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
You've been listening to the Patti Conklin Show on healthylife
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