A: What is your focus for the future going to be? How do you plan to maintain the lead?
E: “Direct Primary Care is a healthcare model that has proven itself hundreds of times over. Doctors began leaving the big health systems and have started their own practices with no insurance at all. It’s not to be confused with concierge medicine; it’s very different. I believe Direct Primary Care and independent physicians are the keys to restoring care in this country, and I build all my employer group health plans around them, and it works. It drastically reduces costs and significantly improves the health and wellbeing of patients. I believe if we provide every American with access to a primary care physician who is not governed by the current system, we can solve the majority of health issues in the US and build a more sustainable catastrophic insurance safety net around it. That’s what insurance was always intended to be—protection, not a cause for poverty. People can help! Talk to your HR teams and tell them it’s time to make a change. Show them this article. Don’t ever stop advocating for yourself. If you aren’t employed, start researching your area to see if there’s a Direct Primary Care practice near you. My next goal is to create a primary care model for the unemployed, un- or under-insured, in underserved communities so that people can get basic, essential care for little to no cost. People can help by showing up and listening to me if they see I’m coming to town!
I am so determined to improve healthcare in this country. Because most employers retain advisors for their health insurance purchases, which ultimately dictates the healthcare experience, I launched the Association for Healthcare Advisors (AFHCA) this year. The association aims to verify the transparency and ethical conduct of benefits advisors so employers can be assured the person they are hiring to manage one of their biggest budget items is not going to do them wrong. Frankly, if you ask your current advisor to get verified by the association and they won’t, that should be a giant red flag. Benefits advisors, like every other entity we’ve talked about, are financially incentivized by health insurance carriers to sell more. Most of them work on commission that is paid by the carriers, so employers should ask themselves: If my advisor is paid by my insurance carrier, who do they really work for? Me or them? That’s not to say all advisors are bad; there are many, many amazing folks who work in my field, and in some markets, they have no choice in how and what they are paid, but they should always be able to prove that they are disclosing their compensation and that they are not needlessly inflating it behind the scenes. If they can’t or won’t do that, you need a new advisor, stat. Here’s my challenge to all employers, especially if you are using a bigger, more prominent brokerage: Ask them to show you where all their compensation is coming from, and be prepared to ask for every single contract associated with your plan. I guarantee there are excess commissions built into your insurance policies, your stop-loss plans, and even your prescription drug plans. That doesn’t even cover the bonuses, lavish gifts, and trips they are getting, either. One of my companies, Signal Health Consulting, audits employer health plans to uncover all the ways an advisor is making money behind the scenes to the detriment of the employer and all its employees. As a representative of all your employees, I believe it’s your responsibility to perform due diligence on the advisor you retain for such a big expense to you and your people. Heck, if an employer reaches out to me after reading this article, I’ll do the entire audit for free.”
A: Is there any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
E: “I can honestly say that I have learned the most in my career through networking. No matter how many classes I take, conferences I attend, articles I read… I always learn more from connecting with others. Genuinely connecting. Genuinely listening. Hearing other perspectives and experiences, and even their ideas or wishes, will always motivate and inspire me more than any higher education could. Connect with those who want to see you succeed, and vice versa. The community in your field will be your most valuable tool. Women are no longer expected to be quieter or on the sidelines. Having the courage to believe that you, too, deserve to be at the same table as the opposite sex will get you there a lot faster. Being a leader, and especially a female leader, it is most important to be approachable, available, and kind. It’s what I needed when I was looking for my next move. Women in leadership can get a bad rep for being too dominant, too abrasive, too… whatever. We don’t need to be those things anymore. There is space for us. Mentorship is probably the single most crucial aspect of finding the inner workings of yourself that lead to success. Many women work against each other; egos and envy can get in the way of curating relationships, but I have been incredibly fortunate to have been connected to several insightful and impactful women in my business. Having someone relatable and slightly ahead of your game is key. Look for examples in your field—what do those women have? Confidence, authenticity, and success—most of the time. The real mentors will tell you about the failures and the tricky spots just as much as pep-talk you through the other side.”
