Please share your name first, last, where you're
located and the name of your business. Absolutely.
My name is Paul Howard Flowers Jr. Paul H. Flowers
Jr. I use everywhere. I'm currently physically
located in Utah at the Ascend Conference here.
10th anniversary. Very, very special. I'm sure
we'll get into it on the vision. And the name
of my business is Superior Insurance Advisors.
Also a three -time bestselling author on Amazon,
podcast host, all that good stuff, which is why
I just put that one little. Link down at the
bottom, paul .health. Find me there. You find
everything. Sounds good. Thank you so much. So
I'm sure no one else knows this, but we have
adjusted some times and days, and I'm super excited
that you were able to make it to the conference
and make it here with me. Please do me a favor
and discuss your business for me. Tell me a little
bit about it. Absolutely. Absolutely. So the
best way I can do it is essentially in story.
There are people right now in America that have
health plans through their employers. And like
most of them, they just take essentially what's
offered. And like most employers, when they work
with national brokerages, they just trust them
inherently because big names would never steer
you away, steer you in the wrong direction, right?
Well, what we've come to find is there's actually
a lot of steering going on. but not in the best
direction for the employers or the employees.
And I'm talking about the health plans. Most
employers, aside from the cost where they're
typically paying anywhere from 20 % to 40 % more
than they actually could, the quality of care
is not being delivered. to the employees. So
we have employees going and get surgeries and
they're ending up having to go back for complications
or they're on medications that are the wrong
medications for them. We see that as a problem
in America and we're actually working to fix
it. So with superior insurance advisors, we have
those conversations with the C -suite to show
them how they can actually meet more business
objectives by turning their HR, which is typically
a call center into a profit center. And that's
usually done through simple. modifications to
their health plans. I love that. And I know we
had a brief discussion last time. I remember
you speaking about your previous employment of
profit over health and explaining and being able
to provide that detail before you decided to
swipe their credit cards or debit cards. And
I would love for you to go a little further into
your background and how you got into this and
why you're actually where you are now today.
Certainly. So I started insurance as a profession
in 2005 with legal insurance. Fast forward, moved
into life insurance. Didn't necessarily like
the particular company that I was working with,
but I love the field. And 2014, found myself
into health insurance. Now, ironically enough,
I was confused about purchasing health insurance
prior to actually going to sell health insurance.
The irony. Well. I actually have a very short
learning curve, so I'm thankful for that. Not
to boast or brag, but I'm just thankful that
I can pick things up. And because I've come from
a teaching background, I can give them back in
a way that's relevant for the person. Well, 2014,
I started individual health care, and I realized
something very, very quickly. People didn't know
what the heck they were buying. With them having
this lack of knowledge, I'd seen colleagues just
offering anything and a person take it. I didn't
like that. So I would actually take longer time,
and it was noted, I would take considerably longer
time on my calls, but I would close at a much
higher percentage. You know, a company goal was
35. During that one AEP, my first AEP, I think
I closed at 84 .6%. And they were so... flabbergasted
at how I was able to do it, that they had reps
from the actual big blue carrier. I can't say
the name per se, but the big blue carrier came
down to actually sit with me and see what it
is that I was doing. And I told him it was really,
really simple. Aside from some training that
I'd had from a personal development standpoint,
standpoint, shout out to landmark. I was just
able to. understand and sit with that person.
Yes, it was virtual. Yes, it was over the phone,
but I sat with that person. And in the time sitting
with these people from all across the country,
I realized they were not being properly educated
for the most part. Some had a good idea. Most
had very little idea. And there was a significant
amount that had no idea. And with that, I realized
that I wanted to make a difference. in this field.
So I said, this is where I can have that essentially
claim to fame. And not that I was looking for
fame, but it just so happened to rise through
the ranks. And I rose through the ranks at that
company from single campaign, single carrier,
single campaign, well, excuse me, multiple campaigns
with all of the carriers, 13 states, and then
manager for that same campaign, then trainer
for the company. And it was a great run. Honestly,
they didn't want me to go, but something about
legal, moral, and ethical. stood out to me. So
when I realized that what I was asked to do was
absolutely legal, there was the moral and ethical
concerns of how the sales were made. So I said,
you know what? I can't do this. I asked for enough
changes that were not made. And, you know, sometimes
you just got to step out on faith. So I took
that step November 1st, 2017. And effectively
that's when Superior Insurance Advisors was born.
Our goal was to educate first. to create empowered
consumers, and then ultimately to earn their
trust and gain their business. And that basically
opened us up to where we are today. I love that.
Superior insurance advisors. And that's the key
word to that is advisors, and which is advising
you on how your focus should go, where you should
look at. But it sounds to me like it's all by
building a relationship. And building that relationship
gains a lot of trust. And that trust means that
you're advising and advising to a point to where
they're going to accept something and trust that
they're accepting the right thing. When someone
is calling you and they do have questions, what
are your typical questions that one is asking
or that really has no clue about? Certainly.
So now that I've done more of a transition into
the employer space and the group space, I'll
touch on both relatively briefly. I literally,
while I was sitting in convention, had a partner
reach out to me and say, hey, you do individual
health still, right? I said, sure. You know,
it's not the thing that I personally profess,
but I do and will do an individual health plan.
The biggest questions that we have are, can I
actually get coverage that covers X, Y, and Z?
Well, because of a significant amount of legal
and bureaucratic changes, I won't go into that
rabbit hole. The options are relatively limited
versus a time where they were very robust on
the individual market. So again, I'll put a feather
in that hat and just say. Thank you for all of
our various political regimes for making that
market so much more challenging to not only earn
a living, but more importantly, to serve the
community. I digress. Transition. The group market,
the employee benefit space, that one, it's a
little bit more challenging when it comes to
breaking the status quo. And what I mean by that
is that these big behemoths, and I'll just put
it out there, we call them the BUCAs, B -U -C
-A stands for Blue Cross, United, Cigna, Aetna.
It's the acronym that we use internally. The
Bucas have billions of dollars in marketing,
which I'm not against marketing. They have billions
of dollars in stock value and market cap. Again,
not against that. I'm also a capitalist by heart.
But what I realize is that the care that they
receive, the clients of these. Plans that is
on a group level, the care that they receive
isn't always focused on the highest quality or
the lowest cost to the employer or the employee.
So in the conversations I have with the C -suite
today, one that I just had on Wednesday with
the CFO and CHO, excuse me, Tuesday, CHO and
CFO of the company were, why are my plan? Why
is my plan? costing a million dollars more, right?
Because there's a thing called self -funded,
which we absolutely advocate for, but with cost
containment mechanisms in place. They said, why
is my plan a million dollars more than it was
this time last year? So to put that in perspective,
by May, they were spending a million dollars
more for the healthcare than they were the previous
year. And there were only two high -cost claimants,
meaning individuals inside the company, and one
had a repeat claim. But that still shouldn't
have justified a million dollars more. Well,
when you come to places like Ascend and connect
with next -gen advisors, you learn a little something
about the industry and the right questions that
an employer should be asking their broker, because
they're typically using brokers, not advisors,
on how to navigate this healthcare system. And
just a couple of those questions are, In terms
of cost containment, how are you going to ensure
that if there are large claims on the horizon,
that A, we know about them, and B, we can reduce
that cost to the plan as much as possible? Those
are known as what's called shock claims, because
it's literally a shock to an otherwise steady
motion that goes throughout the year. And that
question is so overlooked. buy national brokerages.
And I'll share a quick story if I may. So I did
make that transition from individual to the small
business and ultimately the mid -market a few
years ago. And I worked with a national carrier
and they were great at what they did from a profit
standpoint and from a legal standpoint. But boy,
that pesky moral and ethical piece just kept
bugging me. So ironically enough, The one of
the first meetings that I remember having was
where we sat in a room and I was a month or two
in. I'd gotten a really good offer to come on
board with them, sell my book of business and
partner with them. So I said, OK, nice to partner
with the national brokerage and have that backbone,
you know, billion dollar backbone and all that.
But within my first month, month and a half,
even. We sit in a room. And a gentleman from
one of the national carriers comes in. They just
so happen to have the same color scheme as, you
know, our lovely background here. And what I
saw just absolutely left me with more questions
than answers and ultimately with my jaw down.
What I saw was a gentleman coming in. He puts
their book of business up on the screen. And
instead of talking about the health. of any of
the clients as a reason and a justification for
why they were having 11, 12, 15, 22, 26 % increases
on their renewals, the conversation was around,
well, this company had a good year financially.
They can take a few more points. This one, they
didn't have a really good year, so you might
not want to give them that big of an increase.
Well, you know what? I like this guy, and this
is actually a really good friend of mine. So
can we bring him down about 2%, maybe 3 %? And
I'll, you know, make sure we get a few more next
year. This person said if they have any more
increase, they're going to go to another carrier.
So we need to keep them flat, if not a decrease
in premium. And as I'm sitting there in the back,
Javon, I'm like a fly on the wall. I'm like,
wait a second. Nobody's talking about health.
There wasn't one. conversation about the health
of the members on the plan. And I said, oh, I
get it now. And what I got in that moment was
really one of the pivotal points in my life and
ultimately in my career where now I'm not on
a crusade against these companies that operate
like this per se. I am on a mission to educate
and empower. both employers and employees with
the right information so that they can have the,
if not skill set, it's not about them being a
skillful healthcare navigator per se, but at
least knowing that there are other tools to achieve
the same result and at least a mindset that's
open enough to say, hey, I can actually get this
for a lower cost. I can actually have a higher
quality outcome if I'm only open to just not
being marketed to, but actually understanding
a bit about what this is that I'm utilizing.
to essentially keep my health intact. Absolutely.
And interestingly enough, it sounds like you're
on the other end, empowering the companies to
make a better decision, not for themselves, but
their employees. And as you were listening, it
was just based off of... financial relationships
rather than yes. Yes. And I don't know, it's
so interesting, you know, being 46, being in
the work field, you know, since I was 16 and
having those, hey, do you want health care insurance?
OK, then you'll pay about a thousand dollars
a month because you have such and such children.
And, you know, it was just all this confusion.
And I still believe there is some, as I mentioned
before, I have a 30 year old who. cannot even
explain what she's purchasing where we have to
have that conversation rather than her employer
to tell her what she's purchasing. So I can definitely
see that. And as it comes as a shock to me. As
an employee, you do think that you're making
the best decision for your health and your family,
whereas the company can be taken advantage of
as well. And it seems like sometimes we're all
in the same boat sometimes. Absolutely. When
you decided to do all of this, Paul, and you
decided to change your direction, create great
relationships with C -Suite and some individuals,
tell me about your vision. What I envision in
the short term, and when I say short term, I'm
looking at the next really about three to five
years, is helping my community, typically starting
off in the northwest Indiana area where I'm located.
Again, I'm from the city of Chicago, just recently
moved to northwest Indiana, but helping the business
owners, the civic organizations. the political
organizations to understand at a baseline what
they have and where it can be. With the ultimate
goal of, from a financial standpoint, putting
about $10 billion, and that's billion with a
B, dollars back into the small to mid -sized
business marketplace. And it's not just about
putting money into the business through making
these modifications. It's about the employees
that will have those dollars in their pockets.
OK, this is more money that people can use for
groceries. This is more money that people can
use for gym memberships if they choose. This
is more resources that are provided and that
are available for the everyday person that they
don't realize is being siphoned away from them
because of. And I'll just say it with again,
I don't mean any offense, but uneducated choices
by the people that are putting their benefit
plans in place. It's gone on long enough. There
have been things that have happened from a very.
very notable standpoint, and again, rest in peace
to our former CEO of UnitedHealthcare, that these
are the beginnings of people that are absolutely
ready for change, right? That's just one instance,
and there are others that are out there, others
that are likely looming when it comes to people
getting upset with the system. So we're taking
a stand. We're making a change there. I'd also
founded a nonprofit, 501c3, which is Life, Health,
and Legal Education Partners. Through that nonprofit,
I'd actually published those three books that
I'd shared about, again, all on Amazon. You can
search Paul H. Flowers Jr. All of them hit bestseller
within a matter of weeks, strangely enough. And
that says something to me about the marketplace,
right? When a relatively unknown author can come
into the marketplace. and have books on a topic
that people talk about on a regular basis. You
can't have a 30 - or 45 -minute conversation
catching up and talking about life without some
sort of health issue or physical concern arising
in that conversation. And for that, I say again,
what we do is amazingly important. So the vision
is to, again, educate and empower first at the
employer level, because that allows me to reach
the masses of employees. And ideally from that
relationship with the employer and those employees,
we move out into the communities through the
nonprofit side and being able to put this information
into the homes of Americans, again, from California,
Oregon, and Washington, down to Texas, over to
Florida, up to New York and Maine and Delaware
and every state in between. Thank you so much.
It's so fun. I'm just going to say this, Paul,
you sound like a radio meditation type of person
where you make such a subject that's near and
dear to a lot of people's heart seem to be okay,
right? Because you're now advising the employers,
the bigger set, the umbrella of everything to
be able to rain upon their own employees. education
and knowledge and access to what some people
actually say, I don't even want, just forget
it. I can't spend my entire check on my healthcare
where I can't take care of my family. So I truly
appreciate it. I do remember that on your website,
you also have some things that can help educate
people. Would you mind sharing your website and
any social media handles before we exit? Certainly,
my website and the best way to connect with me
ultimately right here, www .paul .health. I like
that Streamer allows you to kind of point at
the things that are on screen. I might have to
switch my podcast up, but that'll give you the
links to the books from an education standpoint,
some reviews and things like that from my trainings.
Again, I still ultimately work to pay bills as
well, so I like to see people that trust positive
reviews from my company. And there's also my
podcast where I do a lot of informing and educating
as well. And I actually had a lot of guests on
in the first three seasons, which third seasons
and post -production now going to launch a solo
season soon to focus strictly on some of the
educational things that are about building oneself
and building them up, not just from an insurance
standpoint, but as a human being. And I'll talk
about my fourth book. Just give a little sneak
peek that there are 12 things that will absolutely
help you to get paid for the rest of your entire
life. And I'll share all of those 12 again through
my podcast. In terms of getting in contact with
me, there's also a link on there that takes you
to my LinkedIn page, which the LinkedIn page
is actually the same link as virtually everything
else, the same handle, Paul H. Flowers Jr. Paul
H. Flowers Jr. If you type it into Google, there'll
be some stuff that'll come up. If you type it
into Facebook, YouTube. Instagram, right? There'll
be some stuff that come up. LinkedIn is, again,
where I'm most active. So I would love for your
listeners to connect with me there and keep a
lookout because I'll also make a lot of introductions
to our partners that are out here, the other
healthcare heroes, as I like to call them, that
are standing for each and every one of your listeners
that are here in the States and even those that
come abroad that utilize travel coverages and
things like that as well. We're here to serve.
We're here to make a difference. And again, I
look forward to being able to do that, not just
here in this moment. moment, but for years to
come. So I'm truly grateful for the opportunity
to be here on Vision Pros with you, Javanka.
And again, thank you to your listeners for having
me as well. Thank you for being here today. I'm
really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros
Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward. This
is going to get more and more fun. We'll have
more and more engagement as well. We'll invite
people to participate in the show. And thank
you for giving us your time and attention. Have
an excellent time building out your vision and
becoming a vision pro yourself.