Episode 2207 notes

My guest today is a true expert on the topic: RPS Benefits by Design President and CEO, Maria Ahlers.

Learn more: https://www.rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com or call (913) 385-2224.

This is Season 22 Ep. 7 of America's Healthcare Advocate. I'm Cary Hall.

As always, if you need help or have something to share, contact me using this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, the issues you are dealing with, or any other health, healthcare, or health insurance questions or concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Episode 2207 Transcript:

00;00;14;24 - 00;00;34;27

Cary Hall

The studio with me today is Maria Ahlers. She is the president of RPS Benefits by Design. What we're going to talk about today will be of great interest to anybody out there that is a member of an association, a co-op. Maybe you're just a 1099 gig worker and you can't find health benefits. There is a solution for you and we think we've got it.

00;00;35;00 - 00;00;57;00

Cary Hall

And now America's Healthcare Advocate , Cary Hall. Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network. My producers day, Mister Dave Thiessen behind the cameras and Mr. Garner Cowdery behind the microphones, putting all this together so we can put this show out there on the air across country.

00;00;57;04 - 00;01;17;20

Cary Hall

For all of you that listen to the broadcast, and for those of you that like to go to the podcast platform, there are 16 of them. And there's also the YouTube channel. I think we're up to about 633,000 of you now have viewed us or downloaded us. So we greatly appreciate that, and we greatly appreciate the fact this is our 22nd year of doing this show.

00;01;17;23 - 00;01;40;15

Cary Hall

Absolutely amazing. Frankly, it is, I always say each week, if you are chronologically challenged or you're looking for ACA, you need to call the lovely Carolee Steele over at RPS Benefits by Design anywhere in the country. She can help you. If you've got a relative. You know, I just had a situation where I had a relative go into a nursing home facility, and we moved her plan to a different plan.

00;01;40;15 - 00;02;02;07

Cary Hall

That was a special needs model, and she did it all. She's remarkable what she does. So if you want help. 8773, eight, five, 22, 24 anywhere in the country, she's happy to help you. And I always tell you that if you're looking for employer sponsored health care, you did talk to the lovely Maria haulers, but today you can actually talk to her right here because she's on the air with me.

00;02;02;07 - 00;02;02;24

Cary Hall

Welcome back.

00;02;02;27 - 00;02;04;29

Maria Ahlers

Hi, Carrie. Nice to be back.

00;02;05;01 - 00;02;26;24

Cary Hall

It's great to have you back. We're going to have a I think we're going to have a really good show today. You know, it's interesting because we're going to focus on, on two things today. We're going to talk about what happens to folks that are 1099. And I'm looking at the show notes, as you said, over to, and I'm looking at this and, you know, they're 85 million people in this country that are ten, 99 employees.

00;02;26;26 - 00;02;31;10

Maria Ahlers

I did not know that. I know the, the landscape has changed for.

00;02;31;12 - 00;02;54;17

Cary Hall

In the next five years, that number will go to 110 million. Wow. Yeah, it's it's interesting because what I see happening to some degree is a lot of employers are shedding their whole. We have a client that, you know, we do we do business with it has, I think 30,000 brokers that work underneath them. They move them all from W2 to 1099.

00;02;54;19 - 00;02;57;25

Cary Hall

The cost of health care, health insurance was killing them.

00;02;57;25 - 00;02;58;22

Maria Ahlers

That's right.

00;02;58;25 - 00;03;15;21

Cary Hall

And they, they, they found it more economical to go to the 1099 model and let people make their own decisions. So it seems to me that's a part of the market just gets missed. I don't see I don't see a lot of concentration on it in terms of trying to find solutions for it.

00;03;15;25 - 00;03;39;24

Maria Ahlers

That's right. I mean, there isn't I think most of the employers, you know, I think a lot of this started with Covid when we went to remote working. Right. Remote worker like. Yeah. So a lot of it went to remote workers. And then they became 1099 contractors. And even to attract and retain those employees, HR sales have shown the top 2 or 3 reasons why employees work for companies is for benefits.

00;03;39;26 - 00;03;51;17

Maria Ahlers

So to keep your 1099 workers, you need to also have benefits. And they're forgotten about because they're contractors. They're not W-2 employees, but they still have the same needs as W-2 employees.

00;03;51;18 - 00;04;16;22

Cary Hall

And they can't be on a group health insurance policy because they're $10 employee. So even so, you know, we have a trucking firm up in Omaha that had 4000 truckers of that 4000, about 400 1099. They had no benefits for these folks. And as a result of that, they had massive turnover. They went you went to the PSM Population Science Managment, but GigCare model.

00;04;16;24 - 00;04;27;19

Cary Hall

Yeah. It is part of the detangle plan. And they offered that to their, to their drivers. And it worked out to be really well for them. So there are solutions. But you got to find the solutions Maria.

00;04;27;22 - 00;04;54;07

Maria Ahlers

That's right. And I think, you know, employers they are working within the traditional the traditional realm w-2s get benefits. 1099 don't that doesn't mean they don't deserve benefits. It's just again, trying to find carriers that will cover 1099 carriers. Most carriers won't cover 1099 GigCare workers. You know, your GigCare workers are your Uber drivers. They need medical benefits.

00;04;54;07 - 00;05;19;01

Maria Ahlers

They have families to support, hair salon stylists, realtors. You know they need medical benefits. We help a lot of realtors with getting their own medical benefits. And the and the benefit for the client is that there's no requirement on an employer contribution so they can contribute as much or as little as they want. So then it's more affordable for them.

00;05;19;01 - 00;05;39;00

Cary Hall

I'll go back to the conversation about the trucking firm. Actually they're in Lincoln, Nebraska, not Omaha. What they did to to help offset the cost of the plan. And they used GigCare. That's the plan. They used, the, the Population Science Management GigCare plan was they added a bonus to their, to their monthly. That's right.

00;05;39;02 - 00;05;58;09

Cary Hall

And it was based on the number of miles they drove. Yeah. So there was a creative way to give these people money to say, okay, if you're signing up for this, for this health benefit plan, GigCare, then we're going to go ahead and we're going to contribute X number dollars to your plan every month based on your driving a minimum number of miles, whatever the case may be.

00;05;58;09 - 00;06;10;08

Cary Hall

But here's what happened with that, which is interesting. They they their turnover started dropping because unlike the other trucking firms, they had health benefits.

00;06;10;10 - 00;06;36;10

Maria Ahlers

Yeah, we are actually we work with a lot of co-ops and associations. And we've heard that a lot is that they're they're the retention has gone up because they're able to offer benefits. And GigCare is also more agile in the fact that you can enroll. There's no open enrollment, there's no minimum contribution. It's pretty easy plan to pick out.

00;06;36;10 - 00;06;52;11

Maria Ahlers

We have HSAs, we have PPO, we even have an EPO. And it's on three different major carriers network. The the prescription is there so it's more agile for everyone. The 29 1099 contractor and the employer.

00;06;52;13 - 00;07;11;04

Cary Hall

Up until this product came in the market. And and it's different because the rates are universal. Yeah. So our rates so very state by state. You brought up ACA. There is no open roll up. You can roll in GigCare any any time of year you want to enroll. And the rate in Kansas is the same rate as California.

00;07;11;06 - 00;07;21;00

Cary Hall

The rate the rate in Missouri is the same rate as Florida. So our rates don't variable state by state basis like ACA because he is governed by the State Department, that's for sure.

00;07;21;02 - 00;07;37;06

Maria Ahlers

That's right. Yeah. It's it's done by your age your your health history. Yeah. And what coverage level you on employee employee child employee spouse family. And it's on three large major carriers network.

00;07;37;12 - 00;07;54;01

Cary Hall

Yeah we're very fortunate to have that the Blue Cross and Cigna. As partners of ours depending on what plan you pick and where you are, that we're able to offer those plans and they make a big difference. And so you have national coverage this is another thing too. And we're going to go to a break here pretty quick.

00;07;54;01 - 00;07;57;09

Cary Hall

But I just want to bring this up. We don't have a narrow network plan.

00;07;57;09 - 00;07;58;07

Maria Ahlers

No.

00;07;58;10 - 00;08;00;07

Cary Hall

Every ACA play my right or wrong.

00;08;00;08 - 00;08;05;13

Maria Ahlers

That's right. It's as if you're on a group benefit. It feels and looks like it but it's your own individual.

00;08;05;17 - 00;08;22;25

Cary Hall

Yeah, yeah. So these are national networks. They are not narrow networks. So then the one of the ways that the carriers control costs, they have to because these plans they use high Aetna pull out of the market completely left a million people without health insurance on ACA because they were losing so much money they couldn't keep doing it.

00;08;22;28 - 00;08;42;03

Cary Hall

So they narrow the network because if you control access, you control costs. Our plants aren't set up like that. We're on their top tier PPO network. So across the country you have if you want to go to MD Anderson, you have cancer, you want to go to Sloan-Kettering or, you know, whatever, you know, specialty hospital you want to go to.

00;08;42;11 - 00;08;44;18

Cary Hall

It's not out of network. That's right. It's in.

00;08;44;18 - 00;09;02;27

Maria Ahlers

Network. That's right. It's one of the larger carrier networks. And the prescription cost is is the same. You know, we find that a lot of our, our clients are really concerned about prescription costs. And it looks and feels the same as a group benefit except it's an individual plan. You have your tiered, you know, your $10 copay, your $20 copay, your $25 copay.

00;09;03;02 - 00;09;18;19

Maria Ahlers

So it looks and feels the same way. And I think that's really why people are drawn to it, is it looks and feels the same way. It's their own benefits they have. They can keep the same providers and maintain their prescriptions. Yeah.

00;09;18;26 - 00;09;38;18

Cary Hall

So when we come back to the break, we'll talk a little bit more about that. Some of the innovative things that are happening on GigCare that you might find interesting, like drug importation and foundational assistance. We're talking about all about that. But I got back from the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Networkcoast to coast across USA.

00;09;38;18 - 00;09;58;04

Cary Hall

If you want to reach out to Maria. 877385 2224 I'm sure that Hannah who her executive assistant be happy to chat with you and get you in front of Maria. If you're looking for any of these kinds of coverage for an association, for realtors, whatever the case may be, they are more than happy to help you out. RPS Benefits by Design.

00;09;58;04 - 00;10;07;14

Cary Hall

Stay right there. We'll be right back after the break.

00;10;07;16 - 00;10;31;07

Cary Hall

You. Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate s Show, broadcasting coast to coast across USA. I want to give a shout out to 14:42 a.m.. RJ, the big talker in Topeka, Kansas. Very happy to have them as part of our America's Healthcare Advocate family. A great station up there in Topeka that carries her show The Big Talker.

00;10;31;07 - 00;10;50;10

Cary Hall

1440 k MJ. All right, so let's switch gears a little bit now because, you know, this is another issue. The ACA plans are boxed in by CMS, the centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services that tell them what they can do and what they can't do. We're not a CMS plan. No, we're not. We're regulated by a Reso, which is the Department of Labor.

00;10;50;10 - 00;11;14;11

Cary Hall

It's a totally different model that we have in place. And that model, which was set up under Population Science Management, as you mentioned, a large group plan, but individual coverage underneath that plan, which is GigCare. So what we did, what what with PSM and and and with GigCare was we start a drug importation program. We have our own PBM.

00;11;14;13 - 00;11;22;05

Cary Hall

As you know, if somebody needs a medication that is outrageously expensive here, we'll bring it in from Canada, New Zealand, Australia.

00;11;22;11 - 00;11;24;26

Maria Ahlers

Which then helps to reduce the cost.

00;11;24;29 - 00;11;51;07

Cary Hall

That's right. So, so the the craze over the weight loss drugs okay. When all this first started $1,100 a month if you didn't qualify as a type two diabetic under ACA, we brought that drug in for $89 from Canada. Okay. Versus 1100. That's just an example. I mean, Humira is another one. You know, where our cost is significantly different than what you're going to see out there, on the ACA plans.

00;11;51;07 - 00;11;59;25

Cary Hall

Because first of all, we're not trying to make a profit off of the medications. And all the carriers that that's part of the formula.

00;11;59;27 - 00;12;20;14

Maria Ahlers

That's right. I mean, you're you're really coming down to the needs of the individuals that really need the prescription. And you're finding ways I mean, we're talking about it in the political climate that we're in right now to of reducing the drug, drug costs. That's one of the biggest pieces we see a certain.

00;12;20;19 - 00;12;21;24

Cary Hall

Set of, of of.

00;12;21;24 - 00;12;42;17

Maria Ahlers

Spend. That's right. And when we look at group group renewals where a company comes up for renewal and they get a renewal rate, we're able to, depending on what plan they're on, if they're on a self-insured or level funded plan, we can actually look under the hood. And what we see a lot inside carry is a lot of that renewal rate increase is because of prescription costs.

00;12;42;19 - 00;13;06;13

Cary Hall

You have 1 or 2 people taking two major expensive drugs. And what everybody gets to pay now the whole group is going to be penalized because you've got one person over here on Humera or one person on some other major medication, that it's covered, but it's going to be reflected back in the premium. Our situation is very different because, we're we'll do drug importation.

00;13;06;19 - 00;13;19;15

Maria Ahlers

And not to mention you also do prescription assistance. So if someone can't afford a prescription, you have the company has some client care specialists that will help find a way to get that funding.

00;13;19;17 - 00;13;39;14

Cary Hall

It's called script date. And what you're talking about is foundational assistance and what we do. I'm going to give you an example here. You have a child on a growth hormone. It's over $100,000 a year. Well, most people cannot afford that. Obviously you can apply to foundational services to get that drug for free and have it drop shipped to your door.

00;13;39;14 - 00;13;59;11

Cary Hall

So what do we do? We have nurses. This is their job. They do all paperwork. There's a lot of paperwork. Yeah, okay. And then that paperwork goes to the doctor who in turn submits it to the pharmaceutical manufacturer. They approve it and it. And then that medication is sent. You can't do that on ACA. And you know how I found out about this?

00;13;59;13 - 00;14;18;21

Cary Hall

We had a broker in Fort Worth, Texas, whose child needed the growth hormone. He was on an ACA plan. They didn't have any coverage for it. It's basically it's not on the formulary. Sorry. It's not covered. And he was trying to figure out how he was going to pay for this, because you got to do whatever you have to do for your child.

00;14;18;22 - 00;14;19;08

Maria Ahlers

That's right.

00;14;19;10 - 00;14;26;26

Cary Hall

Let's be real. Well, we turned around to drug importation and put him on one of our plans, and he got the medication for free.

00;14;26;29 - 00;15;01;07

Maria Ahlers

I think this GigCare really fills a gap in our community that has been by far, long needed. We have people who are gig workers that need these care, these these plans and the ACA plans don't meet everybody's needs. We had a client that's in Australia. They're standing up a couple of virtual offices here. One of them is a virtual radiology office.

00;15;01;09 - 00;15;17;20

Maria Ahlers

Well, radiologists there, they want medical plan coverage. And they so they reached out to us because they heard that we were doing GigCare, and we were able to sign them up on it. And not everybody has to pick the same plan. That's the beauty.

00;15;17;20 - 00;15;19;09

Cary Hall

That's the other thing. You're right.

00;15;19;10 - 00;15;43;28

Maria Ahlers

You know, everybody can pick what works for them. And it's easy to understand. And that makes it easy for everyone. You know, going back to to the growth hormones, I had a girlfriend. She was on one of the major carriers plan, and the the stairways were costing her several thousand dollars a month. And so she asked me, she's like, Maria, is are there other solutions?

00;15;44;00 - 00;15;46;04

Maria Ahlers

And at the time there wasn't and there are.

00;15;46;04 - 00;16;08;02

Cary Hall

So yeah, there are. So it's having to will you just do what needs to be done. So you brought some attention. You brought up radiology. So Cat scans, CT scans, MRI eyes, all of that on an ACA plan. You're going to hit the deductible. That's right. You're going to hit the co-insurance. So now let's say the hospital says, well, we want to do a CT scan and it's $1,600.

00;16;08;04 - 00;16;12;10

Cary Hall

You're probably going to eat the largest part of that. Under our plan. They get a.

00;16;12;10 - 00;16;22;19

Maria Ahlers

Voucher. They do. They can go to one of the locations that that GigCare works with. And they can go there, give him the voucher and get taken care of.

00;16;22;19 - 00;16;42;08

Cary Hall

No, no deductible donation copay. And the plan is called green imaging. And what they do is they contract with a. Just heard me to talk about virtual radiology. These people contract with independent radiology centers around the country. We have a contract with them. We can send our people there. We pay for it, okay. And they don't have a deductible, coinsurance or anything else.

00;16;42;10 - 00;16;45;13

Cary Hall

So that's another idea of what separates us.

00;16;45;16 - 00;17;10;17

Maria Ahlers

Well, there's lots of ideas that separate you. There's a telemedicine piece, EAP we know mental health is very important. There's and even even though it's not a group traditional plan, you still get the preventive care for free. They also have their diet thrive, which is their diabetic program that they help you with. So there's lots of other things underneath this product.

00;17;10;21 - 00;17;31;13

Cary Hall

Yeah, yeah. You mentioned the telemedicine piece of our telemedicine piece is called My Life Doc. And the beauty of that is especially people are rural communities, you know, where they have to drive 45 minutes, sometimes an hour to get to a primary care doc. You can go up 24 over seven if you like the doctor, you can keep the same doctor and just keep going back to the doctor.

00;17;31;16 - 00;17;48;01

Cary Hall

The same thing with urgent care. You know, I always use the example of mom comes home from work at 530, 6:00 at night. Johnny's got pinkeye. She's got to drive to urgent care. No you don't. You go up on my live, doc, get him in front of the computer. Doctor says you've got conjunctivitis. Johnny. I'm going to give you a prescription.

00;17;48;01 - 00;17;48;26

Cary Hall

That took 15.

00;17;48;26 - 00;17;52;07

Maria Ahlers

Minutes. And if you go to urgent care, there's also a copay.

00;17;52;07 - 00;17;54;00

Cary Hall

Oh, yeah. There's no copay.

00;17;54;00 - 00;17;54;07

Maria Ahlers

Here.

00;17;54;07 - 00;18;13;18

Cary Hall

That's right. There's no copay to go out of pocket. So basically, you could accomplish the same thing. And the other piece that is really interesting is that we do behavioral health. And that's four visits for every person on this plan. And in today's world, with the social media pressure on these kids, having to be able to talk to somebody could make a big difference.

00;18;13;22 - 00;18;15;19

Maria Ahlers

And you can do that also virtually. Yes.

00;18;15;22 - 00;18;16;02

Cary Hall

All time.

00;18;16;03 - 00;18;20;11

Maria Ahlers

Virtually. Again, it's correct. It's it's accessible to anywhere that you live.

00;18;20;13 - 00;18;42;10

Cary Hall

If you want information on this 877385 2224, maybe you're in an association or you're in a farmer's co-op, or you're in a realty group and you guys don't have coverage or gals. Okay. And maybe what you've got is ridiculously priced. You're on ACA, subsidies are gone. You're paying maybe 1000 $1,200 a month. We see a lot of people paying those kind of numbers.

00;18;42;15 - 00;19;18;14

Cary Hall

This plan is significantly different. Maria can help you. 877385 2224 anywhere in the country. Their website rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com. Go on it, send them an email. They'll be happy to help you. I'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to Coast Cross, USA.

00;19;18;16 - 00;19;36;12

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across USA. Here on the Issue Radio Network, you can find out more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate .com. If you have a question. If you need help with something, feel free to reach out to me. We'll be happy to get back to you.

00;19;36;15 - 00;20;00;07

Cary Hall

So let's switch gears now. You know we're learning. This is shocking me, frankly, to be honest with you, I had no idea there were as many associations out there. Yes, as I mean, Maria, it is just unbelievable. There's an associate. There's actually an association for all of the 1099 workers. I didn't even know this who work at Home Depot, menards and all these big box stores.

00;20;00;13 - 00;20;08;25

Cary Hall

If you need an icemaker installed in your refrigerator and you buy it there, they these are the guys and gals that come out and do it. There's an association of these people.

00;20;08;26 - 00;20;10;02

Maria Ahlers

There's an association.

00;20;10;04 - 00;20;35;04

Cary Hall

They've got like 40,000 people. This association. Well, Intel, they connected with the US. They had no health benefits. Okay. You know, we've got a farm co-op, in, in in Nebraska with 40,000 members. And, they've never had benefits to offer. And now they do. So talk a little bit about how this benefits it. We're talking specifically to people out there involved in association.

00;20;35;10 - 00;20;44;10

Cary Hall

Your association has no benefits. How do you set this up and how does it work. So it's not complicated. Now they need to understand you're the one that's actually making all this happen.

00;20;44;10 - 00;21;09;17

Maria Ahlers

That's right. It's simple. You call our phone number that you can find on our website the Benefits by Sign Inc website. You call in one of our good care consultants, ask you some questions. If you pass the medical, the overriding, then we'll go through and see what your budget is and and ask you what kind of plans you're looking for.

00;21;09;19 - 00;21;14;18

Maria Ahlers

And then we help you enroll and then then you get your card in the mail.

00;21;14;20 - 00;21;38;10

Cary Hall

So the say the CEO of the association comes and says, you know what? We really we think this is a pretty good plan. Talk about how you implement that. How do you market that outbound marketing, messaging, email, text, talk about all the things that you do to help them get people on the planet. Oh, by the way, every association that does this gets a $10 marketing fee every month for helping promote the GigCare plan, right?

00;21;38;11 - 00;21;56;19

Maria Ahlers

That's right. What we do is we work with the association and we try to understand what works for them. As far as what that roadmap looks like. To roll this out, we will get them a dedicated phone line, which then we become their benefits team. So then their employees can call us or their 1099 contractors can call us.

00;21;56;22 - 00;22;18;03

Maria Ahlers

We will do the marketing for them. We will send out emails, we will do outbound calls. We will, meet with them in person. So then what? So then we will do the enrollment for them. We'll help them find a plan, make sure their providers are getting their their prescription, their prescriptions are covered. And then do the enrollment for them.

00;22;18;06 - 00;22;21;24

Maria Ahlers

And then if they have any questions, they just call us or they call the GigCare team.

00;22;21;24 - 00;22;23;00

Cary Hall

Same thing with farm co-ops.

00;22;23;01 - 00;22;51;02

Maria Ahlers

Yep. Everybody. Everybody's the same. We have a general line that if you are a 1099 and you just need medical coverage, you can just call our general line. If you're with a co-op, an association, a realtor group, a franchise group, an organization that has and we have a client that has about 410, 99 contractors that works in a warehouse, installing, widgets.

00;22;51;05 - 00;22;57;25

Maria Ahlers

And they need medical care. So we we become their benefits team for their 1099 contractors and their w-2s.

00;22;58;00 - 00;23;22;22

Cary Hall

And we've also got you've also got a client who has 400 franchises. They service. That's right. They are now on board gate care. So talk about how that's going to work. And for franchisees who you know, the the manager of that particular let's say you know, sub shop or pizza shop or, or whatever the facility is, if it's a franchise, you're able to offer plan.

00;23;22;22 - 00;23;24;13

Cary Hall

So how do you how does that all work?

00;23;24;14 - 00;23;47;10

Maria Ahlers

You know, I think you brought in a really good point, Kerry. We have employers that have W-2 employees, and through the renewal it may have increased, but they have one or 2 or 3 employees and they still want to provide those employees with benefits. They qualify for GigCare. So that's just like the franchise owners. The franchise owners have a small team.

00;23;47;14 - 00;23;57;25

Maria Ahlers

They call us, and we work with them to determine what works best for their their employees. And same thing. We become their, their benefits team.

00;23;57;27 - 00;24;10;27

Cary Hall

So that has to make a difference, Maria, in terms of retention and recruitment, because the second question that a potential employee always asks after what am I going to get paid is what are my benefits?

00;24;10;28 - 00;24;33;08

Maria Ahlers

That's right. What are my benefits? And we'll create the marketing tools for them, the benefits booklet for them so they can have it. We want our small employers to feel and look just like a big employer. They can offer benefits. They have growth opportunities. They have a great culture. Those are all the things small, small organizations have to.

00;24;33;10 - 00;24;41;22

Maria Ahlers

What they need is a solution for medical. Because of the because of the Department of Labor, of insurance.

00;24;41;24 - 00;25;03;11

Cary Hall

Yeah. Let's talk about realtors have it because we have found this is an area that, you know, I was somewhat surprised. I'm, I get I'm going to tell you a quick story here. Well, we have a broker in Nebraska who had a client in Florida, and that client was paying 2200. No, excuse me, $3,200 a month, for health insurance for himself and his wife.

00;25;03;11 - 00;25;28;04

Cary Hall

Now, he was 57, 58 years old. Whatever the case may be. Well, he paid he paid it. He was on. He was on a Blue Cross Blue shield plan in Florida. And then he got his ACA premium increase and it went to $5,000 a month. Wow. Can you imagine? That's a house payment and a half. Okay. So the the our broker in Nebraska knew him personally how he put him on get care.

00;25;28;04 - 00;25;31;26

Cary Hall

We put him on gig K for $1,200 a month.

00;25;31;28 - 00;25;33;10

Maria Ahlers

I have a better plan.

00;25;33;10 - 00;25;49;01

Cary Hall

That's a better plan. No. Now network national coverage, prescription drugs, the whole nine yards, 1200. I was blown away. Now, the rates in Florida are extremely high. They put through huge increases last year, but, that's just one example.

00;25;49;02 - 00;26;15;00

Maria Ahlers

We hear stories like that all the time. I had an attorney down in Texas. He has a couple of 1099 paralegals that work for him. His problem is retention because they need medical benefits. He heard about us. He called us. He was paying for his family. 20, 23, 2400. He came to us and we were able to reduce it to 1500, 15, 1600.

00;26;15;02 - 00;26;31;28

Maria Ahlers

He was able to offer benefits to his paralegals. Realtors are the same thing. They get offered a association wide plans, but they're so expensive. Their group plans. Yeah, their group plans. And they're so expensive. And sometimes they don't even fit their families well.

00;26;31;28 - 00;26;50;23

Cary Hall

And the other thing is, what happened with a lot of these realtor associations is a realtor groups is that they go into these things thinking it's going to be a solution. Then the rates just keep going up. And what happens? All the healthy people bail, right? And then you're left with this group of people that are not healthy at all.

00;26;50;26 - 00;27;10;18

Cary Hall

And the rates are double, triple what they were to start with. So for realtors, this is a great solution. If you're a broker running a realtor office, you know I don't care who you are. If you're Keller Williams or your Remax, or you're Better Homes and Gardens or South Bays or whatever the case may be. This is a hell of a solution for them, isn't it?

00;27;10;24 - 00;27;27;02

Maria Ahlers

It is. It's we've heard a lot from realtors that they have found this solution better than what they've been offered. I think the the the main point here, Kerry, is good care works for a large group of people that have been forgotten.

00;27;27;05 - 00;27;48;23

Cary Hall

Yeah, there is no solution out there for these folks. You know, when we first designed this plan that did go with Population Science Management, our company that actually owns the plan, good care. It the, the we were the folks of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Nebraska came to us with a very large group. They were they were moving off the DB2 on the 1099 and that's why we did it.

00;27;48;26 - 00;28;00;10

Cary Hall

And then we realized, Holy cow, there are 85 million people out there. 88 million people that don't have that are 1099 that are struggling for coverage. And if they have to buy ACA plans, you just gave examples.

00;28;00;16 - 00;28;06;18

Maria Ahlers

Well, you also think about the the kids that are aging off of their parents plan too, right?

00;28;06;18 - 00;28;07;23

Cary Hall

I hadn't even thought of that. Yes.

00;28;07;25 - 00;28;28;05

Maria Ahlers

So you're hitting a lot of different demographics on on this product that can fill their need. Kids who are aging off of their their parents plan, 26 year olds, they need a plan. And this is again, we're on Aetna, Cigna and BlueCross BlueShield of Nebraska network. Yeah. Why not.

00;28;28;07 - 00;28;49;08

Cary Hall

Yeah. Can and by the way that that Blue and Braska network has what's called the blue card which then gives you access nationally to all the Blue Cross and blue shield plans. That's why we were able to offer Blue Cross and Blue Shield, as we do, across the country. When we come back from the break, we'll, we'll dive in a little more on some of the examples we've seen.

00;28;49;10 - 00;29;12;05

Cary Hall

And some of the differences. This is made for people, whether it's franchisees, franchisors, whether it's co-ops or whether it's associations. As Maria said, there's a solution here. You do have to pick up the phone and give them a call if you want some help. 877385 2224 pick up the phone. Call them. Ask for Maria. You'll probably get Hannah first.

00;29;12;07 - 00;29;29;13

Cary Hall

Her executive assistant. And she's wonderful. Okay. And then she can talk to you about putting is in play for your association, your co-op. Maybe you're not on the board of directors, but maybe you're just a member. Well, you might want to be the one that brings us to their attention and say, you know what? We could be doing this and it would make a big difference.

00;29;29;20 - 00;29;53;15

Cary Hall

Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across USA. The website is our rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com. Stay right there. We'll be right back after the break.

00;29;53;17 - 00;30;16;18

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network in studio with me Maria Ahlers, she is the president of Benefits by Design. We are talking about 1099 workers out there. There are 88 million of you, I believe, now going to go up to over 110 million next five years.

00;30;16;20 - 00;30;33;29

Cary Hall

And you may not even be a GigCare worker. You may just be somebody that's part of an association. Or maybe you are a GigCare worker and you're part of an association that, as I talked about earlier, installs appliances for Menards or Home Depot, whatever the case may be. Or maybe you're in a farm co-op.

00;30;34;02 - 00;30;42;04

Cary Hall

Some of the other folks that that Maria that we're seeing have tremendous interest is playing some of the other groups that you've talked to.

00;30;42;06 - 00;31;01;05

Maria Ahlers

A manufacturing organization that has about 400 GigCare workers, that installs Wi-Fi in the in the, in the, in the warehouse. We have telemedicine. Radiologists that are needing GigCare are needing some sort of medical care attorneys office.

00;31;01;08 - 00;31;07;00

Cary Hall

That's what I had not thought of attorneys because I thought most attorneys offered a full blown benefits plan, but evidently not.

00;31;07;00 - 00;31;12;05

Maria Ahlers

No, no. I mean, if they have a small firm, they they have 2 or 3.

00;31;12;06 - 00;31;13;23

Cary Hall

They have the same problem anybody else has.

00;31;13;24 - 00;31;45;16

Maria Ahlers

They do CPA offices where they have 2 or 3 employees that need GigCare, some sort of medical care. We have associations, like you said, of all kinds. You know, whether it's CEO associations, water associations, just a plethora of, of different organizations. We have just a person who is a plumber, and he has his own LLC and needs GigCare for himself.

00;31;45;16 - 00;31;48;08

Maria Ahlers

I mean, it's just it just fits with everybody.

00;31;48;08 - 00;32;10;05

Cary Hall

Yeah. It's interesting. You made me think of a category of a story of a group. We did. This is a group of the independent anesthesiologists, and this company managed the anesthesiologists. Kind of like our friend that owns the franchise management firm Franchise Resource. Luke Torrey, same same thing. But they do anesthesiologists, they schedule them and get them in, and they get them paid and all the rest of it.

00;32;10;07 - 00;32;23;00

Cary Hall

Then you have any health benefits. And when they saw what we could do with great care, they immediately put in place a lot of these anesthesiologists, E.R. docs and E.R. nurses, their contract doctors.

00;32;23;00 - 00;32;23;16

Maria Ahlers

That's right.

00;32;23;16 - 00;32;29;07

Cary Hall

And contract employees, contract nurses, anesthesia. And they do not have coverage under the hospital.

00;32;29;08 - 00;32;58;24

Maria Ahlers

That's right. Yeah. They they. Right. They they're they're contractors. And so they need medical insurance. We have, a physical therapist office where they do physical therapy, and their therapists are 1099 contractors. And so they need they needed medical insurance. So it's nice for us as a broker to be able to pivot and provide a solution for everyone.

00;32;58;27 - 00;33;05;13

Maria Ahlers

You know, we can do group benefits, we can do Medicare, we can do ACA, but now we can also help the 1099.

00;33;05;16 - 00;33;21;25

Cary Hall

And by the way, you know, if you are broker and you're listening to this, all you gotta do is call Maria. They'll be happy to get you involved in GigCare. They'll set it up with you, the whole structure and make it work. And they'll walk you through it, get you trained. If you need to call center, they've got the call center.

00;33;21;25 - 00;33;40;08

Cary Hall

They can do the whole nine yards. So if you're a broker out there and maybe that you've been trying to knock on the door or some of these groups, you couldn't get in the door, but you've got a product now, okay. You can give Maria calls. She'll be happy to get you set up underneath her agency as a GA and you could move forward with these plans, but it is amazing to me what I've learned in the last three years.

00;33;40;08 - 00;33;52;07

Cary Hall

We've had this plan out now for four years is, the, the, the width and depth of this market of. I never knew associations. You know, this mini association.

00;33;52;07 - 00;33;52;20

Maria Ahlers

Co-Ops.

00;33;52;20 - 00;34;11;21

Cary Hall

Out there. Okay. Farm co-ops, kind of new, but not really. Yeah. Okay. And, and and now, you know, there's a model that fits their needs and they can each individual, you know, you can pick an HSA plan if you want a really low premium, you're 50 years old. You don't have a lot of medical issues that may work for you.

00;34;11;21 - 00;34;22;14

Cary Hall

But if you're not, if you're 30 years old and you've got 2 or 3 little tricycle motors running around the house, that's right. And you need to have, urgent care and E.R. there's a plan that fits your needs as well.

00;34;22;18 - 00;34;44;26

Maria Ahlers

This these plans are there's so many options, and you can pick the network you want to be on, whether you want to be the Cigna network, the net network, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska network. You can pick the deductibles that you want. You know, in most group insurance, the, the organization picks the plans to offer their employee size 44 overcoat.

00;34;44;26 - 00;34;46;01

Cary Hall

Does it fit everything?

00;34;46;03 - 00;35;06;18

Maria Ahlers

That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah. The other piece to this is what I get asked a lot is what about compliance? Do I have to complete any forms? No, there's no forms for employers to worry about. There's no Cobra that the employee needs the employers need to worry about. This is a plan that is with the individual under a group umbrella.

00;35;06;24 - 00;35;36;21

Cary Hall

Yeah. And and if the employer chooses to make a contribution, it's. That's right. That goes into the paycheck. And that's, that's the way the trucking firm in Lincoln, Nebraska did it because I use that example. So there are ways to make this work. And, and and this is an opportunity. This is why we wanted to do this show today was so that you could hear this coast to coast and understand that if you are one of these groups and you are this intrigued, you, you're you're curious, you're interested, you want to know more about it.

00;35;36;24 - 00;35;38;20

Cary Hall

This thing can make a lot of sense for a lot of people.

00;35;38;20 - 00;35;48;00

Maria Ahlers

Maria. It really can. It. Again, like I said, it is a solution that has been a gap in our medical care.

00;35;48;05 - 00;36;05;11

Cary Hall

So I have to tell you a quick story. So we had a large co-op who came to us and I think it's like 40, 40 or 50,000 people. And we put the plan in place for them. They said, can we get an exclusive? And we're like, well, no, we don't really do that. But I was curious, why do you want inclusive?

00;36;05;16 - 00;36;14;00

Cary Hall

Oh, because we want to go see how many members we can take away from these other co-ops because they don't have any benefit plans. And I'm like, Holy cow, I never thought of that.

00;36;14;00 - 00;36;14;11

Maria Ahlers

I didn't.

00;36;14;14 - 00;36;34;01

Cary Hall

So I will say this if you're looking to attract new members, this is a great way to do it. I mean, we've got some pretty diverse groups out there. We have the National Hot Rod Association. That's right. The NRA, the guys you see on television, on ESPN every Saturday and Sunday, racing those drag cars at 300 miles an hour, those funny cars down that quarter mile.

00;36;34;05 - 00;36;39;05

Cary Hall

Those guys are actually part of GigCare now. So, I mean, it's amazing to me.

00;36;39;05 - 00;36;45;10

Maria Ahlers

And, you know, to your point, some carriers won't even cover. So no certain industries or certain jobs.

00;36;45;11 - 00;36;45;21

Cary Hall

No.

00;36;45;25 - 00;36;47;09

Maria Ahlers

This doesn't do.

00;36;47;09 - 00;36;56;00

Cary Hall

That. Yeah. If you're you so you know, if you're if you've got ten day night construction workers to work for you and you're a general contractor, this is a great solution for them.

00;36;56;02 - 00;37;03;24

Maria Ahlers

Yeah. We had a company that they have, stunt men and.

00;37;04;01 - 00;37;05;04

Cary Hall

These stunt movie.

00;37;05;04 - 00;37;08;02

Maria Ahlers

Stunt men, and they couldn't get insurance coverage for them.

00;37;08;03 - 00;37;08;25

Cary Hall

Right.

00;37;08;27 - 00;37;10;04

Maria Ahlers

And GigCare was the solution.

00;37;10;07 - 00;37;35;25

Cary Hall

That's remarkable. You know, the reason we do these shows is to educate and inform. And that's why I asked Maria to come in here today and talk about this. And again, if you're in any of these groups that we talked about, associations, co-ops, your realtors, maybe you're you're you belong to a group of, you know, independent E.R. docs or anesthesiologists or maybe you're one of those Fedex drivers that drives the Fedex ground delivery trucks.

00;37;35;27 - 00;37;59;26

Cary Hall

I found out all those guys and gals are 1099. If you want this product, you want to learn about it. 877-385-2224 ask for Maria. We'll probably get Hannah first hand. We'll get you set up. And then, you can have a conversation about how to do this. And the website is rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com. rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com.

00;38;00;04 - 00;38;01;23

Cary Hall

Thank you Maria for coming in today.

00;38;01;24 - 00;38;02;21

Maria Ahlers

Thank you for having me.

00;38;02;21 - 00;38;17;25

Cary Hall

Well it was great. I, I think we're going to help a lot of people with this. So I'm happy that we're able to do it. And now I leave you to start from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd to usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone will likely find himself in places no one has ever been.

00;38;17;27 - 00;38;35;28

Cary Hall

Remember, friends, it's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate s Show. Broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Goodbye America.

00;38;36;00 - 00;38;42;20

Cary Hall