Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Recruitment Retention Revenue: Insider Opportunities in Employee Benefits with Tanner Gardner

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Welcome to another episode of the Radcast! Let’s dive deep into topics that matter most to businesses and individuals alike. In today's episode, we're joined by Tanner Gardner, an expert in innovative healthcare solutions, as we explore a groundbreaking program that is reshaping the landscape of employee benefits. Together, we'll unravel the complexities of this program, shedding light on its potential to not only transform healthcare access but also to drive revenue growth for employers. Stick around until the end for a special call to action, where you can learn more about how to implement this program in your own organization and start reaping its benefits today. Let's dive in! All about recruitment, retention, and revenue in 2024. Tanner provides an overview of the insurance industry and the focus of Innovative Health Insurance Advisors on ACA compliance and mitigating costs. (01:38) Introduction to the Encompassing Health program and its goal to address retention, recruitment, and cost concerns for businesses. (03:36) Overview of Section 125 and its role in providing pre-tax deductions for medical benefits, and Explanation of the Encompassing Health program's structure and benefits for employees. (5:00) Tanner highlights the significance of preventive care and the program's focus on proactive health measures and the rising importance of behavioral health services and the financial burden of traditional counseling services. (09:28) Introduction to virtual primary care and its role in providing convenient and cost-effective healthcare solutions. (11:30) Tanner emphasizes the importance of education and awareness about alternative healthcare options among employees. (13:08) Tanner shares his journey from Las Vegas to joining the family business and a discussion on the challenges and rewards of working in the insurance industry. (14:18) Tanner discusses the cultural barriers to accessing healthcare and the role of insurance in providing affordable healthcare options for diverse populations. (19:14) Reflections on the rewarding aspects of helping businesses and employees through innovative insurance solutions like the Encompassing Health program. (22:25) Exploring the revenue benefits for both employers and employees, focusing on the shift in prescription costs and potential tax savings through Section 125. (24:14) Overview of the implementation process for businesses, emphasizing the simplicity and education-focused approach. (29:20) Discussion on company qualifications and ideal timing for implementing the program, highlighting its flexibility and benefits regardless of industry or company size. (33:17) To learn more or to take advantage of the Encompassing Health Program visit https://www.ficasave.com/?referCode=ryanalford. If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just from our relationships in the insurance world, we actually got into the PPE industry. That industry was a complete sham. There was a lot of fluff in that industry to say to these. A lot of people saying, hey, I could sell you these masks. I could sell you these gloves. So that was a whole, whole, another rabbit hole. And then once that kind of died down summer 2020, I just really dove into insurance. And insurance is all about relationships.

You're listening to the Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. What's up, guys? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. This is Ryan Alford, your host. I'm pumped today. We used to say if it's radical, we'd cover it. I like the four R's, you know.

Right. We were going to talk about the three R's, Tanner. But, you know, we're going to the four Rars. We're still radical. But I got Tanner Gardner here, VP of Business Development, Innovative Health, Insurance Advisors. If you give me one word, more word to say, Tanner, I don't know if I can do it. It's a mouthful. Thanks for having me.

Great to be here. It's been great getting to know you better. Yeah. And pumped that you're here in the studio. Absolutely. You know, one of our, we've been getting a lot of guests, a lot more guests in studio. Beautiful, right? South Carolina.

Come and visit. South Kakalaki. It's a beautiful spot. This is my ironically first time ever in South Carolina. It's a wonderful state, man. It's beautiful. You know, good place to raise a family. Right.

Right. Right. Right. You know, probably get some good oysters out here, huh? Yeah, really good. That's awesome. So it's fun, man. But glad you're here.

Yeah, likewise. Thanks. look, we got a lot of business owners, a lot of entrepreneurs, yeah, listed to the show, and, you know, kidding with the four hours, but I'm pumped to talk about the three R's. Right. I think for any business owner, and myself owning multiple business, you know, when we started talking, like, topics for the day.

Yeah. I was like, these are like the key things. Completely. You've got retention, recruitment, revenue. Yep. You know. Three biggest things. And so I know today we wanted to get into, like, okay, it's 2024.

Yeah. What are the trends? What are the things? What are ways that you guys, you know, with your company, but you being a leader in the field, and I know how respected your firm is, you know, we just want to give value to the audience about things we're seeing. You know, how can business owners out there recruit better, retain better, and grow their bottom line? 100%. Let's just start there, man.

What are you seeing? What's the climate in your field and in this space overall? It's insurance in general is very interesting, right? And maybe it would be beneficial just to kind of give a lay of the land. So at heart, we're a TPA, so third-party administrator of group health insurance plans, are really main focus of business. It's something called ACA compliance or MEC plans. It's basically, hey, once you're a business owner, you have 50 employees.

You need to offer what's called minimum of central coverage. If not, the IRS is going to come for you and you're going to get penalized. We don't want that, people. We do not want that. So if you're not ACA compliance, get ACA compliant. So that's our bread and butter. That's what we're known for over. nation's largest provider of ACA compliant plans,

MEC plans across the United States. But everything we do just as a company is really trying to think outside of the box as far as health insurance goes. They give ways to mitigate costs, help out with that retention of recruitment, right? Because insurance in general, right, it's the one guarantee every year that you know is going to go up. Hey, I just met with my broker. Sorry, you saw it.

Does it ever go down? Very rare. Only in some cases, if you're self-insure where that's a whole other. But if you got any number of employees, I just don't think it ever goes down. goes down, right? And for an employee, right, it's becoming more and more unaffordable, right? Because if I'm a, I'm your regular employee making 15, 20 bucks an hour, right, I can barely afford 600 bucks a month for a high deductible plan. And you talk about that high deductible plan, God forbid I go to the hospital, that bankrupts people, right? And truly, I go into debt, right, because any medical bills, even if I go

to the ER, right, hospital, right, they also write the narrative. So when I go to the hospital, they're going to send me a bill for 20 grand for getting an x-ray. Right. It's a joke. So everything we do is trying to, you know, mitigate that, change really the narrative and really shift the, you know, narrative how insurance is typically driven and how it's typically modeled into a kind of new model. And that's kind of what sparked our encompassing health program. And, you know, the main basis behind the program and why we kind of came into this market is really just because COVID really impacted all of our clients, right? Especially 90% of our groups are those blue color industries, your construction. management, hospitality, nursing, agricultural, where even prior to COVID, as a business owner, they worked on tiny margins, right? And then post-COVID hit, they're like, oh, my gosh, I got to shut my doors down. I had no revenue for eight months. How could I reopen? Right. And so that's kind of what sparked this program. And basically what it is, it's a, it's a section 125 is basically the concept behind it. Section 125, it's been around since 1978. It's most commonly used tax in the United States.

Every business owner has it for, you know, their major medical pre-tax deduction 401Ks. The byproduct of having a pre-tax deduction could potentially be a savings in FICA. It's kind of the byproduct of how that work. So with our encompassing health program, how it's structured is basically employees will get access to additional benefits for them and their entire family at no out-of-pocket cost. So there is a cost associated with the program. The cost is just taking kind of from the tax savings that's generated. But now employees will get access to products like a hospital. and Dempne plan, right? If, hey, God forbid, I do go to the hospital, now I'm going to get paid

X dollar amount for being fine, be it admitted, being transported. They'll get access to also additional benefits for them and their entire family for stuff like a virtual primary care to behavioral health. So these are all elements we can kind of dive into. But yeah, it's been a really great story to tell because every business owner is looking for that solution to not only, right, address that retention recruitment through benefits, but also have kind of the byproduct of potential savings for both employer or an employee. And I'll say this, you know, I've owned, you know, I worked for others. I feel like I've always been an entrepreneur in some ways, but I've worked for others 15 years.

I've owned multiple companies for six, seven years now. And it's, I don't know why it surprised me, but with recruitment and retention and how important insurance and how big, like, I knew it. So it's like, I don't want to play like I was an idiot. I mean, like, but I think I was naive, right? coming into it as a business owner, as I started adding five, 10, 15 employees. Like, okay, I know insurance mattered. Right.

But the degrees, the levels, and the amount of options that can be there. Right. And how it can make or break certain hires. Right. Because you might, if you want certain talent, you've got to offer the best benefits. 100%. I mean, and that might be like, no shit, Ryan. Like, people listening.

But, but when you're, you're in. you're not doing, you're focused on a lot of things and you want to take care of people. Right. You don't necessarily know all these things. I think that's why it's so important to have a great partner. And insurance is on the back burner, right? It's the last item that every business owner thinks about, right? Hey, I want to get my business model up and going.

I want to get my revenue in. I want to set my policies and procedures. Oh, I do insurance. Oh, my gosh. How do I do that? Insurance is very confusing. There's a lot of steps that goes involved with running it. And to your point, though, I think COVID really kind of exposed to all.

All of us as Americans, right, people that lost their jobs, hey, now I'm not going to go to an employer if they're not offering insurance, right? That is a huge thing. It kind of goes in that mindset. Oh, I need, I need, I need as an employee. And I preach about, right, employees in today's market, they are screaming prior to even getting hired saying, hey, Ryan, if I can work for you, you better pay me the highest you could pay. And you better give me the best benefits.

Yeah. Right. So that's kind of the story. And I think, you know, if employers are maybe naive. and unaware of how important that is at the beginning. I think they become aware of it pretty quickly once they're hiring the best talent and they have to go through that process. I do think, you know, we all have insurance, even those that, you know,

employed and everyone in the room has insurance. Right. I think we're naive to the ancillary things that can be added that are important. Right. Which go hand in hand with what we're talking about with the encompassing help. Completely. And I think because I don't think, I don't think the average Joe knows. because I think everybody complains and goes,

my insurance doesn't cover enough. Exactly. I know that, but I didn't know that maybe these other things are out there. Right. So it becomes a win-win. For the employer and employee, the education that happens with these programs.

Completely. And right to your point, all of us have that major medical card in our wallet. That's just burning a hole, right? We pay this premium every month and, hey, God forbid something happens, then I'll go good a fix when really, if you take a look at countries like Europe, Sweden, Italy,

they have great healthcare systems because all their population are engaging in health at stage one rather than waiting until stage four, then I need that major medical card. So for example, like one of the elements in our program is employees will get access to a metabolic testing kit, right? So, hey, prick your finger, send it back to your lab. It shows me, hey, maybe in my family, my males have heart issues. So maybe at a stage one, I could do something that will prevent me from the time that I'm 60, and I have this huge claim, puts me in bankrupt. I'm owning the hospital, a bunch of stuff.

I'm owning my insurance carrier a lot of money. Having stuff on the preactive approach is kind of the overall goal and mission on the program. Another big part of our program is we added behavioral health, right? This has been the biggest hot topic in really the world post-COVID. We've seen a giant increase in anxiety, depression, substance abuse. So we all know behavioral health counseling, it's expensive, right? It's typically not covered on your insurance policy and you're paying out of pocket anywhere from, you know, $200 to $500 per session. So it can get really, really costing when you have a serious, you know, issue that you need to talk to someone.

And so through our program, we have 24-hour 365 therapists and counselors that employees and their families can access. So, hey, if I'm, we deal this a lot with like a hospital organization. So maybe I'm an employee, my patient just passed away and I'm really depressed, really sad. I want to talk with therapists. I can call in. But maybe I'm just overall, have anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and I want to talk to someone on a regular basis. They have behavioral health coaches that they can schedule unlimited amount of times. They don't pay any co-pay.

And it's a huge value for right employees and their families. Yeah. I mean, that is big. But I'm going to back up for one second because you hit a hot topic for me. I literally, one of our clients, one of my good friends and my doctor is Dr. Longivity, longevity doctor. And I got on my soapbox. we did a show several weeks back talking about how backwards the health care system that we get, you know, we thank the doctor for curing things that should have been prevented already.

Completely. That could have been prevented. 100%. Because we have these things, we have medicine and technology and all this stuff at our fingertips, but we're just always treating versus preventing. And I mean, I know the doctors have always said, they might say it. They're good for you. But it's not.

I mean, it goes to. You know, most people don't even go to internal medicine doctors. They don't even look at their blood every year. And what's even crazier, so to that point, as we all know, right, if you're, so there's this study that, let's say you're taking four prescriptions, another part of our program that we're adding. Some of those prescriptions are actually canceling out some of the other ones. So that's how, you know, these people get hooked on these prescriptions. Hey, I need these five pills. Hey, but really, if you're taking prescription A with prescription C, that's canceling each other out.

So you're really not even getting the benefit of that. So most of the time, employees don't even need it. and that lifestyle change, right? Whether it be your diet, whether it be, you know, doing one of the aspects to engage in preventative care, that's where, you know, that stink and thinking in our country is really going to start to change. And that's, right, the overall goal of health care,

I think is the long term. And look, I'm kind of like the anti-Kumbaya guy. Like, I'm just not, I'm kind of like, tough it up, top it up. But I'll say this. If you have healthy employees, it's good for business. Correct. Like, you know, like doing health and wellness, you know, all those things.

Right. And so, you know, you want your employees to be happy and healthy. Correct. Because that's good for the bottom line, ultimately. Because if they're sick all the time,

they're doing all the stuff that's treating instead of preventing. Correct. So it makes a lot of sense that these programs get inactive, but I just don't think the awareness is out there. You're absolutely correct. And for example, like, everyone's familiar with telemedicine,

right? Hey, call in. I'll chat with the doctor. Everyone has telemedicine. Everyone pays a copay for that. So including in our program is no copay. pay, but bigger point is we added virtual primary care. So not a lot of people know, but right now about seven and nine primary care visits can

be handled telephonically. So, right, when I go to my primary care doctor, I think he likes me. I think he cares about me, but I see him for like 10 minutes, right? And he's like, oh, Tanner, you're fit, you're healthy, you're good, see you later, right? That really could have been done virtually. Why don't I need to go into the office, call out of work, take my kids out of school? Exactly. Yeah, so being able to provide that benefit virtual primary care to employees in their entire

families right now I'm not calling out of work now I can do it from the confines of my home right at the end of the day going to the hospital nowadays that's where sick people go right especially post-covid i don't want to go to the hospital i don't want to catch something and you know become even more sick than i already am yeah what what was the foundation of this program i know you talked about yeah the one 125 yeah you know like but what what did all this come about yeah so section 125 all that section 125 really does is allow a business owner to put in a pre-tax deduction for medical benefits. All right, your 401k, HSA,

major medical, etc. This program specifically really sparks from the Affordable Care Act. So the Affordable Care Act, what Obama put in days back in 2011. Really, the whole idea behind the Affordable Care Act was to have employees engage in preventative care.

That was kind of the goal and mission, right? Hey, you get an annual physical for free and some other, you know, they should have called me, Tanner. They needed a national television campaign for this shit because nobody knows about it. They did a horrible job marketing it, right? They did a horrible job.

So back in 2015 is really what sparked this program in particular because the Affordable Care Act had an amendment to it that said you can now bill insurance companies for a wellness activity. So let's say I go to my doctor, right? And that's just say I'm doing my annual checkup. And he says, Tanner, you're fit, you're healthy. But, you know, it's a maybe it was in the fall. Are you going to get your flu shot? Or what about? I'm not old enough, but colonoscopies.

Maybe he talks to me about a different disease prevention benefit. There's ultimately medical information all has. CPT codes embedded within it, even if you're just educating you on a different topic, that that doctor is going to go bill your insurance company accordingly for. So that's kind of what sparked the premise behind all this is to have really employees understand, hey, preventive care is good. And hey, there's additional resources for you to receive that same care now through this program, right? It's just that, you know, getting that out to the market and having employees understand where could I receive this same care for a cheaper cost. I mean, is it possible

you know, I'm a firm believer that things happen within organizations. They're top down or bottom up. So do employees just not know about this? Do they not ever like come and like ask for these type things? Has it ever come from the, you know,

the ground swell up? Not typically because right, insurance is boring and especially group health insurance, it's never, you never will see an ad on social media. You'll never see it on your TV. Everything you do all, you know, insurance-related stuff is all about, you know, drugs, right? We all seen the latest drugs. Oh, if you

maybe consult to your doctor two weeks before and talk to a professional about our drug. Every commercial now is pretty much a- Completely. Right. Some type of, you know, pharmacy that can change your life in a split of a second. So, yeah, employees just aren't, they aren't educated, frankly, on what they want. They're just really being told, hey, you want this, and this is what you're going to pay, and this is how it's been for the last 60 years. Yeah. So is what, Let's give our audience a little bit of perspective about innovative health insurance advisors. I mean, I want to really set the table. And for you, like, I mean, anyone listening is going, this is a really impressive guy.

Yeah. Like, I'm just saying, man, I mean, you know your shit. And, but I think it's important to know, like, your background, the background of the business. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, like, let's talk about that. Yeah, I'll tell you kind of how I came to be. Yeah, man. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.

So Vegas is a very, very, very. small town. So I'm sure anyone that's watching this, if you're from Vegas, you probably know me or my family or one of my friends or cousins, et cetera. What happens in Vegas and always stay in Vegas, right? That is for sure. You did leave, right? I did leave. So, yeah, my mom is, she's been in Vegas since the 70s. She was basically practically born there. Growing up, had a great time. I went to Faith Lutheran high school as one of the big kind of football schools, kind of rival to Bishop Gorman. And then Vegas is very interesting because if you're, Vegas, like I said, it's very, it's, that's, that's, that's, small town feel. So if you stay in Vegas, it's kind of seen like, oh, you're staying in Vegas, really? Like, what are you going to, what are you going to do? And so you got to get out of Vegas to

make something to yourself. Got to get out. Yeah. So I was a, I was a big advocate for leaving your hometown. And so that's what my parents, they, they had no option. Hey, we'll pay for college, but you're not going to UNLV, you're not going to UNR, you're getting out of this state. So kudos to them. I've had an amazing upbringing. And so kind of behind all this. So my, my father's the president and CEO of our company. So I always kind of tell people. people. Insurance is kind of in my blood. My dad is the hardest worker I know. He's an amazing guy. Great role model. Really set the foundation for me, my siblings on what it looks like to work ethically, you know, and work hard and doing it in the right way. And so I went to Arizona State

and then I actually did door-to-door sales. I sold door-to-door pest control back in 2017, 2018, in the summer of 2019. So I started in Sacramento. If you could do door-to-door salesman, you can do anything. And I completely, I'm a huge advocate for door-to-door.

It sucked, and I loved being in that suck, right? I learned so much from knocking on those doors, talking to 200 people and saying, hey, go kick rock, sorry, get off my porch, right? And being able to then learn, okay, how am I not selling anyone?

Why people tell me to kick rocks? And I look at these other guys, these leaders, my mentors. And I was like, I'm just going to copy exactly what they're doing and really just built that skill and then I was able to have someone's credit card that I just met within five minutes.

So that having that power really was like, man, was that a Vegas trick or like, did you? It might have been. Yeah, I'm going to say, hey, if you play a little blackjack right out, I'll give you a little bit more. Yeah, you intern on David Copperfield's

100% like said, didn't you? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, but you had to be so door to doorband, you might as well have been doing magic. Yeah, 100%. That is tough. Yeah, it was tough. So I did that.

Didn't really do super well my first year. And then I recruited the team, kind of taught them how to sell my second year, sold out in Austin, Texas. Yeah, I mean, it was hard as shit, right? It was working, you know, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. working, you know, Monday through Saturday, walking, like, 15 miles a day. I mean, it was a hard working job.

And then I always knew I was eventually, because I built this foundation of sales right now. I know I was kind of thinking getting to my end of my college career. I was like, okay, what's the next step, right? Where do I, you know, take this foundation of what I learned and put it into a really career? And so I always knew I was wanting to go into, you know, a family business of insurance because I know insurance is, it's so, I love it because there's so many nuances to learn with insurance. And so I really dove into it fall of 2019. I kind of started working with my dad and our business partners and kind of learning, okay, what do we do?

What is this ACA compliance? We had kind of a San Francisco specific product. and then come spring 2020 COVID it. So everything obviously went to a pause. Ironically, I was actually in Mexico the day that NBA shut down. And so my mom, my mom's full Italian, so she's very protective of her kids, of her cubs. She calls me. She's like, they're going to shut the borders.

You need to get to America right now. And so we were down in Rocky Point. It's about about three hours, four hours south of Phoenix. And me and my buddy drove home and made it back. And then, right, we were all kind of in this waiting period for those first two weeks of, you know, government shutting down. What is this? What's going on? Right? We've never seen anything in our culture like this. So then just from our relationships in the insurance world, we actually got into the PPE industry. That industry was a complete sham. There's a lot of fluff in that industry to

say that these. A lot of people saying, hey, I could sell you these masks. I could sell you these gloves. So that was a whole, whole, another rabbit hole. And then once that kind of died down summer 2020, I just really dove into insurance. And insurance is all about relationships. So mainly what I do is, you know, build relationships with the brokerages. So your AONs, your U.S.I. hubs, galgers. And this goes back to insurance, right? You could have the coolest, shiniest product on the street with insurance.

But if you don't have that relationship, you're not going to get the ear of the business owners. So, right, it's more of, hey, you're a broker. You like me. I like you. I have a cool product. I think this could be a fit for your book of business. Let's write a couple groups.

So that's kind of what sparked it. And then kind of been, you know, not looking back since then. I love it. That's good, man. I think it's a good perspective. And, you know, I like the story of, I mean, not just the door to our sales, but like, you know, you can have gone straight into probably the company business, but, you know, earned your keep, got out there, cut your teeth. And kudos to my dad, right? I mean, I work very hard. And I, my dad's the hardest on me. And as he should be. My dad was, I mean, from Nebraska. He played football at college. He coached football. He was my football. You know, growing up my entire life. And I wanted my dad to be hard on me, right? He would yell at me. He would throw footballs on my head during practice. He would have some crazy stories on that. but I think from the perspective of my father, right, he never wants to have my perception of,

oh, my son's only successful because of his name, right? So he really gave me nothing. I started really from the ground. He just kind of gave me the basework of how it's modeled. And kudos to him, and I'm very appreciative of how that's modeled. It's got to be rewarding, though. You know, it's when you know that you're helping people,

like with, you know, with encompassing health, which we'll get back into, like, these programs that don't have the wares that they should. They have clear win, win, win, win situations. That's got to be rewarding, I would think. 100%. Yeah, because it's a value to employees, right? And I just always go back to if I take a look at, you know, employees and your regular

employee, right, if you can 15, 20 bucks an hour, right, they need care. I mean, I had a company down in California. They are a big construction company. They do like drywall, staffing, et cetera. and most of their employees, right, I'm sure you can imagine 99% Hispanic male. Most of their employees aren't on their corporate benefits. So most of these employees have zero coverage. Wow.

So why do you think those cultures don't go to the hospital? Because they aren't, right, they're not, it's not affordable. It's out of the picture for them. So being able to provide value in that scenario of, hey, you can go see your primary care. You can get access to behavioral health. My favorite part of this program, we added it in this RX plan. It basically has 2,900 prescriptions at a $0 co-pay. So, right, you think about, hey, my kid has an ear infection, right?

I need to get amoxicillin prescribed to my CVS. I pay a $10 to a $50 copay typically to get that same prescription. Now through our program, it's just going through a different mode of filling that same prescription. It's the same bottle. You get it at your same pharmacy. You just now pay zero. Wow. It's huge.

$2,900? $2,900. So it's all your generic prescription. So anything that would be typically covered, I think it's about 80 other prescriptions that be covered under our primary care visit. And that's all under Encompassing Health. Correct. Wow.

And so for that coverage applies to whether they have a base plan or not. Correct. Yeah. Regardless of what they have going on, think of the encompassing health program is sort of like an Affleck policy, right? Everyone knows Affleck. And Affleck, right, you can go out and bolt on a hospital indemnity plan. You can get a critical illness.

You can get a cancer policy. So whatever that Affleck plan just kind of bolts on to whatever you have going on for your traditional insurance. So all their traditional insurance, major medical stays in play, this is just kind of a supplemental bolt-on enhancement. Yep. I mean, I guess we're saving the best for last revenue. Yeah.

I mean, this is where it gets sweet for the employer specifically and the employee because that's what blows on mind on this. Like you get all these benefits, you get all the prescriptions. Right. You get all the preventative. Yeah. And then there's a revenue component. 100%. So on any, this is why when I'm talking with these employers ask you, okay, right now are you self-funded?

Meaning are you really the one that's paying for all these insurance claims? Are you fully insured with your Bucca plan, Kaiser, etc.? Regardless of what they say, the biggest cost of claim on any insurance claim pool are prescriptions. Right. So if you think about it, the more prescriptions utilization you have on set claim pool, higher risk and utilization renewal rates go on that, you know, fully insured. Now through this program, I say, okay, Mr. employer, right? Now you can get, that employee can get that same bottle, same pill, same prescription, filled the same pharmacy.

Employee pay zero, bigger picture really for you. Those claims are shifted, right? They're now not hitting. Comes off of it. And I tell them the more elements we could have shifted off that self-insured or fully insured from the prescriptions is the biggest part. But hey, if I have Blue Cross telemedicine paying a $50 copay, I can get the same telemedicine I pay zero.

Why wouldn't I use that? And now shifted off the claim. So that's a huge part. But then as far as the revenue aspect goes, so how this program functions, it functions based off a section 125. So maybe I'll start on the employee side. So the employees by being on this program could potentially see an increase in their take-home pay. And the reason behind that is because they see two new line items is basically how they works. First is a pre-tax premium.

So just like any other since 1978, all that does is reduce the taxable income of the employee. What's different, though, is what's sparked with this program, that's why we're, why I mentioned back in 15, how the Affordable Care Act had that amendment to it. Now the employees will get access to a claim payment, basically an indemnity claim payment for being engaged in medical care benefits. So employees need to engage in one aspect of the program per month to get this claim payment, and the result of having those two events results in a net increase in pay for the employee. That indemnity claim payment, it could be taxable to the employee, just like if I had an Affleck policy,

right? And Affleck pays me, say, 20 grand if I have a cancer plan. However, I'm claiming that as miscellaneous income is kind of the same way with all these kind of insurance indemnity programs. And then really just the byproduct for the employer, it truly functions just like any other Section 125 since 1978 by having this pre-tax that reduces the taxable income of the employee. That's how we reduce the FICA spend for the employer. And they could potentially save about $700 per employee per year. Wow. I mean, we can do the math.

That adds up. Yeah. I mean, hell, I mean, whether you've got 30 employees or 300, it's still, same story. Still a lot of math. And if you've got a thousand plus employees, this starts to really make sense. 100%. Or it's like a no-brainer. Right.

And that's where, I mean, I always like, I'm always skeptical. Right. You know, like, and my listeners wouldn't appreciate it if I didn't try to poke holes. But that's the thing. Like, we've been at this, and I'm familiar with the program. Yeah. And, I mean, every time it blows my mind how. the wind stack up.

And kind of to just go on the background of that, so back in, as a TPA, I mean, I frame it like this. So as a TPA, we get approached all the time, right? People come to us as a vendor. Hey, I got a new insurance product. I know you guys innovative health. You guys have a big book.

You partner with all these brokerages. Open up your distribution. I got a cool shiny product. Can you let me in? And so back in 2016, 2017, we actually got approached by a couple different vendors in this market. At that time,

we just didn't feel comfortable enough to release a product because we didn't think the compliance was there. And right, this goes back to all we have at the end of the day is our name, right? We have a good name in the insurance market. We build all of our products along compliance. And so that's why it took us a decent long time, honestly, to create this product because the IRS set guidelines for what they want to see with these types of programs. So we really basically built our program along the compliance guidelines that the IRS has,

and that's kind of where we're at today. Tanner does what I'm saying. Win, win, win, win. So we know people are listening. They're going, wait a second. Like, number one, they're like running, you know, to show notes going, are their broker going, how do I get this? Right.

But let's talk through, you know, I love giving people like tangible, like, value of, okay, what's this look like? I got 250 employees. I've checked all the boxes. I've agreed to things. and you're onboarding me. Yeah. You know, what do we have to do?

What are the hoops or, you know, how easy or difficult is this? Yeah. What's the day in the life of this process? Yeah, so what's really nice about this program is that it's very different than your typical insurance and the fact that this program really is just sort of a payroll functionality. So all the data feed is really funneled through payroll. So it's really, I'll explain that. But basically, we hop on the phone with a business owner.

Say, hey, business center, this is how the, program works. This is really in layman's terms, how it functions. By the end of it, every business owner sort of wants to see their analysis of what they could potentially be saving and what potentially their employees, you know, get from this program. So we kind of run a preliminary census. It's these kind of seven fields. I love the calculator, man. I'm just going to tell you, you plug it in. I know it's an estimate, but still. It's a cool thing because right as a business owner, you can see, okay, this is where the rubber meets the road, right? Ultimately, is the juice worth the squeeze for me? Yep. So once we get that yes for the employer, we take.

a big approach to education and really all the heavy lifting that goes involved with running this program. So prior to us even going live, we'd take typically three to six weeks before we go live to do this pre-educational period. During this time, we'll basically set up two different silos of education that are kind of running together. The first is really just making the automations within their payroll. So whether that be API, input files, payroll codes, deduction codes, etc. And that work is not upon the employer. It's really, hey, I work with. pay corps right i'm going to connect by paycore rep with my team and off they go from there that that tech talk tech i'm not a tech guys so i don't know anything all on that yeah second side of

i think is the most vital aspect of the program is that we actually educate all their employees so as you can imagine right this goes back to everything that we've been talking about employees don't know what they have access to they barely even understand if you think about in the traditional sense okay i have a major medical i have an open enrollment every year two weeks i got to be this insurance professional within these two weeks and I think I pick the best plan for me, but I don't, I don't really know, right? I have no clue. And maybe I don't use all the stuff that's offered to me in that corporate plan. So during this time, we'll educate all their employees.

So, hey, your paycheck's going to look a little bit differently. You're going to see these two new line items, educate them on the tax side of things. Once that's done, really, we're educating them on the benefits. Hey, you now get access to virtual primary care for you and your entire family. You get access to behavioral health, virtual dermatology, RX program. So we show them how to utilize the benefits. And that's really what takes the bulk of that three to six week time period just because, right, employees will have questions. Maybe they don't understand it.

We've got to re-educate them, host webinars, phone calls, emails, text messages. And that's kind of what creates that three to five weeks. And then after that, and it's really a program goes live and off they go. But to the employee, no added cost and potential up to three or four percent raise. Yeah. They just got a bump. Yeah, the biggest misconception we get, right, when I say, oh, there's no out-of-pocket cause, everyone will think it's free. Right. By all means, nothing in our world is ever free, right? There is 1,000% of cost associated with it. There's a cost of the insurance and there's an admin fee. Both of those costs are just generated from the tax savings. So that's how it's at a no out of pocket cost per se.

But the net net is still additional savings for employer and all these benefits for the employee. Correct. And potentially increase in paycheck. Correct. Yeah. I, it's still like, you know. It's crazy to think that something like, something like, that's out there. It's out there and that so few people aware of it and take advantage of it. Right. And that you guys have streamlined it as reputable as you are, streamlining it into a program that takes all the guesswork out of it. 100%.

I love it. So if people are interested and they're trying to weigh, is there any potential roadblock? Like, is there certain companies that don't qualify? Is there any potential things that people, people need to think about from that side of it. There's nothing really from an employer's side that would disqualify them per se. Each client's different, right?

So your potential saving could differ on your employee population, how much they're waging, their merit of status, their exemptions claim. But really, every industry, it works because there's no really guidelines. The only specific, so on FICA, there's a max FICA limit. So for anything, you could have savings in FICA up to the point you make $163,000. So once an employee reaches that mark, there's no savings to be had. So it's really not generated at that point.

But if you're an employee making, you know, 17,000 to 163 or over that, then it's kind of a home run success. And so at worst, the savings might not be as high depending on the employees, the employer. So your savings, but the out of pocket cost still remains zero. Correct. And the benefits are still outrageous. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm out of holes to poke. Right? When you start to weigh your options, you're like, man, right, that it just kind of checks every box, right? Especially from just a benefits perspective, right? I always go back to, right, the cost of insurance is so great, right? These employees are truly spending so much money. They're going into debt, truly, when they're going to the hospital. So being able to receive this care, having those claims shifted, I mean, it's a great story for both parts.

Is there a time, you know, for a company where something like a decision like this makes sense or can it be implemented at any time? Yeah, any point. I like to do it outside of open enrollment. And the reason for that, right, open enrollment, I don't want to muddy the water. It's confusing. It's stressful. It's very busy during those two weeks. So I like to do it outside of traditional open enrollment.

Really, you know, we can start it at any point, though. Yeah. Win, win, win. Yeah. So I know we're going to have links, but essentially they sign up. Yeah. They get more information. They get on a call.

Exactly. With you or someone else. Yep. At the company, learn more. And we start rocking and rolling. Got it. Easy enough. Hey guys, you got to take advantage of this.

And look, we're going to have the links on my site, Rayanofford.com, as well as on my social media channels for how you can get involved. Tanner Man, it's been great. It's been fun. Thanks for having me. Hey, retention, revenue, and recruitment. All in one.

Encompassing health, the three R's, and it's radical as hell. We appreciate you coming on. Thanks, brother. Hey, guys, you know what to find us, the radcast.com. Find all the highlight clips from today. all of the show notes where you get involved. You know where I'm at. I'm at Ryan Offord on all the platforms.

I'm blowing up on TikTok. So get me over there. I'll see you next time. The Radcast. To listen and watch full episodes, visit us on the web at the radcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the.

dot rad. dot cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.