Who Provides Your Healthcare? The Surprising Truth Revealed!

Hello and welcome to Healthy Mind Healthy Life with your host Eric. This podcast is all about exploring the latest research, sharing personal stories, and providing personal tips for improving our mental health and well-being. Each episode will be joined by experts in the field of mental health, as well as individuals who have experienced the transformative power of a healthy mind firsthand. Together, we will dive into a range of topics from managing stress and anxiety to building resilience and cultivating happiness. So join us on this journey to discover new ways to take care of our minds, bodies, and souls, and let's work together to create a healthier, happier world one episode at a time. So let's get started. Hello, hello and welcome to Healthy Waves to our listeners, The Life podcast, where we dive deep into the diverse, uh, and dynamic topics with the help of expert discussions. So, uh, whether it's health, wellness, um, mental well-being or, uh, the latest innovations, we have got it all covered with the insights from the professionals who are leading the way in their respective fields. So tune in, engage and write the waves of knowledge with us. And, uh, so today I'd love to introduce you to our guest, Harlan Pickett. Welcome to the show, Harlan. Thank you so very much. It is my pleasure to be here, sir. Lovely, lovely. So, Harlan, before we start, I'd quickly love to introduce you to the listeners. Uh, the listeners. So, uh, leveraging almost two decades of, uh, uh, rich experience in the healthcare industry and his profound knowledge as the insurance broker, he has, uh, journeyed through the shifting, uh, signs of the insurance and the healthcare sector. So, uh, over the years, uh, he has adapted, innovated and recognized the need for affordable yet comprehensive insurance coverage, which is tailored to the individual needs. So champions are alternative funded solutions, disrupting the traditional insurance landscapes to make room for more flexible and personalized healthcare plans. So his work with Eagle Care uh, health solution insurers like, uh, everyone gets the health care they deserve without breaking the bank. So we're thrilled to have you with us, Harlan. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Uh, you know, this is this is truly my passion to make sure people have access to the health care that they deserve. And it's such a huge deal because the whole health care system is so complicated, and people don't get the care that they need. And, you know, just like the the name of your show, the healthy, you know, healthy mind, healthy life that is that is just so true. I think it is so true that you have to have those things working in conjunction, because if you don't have your health and you're really missing out, right, you're you're really going to be behind the eight ball there. And we know if you start having health problems, the mental issues that come with that are not far behind. And it just then it starts snowballing and things just go off the rails really quickly. Exactly, exactly. So to start with, I mean, um, if you can share your perspective on how primary care providers can play a pivotal role in supporting the mental health for their parents. Sorry, patients. My bad. Yeah, yeah. No, that's a great question because that's where it really all starts. One of the the biggest misconceptions that people have is that they should only go to the doctor when they're sick. If you wait until things get that bad, or until you get what we call sick care what you want, you get into sick care. You're already behind. Now you're playing catch up to get ahead of the game that you could have been ahead of to begin with, if you were taking care of yourself with the right kind of primary care and preventative care, if you were out there actively making sure that your health stayed, stay good, and that goes right back into the mental health side of it, because most folks do not realize how much training a primary care doctor has towards that as well. That's usually your first line of defense against anxiety, against depression. So many of those things that start out and then it can can really start rolling downhill. And, man, you're in big trouble now because you didn't catch those early and start getting treatments. And treatments don't have to be medication, folks. A lot of times just having that conversation and getting ahead of it before it becomes a bigger problem that can put you in a whole different place. Yeah. One of the good things that came out of Covid is that people are a little more. Open to speak about some of the psychological things that happened during that time. You know, we're humans are social animals and being locked into a place where they couldn't interact with people, it had a very detrimental effect on a number of people. And the the person that you should turn to first to talk about that is actually your primary care physician. Uh, but here is the tough part of it. In a traditional system, uh, like we have here in America, where it's a fee for service. The fee for service primary care doctor typically doesn't have time to spend with you. They only have 5 to 7 minutes to talk about all of your issues. So then they're just referring you off to somebody else. Well, that's where these alternative models come in with direct primary care. Advanced primary care. Those doctors give you 30, 45 an hour worth of time to really dig into what's going on and help you in a more holistic way. That is the future, and that is what can help you have that healthy mind and healthy life. Exactly. That's very true. Yeah. So, uh. Okay. Also, like, how do you see, uh, the role of alternative, uh, funded health care solutions contributing to the overall healing of the mind, body and soul? Yeah. So the, the the solution that you choose, whether it is a traditional health solution, a health insurance plan or an alternative funded plan will determine the time of type of care you get. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but it's amazing how many people I ask them, hey, who do you get your health care from? And they name their insurance company? Well, let me tell you something, folks. There is not a single insurance company out there that provides health care. They pay for health care, but they don't provide health care. So when you start letting someone dictate, in this case, an insurance company who you go and see and how long you can see them, because they're only going to pay for so much, that's when you find yourself in trouble. That is why getting an alternative health solution, something that's a little outside of the box. But that is all so centered around you as the patient and not on profit. Let's let's be honest what our insurance companies about profiteering, right. They're their profit companies. And if they're out there to make profit, you're not in the center of it. Uh, but when you have a plan that's built around you, that's built around the actual patient, that means that you will now get the services that you deserve and you get the care that you deserve, and we'll have a much better outcomes. And once again, back to the name of your show. Have a healthier mind and healthier life. That's what it's all about. That's really what it's all about, is giving someone the time, giving someone the care that they deserve, and having someone listen to them. That's one of the biggest complaints people have is my. My doctor doesn't listen to me. My doctor. I think this is what's going on. I really want to talk to my doctor about it. But they don't have time. And whenever I am talking to them, it's like they're not listening to me. They've already decided what they want to do, refer me out or give me another medication. And you know, how many people have I seen that have this giant list of medications? And half of those medications are to counteract the side effects of the other medications that they're taking. So it's just a vicious cycle that they're in where medication is not always the answer. Care. Proper care is the answer. Exactly. Yeah. Also, like, uh, what, according to you, are some of the common misconceptions people have about the alternative funded solutions in the health care? No, that's a that's an excellent, excellent question. Because as soon as we start talking about alternative solutions, a lot of times people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I gotta have my health insurance. If I don't have my health insurance, that means I don't have access to health care. That is simply not true. Remember what I just said? Health insurance is not health care. They're just paying for health care. Well, alternative solutions do the same thing. But with the alternative solutions you have more control over what those look like. You get to help build those. You get to use the parts that you need. Most people look at an insurance plan, and they cannot even imagine what it takes to build that and all the pieces of it. And it is extremely complicated, just like our health system is extremely complicated. But I will tell you this, once you open up that box and you actually look at what's inside there and realize that you can work with someone like Eagle Care, they can rebuild that, but rebuild it where it's centered around you as the patient instead of just over here making money. Then that is what changes it. Because the misconception really is, is you have to have insurance to get health care, and that because there are two separate things, that is not true, an alternative funded or alternative design plan can work much more efficiently and actually provides you better access to care, more affordable access to care, and higher quality care at that. Uh, health care is a very strange thing is, it's one of the very few things, if not the only thing out there, that you don't get what you pay for. Typically, if it cost more, the care is better, is worse. In health care, you're paying more. You're getting less care because we pay so much for administration in health care that if you're going to a practice that, let's say, just takes cash and doesn't do insurance, they have less overhead and they usually have much better outcomes. It's a very strange dynamic in the health care world, but usually the lower price, the better the care. Unless unless you're also, uh, I mean, um, if you can share some of these specific examples, like how Eagle Care solution, Eagle Healthcare solution, uh, has made a significant impact on an individual's or families access to the healthcare. Yeah, absolutely. I'll tell you, one, that we've had two very recent ones that were, I mean, life altering for folks. Uh, one of them was a young lady that she, her child was due in March. So they got she. They've been on Eagle Care for about three years now. She got pregnant last year. Her baby was due at the end of March. However, at the end of, uh. Now. And through this process, what do you do? So let me explain a little bit about what when you're in this kind of process, we already had everything set up. She had already fully paid for what it was going to cost her to have her, her child, her part, which was actually only $1,000. They chose a plan with a very low out-of-pocket, so she had already paid her $1,000. Everything was fully taken care of for whenever she had her baby in March. What, of course they planned on was a very traditional birth with no complications. That's what you plan on, right? Well, that's not what happened at the end of January. She had to have an emergency C-section. So her child was born two months early. The child then had to spend a month in NICU. Uh, the mom was in the hospital for about a week. Uh, where all of a sudden they only had $1,000 out of pocket. Now they're terrified because they have this, not insurance. We don't have insurance. And all of these things have gone bad. And we know that the bill is well over 100,000. This is going to financially ruinous. That was their thought. But it didn't work out that way. They still only paid their $1,000. Everything else was taken care of. We negotiated with the hospital, um, to pay for a settlement. Not anything as far as, uh, uh, it goes on anyone's credit record. Remember the prices that they're charging or what insurance companies would pay. And it usually takes them 6 to 8 months to get paid. Instead, we came to the hospital and said, hey, what if we paid you 50% of what the the charges were today? And the hospital said, yeah, yeah, we're working on that. You're good. So we were able to cut the bill, the overall bill. Actually over more than 50%, and the client still paid no more than the $1,000 that they originally had, so they were not in any kind of ruin. The hospital was actually happy because they received all of their funds right now, instead of waiting months and finding an insurance company for them. So they're happy to give you a discounted rate when you're going to pay them quickly or you pay them upfront. We also had somebody with with some heart issues last year. It's been almost uh, it's about 11 months ago. She had a into having to have a pacemaker and she had some other heart issues. Well, this is very recent, so just, uh, just about three weeks ago, she all of a sudden started having chest pains again and had to go to the E.R.. Now, her out-of-pocket that she chose was $2,500. So back whenever she had the original issue and she was in the hospital for two weeks, she ended up paying a total of $2,500. Everything else, bill wise, which was over $80,000. We negotiated that down to less than 20,000. Still, only her part was 2500. But the way our options are set up is until you were medically cleared from whatever has happened to you for 12 months, you will not have to pay any more if you have something else, go on with that situation. So here it was. 11 months later, she had to go to the E.R. again because she was having heart issues. She was in the hospital once again for a week. They had to do a heart ablation. Uh, the whole the bill ended up being well over $100,000. We negotiated that down to less than $10,000, 8700. And she had no more out of pocket. No more, because she had already paid the 2500 in the past, and it was still part of the same type treatment she had had before. It's still related to her heart. She paid no more else out of pocket. So these are just two instances where these folks would have been tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket if they would have had traditional health insurance, and they'd have been paying a whole lot more for their plan to begin with. And they had a very, very much lower cost. Uh, you know, like I said, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of less across the board for because they had Eagle care. That's perfect. Definitely. So. So, uh, what role do you see technology is playing in the future of, uh, personalized health care plans and how care incorporating, uh, the technology into their solutions? Yeah. No, that's a that's another really good question because the future of health plans, I'm quite honestly, the overall future is really going to be dictated still by health insurance companies. They're huge. They're huge. They're going to dominate the market just like they've always dominated the market. Now what technology is going to do, however, is it's going to open up opportunities for smaller companies like ours to start chipping a little bit more away, chipping a little bit more away on that, because as we have technology and people, you know, if you're watching right here, all of you have one of these phones right there out there, all of you have one of these. And the more you can do on that, the more access to health care you have on that, and the more you're able to see what your options are. So let me tell you what that means. If you could shop on this phone. Think about what you do on Amazon or on anywhere on your Walmart app. It doesn't make any difference. You go out there and you shop for services. People don't do that for health care. They just don't do it. You don't shop by price. But what if you did? What if you didn't have to worry about the insurance company telling you who you can go see, but you actually got to shop for those services on your phone. That's what technology can bring, because now you're actually being the fiduciary of your own money. You're no longer paying an insurance company some outrageous amount of money to maybe for for the babies. Right. Then think about this. Who buys health or who buys insurance for your vehicle to cover your oil? Changes to cover your windshield, wiper blades to cover your brake pads. You don't do that. You buy it for the big stuff. Well, what if you did that for your health insurance? What if you did that for your health care and only bought protection for the big stuff? And then you were able to shop for the little things, just like you do for your car on your phone? What if you were able to do that, and you then could spend your money in a much more fiduciary way of your own life to be sure that you're getting the best value and the best outcomes. What if you could look at your phone and see this doctor charges $80 for a visit, and I'm and it's not just Google reviews, it's actually technology that shows you how good of a doctor this doctor is. What are his outcomes? How what does this patient say? What is the rate of hospitalizations for his patients? Because if you see his patients have a low hospital rates, that means he's doing a great job keeping them out of the hospital. He's taking care of them. If you can look at that information and then you look at another one that, hey, maybe this guy is the same $80, but he's got a much higher rate of people going to the hospital. To me, I want this guy over here, but people can't shop like that right now. If they can't shop, like, the technology's just not quite there and the big guys don't want it. Let's be honest. They don't want that technology out there because then people would wouldn't be able to use them or wouldn't have to turn to them for it. But once that type technology is there, that's going to change the game, that if we can get people to start thinking differently then and think like the consumer, if it's really consumerism, then and they have the thought of consumerism in their mind with health care like they do with everything else, that's going to change the game. Exactly. That's very, very true. Yeah. And, um, also, uh, just to, uh, check, like as someone who has, uh, innovated within the insurance sector, how do you see the future of healthcare evolving to integrate both the ancient and, uh, the modern practices for the holistic health? That's that's a that's interesting to look at from a few different ways, because there's not a lot of incentive for those big insurance companies to integrate these type things, to integrate direct primary care, advanced primary care, Because those models are not they're not set on fee for service. They're set on a per month basis that somebody pays and they can get they can. It's an all you can eat buffet, as it were. I'm paying you a fee every month, and then I can go as many times as I want to. I can contact you via phone. I can contact you on whatever it takes. But insurance is not set up that way. Insurance is set up in a fee for service. You. This doctor provides a service. He bills the insurance company. The insurance company then pays them. So the integration of this in there, I think there's going to be trials. I think that there are some insurance companies are going to try this, but there's going to be a lot of pushback on it from other doctors that are not in this model, that are traditional fee for service. I was recently in a meeting just this week where one of the big insurance companies, one of the Blues, was in that meeting listening to us talk to a large, very, very large employer. Uh, they have over, like, really had like 100,000 employees across the country, but they're listening to us, talk to them about putting in one of these models where their employees can go to the doctor for all of their primary care needs at zero cost. And we're not talking about just primary care, but we're talking about mental wellness, uh, physical therapy and chiropractic all wrapped into one thing. And they can go and receive all of those benefits for zero cost. And then you can just see the look on there. These these insurance companies face, they're just they don't get it. They're they're just shocked that these things are. How are you doing this? Why are you doing this? You're putting me out of a job, man. You know, they're they're really struggling with these concepts because it goes against everything that they're doing. It goes against everything. And I think they're going to have to embrace it to a certain degree. Like I said, I really believe there's going to be some levels that they try it at and right now, Medicare and Medicaid or doing some trials with direct primary care, and that may get them to push into it a little bit and try it out, because they can then build plans in those sectors saying, hey, we're just following the rules that were given to us by the government to try this out. They may be able to dip their toe into that and see kind of how it works, and learn a little bit more and how it really plays out through their entire, uh, their entire ecosystem then that they have built their entire insurance plan. What does that look like there? But there's there's not been a lot of reason for them to do this. That's the bottom line is they're making so much money doing things in the status quo. Why would I change what I'm doing if literally, if every single year my income is going up, my revenue is going up and my profits going up, why would I switch to something that I don't know anything about? I'm just going to keep on making money. No, that's really lovely. Great. Also, uh, I mean, uh, on this when we are talking about this. So, uh. How do you balance the innovation with the need to maintain that, uh, compliance? No. Okay, great. When we build these solutions, we obviously have to look at the compliance side as well there. They have to be built with compliance in mind so that those those parts are there. Uh, they're now not everyone has to meet the same compliance. First of all, if you're, you know, certain size employers have different compliance things they have to meet than others, and some of them actually have none, depending on what state they're in and then what size their company is. You know, a company of five very little compliance they have to meet. They don't even have to offer anything if they don't want to. So in a case of a smaller company like that, it's all about what they want. We really can get down to the nuts and bolts of, well, what do you want? And what do you not want? Because there's no compliance issues here. We can build you anything that you want to do. They can go completely non-insurance. They can go completely away from any type of a risk or ACA plan, if that's what they decide to do. But yeah, once we get into certain sizes, then we have to make sure that is built into and that is considered for the employer and for the employee too, depending on once again, some states, while overall in the country there's not a mandate that you must have insurance anymore, there still are some states like California and New Jersey, where they they do have a individual mandate for folks to still have insurance. So that all has to be taken into consideration when we build plans specifically for employers. Wow. That's that's really awesome. And I would say so, uh, but this is definitely, uh. Uh, thank you so much for tuning in, dear listeners, to this episode of Healthy Waves And I believe that you you all have enjoyed the engaging discussions and the insights from our incredible guest. So, uh, at Healthy Waves, we are committed to exploring the diverse topics with the expert, uh, perspectives, helping you navigate the waves of knowledge and the personal group. So if you have enjoyed today's episode, do not forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with your friends who might benefit from our discussions and the conversations. So join us next time as we continue to dive deep into the new topics with more experts who are shaping the future of health, wellness, and personal development. So until then, keep riding the wave of positivity and stay curious. So stable and see you on Healthy Waves. Thank you so much.