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.
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.
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Garner Cowdery behind the microphones, putting all this together
so we can put this show out there on the air across country.
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that like to go to the podcast platform, there are 16 of them.
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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.
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.
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.
Welcome back. Hi, Carrie. Nice to be back.
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.
I did not know that.
I know the, the landscape has changed for.
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.
The cost of health care, health insurance was killing them.
That's right.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
But I just want to bring this up.
We don't have a narrow network plan. No.
Every ACA play my right or wrong.
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.
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.
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.
It's not out of network.
That's right. It's in. 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.
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.
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.
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.
Stay right there. We'll be right back after the break.
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.
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.
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.
As you know, if somebody needs a medication
that is outrageously expensive here, we'll bring it in from Canada,
New Zealand, Australia.
Which then helps to reduce the cost.
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.
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.
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.
Set of, of of.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
That's right.
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.
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.
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. That's the other thing.
You're right.
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?
And at the time there wasn't and there are.
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.
You're probably going to eat the largest part of that.
Under our plan.
They get a. 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.
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.
So that's another idea of what separates us.
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.
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.
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. That took 15. Minutes.
And if you go to urgent care, there's also a copay.
Oh, yeah. There's no copay. Here. 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.
And you can do that also virtually. Yes. All time.
Virtually. Again, it's correct.
It's it's accessible to anywhere that you live.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There's an association.
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.
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.
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.
And then we help you enroll and then
then you get your card in the mail.
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?
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.
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.
And then if they have any questions, they just call us or they call the GigCare
team. Same thing with farm co-ops.
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.
And they need medical care.
So we we become their benefits team for their 1099 contractors and their w-2s.
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.
So how do you how does that all work?
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.
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.
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?
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.
What they need is a solution for medical.
Because of the
because of the Department of Labor, of insurance.
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.
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.
We put him on gig K for $1,200 a month.
I have a better plan. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Well, you also think about the the kids that are
aging off of their parents plan too, right?
I hadn't even thought of that. Yes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That's what I had not thought of attorneys because I thought
most attorneys offered a full blown benefits plan, but evidently not.
No, no.
I mean, if they have a small firm, they they have 2 or 3.
They have the same problem anybody else has.
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.
I mean, it's just it just fits with everybody.
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.
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.
That's right.
And contract employees, contract nurses, anesthesia.
And they do not have coverage under the hospital.
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.
You know, we can do group benefits, we can do Medicare,
we can do ACA, but now we can also help the 1099.
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.
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.
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. Co-Ops.
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.
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.
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.
Does it fit everything?
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.
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.
This thing can make a lot of sense for a lot of people.
Maria. It really can. It.
Again, like I said,
it is a
solution that has been a gap in our medical care.
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?
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.
I didn't.
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.
Those guys are actually part of GigCare now.
So, I mean, it's amazing to me.
And, you know, to your point, some carriers won't even cover.
So no certain industries or certain jobs. No.
This doesn't do. 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.
Yeah. We had a company that they have,
stunt men
and. These stunt movie.
Stunt men, and they couldn't get insurance coverage for them.
Right. And GigCare was the solution.
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.
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.
Thank you Maria for coming in today.
Thank you for having me. 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.
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.