Episode 2202 notes

How Associations like UASA are finding GigCare offers their employees’ health benefits at a better price

Today we are talking about the United Appliance Servicers Association and how GigCare is working for their members 1099/contract employees.

Developed by Detego, the PSM Nebraska GigCare 1099 Worker Program is now helping associations in ways previously unavailable or cost prohibitive.

Debbie Klintworth talks about how the United Appliance Servicers Association (UASA) has found GigCare to be the solution.

John Kuhlmann explains the details that make the ACA/Obamacare overly expensive and difficult and why GigCare approaches health benefits in a way that is opposite of how the major carriers do it for health benefits and for drugs.

Learn for about Debbie's companies: https://sloanappliance.com/ and https://www.d3sservice.com/

Connect with John Kuhlmann: https://kuhlmannfin.com/

This is season 22 Episode 2 of America’s Healthcare Advocate. I’m Cary Hall.

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

00;00;12;27 - 00;00;25;26

Cary Hall

We have two guests in studio today. Debbie Klintworth and John Kuhlmann. Why Debbie Klintworth is using the GigCare program. And why associations are adopting it. And John Kuhlmann is going to talk about that and all the associations he works with.

00;00;25;26 - 00;00;34;28

Cary Hall

If you're a small business, if you're an association member, maybe you're a director. You want to listen to this show. Stay tuned, listen and learn.

00;00;35;01 - 00;00;39;09

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;39;12 - 00;00;55;07

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting Coast to coast across USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com. You have a question or comment? Send it to me. I get a lot of emails.

00;00;55;07 - 00;01;15;26

Cary Hall

I answer each and every one of them. You can also find these shows on our 16 podcast platforms like iHeart, Spotify and Rumble. That's just three of the 16 and our YouTube channel, which is America's Healthcare Advocate, where we've got about 608,000 views right now between that and the podcast platform. And that's because of all of you out there in the listening audience.

00;01;15;26 - 00;01;36;17

Cary Hall

So we're very happy about that. Want to thank all you for that. All right. In studio today we are going to do something a little different. We have guests in here today, and we’re going to be talking about the United Appliance Servicers Association. And you may be asking what is that got to do with health care? Well, we’re going to be talking about GigCare and how GigCare works for 1099 employees.

00;01;36;17 - 00;01;49;20

Cary Hall

And in studio with me today, I have Debbie Klintworth, and she is the CEO of Sloan Appliance in Carolina, or D3S Appliance Services in Texas. The two companies welcome. Very happy to have you here today.

00;01;49;20 - 00;01;50;26

Debbie Klintworth

Thank you so much for having me.

00;01;50;26 - 00;02;10;05

Cary Hall

And we've got an old veteran in here with us today. John Kuhlmann's back for another show. So welcome back John. Thanks for joining the group. We're happy to have you on board. And by the way, speaking of radio affiliates, we have a brand new affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire. WFEA am one of our brand new affiliates in Manchester, New Hampshire.

00;02;10;05 - 00;02;24;23

Cary Hall

We're on there from seven in the morning to eight in the morning. We want to welcome them to the family and we're very happy to have them on board. So thank you all so much. So, you know, let me just start out with appliance repair. This is really kind of interesting. So I live in a house is three years old.

00;02;24;23 - 00;02;41;01

Cary Hall

We just built it. I bet you I've had an appliance repairman out to that house no less than 10 or 11 times. So we had the wine refrigerator go. We had the ovens where the temperature wasn't right. We had the hood section that wasn't working. We had the heat lamp outside that kept going off that we couldn't get on.

00;02;41;03 - 00;02;56;09

Cary Hall

And luckily for us, every one of these people from these different companies that we called have sent out quality people. They did a great job. They're very polite and, and and they fixed it. So, you know, like I always tell my wife, you know, I can fix anything. All I need to do is get on the phone, okay?

00;02;56;16 - 00;03;18;16

Cary Hall

So having so having a group in here like these folks today, United Appliance Servicers Association and Debbie in here, who owns two companies that belong to this association. First of all, just talk about the association for a few minutes. And this is the last thing I would have ever thought of. There was actually an association of appliance repair people, but it makes perfect sense.

00;03;18;23 - 00;03;24;28

Cary Hall

So talk a little bit about that and why you are in that. And a lot of other people with companies like yours.

00;03;25;00 - 00;03;58;28

Debbie Klintworth

Absolutely. We have been around for about 36 or 37 years as an organization. Wow. It started to actually level up the playing field for all of the companies so that we could become more professional. A lot of the people that do appliance repair know how to fix appliances, but they don't know how to run a business. And so it was to bridge that gap so that you won't see that, that you see a professional image from the outside looking in.

00;03;59;00 - 00;04;21;24

Debbie Klintworth

And so this organization was started to bring each company up to teach them what they don't know. Because you don't know what you don't know until it's really bad. And so we we bring it all together. We talk, we network and we work with the manufacturers GE, Electrolux, you know, Bosch, LG, all of them come to the conference.

00;04;21;24 - 00;04;23;06

Debbie Klintworth

They give training. Really.

00;04;23;06 - 00;04;24;04

Cary Hall

Yes okay.

00;04;24;07 - 00;04;25;14

Debbie Klintworth

So we partner with them.

00;04;25;20 - 00;04;48;25

Cary Hall

So quick story. We had a mixer valve that our builder put in our shower and it happened to be a Delta valve. But it's made in Germany the most. I'm like okay for real. Yeah. Well when when the repair people came to change it out, they wouldn't send it to them because it had to come to us because we were the clients.

00;04;48;25 - 00;05;09;19

Cary Hall

So they gave us the information. I called Delta, they're very nice. They sent the thing out and we got it. But I was like, for real? And they're only certain people in that company is one guy that understands how to put that thing. Yeah. And so yeah. So I so the training piece to me sounds like that's a pretty big deal because these things are constantly changing in today's world.

00;05;09;19 - 00;05;28;22

Cary Hall

You know what what a television did ten years ago five years ago is not what the televisions I have in my house do now. It's just so so you're constantly updating them. And so the, the companies are actually working in conjunction with you. So they know the best technology and the best way to fix these things.

00;05;28;25 - 00;05;54;17

Debbie Klintworth

Absolutely. They come in, they bring refrigerators, they bring ranges to the hotel where we have the conferences, and we actually break them down, learn how to fix them, go over, you know, issues that every one of them is having and teaching. It's a wonderful time for them to connect with the engineers, the the trainers and the executives to show up.

00;05;54;18 - 00;05;55;04

Debbie Klintworth

Yes.

00;05;55;04 - 00;06;03;28

Cary Hall

Yeah, that really is amazing. So that's interesting here. So they actually physically get to go through and do these things. And you have 600 people at this thing.

00;06;03;28 - 00;06;29;24

Debbie Klintworth

We do. Yeah. And that's a small conference a lot of people don't know. There are I think from the numbers that I have heard, 40,000 appliance repair companies across the nation, and we haven't even touched the surface of all of them coming. And I'll tell you a funny story. My husband and I run the business together, and I didn't want to go to the conference the first time because I said, no one's going to teach me how to run my business.

00;06;29;24 - 00;06;33;04

Debbie Klintworth

I'm doing just fine. And

00;06;33;04 - 00;06;35;04

Cary Hall

I love the confidence. John.

00;06;35;06 - 00;06;36;06

John Kuhlmann

Debbie's very calm,

00;06;36;08 - 00;06;38;17

Cary Hall

I can tell. Yeah, and very successful.

00;06;38;21 - 00;07;01;25

Debbie Klintworth

Yeah. I did not need someone telling me how to run my company, but I learned so much. We all have the same problems. We're all running a business, and we all network together and give each other ideas. And one idea can change the future of my company tomorrow. And so we all need to get together. We support it, you know, it's a support network as well.

00;07;01;28 - 00;07;18;25

Debbie Klintworth

And now I have friends that I call when I see a problem. Are you seeing the same problem across the nation. And and so we, we use each other, for support for education and to grow our businesses.

00;07;18;27 - 00;07;40;23

Cary Hall

So do the manufacturers. And I ask this question for a reason. Do the manufacturers, when somebody calls, like, for instance, we have an outdoor fireplace. And the thing was giving me fits on our deck, and I'm trying to find appliance repair people to fix it. And and I'm not getting anywhere. So I called the company itself and they said, well, we have certain people, we train.

00;07;40;25 - 00;07;41;03

Debbie Klintworth

Right.

00;07;41;03 - 00;07;43;27

Cary Hall

So that's the kind of thing you're in. So the guy.

00;07;44;00 - 00;07;45;01

Debbie Klintworth

That’s absolutely what we do,

00;07;45;07 - 00;08;00;05

Cary Hall

the thing works like a charm. I could not be happier with that. And then he went and fixed the one in the living room to make it work better than it had worked. But they you know, you could call all kinds of fireplace people, and they didn't know beans from apple butter about this particular fireplace.

00;08;00;07 - 00;08;26;26

Cary Hall

But the manufacturers sends this one group out, and the guy did the whole thing and it did a beautiful job. So that's basically an illustration of what you're talking about, right? Thermador comes up with a brand new oven and a brand new range top, and it's got all these different opportunities. And how do you fix it? Okay. If you if you if you're the independent guy out there that doesn't belong to this association or doesn't do that kind of education, you don't know that.

00;08;26;29 - 00;08;40;04

Debbie Klintworth

That's correct. So we become an authorized service provider for all of the major manufacturers, and we actually get introduced at some of these conferences. So we work directly with them.

00;08;40;07 - 00;08;46;26

Cary Hall

So that's interesting. They have a designation that makes you an authorized service provider for these particular appliances.

00;08;46;26 - 00;09;19;21

Debbie Klintworth

We can. That's where when I became a Bosch authorized service provider, I met them the the regional service manager at the United Appliance Servicers Association. That's where that interaction happened. And then we started the training. Before that time, I was getting the training at, I was getting the training at this association. The people that I brought with me were getting the training through United Appliance Servicers Association.

00;09;19;23 - 00;09;31;01

Debbie Klintworth

Because Bosch was there training. They’ll train everyone, even the people that are not authorized. So that you can be better. You know, Bosch wants the best people working on their product.

00;09;31;04 - 00;09;35;07

Cary Hall

That's their name on that appliance. Right? So probably helps to have so he knows what they all they're doing.

00;09;35;07 - 00;09;35;29

Debbie Klintworth

Absolutely.

00;09;36;07 - 00;09;58;09

Cary Hall

If you want to reach out to Debbie either of her company's the one that Oklahoma and Texas is D3Sservice.com. In the southeastern United States that be in the Carolinas, etc. you can reach out to her at SloanAppliance.com. That's SloanAppliance.com. Like I said, if you're an independent repairman out there and you're looking for a home, this might be a good place to look.

00;09;58;09 - 00;10;24;20

Cary Hall

And if you're looking for repairs, I think these folks know what they're doing. Go to our website and check it out. Stay right there. 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. Don't go anywhere.

00;10;24;22 - 00;10;50;06

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 fact, we have another new affiliate we want to announce today. This is WRHI AM and FM, 100.1FM in Charlotte, Gastonia, South Carolina. We're pretty happy to have those folks on board, and we really want to say thank you because we're on for two hours every Saturday.

00;10;50;06 - 00;11;08;20

Cary Hall

So, 1 to 3, our new affiliate WRHI. It looks like Dave is going to have a little extra work to do. So we're very happy to have them on board. We want to thank them in studio with me today is Debbie Klintworth and John Kuhlmann. We're here talking about United Appliance Servicers Association, Debbie's company, Sloan Appliance Services.

00;11;08;20 - 00;11;31;08

Cary Hall

We've talked about the past, by the way. And while we're on break, I just ask her question. I said, what is an average salary for these folks make? So they're making between 70 and $100,000 a year. You might want to think about that if you're looking for an opportunity. Her websites, by the way, are D3Sservice.com that happens to be in Texas and in in the South Carolina.

00;11;31;08 - 00;11;52;05

Cary Hall

It's SloanAppliance.com. So if you want to reach out to her and ask her a little bit about what their company does, it might be helpful. So let's talk to more now about your company okay. And then you know how long you've been doing this. And you know, you mentioned Bosch, how many different appliance groups to use service, all the rest of it.

00;11;52;08 - 00;12;07;00

Cary Hall

And then then we'll talk about why and why John's here, obviously talk about GigCare and how this fits in for you. As you know, as a company owner. So let's just start with the history of what you do and how you got where you are today.

00;12;07;02 - 00;12;29;23

Debbie Klintworth

Well, my husband had a company, and he did the appliance repair. He was the hardest working one man show until I joined him. Then once I did, we've expanded. We started with just him, and we grew to two, three, four. Next thing you know, we're at 30 techs, and we grew all over the state of Texas. And and.

00;12;29;23 - 00;12;30;24

Cary Hall

You were in the Houston area.

00;12;30;24 - 00;12;56;28

Debbie Klintworth

And we were in the Houston area. Our actual office is in Magnolia, which is the outskirts of The Woodlands there in Houston. And we've grown all over Texas, and then we've grown into Oklahoma. So we're in Oklahoma City as well. We have several guys throughout that, that area. And then we decided to buy Sloan Appliance, about three years ago or coming up on three years ago.

00;12;57;04 - 00;12;58;10

Cary Hall

And that's in Carolina.

00;12;58;10 - 00;13;11;04

Debbie Klintworth

And that's where the home base is in Columbia, South Carolina. Okay. And but we cover all the major cities, Charleston, we're in Augusta, we're in Rock Hill, as well as Greenville.

00;13;11;05 - 00;13;18;18

Cary Hall

So you started out and now you've got two companies working in these areas. What are the plans going forward.

00;13;18;25 - 00;13;27;29

Debbie Klintworth

We plan on expanding more and more. We we do all major manufacturing brands, all of them.

00;13;28;00 - 00;13;35;25

Cary Hall

So you mentioned LG, Bosch, General Electric. What's that high end version of GE, I can’t remember what it what it's called.

00;13;35;27 - 00;13;36;29

Debbie Klintworth

Well with monogram.

00;13;36;29 - 00;13;37;26

Cary Hall

Monogram that's the.

00;13;37;27 - 00;13;48;18

Debbie Klintworth

One. And Cafe. We work on that. We work on Sub-Zero. We work on some of the smaller brands. Les Baer we work on, you name it.

00;13;48;18 - 00;13;52;12

Cary Hall

So Thermador or you know, all of those Gaggenau. Okay.

00;13;52;12 - 00;14;03;11

Debbie Klintworth

All of those, Mila, we we cover that, we get training from all the major manufacturers for this to say “We're an authorized service provider”. So this is.

00;14;03;16 - 00;14;14;07

Cary Hall

A question people should be asking. Yes. They call up Joe Blow's appliance. Are you an authorized? Because if they're not, that means maybe they know what they're doing and maybe they don't know what they're doing.

00;14;14;09 - 00;14;27;00

Debbie Klintworth

Well, correct. And if you have any appliances that possibly have a part that is going to be under warranty, I'm an authorized service provider. So I will make sure that they cover that part, not you.

00;14;27;01 - 00;14;52;23

Cary Hall

That's funny because that our house is going on the fourth year that we built this brand new house, and that that, wine refrigerator that we were talking about that was out of warranty. But those guys got it got involved with the with the manufacturer, and they got them to replace that part without charging us for it. And it was a whole new board of some kind, looked like a computer board that they put in there.

00;14;52;23 - 00;15;10;12

Cary Hall

And now the thing works like a charm. So it was, you know, but they're the ones that were able to do that. I would not have been able to do that. Right. Yeah. It's pretty interesting. So a little bit about why you thought, you know, with John and Kulhmann Group that the GigCare 1099 program works for your folks.

00;15;10;14 - 00;15;30;26

Cary Hall

In terms of offering them coverage across the country, because we're the are the beauty of us of what we do it at, you know, with PSM Nebraska and with our with our GigCare program developed through Detego, is our rates are universal. So it's the rates in in South Carolina that you just got hit with by ACA or 40% higher.

00;15;30;28 - 00;15;43;00

Cary Hall

Or in Texas they're 28% higher. Our rates are flat across the country. Our rates raised 6% this year. Right John? The right. Yeah. So so talk a little bit about why were you attracted to that.

00;15;43;03 - 00;15;47;02

Debbie Klintworth

What I've found is people are afraid of insurance because they don't understand it.

00;15;47;03 - 00;15;54;13

Cary Hall

It's 100% correct. They jump into it. I'm a 30 year recovering broker and I can promise you that's an accurate statement.

00;15;54;15 - 00;16;17;15

Debbie Klintworth

Yeah. And it's very scary. And at the end of the year, at the end of the year, you have spent all of this money on insurance. And what did you truly get from that? If you were healthy, you didn't use it at all, but you feel like you've wasted a lot of money. And so, I was looking for an affordable health care option for some of the guys that are in the association.

00;16;17;21 - 00;16;28;00

Debbie Klintworth

You know, maybe they would have an opportunity if they don't have insurance. You know, once you get off of your parents insurance at 26, everyone thinks they're invincible and they don't need health insurance.

00;16;28;02 - 00;16;29;11

Cary Hall

Do they ever. Yeah.

00;16;29;17 - 00;16;30;20

John Kuhlmann

Until you need it.

00;16;30;22 - 00;16;37;08

Cary Hall

Yeah, absolutely. I tell you, you're in a car wreck or you're playing softball and break your arm. Okay. Yeah. Then that. Oh, Lord, I got a problem.

00;16;37;08 - 00;16;57;22

Debbie Klintworth

Right. So we need something that's affordable that people understand, so they will use it. And not just have it handed to them and they don't know what they're buying, and then they have buyer's remorse at the end of the year because they didn't use it. So I had talked to John about what can we do, what are the options and what can we bring into the association.

00;16;57;22 - 00;17;10;17

Debbie Klintworth

So everyone can have good health care and they understand what they're actually truly buying, because not everybody can afford as a small business to provide, you know, very expensive group health care.

00;17;10;22 - 00;17;20;29

Cary Hall

Oh, it's for for small companies like yourself, medium to small companies. The pricing is ridiculous because they're tied up in all the ACA regulations. And, John, we're not.

00;17;20;29 - 00;17;46;15

John Kuhlmann

Right. We don't have all the extra fees and taxes, too, that Obamacare built into everybody's health insurance premiums. So I've I've mentioned this before in other, other shows, but Obamacare, when it went into effect, added about 21 new fees and taxes. So all the different insurance programs across the board, be it from small group to large group, so they basically have the carriers and TPAs collect those taxes and turn around and give it to the government.

00;17;46;17 - 00;17;54;05

John Kuhlmann

They bill them as premiums. People think they’re premiums, but they're actually taxes inside their health insurance premiums. So it drives up the cost. And we don't have that in GigCare.

00;17;54;07 - 00;18;14;00

Cary Hall

That's one of the big differences between us and the ACA plans. You know, that plus the fact that we're not making you buy something you don't need, like maternity coverage if you're a 25 year old guy. Probably not going to use that. You know, there's a big difference in the way that works. We have plans that have those things, but we have plans that don't have those things.

00;18;14;03 - 00;18;29;24

Cary Hall

And that gives, you know, I like to say a size 44 overcoat doesn't fit everybody. Well, ACA is a 44 overcoat, right? Yeah. They're trying to make everybody fit. That's part of the problem. The other part is, and I'm guessing before we come up, we're actually coming up on the break. I'll hold this thought till I get back.

00;18;30;01 - 00;18;47;17

Cary Hall

We come back from the break. I want to talk about what's the age span typically of the people to go into her business, young versus old, etc. and then we'll talk about why this is a good fit for her association and why it's a good fit for associations across the country that might be thinking about what can we do to help our members.

00;18;47;17 - 00;19;08;11

Cary Hall

Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. We'll be right back. Stay right there.

00;19;08;13 - 00;19;34;10

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. If you have something going on, you need help out there. Get on the go to the website AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com. Send me an email. We are happy to help you in any way we can. We had a gentleman the other day who had a son who was paraplegic, could not get a wheelchair from United Health Care because it didn't meet their criteria.

00;19;34;10 - 00;19;55;14

Cary Hall

Well, we took care of that problem. So if we can help you with something like that, we're happy to do it. The website is AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com. My emails up there. I answer each and every one of them. In studio with me today is Debbie Klintworth, and John Kuhlmann. Debbie is from Sloan Appliance Services. She has two different companies, one located in Texas and one located in the Carolinas.

00;19;55;16 - 00;20;16;29

Cary Hall

And services that whole area. If you want to know more about her, the website for those particular companies are D3Sservice.com. That's in Texas, by the way. They're down there in Tyler, Texas. For all you folks in Tyler that I come down and see a couple times a year when I go see Cowboy George. So, also Sloan Appliance Service at sloanappliance.com.

00;20;17;01 - 00;20;33;23

Cary Hall

That particular service, is in the Carolinas, so she's happy to help you. And you want to reach out to John Kuhlmann, if you're an association out there and you're looking for a solution for health care, this is the man that can help you. He can also help you with 401 K and a whole lot of other things.

00;20;33;23 - 00;20;52;16

Cary Hall

And his website is kuhlmannfin.com. kuhlmannfin.com. I'll spell it for you. kuhlmannfin.com. All right John, let's talk about why this is working. I mean what do we got like eight associations now you and I are working on.

00;20;52;16 - 00;20;53;27

John Kuhlmann

It's close to a million lives. Yeah.

00;20;53;27 - 00;21;02;20

Cary Hall

So talk about why this is working is this is like a. This is rolling. Okay. Talk about why.

00;21;02;22 - 00;21;22;18

John Kuhlmann

The biggest thing I think is the as everybody's heard about on the news, the ACA subsidies have been reduced by 40%. And then, you know, we've talked about how it's the perfect storm. Unfortunately, the carriers are raising their rates dramatically, and they also are some have pulled out of the market. Aetna lost $2 billion last year.

00;21;22;20 - 00;21;42;27

John Kuhlmann

And because of that, they decided to pull out of the ACA market and dropped 1.1 million people off their individual plans that they used to cover it. It's really because when the government took took over with the ACA, they basically wanted to take over health care, but they didn't do anything to make health care better. And, the the program's just not working.

00;21;42;27 - 00;22;02;08

John Kuhlmann

It's not about that the subsidies are going away so much, as much as it is the program didn't do anything to fix the problems with health care. GigCare does that. So GigCare does things on the PBM side. I'll let you talk about that more extensively about it, Cary, but, they do great things on that, that all the ACA, most of the ACA carriers don't do.

00;22;02;10 - 00;22;15;09

John Kuhlmann

And, it's really much better for the members. They can get specialty meds a lot of times the low cost or no cost. Whereas if you're on an ACA plan, you literally have to pay most or all of your out of pocket to cover your ACA med, and things like that.

00;22;15;11 - 00;22;29;24

Cary Hall

So, Debbie, what do you think this does for the association as far as their ability to attract new members and also their ability to retain the people that are there because they're offering a health benefits plan that nobody else is offering.

00;22;29;26 - 00;23;02;18

Debbie Klintworth

It is helping people have a peace of mind and offering something not only to their themselves, but also their employees or their 1099 employees, that they can't afford. And it is so worthwhile. I know that I have a personal, issue way back when, before Obamacare, where my son was so sick and they kept saying I had a preexisting condition and I couldn't get him insurance, and he ended up having a hole in his heart that wasn't diagnosed till he was eight, because they wouldn't run the tests.

00;23;02;20 - 00;23;14;28

Debbie Klintworth

So that's another reason why I have gotten involved in this, because people think they can just skate by and the government will take on their health benefits. But I can show.

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

Cary Hall

Yes. Oh, yeah.

00;23;17;04 - 00;23;40;03

Debbie Klintworth

They really do. Oh, they're going to treat me, but they only have treat emergencies, you know. And my son, to me, it was an emergency. It was. And but because I didn't have insurance, he didn't get the treatment that he deserved, no matter how much I they wouldn't do it because I had some money. But they the hospitals knew I didn't have enough money to cover it just in case.

00;23;40;05 - 00;24;03;11

Debbie Klintworth

And so everyone needs to be covered. You cannot rely on the emergency situation where the, you know, the emergency room is going to treat you. Yeah. And you're going to be okay. Yeah. It's not like that. And this is real. You just need to understand what it does for you and how it's going to help you. And as far as the money goes, it's affordable.

00;24;03;14 - 00;24;17;26

Cary Hall

It is affordable. We're a lot more affordable than ACA is. Okay. Question to you. How many people between the ages of, say, 21 and let's say 40 in your company? What what what percentage of that is the repair people in your company?

00;24;17;28 - 00;24;27;18

Debbie Klintworth

Most of the people. Well, most of the people that work for me are under 60 and above 26.

00;24;27;19 - 00;24;45;16

Cary Hall

Okay. So that's that's the demographic. And in those demographics, John, you know, for instance, if you get up into the 50, 50, 45, 50, we're less than half what ACA is. The other thing is, and I ask you this on break, you have guys that live in rural communities who come in to work in the cities to do appliance repair.

00;24;45;16 - 00;25;06;28

Cary Hall

Maybe they live out in the country. They got ten acres or something, and they don't want to live in the city, but they're there. Guys that are hands on guys are good. They're good repairmen that the problem with with the ACA and Obamacare plans is most of the major carriers, all of them use narrow networks. And by narrow networks, I mean they can find the number of providers you're going to get.

00;25;06;28 - 00;25;33;27

Cary Hall

And those providers are usually centered around large cities or communities like Columbia, South Carolina, like Tyler, Texas. But if you live in Jackson, Texas, you're not going to have coverage, which means you're going to drive 45 miles to get over to Tyler. Right? Okay. To go see your doctor. Okay. Or if you've got an urgent care, you get to drive 45 miles to the close to surgery care versus the way we do it, where you have the Aetna PPO network, right?

00;25;34;03 - 00;25;58;21

Cary Hall

You have the Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO network in Nebraska. Okay. And you have that. You also have the Aetna EPO network, which is lower cost. But it keeps you you're confined to the network, which the networks second largest in the country behind United. But the point is they've got access wherever they are. They don't have to drive 50 miles if they're in Jackson, Texas, because it has got a provider in that community.

00;25;58;21 - 00;26;11;03

Cary Hall

That's the way that it works. How important is that to you when you're looking to recruit or get people to come? Because the number two thing they ask, tell me if I'm wrong after what am I getting paid is what are the benefits?

00;26;11;05 - 00;26;11;26

Debbie Klintworth

Absolutely.

00;26;11;26 - 00;26;12;20

Cary Hall

Okay.

00;26;12;23 - 00;26;21;17

Debbie Klintworth

Well, and we want to provide a benefit where they're not going to be in a such a small network that they're going to have to wait eight months to see a doctor to. Yeah, that is a big problem.

00;26;21;17 - 00;26;36;27

Cary Hall

It's huge. Yeah. So John, talk a little bit about, you know, how you see the associations. You know, now we're seeing all this interest from the associations. Right. And why did why did why does this then why did they want to do this.

00;26;36;29 - 00;26;58;27

John Kuhlmann

Well I think the big thing is like with the UASA, a lot of their members are small companies and they they can't afford to provide group group benefits to their employees. Also, a lot of them have 1099 workers. They're not W-2. So the GigCare fills that fills that gap in need. And then they can tell them, yeah, we have a program, they share it with them.

00;26;58;29 - 00;27;14;07

John Kuhlmann

Then the member can call in to an enrollment center and talk to them about signing up, getting back to what you talked about, we had a member sign up in Florida. It was a husband and wife. They're there and they're like 62. Their rate was going to be $2,700 a month on the ACA. That's what it was going up to.

00;27;14;07 - 00;27;33;20

John Kuhlmann

That's a house payment, right? Yeah. And, GigCare was $1,390. And they were they they obtained better coverage too with the Aetna network. So really a a great program and a big win for them. So that's that's really it. The big thing is the association members companies a lot of them just can't afford to offer it. And this this gives them the need.

00;27;33;20 - 00;27;41;03

John Kuhlmann

In addition to that, when they call in to the enrollment center, they will also be offered dental and vision and life, if they would like and other and other ancillary coverages.

00;27;41;05 - 00;27;42;22

Cary Hall

Yeah. So they're getting they're getting the full.

00;27;42;22 - 00;27;43;29

John Kuhlmann

Complete benefits package.

00;27;43;29 - 00;27;49;02

Cary Hall

Yeah, yeah. And the experience your members have has been a good experience. So to this point.

00;27;49;05 - 00;28;11;28

Debbie Klintworth

Yes, we are working through that. It's education to try to teach them what the insurance is providing. There's a lot of people are just scared. It's different. Oh you don't know the acronyms that everyone's using. And it's just about education. And once we get through that I think it's going to be, taking off and more and more people are going to be buying in you.

00;28;12;01 - 00;28;26;21

Cary Hall

So you're listening out there. You're you belong to an association. Maybe you're an a director, an association. You're thinking maybe this is a fit for us. Well, you know, you're not going to know if you don't reach out and talk to somebody. The guy needs to talk to you sitting right here. You need to talk to John Kuhlmann.

00;28;26;23 - 00;28;50;01

Cary Hall

You can reach out to him at kuhlmannfin.com. I'm going to spell it out. kuhlmannfin.com. You'll be happy to talk to you. He's he's worked with a lot of associations. He's got a lot of success behind what he does. And it's a very professional group. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network.

00;28;50;04 - 00;29;01;00

Cary Hall

Coast to Coast Cross, USA. Stay right there. We'll be right back right after the break.

00;29;01;03 - 00;29;25;00

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. Now, look, you know, you're listening to this, and maybe you work for an appliance repair service, and you're like, we really need to get involved with this association, okay. But you can do that. All right. But you need to go listen, tell your your boss, your partner, whoever it is.

00;29;25;02 - 00;29;46;12

Cary Hall

Go listen to the podcast or go off and look at the YouTube broadcast. America's Healthcare Advocate. Okay. And then they'll understand everything we're talking about here today and why this might be a benefit. Why what Debbie is explaining might be really important to you. So again, you know, go up on any of the 16 podcast platforms or on our YouTube platform.

00;29;46;12 - 00;30;10;07

Cary Hall

And it's all up there. John, let's talk about a little bit about what separates GigCare. You know, Population Science Management, owns the program. It was developed as GigCare, right. Under the company Detego, which is our, our our primary, company. But when we did this intentionally, when we wrote this, we wrote this to be very, very different than ACA.

00;30;10;10 - 00;30;30;27

Cary Hall

We're not governed by the Department of Insurance in these states. We're governed by ERISA. We're governed by the Department of Labor. There are federal guidelines that we qualify for with this plan. So we don't have to comply with a lot of I'll just call it nonsense that ACA makes you comply with. So let's talk a little bit about what some of those things you see that make us different.

00;30;30;29 - 00;30;47;08

John Kuhlmann

The first thing I wanted to say too is a lot of people are, you know, they're used to what they're used to. So they just kind of want to continue on with the same thing with the ACA. But the ACA is crumbling off and it's falling apart. And, GigCare is definitely a great solution, an alternative to look at, to do.

00;30;47;10 - 00;30;50;25

John Kuhlmann

One of the things we do is on the PBM side, I believe it's the pharmacy side.

00;30;50;28 - 00;30;51;08

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;30;51;09 - 00;30;52;28

John Kuhlmann

To keep it in plain English ScriptAid.

00;30;52;29 - 00;30;54;16

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;30;54;19 - 00;31;11;10

John Kuhlmann

We basically go out and find those drugs at a very low cost or no cost for the members. If you're on an ACA plan, those are most of the the large insurance carriers are all publicly traded. They're doing all they can, basically to get as many rebates as much as they can on the drugs, not to lower the cost of the drug and the medication.

00;31;11;10 - 00;31;28;19

John Kuhlmann

So GigCare does the opposite. They get the drug at the lowest price that they can possibly get it, get it at and try to transfer that over to the member. They've also added Mark Cuban's Cost Plus drug program. It's a wonderful program. There's a I'm forgetting the name of the drug. It's I believe it's like $14,500 a month.

00;31;28;21 - 00;31;34;16

John Kuhlmann

And Mark provides the drug for $400 a month. Yeah. So it's a wonderful, wonderful program.

00;31;34;16 - 00;31;52;27

Cary Hall

So we we have a drug importation program. And so what that drug importation program does, if you take a medication, it's it ridiculously expensive. And we go back to the when when the weight loss drugs first came out. And if you wanted to buy it and you weren't a type two diabetic, it was $1,100. Well, we brought it in from Canada for $89.

00;31;52;27 - 00;32;11;22

Cary Hall

So this is the kind of thing we could do. The ACA plans are precluded. They cannot do that. We can. Okay. We also have a foundational assistance program, which is a little bit of what John was talking about, by the way, all the work to apply for that medication and get it from out of, out of, out of Canada, we do it.

00;32;11;22 - 00;32;35;29

Cary Hall

Our nurses do it at Detego, at GigCare. That's their job, okay. And for foundational assistance, you have a kid let's say that needs growth hormones. You come on the plan a year later, doctor says your child needs a growth hormone that's 100 grand a year. Okay. You know, we can get you foundational assistance where we do all the paperwork, we file it. We get the med, and we get it sent to you at no cost or at a very low cost.

00;32;35;29 - 00;32;56;03

Cary Hall

If you qualify. And almost 90% of the people qualify because not everybody can write a check for 100 grand. Exactly. So those are, those are some of the differences. And that rebate thing is just a quick. What you're telling them there is that the carriers are getting rebates from the drug companies. Right. That they're never seeing. Right.

00;32;56;03 - 00;33;03;12

Cary Hall

A we're a transparent PBM. We do not take rebates. Rebates go right back into the cost of the med, which is what you're talking about.

00;33;03;13 - 00;33;24;09

John Kuhlmann

Exactly. So you take the drug Humira. Everybody sees it advertised on TV. It's typically around 7 or 8 grand a month. There's different versions of it. But, a lot of the large insurance carriers that are publicly traded, they'll, they say they get the drug for around $4500 to $5000 a month. GigCare typically can get that drug for about $2500 bucks a month.

00;33;24;09 - 00;33;25;12

Cary Hall

That's right.

00;33;25;14 - 00;33;44;28

John Kuhlmann

Because they don't take the rebate. So what that tells you is, as the large insurance carriers are all keeping that rebate. Well, if it's a $2,500 difference per month, that's 30 grand a year that they're pocketing off of every person that takes that drug. That's just one medication. GigCare doesn't do that, and that's why they're able to drive the value they do and bring the cost down.

00;33;45;01 - 00;33;48;03

John Kuhlmann

I think another good thing to talk about would be the green imaging program if you.

00;33;48;05 - 00;34;08;13

Cary Hall

Yeah, you mentioned and that's really unique. There's all the ACA plans out there. Debbie. If you need an MRI, Cat scan or, you know, which is a major expense, you're looking 3 to 5 to $6,000, you get it done in a hospital, it's going to be six grand. You you pay the deductible, you pay the coinsurance, and you pay a co-pay.

00;34;08;16 - 00;34;29;01

Cary Hall

So you're walking out the door. Let's say you've got a 3000 deductible out of pocket next to the five. Basically, you're paying for the whole damn thing. All right. They give you a network discount. You're still paying for the whole thing under our program. John's referring to the Green Imaging program. We give you a voucher. And there are independent centers all over the country that these folks are contracted with.

00;34;29;01 - 00;34;47;20

Cary Hall

You go in and you pay nothing. There's no co-pay, there's no deductible, and there's no co-insurance. Well, the ACA plans don't. Now they could do that. They're not precluded from doing that. But they're making money off that. Right okay. So they're not you know they're making money off that. There's a reason that they're doing it.

00;34;47;20 - 00;35;08;08

Cary Hall

Okay. So those are some of the things I think that do make us very different. Yeah. In terms of what we do in the way we do it. And, and, and you know, if you've got a provider, this is interesting when you brought that up about your son, you know, if we had that situation and and we go to that and Aetna says, well no this doesn't meet the criteria to cover it.

00;35;08;09 - 00;35;26;22

Cary Hall

We're going to appeal that. You're not going to appeal it. We are okay. And we're going to appeal up the process until we get it approved or we do a direct contract with that hospital that says, okay, here's the deal. We're going to pay you 130% above Medicare to do this procedure. Boom. We want we want the the procedure done.

00;35;26;23 - 00;35;44;22

Cary Hall

Period. Okay. And 90% of the hospitals will agree to that. There are some that don't, but the majority of them will. But it all comes down to advocacy, John. Right. You know, we've got a whole team of people that that's what they do. Right. So it you know Tracy Krausse, he in our organization, she does a fabulous job.

00;35;44;22 - 00;35;52;12

Cary Hall

Brandi Bornstein does exactly the same thing. If the broker's got a problem, if the members got a problem, we're there to fix that problem.

00;35;52;12 - 00;36;07;15

John Kuhlmann

I think another thing to add to is that where with GigCare. There's over 100,000. Well over 100,000 members on the plan. 147,000. So when GigCare’s representing you to get these things done. It's not you. One little person going to going to Aetna, it's GigCare.

00;36;07;22 - 00;36;09;12

Cary Hall

We’re the advocate.

00;36;09;12 - 00;36;14;11

John Kuhlmann

Things get done. Yeah. And usually there's not problems anyway. But when things are needed, they get done.

00;36;14;13 - 00;36;33;01

Cary Hall

You know, things happen. People have claims issues. I think, you know, I, I had a claim kickback for $1,000 the other day, and I get a letter from some anonymous physician service first. I think it's a scam. It's not. And for some reason it got kicked out. Well, I have a Med Sup plan. I don't have any co-pays, so I don't have any deductible.

00;36;33;03 - 00;36;47;29

Cary Hall

And they didn't know that I knew that. Well, I made it very clear that I didn't. I said I'm appealing this now, so don't make an issue out of this. And I gave it to my broker, Carolee Steel, who I talk about every week on this show. And she went in and knocked it down. And I'm not going to pay a dime of that.

00;36;48;00 - 00;36;48;24

Cary Hall

But you've got to have.

00;36;48;24 - 00;36;50;06

John Kuhlmann

An advocate, right? Right.

00;36;50;07 - 00;36;53;06

Cary Hall

That's the way it works. Well, thank you both for doing this. Okay. Thank you.

00;36;53;12 - 00;36;54;03

John Kuhlmann

Thank you for having us.

00;36;54;03 - 00;36;54;17

Debbie Klintworth

Thank you for that.

00;36;54;17 - 00;37;04;22

Cary Hall

It was just great. It was it was wonderful to have you come out and tell your story. It's wonderful to hear somebody start a small business, be successful and obviously you're very successful. What you do. So congratulations.

00;37;04;22 - 00;37;06;03

John Kuhlmann

She's only getting started. So.

00;37;06;03 - 00;37;08;20

Cary Hall

Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right. If I had to guess.

00;37;08;20 - 00;37;09;15

John Kuhlmann

Debbie’s a ball of fire!

00;37;09;18 - 00;37;29;02

Cary Hall

Once again. You know, I do these shows that this is about education. It's about teaching you opportunities that are out there for health benefits. In this particular case, if you're an association, this is a way to find a solution for your members that might make a big difference for you. Get ahold of John Kuhlmann. You can get Ahold of him at kuhlmannfin.com.

00;37;29;02 - 00;37;34;15

Cary Hall

I'm going to spell it kuhlmannfin.com. He’ll be happy to help you.

00;37;34;15 - 00;37;47;22

Cary Hall

And now I leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd, they usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been. Remember, friends, it's the funny thing about life.

00;37;47;22 - 00;38;05;10

Cary Hall

If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. Goodbye America.

00;38;05;12 - 00;38;14;01

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