Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Paul Castner President of C & K Healthcare Advisors Discussing Niche Markets

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

Paul Castner started out his path in the insurance industry by working at one of the Nation’s Top Medicare carriers. He began in the broker services department, under strong leadership who encouraged him to always pursue learning and trusting his skill set. From there he joined their sales team and had some of the best in class mentors along the way who not only strengthened his knowledge of the insurance products but also the importance it was to the population it served. C & K Healthcare Advisors was developed by Paul Castner and Mike Killmeyer based out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, with the concept of giving back to the generations that have came before them. What started out as an agency that only serviced Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia rapidly grew to now servicing the entire United States. Our agents live and work in your communities and we strive to be the face of comfort and trust. Our pledge to you is that we will always do our best to inform you of the options that fit your needs, lifestyle, and budget, while working ethically and doing what is morally right.Discover the peace of mind that comes with Paul Castner and his team of licensed consultants expert guidance—because you’ve earned a retirement that’s as fulfilling as it is secure. Call them today or visit their website at https://www.ckhealthcareadvisors.com/C & K Healthcare Advisors, LLC and their agents are licensed and certified representatives of a Medicare Advantage (HMO, PPO and PFFS) organization and a stand-alone prescription drug plan with a Medicare contract. C & K Healthcare Advisors and their agents are not affiliated with the United States Government or the Federal Medicare Program. Enrollment in any plan depends on contract renewal. Medicare is available to some individuals under the age of 65 in limited circumstances. Plans and products may not be available in all areas. Certain exclusions and limitations may apply. We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1–800 MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-paul-castner-president-of-c-k-healthcare-advisors-discussing-niche-markets

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of influential entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us, Paul Cashner, who's the president of CAC health care advisors and will be talking about niche markets. Paul, welcome back to the program. Thanks, Mike. It's a pleasure being back on your show again.

Yeah, I'm excited to talk about this because I always am excited to hear about the things that are kind of like behind the scenes that are unique and unknown that are under the surface, that people. Yeah, yeah, I've heard about this before, but wow, did you realize that? So get us started with some of the things that you are serving your clients in regarding these niche markets. And I know that one of them is regarding Medicare plans and how, you know, they're just talking about helping or, you know, you talked about it in a previous interview, a Medicare plan with these extra benefits. What are some of the things that people don't really know about, but they need to? So I'm going to give you a piece that 90% of the agents that are out there don't know,

and nobody's really talking about. And this has been a big buzz within inside of my organization. this has been around for at least seven or eight years so far. But nobody's talking about it because I don't think they understand it, nor most of them. I don't think they know it's here. So my biggest thing that I'm excited about is the Silver Sneakers tuition rewards program. Okay. And you're probably, if you're listening to this and you're on Medicare, you're probably like,

hold on, wait, I got silver sneakers in my plan. What the heck is this? And why has nobody told me? Well, because nobody's bothered to educate themselves on it. So real easily speaking, okay, if you have silver sneakers building your Medicare plan, there is a tuition rewards program. So what does that mean? You could be earning tuition dollars for a loved one in your family, whether that's an adult child that might be going back to school or a grandkid or, you know, a niece or nephew or a godchild who it is. You're allowed to declare as long as their relative, who gets it?

It's a very simple program, and I'm going to break it down into three short things, okay? One, they go into their silver sneakers portion. They need to speak to a licensed agent to figure out exactly where this link is. We'll be more than happy to provide anybody that reaches out to us what that link is, but they sign up for the tuition rewards program. Just for signing up, might, they get a thousand points. that's a guaranteed minimum scholarship starting out at $1,000 immediately. Now, once inside that portal, they will add a student.

Again, like I said, children, grandchildren, extended family as the beneficiary to this. They can start accumulating points for that child at birth all the way up until August 31st prior to their senior year of high school. So prior to the start, right? And you're probably like, okay, and they can start. accumulate. What does this mean? Okay. So let's say I just had my first grandchild that I were just born. And I'm on a plan that has silver sneakers. I can log in there today, sign up. That's a thousand points. I can then choose that grandchild I just had. And I can start

accumulating those tuition dollars or tuition points in this circumstance all the way from the time they're born up until right before the senior year. Okay. Well, you're like, okay, a thousand points. It doesn't go that far. You're saying thousand points is a thousand dollars. You're correct. One point equals $1. But every time you visit a silver sneakers location or do some kind of silver of sneakers approved activity, right? Every month that you do that, at least seven or more times, you will get 250 points per month.

So think about this, okay? Starting, let's just pretend again. I just had a grandchild. I have it. I signed up. I got my thousand points. And I'm going to do this all the way. to the beginning of their senior year, and let's just say that's 17 years. Let's say they turn

17 in their senior year. That would be 17 times 12 or 204 months. That's 51,000 points. Plus that additional 1,000 points just for signing up. Mike, that's $52,000. I can gift that person in tuition rewards to help pay for college. Wow. That's, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, find that whenever you hear about these, you know, like membership plans, the discount clubs and this and that, you, you tend to see the low-hanging fruit and go, oh, look, I see this one that I use. But sometimes those big ahas are the ones that you don't, you really assume that you know, but then when you hear it, you're like, why didn't I hear about this sooner? And that's one that is shocking to me.

Yeah, so I've been in the Medicare space for, you know, more than 15 years of my career so far. I've known about this for the last couple years. I have a very close agent that is on my team. He has been in the industry for more than 30 years. And I was just having a talk with Bruce Davis the one day. And like I said, he's one of my agents, actually one of my best agents. And we were talking about this. And I went, hold on, hold on.

I've been doing this a long time. Say that again. And he went back through it and he gave me the links to look it up. And I'm like, wow, this is real. I'm like, why has nobody ever heard of this? I went back, you know, I had another conversation with him. He goes, yeah, all my 30 plus years in the industry, 99% of the brokers don't know it's there. A lot of, most of the people that are on silver sneakers, you know, through their benefits,

through their Medicare plan, they don't even know it exists. And I went, why aren't we out there educating? He goes, well, that's exactly what we should be doing. So it was a great thing to be able to talk with you a little bit. Mike and see your excitement. And I'm glad you brought this point up. Yeah. Yeah, that really is a great point. So moving ahead into some of these other unique and unknowns, we've heard you talk about the Metagap plan versus Medicare Advantage. So we don't need to get back into the benefits of those. We covered that in a

previous podcast. But what are some of the ways that you help your clients get relief from the burden of those co-pays? Okay. So Medicare Advantage, like we talked, talked about on a previous podcast, and if you haven't heard that one, please go back and check it out. But Medicare Advantage, you know, low premium, no premium, but it comes with co-pays. And so there can be a burden. Generally, if you're fairly healthy, you're not getting hit to it with too much. Maybe, you know, ER visit there, you know, urgent care visit here, there, or, you know, sick visit at the PCP.

But if you're somebody that's seeing a couple specialists and, you know, x-rays and lab work all the time, you're probably thinking, God, you know, while this sounded great, you know, I got a $0 co-pay, but all right, now I'm a zero-dollar premium. Now I got all these co-pays coming in. How can I stop it? Well, there's something called hospital indemnity plans out there, okay? And I'm going to give you a kind of an easy way to understand what an indemnity plan is, because there's several types out there, but we're going to talk hospital indemnity. So, Mike, do you remember, you know, maybe about five, ten years ago. There was a TV commercial.

It had a duck on it and a very famous actor's voiceover, talking about get paid cash if a qualifying event happens. You remember that commercial? I remember the duck concept. Yep. So everybody kind of knows that. So it's really easy to explain how an indemnity plan works. It works exactly like that.

Get paid cash dollars when a qualify event happens. So when you're working in the world of Medicare and you're building a hospital indemnity plan to butt up and fill in the gaps of, you know, where these co-pays are, right? That's where hospital indemnity comes into play. So when you're working with your licensed broker, the best thing you can do is ask them, hey, do you have an indemnity plan that will fill in the gaps? They'll go into a tool. They'll pull your current plan up and then they'll look at all the different indemnity plans

out there. So what you're trying to do is butt up dollar for dollar match. hey if this person goes in the ER, their co-pay is X. We need the indemnity plan to pay at minimal X. Okay. Hey, if this person has a surgery, here's what the, how much that co-pay could be. The indemnity plan pays equal to that. Skilled nursing home is a big one because after days, uh, 20, you know, you're racking

up per day charges. Well, you want to make sure that that skilled nursing home is covered. covered from those days. So, you know, they just had a surgery. Let's say they had a hip replacement. Now they got to go into a skilled nursing home for a month and a half. We don't want them to get co-paid and burdened by that. So what does a hospital indemnity plan do? Let's just summarize it. So it covers the gaps, right? It helps cover the out-of-pocket expenses like co-pays and deductibles and co-insurance that the Medicare plan doesn't fully cover. It also is going to help protect their savings. It's going to shield their savings. It's going to shield their savings. from the unexpected hospital costs, reducing the financial stress during their health crisis. So think about that. Okay. We don't plan to get sick. We don't plan to have an accident and maybe need a surgery.

But this plan is in place to help lower that burden. Okay. It has fixed benefits. That means it provides cash benefits directly to the Medicare beneficiary. It's not like, hey, I took out this plan and they're going to pay so-and-so. No, the cash payments come to you. So before you get that bill in from the hospital or from that doctor or from that x-ray technician, you've already been paid cash for it.

So when that bill comes in, it's not coming out of your bottom line. The hospital indemnity insurance paid it. Boom, right the check. That's a weird position to be in, I'm sure, because normally you get the big old medical bill and you're like, oh, how am I going to pay that? And now you're like, oh, it's in the bank already. Right. Exactly.

And that's what a properly, you know, put together hospital indemnity plan matching your insurance. Okay. So you don't want to just run out and grab a hospital indemnity plan and go, okay, I don't know what it does. But Paul said it was a great idea. You want to work with a licensed broker that can look at your current coverage and go, okay, let's fill in the gaps. And then they should show you side by side, your co-pay. for this is this. As you can see, they either met it or beat it, right? So by the time that bill comes in, correct, you've got peace of mind. It's ensuring that you won't be caught off guard by those

hefty hospital bills. And even those hefty hospital bills and co-pays, they add up because a copay or your deductible or all of those things, those are just, you know, amounts that just add up and layer in. And it's like we've been talking about in in our conversations like, planning, planning, have a plan, have enough time ahead of when you need these things and have it in place. So you talk about things that come up, like even if you have a plan in place, what about some of those life events like cancer, heart attack, stroke, those kinds of things? How do you prepare for that?

Because, yeah, what you just mentioned was planning on the Medicare advantage and the co-pays. What about the big events like that? So there are plans out there specifically designed for those. And a lot of times, if you're already talking to a broker about hospital indemnity, some of those have cancer heart attack and stroke riders. But maybe you're somebody on a supplement and you know what your coverage is, but you're still worried about, you know, cancer, heart attack or stroke. Or, hey, let's kick that even farther back. Mike, you're still a young guy. You're still out there working.

Okay? Let me ask you a question. If you had a heart attack tomorrow and you're going to be down, say, three, four weeks recovering until you feel better and back out to work, do you? do you have enough saved up for, you know, say two, three months worth of bills plus the medical costs that you're going to get after your insurance pay? Yeah, I wonder how many people would say no, right? Yeah, you probably don't. But these are very cost-effective plans.

They provide substantial coverage, very affordable costs, okay, making it accessible for people of all age. So whether you're young or you're a senior citizen, the affordability of it is very easy to, like, go through. Okay? They're quick playouts. They deliver a lump sum payment shortly after the diagnosis. So that means you've got immediate financial support there, Mike.

The other thing is it helps cover the costs of treatments. If you look at the cost, whether you're on Medicare and you're older or you're younger and you've got group coverage, if you look at the cost of cancer treatments, you're looking at. after insurance pays anywhere from upwards to $10,000 or $15,000 just for those treatments. Out-of-pocket cost, okay? Now, even if we're a senior or younger, I don't know your life story, but do you have rent? Do you have a mortgage? Do you have utility bills?

I think we all do. Groceries, other basic necessities. Those payments will help cover that while you're being on the men. So I think about this sometimes more than just the senior population I serve, but like also the younger population. You know, their 20s, 30s, 40s, still in the working class world. You know, if I had a heart attack and my doctor says it's going to be three, four weeks, how many of the people that live paycheck to paycheck rush back to work before medically advised because they can't afford not to have that paycheck?

Yeah. Okay. Right. So this will do that. they might not have recovered fully. And then that causes another layer of issues. Right. So I was sitting with my business partner, Mike Kilmire one day. And we were talking about this. We're out having a drink somewhere after a little bit of a work piece that we were out doing. And he was trying to wrap his head around while I was pushing this product so hard.

And, you know, Mike's being a little, Mike's a little younger to the industry than I am. And I said, watch this. He goes, there's no way you're going to sell it. So the bartender comes walking by and I said, hey, excuse me, can I ask you a question? She goes, sure. I said, you have medical coverage? She goes, yeah. I said, if you had a heart attack tomorrow, you know, what would happen? She goes, well, I'd go to the hospital, you know, and be treated. And, you know, I'd come back to work as soon as I possibly can. I said, okay, you know that'll be about $5,000 in copay burden, right? She goes, well, no, but then thanks. Now I do, and that scares me. And I said, and you might be out of work for two or three weeks or longer on the mend, and you're going to lose all that income. She was like, I didn't even think about that. I guess I'll have to rush back to work. I'm like, well, but that can trigger another heart attack, right? You you put your body under stress. I said, what if I told you that I could get you somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 in coverage for close to a dollar a day? Would that perk your interest? She goes, 30 bucks a month.

I said, yeah, meaning if that happened to you, you know, while you're in the hospital, somebody filed that claim for you, you're going to have a deposit of, you know, $10,000 or $15,000, depending on how we set up the plan. Would that help? Oh, my God, I'd be able to actually, you know, be able to, like, take full care of myself and do with the doctor advised. I said, exactly. That's the point of those policies. I looked and smirked at my business partner to go, ha, ha, ha, I proved why this is so important. And I knew he knew, but I was making a point in the same breath. She said, do you have a business card on you? Okay. Let me give you some stats, okay? So I'm talking about the importance of this. And we can get you coverage, you know,

from $5,000 all the way up to $40,000 or $50,000. There are also some riders in there that, hey, I had diagnosed as a cancer, boom, I got paid. I've been cancer free for five or seven years. Ten years later, the cancer reoccurse. Well, guess what? You were still paying the premium. Boom, you're paid again. Okay.

So it's not a one and done type of policy. Okay. There will be time constraints on, you know, reoccurrence, but that varies carrier by carrier. Again, work with a licensed broker. Let me give you some facts on cancer, heart attack, and stroke, and why I'm saying that this is so important. So let's just start with the big scary one, the big C word, right?

Cancer. Mike, did you know nearly 40% of people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives? And according to the American Cancer Society, that's one out of every two men and one out of every three women will get a diagnosis of cancer in their lifetime. Wow. So do you think you might possibly use that policy? Yeah, that's pretty staggering. Let's talk about heart attack. Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a heart attack.

How many people do you know that had a hard attack, whether it's mild, big, not all hard attacks or the widowmaker. Some of the hard attacks are mild, right? And finally, stroke, one in six people will experience a stroke in their lifetime. So the last thing I want to say about this, this type of insurance, like it provides critical financial protection. Okay. Ensuring you can focus on recovery without sacrificing your home or your lifestyle. I love it. I mean, if it would, yeah, I mean, when you hear statistics, you know, numbers don't lie. When you hear statistics and you go, it's probably not going to happen to me, but what if it does?

And if you have a plan in place, your stress levels are lower now because you know you're doing care of and your stress levels are lower if it happens because you're. And I think that is spectacular. Well, wrap us up, Paul. This has just been a great conversation on some unique and unknown niche opportunities. What's a final thought that you would like to bring to people's attention? Then how could people reach out and connect with you? So niche markets are one of my specialties. I enjoy knowing the ins and outs and seeking those things that most people don't have answers or resources for.

So if you want to get in contact with us, you can go to www. Care Advisors.com. You can fill out a request form and we'll be more than happy to reach out to you, hear what your situation is and how we can help you out. Awesome. Well, thank you for coming back on, Paul. It's always a pleasure to chatting with you. Thanks, Mike. It was our pleasure as well. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, Visit www.

www. www. Influential EntrepreneursRadyo.com.