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Episode 2024 Transcript:

00;00;01;14 - 00;00;05;16

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;05;22 - 00;00;21;21

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate.com. If you've got a question or comment, send me an email. I answer every one that I get.

00;00;21;29 - 00;00;41;17

Cary Hall

I'm happy to hear from you. If I can help you with anything, please feel free to reach out to me. You know we're on 238 stations around the country. I want to reach out to Caitlin in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1400 Am 99.3 FM. I'm getting a lot of calls out of Nebraska these days, and we're very happy to be chatting with those folks in Nebraska.

00;00;41;20 - 00;00;49;29

Cary Hall

Most of them are calling about a product that we're going to talk about today called GigCare. So we're going to talk about that today in studio with me is Sam Nigro welcomes Sam, and.

00;00;49;29 - 00;00;50;17

Sam Nigro

Thanks for having me.

00;00;50;21 - 00;01;09;00

Cary Hall

Glad to have you here. Sam is a broker in Omaha. He specializes in individual and group health insurance. We're going to talk specifically about GigCare today and the individual market, how to navigate it and what you need to know. So we hope you all join us and enjoy. As you know, the show is videotaped. They're all posted on YouTube.

00;01;09;00 - 00;01;27;06

Cary Hall

So if you listen to this, maybe you've got an employer with a lot of 1099 employees because that's what the GigCare product is for. You can certainly tell them to go take a look at this up on YouTube. Additionally, it's posted on 15 podcast platforms. So we're on Audacy, we're on Spotify, we're on SoundCloud. Run every one of them that's out there, I think.

00;01;27;11 - 00;01;47;16

Cary Hall

So you can certainly find us on any of the podcast platforms, and we're happy to have you aboard. All right. So in studio, as I said, is Sam Nigro. Sam Nigro is a broker out of Omaha, Nebraska. Sam is an employee benefits consultant. He's with Gallagher, a fortune 500 organization, a leader in insurance, risk management and consulting services.

00;01;47;23 - 00;02;08;22

Cary Hall

He is a vice president of small business and employee benefits at Gallagher. Sam has been in the insurance industry for 28 years. Sam has expertise in the individual market, which is primarily what we'll talk about today and the group insurance market. Sam has an extensive background in ancillary lines such as dental, vision, short term, etc. Sam is a graduate of the University of Omaha.

00;02;08;26 - 00;02;25;24

Cary Hall

Sam is a Chartered Life Underwriter CLU Certification and a Long Term Care Registered Health Underwriter and a Registered Employee Benefit Consultant and holds REBC designation, so obviously he knows his way around the block when it comes to health insurance. Welcome. Glad to have you here.

00;02;25;25 - 00;02;26;06

Sam Nigro

Glad to be here.

00;02;26;06 - 00;02;30;10

Cary Hall

Drove up from Omaha. Started up at 430 this morning, so I'm impressed, pal!

00;02;30;10 - 00;02;49;07

Cary Hall

That you got up here and are ready to do this? Just talk a little bit about because, you know, consumers get very confused by this. We were talking before we went on the air about an example you had of a woman who recently reached out to you. Unfortunately, she had used the government website to sign up for health insurance and it turned into a debacle.

00;02;49;07 - 00;03;08;06

Cary Hall

And we have a little history with that on this show as well that we can reference. But talk about why it's important to use a broker that is certified and understands the individual health insurance market, as opposed to going up on healthcare.gov and trying to do this yourself, or use one of their navigators.

00;03;08;11 - 00;03;29;19

Sam Nigro

So the the easiest way to explain it is in a, in the context of, how consumers purchase health insurance. I think one of the things like the scariest thing in person could do a Google cheap health insurance, right? Because their phone is going to start ringing off the hook from Texas and Florida. And, you know, and so doing it on their own is very, very difficult.

00;03;29;21 - 00;03;51;19

Sam Nigro

But the way that I explain is pretty simple. If you think of buying health insurance like a store, like anything we're going to buy in a store, it's not really that complicated in pretty much any state. I work in all the states and pretty much any state. There's only three aisles that we can shop in as consumers. The first aisle is our employer plan, so if somebody has access to an employer plan, they can shop in that out.

00;03;51;21 - 00;04;15;21

Sam Nigro

The second aisle is what I call full coverage plans. Those are plans that cover all preexisting conditions. They don't ask health questions to get in. Preventative is free. The third aisle is more of nontraditional plans. So those would be plans that maybe are short term plans, gap plans. If you're in between jobs or if you've heard of the Christian sharing programs, those type of things, those those plans in aisle three generally don't cover preexisting.

00;04;15;21 - 00;04;31;16

Sam Nigro

They don't cover maternity, don't cover mental health. But for the right person, those they can be okay and they can be very low cost. But this is where a lot of consumers get confused with what we see on TV. So we're in this imaginary store. We're going to shop in these three aisles. And so we'll go back to aisle two for a second.

00;04;31;19 - 00;04;48;17

Sam Nigro

So we go down aisle two. And the first thing to note is in aisle two. And this is a big misconception in my industry. The aisle is the aisle. It doesn't matter whether you're in the aisle by yourself or I'm in the aisle helping you or, you know, any other brokers in the aisle, all the plans, all the products are on the shelf.

00;04;48;17 - 00;05;06;03

Sam Nigro

The prices are on the shelf. There's no rates are different for anybody else. You know, shopping in that aisle. Then you take the plan you want and you go to 1 or 2 registers to pay for it. You either go to the insurance company register and pay full price, or if you qualify based on certain criteria, you can go through the marketplace.

00;05;06;04 - 00;05;44;22

Sam Nigro

Some people call healthcare.gov or Obamacare, whatever they want to call. It doesn't matter. It's just a register in the store, so to speak. It's just a website where I have a back door to consumers can go in through the front door, and the government says, we'll help you pay for that plan. Well, this new product, this GigCare product is really fits a niche because it adds a new aisle to the store that didn't exist before for a specific set of people that have been so frustrated with only being able to go down aisle two and potentially go to the marketplace register or have to pay full price through the carrier, or go down the

00;05;44;22 - 00;05;52;10

Sam Nigro

aisle three where they're going to have a number of things not covered. So it's really that simple when you think of buying health insurance, just to think of it like a store.

00;05;52;10 - 00;05;57;02

Cary Hall

As you said, it occupies a very specific niche in the marketplace.

00;05;57;04 - 00;06;26;10

Sam Nigro

Whether I'm talking to an employer, client or I'm talking to an individual, we're seeing a significant shift over to 1099s, independent contractors, people wanting to do things on their own, employers wanting to move employees to that type of status. What doesn't what keeps them from doing that benefits, right? They can't, in general offer benefits to 1099s or independent contractors.

00;06;26;13 - 00;06;49;25

Sam Nigro

So attracting and retaining and recruiting people is really difficult. Well, for those people that are in that status of 1099 or independent contractor, they don't have a lot of options. A lot of them don't qualify for marketplace subsidy. So that marketplace register is not going to be of help to them. So they're stuck going down one, go down all three, because they don't want plans that don't cover things that they need.

00;06;49;28 - 00;07;08;22

Sam Nigro

So they're stuck going down aisle two and then going and paying full price at the cash register. when they could be having access to something that's better. And that's what this GigCare product does, is it brings just a solution that they can balance out against their alternatives, instead of having just one option.

00;07;08;22 - 00;07;28;21

Cary Hall

And let me give you an example of that. So, I had an executive from Blue Cross of Nebraska call me Ron Rowe, and he gave me the name of a friend of his who lives in western Missouri who is on a standard government Obamacare program. I called him, spoke to him. He's an auctioneer. He's paying $2,300 a month for him and his wife. On the GigCare plan.

00;07;28;23 - 00;07;46;25

Cary Hall

He pays $1,600 a month and he got better coverage. Lower deductible, better coverage. The program worked out really well for him. So that's why I'm doing this show today. I wanted to bring this. I wanted to bring a broker in studio that had a lot of expertise in the individual market. Sam's got a lot of expertise. They can understand.

00;07;46;25 - 00;08;08;10

Cary Hall

You see how well he explained that. So you can understand it. We're going to go through the GigCare product today. in the in the show that's what we're going to talk about. We'll talk about some other things too, about what happens when you use the government website to buy health insurance. We've done a couple of shows on that that have been kind of interesting, where we had people actually in the studio, you may remember Claire Benson.

00;08;08;13 - 00;08;23;12

Cary Hall

We'll chat a little about what that was like, and I'm going to ask Sam to give us an example of a recent problem that he had with a client who signed up on the government website, and there is a peril to that, and you need to understand that. So once again, the idea here is to bring you information.

00;08;23;12 - 00;08;40;26

Cary Hall

This is a new product in the marketplace. It's it's being used in 50 states. So it's available anyplace in the country. And it's got the Blue Cross and Blue Shield network behind it. We think it's a great plan, and we're going to come back and talk a little bit more about it after the break. If you want information on GigCare, you can go to the website.

00;08;40;26 - 00;09;02;02

Cary Hall

It is GigCare.net, or you can call if you want to. 866-200-2513. And this is what GigCare looks like. So this is what you'll see if you go up on the website. Give an example of that. And then there is a product brochure that's up there that lays out all the plans.

00;09;02;02 - 00;09;19;09

Cary Hall

We'll talk about those plan designs and all of that when we come back from the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network coast to coast across the USA state right there. We've got more. When we come back.

00;09;19;11 - 00;09;49;12

Steve Kuker

The golden rule treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker and this is one of the founding principles of my firm, Senior Care Consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included. Honor our mother and father. Respect our elders. Care for those in need. And treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make.

00;09;49;17 - 00;10;25;02

Steve Kuker

Serving them in their greatest time of need. If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community. Reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913-945-2800. Know your options and choose with care, at seniorcareconsulting.com.

00;10;25;05 - 00;10;42;16

Cary Hall

Welcome back to America's Healthcare Advocate show. I'm your host, Cary Hall in studio with me, Sam Nigro from Gallagher Insurance. We are talking today about GigCare if you want to learn more about this, if you're a 1099 employee, you're not on a group plan. You're maybe you're not happy with the ACA plan. You're not getting a subsidy.

00;10;42;16 - 00;10;58;18

Cary Hall

It's costing an arm and a leg. Like the explanation I just gave of the gentleman who was paying $2,300 a month for his policy for him and his wife. You can go to the website GigCare.net. All of our plan designs are up there, so you can certainly look at them on the website.

00;10;58;18 - 00;11;23;22

Cary Hall

Or you can call if you want direct assistance. 866-200-2513. So let's switch gears a minute. We had you had an interesting story when you came in about a lady who went up on healthcare.gov. You know, I constantly tell you people that when you go by health insurance, it's not a real good idea to go and try and do this by yourself for a whole host of reasons.

00;11;23;22 - 00;11;46;26

Cary Hall

Number one, the people that are helping you are not licensed broker agents on healthcare.gov. They're guides. They're they're navigators, they're sisters. They've had a whole host of different names. Okay. and we had we did a show with a lady by the name of Claire Benson, who was pregnant, who went up and made a simple name change with the person as the care guide, as the as the navigator, rather.

00;11;47;00 - 00;12;11;17

Cary Hall

And in 24 hours lost her health insurance for herself, her husband and her baby. It took us six months to get that turned around. It was totally the responsibility of the government. They totally screwed it up, but they would not take responsibility for it. Myself and Angie Ricono from channel 5 here worked very hard to get that plan back on track for her, and she did get her health insurance back on track.

00;12;11;20 - 00;12;16;19

Cary Hall

But again, that's the hassle that she went through. So your story this morning was what?

00;12;16;23 - 00;12;45;20

Sam Nigro

Yeah. You know, I think when we think of health care, we in the government like single payer system, we start to think about all of this stuff and the consequences that can happen in terms of getting care and getting services. But what a lot of people don't realize is just what you're talking about, which is the practical part of how challenging it can be or would be to to even just sign up or make changes.

00;12;45;22 - 00;13;04;20

Sam Nigro

we've got a young lady who called our office. She had signed up through the the marketplace through, an “assister” at the marketplace, which is really a roll of the dice. Right? Because sometimes you call in, you might get somebody who's well-meaning and has some knowledge, but it's it's a roll the dice who you're going to get when you call in.

00;13;04;22 - 00;13;14;16

Sam Nigro

Whereas working with a broker and I don't care if it's not if it's me or not, I want to earn my client's business. Right. But I want to see the consumers work with the broker because it doesn't cost them anything more.

00;13;14;18 - 00;13;34;10

Cary Hall

Right there. Yeah. This is a big misconception. You think general public, that using a broker is going to cost you more. The prices for the plans are the same. You can go right up on the website and look at them. The prices for the not not GigCare, the prices for the plans offered by that under Obamacare, under ACA, the Affordable Care Act are the same.

00;13;34;10 - 00;13;45;10

Cary Hall

Whether you buy them online from the government, “assister” or navigator, or you use a qualified agent who's got 28 years in the business that knows what he's talking about, keep going.

00;13;45;10 - 00;14;05;28

Sam Nigro

Yeah, because the broker compensation, the broker commissions is baked into the premiums. So if you don't use a broker the insurance company just keeps that correct. So why not use a broker. So this young lady called and she had she has a child who elementary age. And she was trying to get the child on state Medicaid and got denied state Medicaid.

00;14;05;28 - 00;14;17;17

Sam Nigro

So now she's trying to get the child put on the health care plan. The problem that she's run into is she called the insurance company a natural thing, right? If I'm a consumer, I'm going to call the insurance company. Will they tell her, sorry, we don't do that.

00;14;17;17 - 00;14;18;08

Cary Hall

We can't.

00;14;18;11 - 00;14;43;13

Sam Nigro

We don't control that marketplace register. We don't include we don't control the enrollment. So you've got to go through the marketplace to do a healthcare.gov. Yeah. And it was going to be 30 days before they could fix it for her and get it, fix it and get her her daughter enrolled. Here's the the ripple effect of that. She wanted to get enroll because she has to get a physical for her daughter, because her daughter can't go to elementary school unless she gets a physical.

00;14;43;16 - 00;15;03;00

Sam Nigro

So now she can't get enrolled in her plan in a timely fashion for her daughter to go get a physical unless she pays out of pocket, which is what she's going to have to do. So we're working through that with her to get that fixed, to get that corrected. but it's it's challenging and it's scary and people don't know what they're doing when they call.

00;15;03;00 - 00;15;16;02

Sam Nigro

That's not to the consumer's fault, it's just how complicated the system is set up. and so, yeah, there's unintended consequences of having the health care, administrated by the government.

00;15;16;02 - 00;15;34;01

Cary Hall

Yeah. Because here's the thing. Okay. When it is an independent broker and the way that would have gotten solved, the way it's getting solved is he has a broker portal he can go to. He has a broker representative at the carrier that he can either reach out to by phone or go through to an email, or he can go through the broker portal, report the problem there and get an answer back.

00;15;34;06 - 00;15;49;19

Cary Hall

In other words, he has a back door into the carrier where he's going to get an immediate response from the carrier, and they're going to be able to fix it. Try doing that on healthcare.gov. Good luck. Okay. You know, it's kind of like when you're waiting for that IRS refund and you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting.

00;15;49;26 - 00;16;07;28

Cary Hall

Okay. You know, I always say, and this is the part that people just don't seem to get, you know, when you're dealing with government health care, it's going to be delivered with the compassion of the IRS and the efficiency of the United States Post Office. And if you understand those two takeaways, then you understand what happens when you've got government administered health care.

00;16;08;01 - 00;16;26;07

Cary Hall

And that's what health care.gov does. You again, you may get somebody there really knows what they're doing. Or you may get somebody like Claire Benson got who took her to the whole process for a simple name change and wound up being told in two hours she had no coverage and in six months they were going to put her back on.

00;16;26;07 - 00;16;44;00

Cary Hall

But, oh, you got to you have to pay the premiums for when you weren't on. Okay, if that makes any sense. And we that didn't happen. We wound up fighting that and getting it turned around. But that's what she was told. And just understand the bureaucracy that you are dealing with because that's the issue, right?

00;16;44;03 - 00;17;04;24

Sam Nigro

Oh, totally. And when when this person calls in and it's about knowing what to enter, what to what buttons to push, what to check, and if in the what you're talking about with those, those unintended consequences that have to be unwound is if you go in and you and you start putting in the wrong boxes, you start putting in accidentally.

00;17;04;24 - 00;17;26;04

Sam Nigro

And because you don't know any better, you start putting in information that's not correct. Then it has to be unwound. Whereas in this situation, where is this situation? My staff knew exactly what to put in, knew exactly how to enter this in, and was able to go and get this corrected for her without getting going down that road of, of it being needing to be unwound and done over.

00;17;26;04 - 00;17;42;25

Cary Hall

So here's the deal. So if she had gone to Sam to start with, she would have called Sam, and Sam would they would solve the problem. You know, I used to have a commercial that I said, if you, you know, if you want to do if you want to buy health insurance on the government website, get ready to call the 1-800-I don't give a damn number.

00;17;42;28 - 00;18;18;10

Cary Hall

Okay. Well, that's what you get, okay. As opposed to using an independent broker who's certified, who's been in the business and understands these policies and understands how to navigate the system and get you the best coverage, which is, again, we're going to explain GigCare to you and how that works. Okay. But you know, we use qualified brokers that are trained and understand this product in order to go out there and sell it to the public where it makes sense, it doesn't work for everybody, but it works for a lot of people, especially if they're 1099 employees and they're looking for a solution and they don't have a subsidy.

00;18;18;10 - 00;18;41;16

Cary Hall

That's where this product fits in. We don't we encourage the people to go to the broker, okay, go to the broker and talk to the broker. We use the broker distribution model. Why? We could do this directly. You absolutely could be done directly. That's not how we do it. If you call that number that I give out, if you call that number on the phone, that 866-200-2513, we're going to send you to a broker.

00;18;41;18 - 00;18;57;09

Cary Hall

We're not going to enroll you directly. If you go to the website and sign up, we're going to send you to a broker that is certified gone to our process and understands it and understands how to present the product you to see if it fits. So that's the takeaway from this segment. That's why I wanted to do this.

00;18;57;09 - 00;19;17;10

Cary Hall

If you want more information, once again the website GigCare dot net the phone number 866 200 2513. We're going to come back from the break. When we do, I'll actually get into the plan designs. I'm going to talk about the plan designs. We'll talk about a little bit about what they cost, and we'll talk about how they're offered and what you expect when you sign up for GigCare.

00;19;17;10 - 00;19;29;06

Cary Hall

Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break.

00;19;29;09 - 00;19;49;14

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You know, you're listening to this and we're going to get into GigCare in great detail these next two segments. Maybe you're an HR director in a company that's got, you know, 150 employees that are W-2, but you got 50 over here that are 1099.

00;19;49;17 - 00;20;11;18

Cary Hall

The folks at GigCare can help you. Sam Nigro can help you. All right. So this this is a solution for people that are 1099. Maybe you're an E.R. doc. That's a contract, E.R. doc. Maybe you're an Uber driver. Okay, anybody that fits this mold of 1099 and either is not happy with ACA, doesn't get a subsidy or whatever the case may be, you're not on a group health insurance plan.

00;20;11;23 - 00;20;34;06

Cary Hall

Then you can go up and and take an opportunity to look at the GigCare plan, see what it's all about. The website is GigCare.net. The plans look like this. You'll see this actually when you go up on the website, all the plans and the plan designs are up there, or the phone number is 866-200-2513.

00;20;34;12 - 00;20;49;18

Cary Hall

And, we have folks there that will help you and they will send you to a broker who is qualified, certified, passed all the tests and knows how to write this policy and make sense out of it. So, Sam, let's just get into it. this is called the working owner model. What does that mean?

00;20;49;20 - 00;21;21;25

Sam Nigro

We're working on our model is essentially anybody who is eligible based upon their status that they can be in this working owner group. And that's really the important part, because when people are learning about GigCare, it's not about qualifying for health insurance. It's about qualifying as a member or a team member of the working owner group. And so when you're in the working owner group, when you do qualify, whether you're a 1099 or an independent contractor, whomever you might be, there's a series of questions that you answer.

00;21;21;28 - 00;21;39;12

Sam Nigro

And when you do qualify and working on a group, then you participate in some things. You participate in some surveys that you know. How was your health care, how was your visit, this type of thing. And it's not nothing significant. It's just a handful of times throughout the year. But you're you have qualified based on how you answer the questions.

00;21;39;18 - 00;21;47;25

Sam Nigro

To be in this working owner group, when you are in the working owner group, that gives you the green light to be able to sign up for one of the health care plans.

00;21;47;25 - 00;22;08;19

Cary Hall

So the working owner group is really simple. The company is called PSM Nebraska. Population and Science Management. They collect data. So you just heard Sam talk about the survey. So we assume Nebraska sends out a survey because you're in GigCare. Do you have a pet. Would you buy pet insurance. Do you feed your dog Purina Pro Chow.

00;22;08;23 - 00;22;14;04

Cary Hall

Maybe there'll be ten questions. You fill that out and then we actually pay the people, right, Sam? Correct.

00;22;14;06 - 00;22;30;01

Sam Nigro

Yeah. And it's it's really pretty brilliant how the the folks put it together because when you have this working owner group that's collecting data, right. What is the most logical way to collect data through health of plan.

00;22;30;08 - 00;22;31;18

Cary Hall

Through consumer surveys.

00;22;31;18 - 00;22;35;25

Sam Nigro

Yeah, through surveys and through having a health care plan.

00;22;35;27 - 00;22;36;07

Cary Hall

Right.

00;22;36;12 - 00;22;47;08

Sam Nigro

And that's where the GigCare came from. And and again the key is qualifying as part of the working group gives you the green light to be able to select one of the five GigCare plans.

00;22;47;08 - 00;23;08;09

Cary Hall

So now we're going to talk about the actual plans, the plan designs and how that works. So that gives you access to GigCare. You then apply to for that for the plan. You pick the plan you want and then and then we'll go from there. So let's talk about the plan designs. And there's some pretty unique benefits in this plan that aren't available in the ACA plans as well, which are kind of interesting like drug importation.

00;23;08;16 - 00;23;13;03

Cary Hall

We have a diabetes management program. We have other Medicare. Yeah. So let's go into some of that.

00;23;13;03 - 00;23;31;27

Sam Nigro

And the number one thing in the plans going back to my store analogy, right. Three aisles that a person can shop in. So aisle two is what we would largely consider the marketplace plans. The biggest challenge with aisle two in almost every state couple, you can name them on one hand. But in almost every state, the biggest challenge is network.

00;23;31;29 - 00;23;50;29

Sam Nigro

When somebody goes into aisle two, they have to pick a network. They're picking a narrow network. And what a lot of people don't realize is if they go outside of that network, they don't have any coverage other than emergencies which are covered by law. But if they can't voluntarily go to Mayo, they can't voluntarily go in. So that's an issue.

00;23;51;01 - 00;24;06;04

Sam Nigro

GigCare solve that problem with Blue Cross by saying we're going to give the National Blue Cross Blue Card Network. That is a big deal because especially for working owners who in a lot of cases are traveling, they have access to that.

00;24;06;05 - 00;24;26;00

Cary Hall

An example of that is is a trucker. We have a trucking company today we're going to be talking with here in Lincoln, Nebraska next week. And those folks have got truckers all over the country. That's their challenge right there. Okay. They're 1099 people, okay. And they you pick a narrow network because the carriers are trying to do what, control the cost.

00;24;26;00 - 00;24;46;08

Cary Hall

Right, Sam? Yeah, because they're under a guideline by the federal government. They can only charge so much. And the rest of that money has to go back into the claims fund if they don't use it. So it's a narrow network idea is to control cost because they control access. This plan, GigCare is offered with the Blue Cross network through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska.

00;24;46;09 - 00;24;51;14

Cary Hall

But as Sam just explained, it has the blue card. And what does the blue card do? Sam?

00;24;51;14 - 00;24;56;12

Sam Nigro

The blue card gives you access to the National Blue card Blue Cross network.

00;24;56;14 - 00;25;00;27

Cary Hall

And that's what this does. Yeah. And that's one of the big differences. So talk about some of the other features.

00;25;00;27 - 00;25;25;26

Sam Nigro

And let me back up real quick on that. Because I think it's important when in aisle two there might be people listening who say, well, I thought I could get a plan with a little bit broader. I didn't have to just pick one specific network. So the government went to the insurance companies in the real simple version. And when the Affordable Care Act rolled out and they said, hey, if you're going to be an owl two, that's fine, but you have to put bronze, silver and gold in the aisle.

00;25;25;26 - 00;25;45;04

Sam Nigro

You can't just sell bronze plans. You got to sell silver and gold. What's the silver and gold where you can, particularly the gold where you can you can buy little bit broader network. And the insurance companies by and large went we'll put them in there. We dare you to take it. Yeah. You know so they really want you to they just want to sell the bronze plans which are those narrow networks.

00;25;45;06 - 00;25;56;28

Sam Nigro

but with the GigCare plans, all five plans have the national network. There are four plans that are copay plans, and then there are then there's an HSA qualified. plan is two HSA plans.

00;25;56;28 - 00;25;59;18

Cary Hall

There's the 5000 and the 7300.

00;25;59;21 - 00;26;22;06

Sam Nigro

So with that, it gives people the option. It gives them the opportunity to choose a plan that fits their life stage. because everybody falls into one of three categories. We either are looking for something to protect our preventative and our basic care. Our mid-level care or our emergency care are catastrophic. And with the GigCare, they can pick a plan that fits any one of those.

00;26;22;06 - 00;26;43;18

Cary Hall

Yeah. And that really that's the key is you have a choice here. And I want to reiterate this is not for everybody. If you're getting a subsidy, if the government's paying 70% of your ACA plan, stay on it, okay. If they're paying 100% or 90%, stay on it. We're we're not we're not talking about that. But if you are that person, let's say you're that person.

00;26;43;21 - 00;26;53;22

Cary Hall

If you want to you want that go plan because you can afford it. You're going to get this big network. The cost of that is going to be significantly different than the cost to GigCare, right?

00;26;53;22 - 00;27;16;06

Sam Nigro

Correct. Yeah, yeah. Especially if you're demographically if you're in that 45 plus range, if you're if you're over 45, you compare that side by side, which we've done against every single aisle to plan in Nebraska. But you if you're above 45 the GigCare like you explained earlier with your client and I had one that they're paying 2100 and under GigCare.

00;27;16;06 - 00;27;31;16

Sam Nigro

They're going to pay 1600, simply because the way that they've put it together in the way that they priced it, that on planned a plan, not counting any subsidies that GigCare can be. The GigCare plan can be a really valuable option for people.

00;27;31;18 - 00;27;49;15

Cary Hall

And I want to make a point here. If you if you have the eligibility to go on a group health insurance plan, you cannot come on this plan. You can't go around a group health insurance plan that's not compliant. Okay. We are 100% compliant with the ACA regulations, the whole nine yards. And we are governed by the Department of Labor.

00;27;49;18 - 00;28;11;07

Cary Hall

This is what's called an A receive plan. So that's how this works. Oh it's been vetted six ways some Sunday. So and it's been endorsed obviously like Blue Cross of Nebraska. You know we've also Gallagher is one of the, one of the large groups in the country, large agencies, brokerages that is promoting this product. There are others, Holmes, Murphy and others that are doing as well.

00;28;11;13 - 00;28;27;04

Cary Hall

So we are in the marketplace with this plan. We think it fits a niche. Talk about some of the people that you are talking to. I mean, you and I did three days at the Nebraska Realtor show. Yeah. talk about a little bit about that. What was what is the response we got to that.

00;28;27;05 - 00;28;47;07

Sam Nigro

Yeah. Now. And now that it's coming to light that this exists, you know, that there's a fourth aisle in the store where the light has come on and people can shop in this aisle. People want to know they're seeing the people going in, and they're hearing from their friends, and they're hearing from us that, hey, there's a new option that they have access to.

00;28;47;09 - 00;29;08;08

Sam Nigro

This is a this is going to be really important going forward, that people have another option because I can tell you, going back to my silly store analogy and I keep leaning on it, but in this silly store analogy, I'll three with the short term plans that a lot of people have, especially a lot of 1099 is an independent contractors that's shutting down starting September 1st.

00;29;08;08 - 00;29;26;10

Cary Hall

Yeah. So everyone take a now hold that thought until the next segment, because that's a great segue into this is where a whole bunch of you out there are, where you remember, Trump came in and changed the regs back to where those were one year plans. Biden came in and they're going to be three month plans after the first year.

00;29;26;10 - 00;29;45;25

Cary Hall

We're going to let Sam explain that we come back from the break and that really is going to impact a lot of you out there in the marketplace, because you're going to lose your coverage. That's what it really amounts to. Oh, we're expecting a tsunami of people coming in to GigCare. you know, during that, during this last quarter of the year, in the first part of next year, because they're all going to lose their coverage.

00;29;45;25 - 00;30;07;02

Cary Hall

So once again, if you want information, it's GigCare dot net GigCare net also 866 200 2530. Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website. America's Healthcare Advocate. Dot com shows are posted up there.

00;30;07;04 - 00;30;41;29

Cary Hall

Dave Post them on our YouTube platform. America's Healthcare Advocate, that is the YouTube platform 15 podcast platforms Spotify Rumble Audacy, iHeartMedia, you name it, we're on it. Okay, once again, you know, you're maybe you're maybe you're working at a company and you've got five, ten, 99 people. Or maybe you're realtor and your group is struggling. Okay. or, you know, maybe you're a trucker and you, you're in a trucking organization and again, you're struggling with this health insurance issue, especially when you talk about narrow networks and the acres and all the rest of it.

00;30;42;02 - 00;31;04;13

Cary Hall

GigCare can be a solution for you. It is designed for 1099 people. I want to make that very clear. This is designed for 1099 people. If you're getting a subsidy and you're on ACA, stay where you are, okay? But if you're not and you're like his client who was paying 2100 a month is now paying 1600 or the Or the gentleman that called me and was paying 2300.

00;31;04;16 - 00;31;24;25

Cary Hall

Okay. And is now paying 1600 GigCare can be a huge solution for you. So all the plan signs are up there. Everything that we cover, you have full prescription benefits, doctor office co-pays, surgical benefits, in-patient hospital benefits, all of it's there. Go look at it on the website. GigCare dot net. All right. And this is what it looks like on the website.

00;31;24;25 - 00;31;44;20

Cary Hall

That's what you're going to see right. Very simple. You can follow simple form on the website. And that that information will come to us and we will get that over to Sam or another broker. Whoever the case may be. But the point is, you're going to talk to somebody that's licensed and qualified and understands the product. So we got A911 call coming up.

00;31;44;22 - 00;32;05;16

Cary Hall

Kidding. Beginning last quarter of the year is going to be a like I said, it's going to be explain what's going on here. So people because there's a lot of you out there I remember back in the day when I was still doing this before I, before my before benefits by design merged with RFPs. Okay. And we merge the companies and then I then I stepped away at that point.

00;32;05;21 - 00;32;32;15

Cary Hall

But before I remember we had a lot of people in their 50s, late 60s who were on the short term plans. They just kept renewing them every year. Okay. And you could get on them, but you could never preexisting condition. Okay. But they made sense for a lot of people. Well, then then then we shifted to the Obama administration and the lovely Kathleen Sebelius from Kansas, who became, the the administrator of the Health and Education Department.

00;32;32;17 - 00;32;42;14

Cary Hall

You erased that and brought in the three month plans. Then Trump comes in, goes back a year. Now we have the Biden administration. It's back to three months. Explain what's going to happen.

00;32;42;17 - 00;33;09;08

Sam Nigro

Yeah. So in context. So we're in we're going back to this silly store. So we're in the store. We're talking about aisles two and three. Aisle two is the fully full coverage plans that covers all preexisting doesn't ask health questions. That aisle right now the light is off. It's closed. Now if you have a qualifying event, like you lose coverage or you get married or something, they'll they'll turn the light on for you and they'll let you go down the aisle for a limited period of time and, and go pick out a plan.

00;33;09;11 - 00;33;21;09

Sam Nigro

Well, years ago, 6 or 7 years ago, what became popular was aisle three. There were a lot of people buying these short term plans from companies like UnitedHealthCare and Allstate. Blue Cross and Blue Cross had.

00;33;21;09 - 00;33;21;23

Cary Hall

A great.

00;33;21;23 - 00;33;42;04

Sam Nigro

One. Yeah, yeah. And my family had one for a time period when we didn't need an aisle to plan. We didn't have preexisting conditions, and maternity wasn't an issue for us. So we were we were fine buying a short term plan that was opened up and allowed us to buy it for anywhere from 1 to 3 years. And it was great.

00;33;42;04 - 00;34;00;11

Sam Nigro

It was fine. Well, there last year they made the announcement, the administration made the announcement that they're going to change this, and they're going to roll it back to the maximum timeframe. You can buy the plans for is three months. So think about that. So I have a plan for three months. And now I got to reapply and answer new health questions.

00;34;00;14 - 00;34;08;01

Sam Nigro

And I have a plan for three months now. I got apply an answer new health questions here Carrie is the real real unintended consequence.

00;34;08;03 - 00;34;10;18

Cary Hall

Oh it's unintended. Well, this is this is.

00;34;10;18 - 00;34;34;12

Sam Nigro

The consequence of it. So this goes into effect September 1st. If I have a plan a short term plan that ends, let's say, November 1st, let's say I bought it in November last year and ends November 1st. I can't go into aisle two. The light will not turn on for me, because aisle three is not considered a compliant plan because it doesn't cover preexisting conditions.

00;34;34;14 - 00;34;59;23

Sam Nigro

So I have nothing until next year. What I have. No, this is it's ridiculous. Yeah. This is a big deal again, for your listeners to to understand. So if I have a short term plan through any care, we'll name them. But if I have a short term plan and that plan expires after September 1st, I can no longer buy a short term plan for anything longer term, three months.

00;34;59;26 - 00;35;23;15

Sam Nigro

So if I have a short term plan and I have health conditions now and my short term plan ends, just use an example. November 1st. What do I do? I can't do anything if I don't have access to aisle one. If I don't have an access to an employer plan, and now I can't go back in and get a new, even a three month short term plan because I can't answer the health questions and they won't turn the light on for me.

00;35;23;15 - 00;35;46;09

Sam Nigro

And I'll tell you, because I have three is technically not considered a compliant plan. I am completely exposed. There will be millions of people who are going to be in that situation where they're going to lose in this last quarter of the year, in third and fourth quarter of the year, they're going to lose their coverage and they're not going to have access to anything unless they're 1099 or an independent contractor.

00;35;46;09 - 00;35;53;08

Sam Nigro

Then they can access the GigCare. But outside of that, it's going to be a really difficult situation for a lot of people.

00;35;53;10 - 00;36;10;15

Cary Hall

And that's what's coming down the pike. And that's why I said to you, there's this enemy coming, or what I'm telling you is now is the time to act. Now is the time to get set up. If you know you, you, you, you have an issue, whatever it may be, and you're, you're this is going to happen to you.

00;36;10;15 - 00;36;33;00

Cary Hall

You need to move. Now, if you're somebody that's 1099, you have access to GigCare. Now, you need to reach out to us, get a broker to help you, and get on board with GigCare. It's price competitive. The benefits are excellent. you we have a lot of benefits. This program that you don't see on on the ACA plans because we were able to do this.

00;36;33;02 - 00;36;47;26

Cary Hall

believe me, it'll make a lot of sense to you. If you want to do that. The way you do it is you go to GigCare net. GigCare dot net. The phone number is 866 225 13 866 225 13. Sam, thank you for coming in here.

00;36;47;28 - 00;36;48;11

Sam Nigro

Thanks for having.

00;36;48;11 - 00;37;04;16

Cary Hall

Me. Well, I think it's really important. You know, people don't know what's happening here, especially on this short term thing. And that is going to be a fire drill. I mean, for a lot of people it's going to be a real problem. And, and and this was done intentionally by the government. And I understand what they're doing here.

00;37;04;20 - 00;37;20;00

Cary Hall

They're forcing people to go into the ACA plans. But you're not you're not going to be able to do that until you hit the open enrollment period. Right. So you're going to sit there with no health care until that happens that you can go back in for the following year and enroll. And that's the whole story here. And that's why.

00;37;20;02 - 00;37;39;08

Cary Hall

And once again, if you fall in that category for you don't get the subsidy, it's going to be extremely expensive. So GigCare makes a lot of sense. The website is GigCare dot net the phone number 866 225 13. And now I leave you this thought from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd to usually get no further than the crowd.

00;37;39;14 - 00;38;05;24

Cary Hall

The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been a member. 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 Health care. Have a good show. Broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Goodbye, America.

00;38;05;26 - 00;38;08;02

Cary Hall

You.