America's Healthcare Advocate

Each year we go over all that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is offering Federal Employees and BlueKC's Ron Miller joins us to explain the plan details. This year federal employees still call 1-800-411-BLUE for more information and they've added a special number for Postal Workers, (816) 395-2115 locally or the toll free 1-833-467-2140. Visit https://www.fepblue.org for more information and because it's a short time window, here are the dates of events for both Actives and Annuitants you’ll find on the fepblue.org “Find an event” page: Postal Wednesdays – • November 6th: Annuitants 4:00pm & Actives at 6:00pm • November 13th: Actives at 12:00pm & Annuitants at 2:00pm • November 20th: Annuitants at 4:00pm & Actives at 6:00pm • November 27th: Actives at 12:00pm & Annuitants at 2:00pm and as always if you need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Today we have a discussion on national health care that is fascinating and will blow your mind with a doctor we call Dr Bowtie. My expert guest is Dr. Firouz Daneshgari, MD, MBA, FPMRS, FACS. Dr. Daneshgari: “Our eyes are very open to this concept that 50%, more than half of what is done in our hospital based system is a waste. That is why it is a Sick Care based system. Not only do we want to eliminate the waste to save the money in your pocket and your insurance money, but also a good portion of this unnecessary care causes actual harm! Instead, you'll have 24 seven access to this dedicated group of doctors and nurses not only to help you to navigate the maze of health care, but to also proactively look after the health risks you have. To fix this, we provide the Bowtie Health Guardianship model that will be embedded within a health plan, benefit, health benefit that is offered to the employer. So we intentionally are focusing on the employer segment of the market because the employers, to me, are the cylinders of the production of the GDP.” Our guest is Dr Firouz Daneshgari, who has this most unique idea, worked for 30 years inside health systems seeing first hand how care decisions were made based on the financial interests of hospitals and not the patients. This is season 20, episode 32 and is our 2nd episode with Dr Daneshgari. Learn more about the Bowtie concept: https://bowtiemedical.com/about-us Do you need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

More women die from heart issues each year than all cancers combined! We say: "do you have chest pain" to women and to men, but commonly in women it could felt as pressure in the chest or really any symptom from the waist on up including tooth pain and overwhelming fatigue. These are signs of a serious heart issue. That is what bothers Dr Tracy Stevens the most, that in men and women, symptoms may be different. Women still to this day don't recognize heart attack and stroke as their number one health threat. We've gone from one out of three deaths every year, one out of two deaths every year, being in women, being due to heart attack and stroke, compared to 1 in 39 from breast cancer. This fascinating show features Dr. Tracy Stevens and Dr. Anna Grodzinski who both specialize in Women's Cardiovascular Disease & Cardiology at Saint Luke’s. This is season 20 episode 27 of America's Healthcare Advocate. To learn more visit: https://www.saintlukeskc.org/locations/saint-lukes-cardiovascular-consultants And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-usAnd let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

I am pleased to offer our experts from JD Power Award Winning BlueKC (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City) to lay out their new, 2025 Medicare Supplement options and tell us more about why some companies are also withdrawing their Medicare Advantage plans in 2025. Our Experts from BlueKC are: Barron Roberts, Manager of Small Group, Medicare and Individual Sales; Barb Bins, Broker Development and Engagement Manager, and Ryan Roth, Department Vice President of Sales. Here we go into open enrollment for AEP and open enrollment for the individual plans in November for Obamacare, ACA and this team will tell us what we need to know. Small Group, Large Group is also discussed. Even though the information presented in this episode is specific to the Kansas City Metro market, we will also run the episode nationally because the information presented can be used to inform and to compare offerings available in other areas. To learn More, visit https://www.bluekc.com or call 1-800-867-9014 This is Season 20, Episode 28. I'm Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate, and if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns

My guest Dr. Arden Andersen has experienced it himself and now his patients as well have life changing, life improving experiences to share. With him, Dr. Emilio John suffered terribly for many years, and he also has experienced a return to a feeling of wellness. To hear them tell their stories is both moving and exciting. But what are they talking about? They work at a new facility in Lenexa Kansas called PainLab and they have brought together non-invasive state of the art tools that are bringing solutions for those needing neurological and mobility support. Here is an excerpt: “And so we can tell just from that reading (a WAVi Brain Scan report from a 40 minute test given) whether or not a person has had a concussion, whether or not they've recovered from their concussion, as well as perhaps any other problem that may be associated with that brain, body interaction. Well, then, okay, that's nice. You can identify that. But now what are you going to do about it as far as getting it evaluated? Unfortunately, standard medicine is either looking at implanting electrodes in the brain, brain surgery of some other type or some other kind of drug, which has all kinds of side effects and may or may not work, but eventually doesn't work. And so how do we actually regenerate the system? And so Neuro20 came on the scene. And that system is about stimulating what's called brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is a protein in the brain over time. But that is a substance in the brain that actually stimulates regeneration of brain cells and nerve cells. And it wasn't that long ago, 20 years ago for sure. We didn't even believe it could be done to regenerate nerve cells. Ten years ago, we didn't believe it was possible to regenerate brain cells. We free up brain cells. Nope. Now we know we can regenerate brain cells.” Listen to this episode (S20Ep26) to hear about the latest on WAVi, Neuro20 and other new and revolutionary ways to give us humans help and rehab. To learn more, click https://painlabkc.com/about/ or call 833-724-6522 And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

How do you work ON your business, not IN your business if you're that small business owner? My guest is an expert on how to do that and why you should. He is Chad Simpson, VP of Sales for G&A Partners. They are a PEO, Professional Employer Organization and a PEO is much different than simply outsourcing HR and payroll. Here is how Chad explains it: "It can get a little bit confusing because it's a very saturated marketplace when it comes to HR outsourcing. There are companies that give HR guidance, compliance, salary surveys, you name it. When we came into the marketplace, we came in as a PEO (Professional Employer Organization) and we're seeking out the business owner that says, look, I probably can do this, but I don't want to do this, not and grow my business. You can't be that focused when you're doing payroll over here, OSHA training over there, and worker's comp...”. The Heath of your Business, this episode is #2025 on Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate. Learn more/contact G&A Partners: https://www.gnapartners.com/ 713-784-1181 And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

My guest for this episode is a true expert. His name is Sam Nigro, and he is a broker in Omaha, NE who 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 if you are a contract worker, a “1099 Worker” who has a hard time finding affordable health insurance. You are not alone. We will explain the “Working Owner” model, and how it works. This is Season 20 Episode 24 Learn more about our guest: Sam Nigro, CLU, CLTC,RHU,REBC, Employee Benefit Consultant with Gallagher. 866-200-2513 Learn more about GigCare: https://gigcare.net/ And if you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate at https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

Our annual Labor Day Car Show show has a little bit of everything. Joining me from the Kansas City AFL-CIO is President Patrick A. “Duke” Dujakovich, and also from the AFL-CIO and from the organization Working Families’ Friend, VP Chris Jenkins. The Labor Day Car Show https://www.kc-carshow.com is happens this Saturday at Azura Amphitheater in Bonnor, Springs, Ks plus, we’ll discuss jobs, college and apprentice programs: About my guests: Duke Dujakovich, was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Board of Directors on January 1, 2023 and has served on the head office board since 2020. He is the president of the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO, a position which he has held since 2010. Mr. Dujakovich’s professional career began when he joined the Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department and became a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local #42 in 1987. He received many promotions in the Fire Department including driver in 1991, captain in 1995 and eventually battalion chief in 2001. Upon being promoted to battalion chief, he became a member of IAFF Local #3808 and was elected as secretary and treasurer of that local in 2002 and president in 2004. Mr. Dujakovich retired from the Department in 2016 with more than 30 years of service and remains a member of the IAFF. Mr. Dujakovich holds a number of civic and philanthropic positions including board membership on the United Way of Greater Kansas City Board of Directors, Working Families’ Friend Board of Directors and Jackson County Employees’ Pension Board. He previously served as a trustee for the Kansas City, Missouri Deferred Compensation Retirement Plan, Kansas City, Missouri Employees Health Insurance Board and Kansas City Fire Fighters Pension Board. He previously served as a member of the Community Advisory Council for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2015-2018. Chris Jenkins, VP Working Families’ Friend https://wffriend.org/ Working Families’ Friend is a unique not-for-profit charity supported by the community that provides life-changing assistance to hard working, well-deserving men and women. Founded on in 2003 to fill a need in our community that was not being met: providing emergency assistance to working, or recently unemployed, individuals who found themselves in an unexpected one-time crisis. The working people in our community were an underserved population. Traditional social service programs that provide emergency assistance typically have at, or below, poverty level income requirements. This is S20Ep23 of America’s Healthcare Advocate If you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

It’s shocking to learn that 1.2 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year, and our returning guest, RN Ron Hoyler, who is a Diabetes Educator at Saint Lukes Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. adds "we are recognizing more and more that preventative education can prevent or can stop some of these issues from happening before they even begin". Folks, I was shocked to hear that 33% of the Medicare budget is for complications from diabetes! Ep2022 More about Ron: Ron Hoyler RN, MSN, MBA-HCA, CDCES Diabetes Educator for St. Luke's hospital If you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate. Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

With over 28 years caring for employees, over 1200 businesses and over 500,000 employees including public, private, white collar and blue collar, LEAPCare is something employers can make available to their employees. Join me as I speak with Melvin Swafford, VP of LEAPCare and Regional Director Ryan Lilly, LEAP Care for this compelling and compassionate story of caring that you could also bring to your employees. AHA S20 Ep21 For more information: https://leapcare.org 423-715-0693 If you need help or have something to share, contact me Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us And let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns.

Our guest is Shannon Schneller from Focus Hearing in the KC Metro, who will discuss both sudden and gradual hearing loss, why when getting a tested the its "the sooner the better", how hearing loss is sneaky and that even younger people can have hearing loss, plus, what is a hearing test like? Learn more! Visit Focus Hearing https://myfocushearing.com or call (913) 754-2144 and as always if you need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Episode notes Sheriff Cal Hayden brings us inside the Johnson County Sheriffs Office and we learn about some amazing facts: They received 22,257 calls in May with 95% or answered in 10 seconds or less. Contrast that with other municipalities where 911 callers get put on hold and have to wait minutes, and their response times are under five minutes, yet Cal reminds us "when you think about that five minute period of time, I've been there when you're doing CPR on somebody or you need help right now, that's an eternity, before the officers get there... and, it's a brilliant analogy or exercise to, for anybody to just close their eyes and think about the worst day you've ever had: 'you're involved in a car wreck. a loved one is fallen, someone's passed away. A child is hurt, and you want help right now? Those seconds count. And, we want to get somebody there as soon as we possibly can. We take almost every ambulance call that comes in and we transfer it to them, and we want to make sure that we're there as fast as we possibly can be". This is a great episode and you can get a feel for how the Sheriffs Department works. S20Ep17 "Health of Our Communities, Part 3" Learn More about firearm safety classes: https://www.jocogov.org/johnson-county-sheriff Find out about Sheriff Cal Hayden and if you want to get involved with or support the sheriff in upcoming elections: calhaydenforsheriff.com Do you need help or have something to share? Contact Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

It comes down to lifestyle. Our food has changed. Our movement has changed. Our stress levels have changed. Our sleep has changed. All of the things that keep us healthy have shifted, and our bodies aren't responding to them well. When we shifted from growing food and making it ourselves to processing it to make it convenient to eat on the go and do all the other things we want to do in life. We changed our food system. We added things, we took away things. We changed what we were eating, how we got it, and it really it just dramatically changed what was going into our bodies. In S20 Ep16 we hear this and more for Dr. Courtney Younglove and Alexandria Lee, DPN, FNP-BC from Heartland Weight Loss. This show is fascinating and full of info we haven't understood until now: "Insulin we know is an energy storage hormone and it's a fleeting hormone. So it can be hard to track. But metformin does a really good job at working behind the scenes, in getting you metabolically healthier" What is good dietary protein & fiber, what is weight neutral, weight positive and weight negative? Why is sleep so important for weight loss? Is metformin anti-aging and neuroprotective? The Dr is in, so join me as we learn the latest obesity medicine news, what insulin really does and what causes chronic cortisol elevation. Contact Dr Youglove: Heartland Weight Loss - Leaders In Obesity Medicine Visit heartlandweightloss.com or call (913) 620-1616 Need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

The Black Achievers Society of Greater Kansas City is where building Self-Esteem gaining Leadership Skills and developing Confidence and Community Connections is taught, coached and mentored. Our guests are Heather Rollins, Manager of Individual Sales at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, Grant Lewis, President of the Black Achievers Society of Kansas City and special guest Tiana Rollins. Grant Lewis: “With our time, talent, and treasure we are working hard to influence our youth, impact industry with minority youth who will be college or trade school prepared and filling roles at various companies in the Greater Kansas City area creating a pipeline of minority youth that will be ready to change the world.” Learn more: https://www.blackachieverskc.org Need help or have something to share? Let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Episode 2014 notes We are in the middle of America, literally! Kansas City is halfway to everywhere and sits at the crossroads of distribution as Interstate 35, going north and south, intersects with Interstate 70, which runs east and west. We know Fentanyl, Heroin, Marijuana along with Human Trafficking using the I-35 corridor and then being dispersed out into the communities. The Sheriff’s here today and this is: Our Health and the Health of our Communities, Part 2. From this episode, Sheriff Cal Hayden: "fentanyl and overdose poisonings are the number one cause of death for men between 18 and 40, it's the number one cause of death. We've almost had as many deaths as Covid. " Learn more: CalHaydenforsheriff.com or call 913-944-2623 Need help or have something to share? Contact Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate and let Cary know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Whether you are wanting to lose weight, prevent Type 2 Diabetes or both, you now can consider the class of drugs described as "glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists" that work by binding to GLP-1 receptors, which in turn results in lower blood sugar levels and A1C levels and are now being prescribed to reduce appetite and help with weight loss. But there is a high financial cost and you may need to stay on the drug for life. In this episode, I will discuss the latest on Ozempic and Wegovy and which is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat diabetes and which to help with weight loss or to lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Then we contrast these drugs with the latest knowledge about the effectiveness of "Brisk Walking" as I bring you the latest health and well-being news in this Multi-Topic episode! I'm Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate. Ep 2011 Need help or have something to share? https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Today my Spira Care guests are Dr. Becky Gernon, Department Vice President and Medical Director at Spira Care and Sharon Wilkinson who is the Clinical Performance manager at Spira Care centers as we discuss Spira Care’s integrated behavioral health component designed to see that patients’ needs are met both physically and mentally. This is a great episode, and we delve into how behavioral health, like physical health, affects all our lives and that even though we rarely look at it that way. and how Spira Care continues to be on the forefront of behavioral health care and reports to us that nearly 15% of all of their patients also had a visit with a BHC (Behavioral Health Clinician) in 2023. Ep: 2010 Learn more by calling 833-605-6901 or visit SpiraCare.com I'm Cary Hall, and if you need help or have something to share, you can send me a message here: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

My guests are Medicare and Medicare Advantage experts! Joining me from RPS Benefits by Design are Carolee Steele, who is the Director of Medicare, and Maria Ahlers, Chief Operating Officer, Employee Benefits at RPS Benefits By Design. Together, they offer Medicare Advantage plans from every carrier out there that has a Medicare Advantage plan: Blue Cross, Aetna, Humana, United… they all have zero premium plans. Hear how they can help ensure you find the right plan that fits your needs with allowances for dental, vision, hearing and even transportation via a debit card that are built into the Medicare Advantage plans. Did you know, the “extra benefits” that are built into the Medicare Advantage plans is how the carriers compete with each other? That’s important and they tell us why. And, most people start with comparing prescription benefits. Find out why that matters. Ep 2006 Terms used in this episode: Simply Blue plan the Blue Cross of Kansas City RPS Benefits by Design: 877-385-2224 https://www.rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com/ Primary Care: Spira Care: https://spiracare.com/ Primary Care: CenterWell https://www.centerwell.com/ Medicare Part B Medicare Part D Medicare Advantage Plans I'm Cary Hall. Contact me if I can help you: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

They say that 40 cents of every $1 that’s paid for Primary Care services goes to the relationship between the Insurance company and the Doctor. So we're going to talk about a different model of primary care today. It's an alternative. It's something different, and I'm intrigued by it. And I think you will be, too. It's a model that obviously is working well because they continue to expand the number of clinics they have here in the KC Metro, and you'll find similar value based primary care throughout the USA. My experts this episode are Troy A. Burns, MD, a pioneer in healthcare reform. He was among the first to adopt the new Direct Primary Care model that fixes many of the problems with our broken healthcare system. Dr. Burns is joined by Angela Prato, M.D., who joined ProPartners Healthcare in 2018. Learn more about ProPartners Health Care: ProPartnersHealthCare.com or call 913-451-4776 Have an idea, or an issue you need help with? Send me a note or submit a topic here: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us This is S20 Ep 4 and I'm Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate.

Today we visit with CenterWell Market President Drew Hare and back for a second visit is Dr. Stephanie Ikeme. I am a fan of the CenterWell model for Senior Primary Care and I think you will find this to be a fascinating episode as we investigate what makes CenterWell so amazing. CenterWell Senior Primary Care features a care team approach that helps each patient live a healthier, happier life by supporting the mind, body and spirit. As a result, our patients frequently mention how they don't feel rushed when they come in for an appointment. They feel like they can be heard. Our returning guest, Dr. Stephanie Ikeme, is the regional medical director for CenterWell Senior Primary care. If you are a senior or if you are the care giver to a parent or relative who is, this episode is for you! While we discuss the Kansas City market specifically, the information is for all seniors in the US who are seeking a better level of primary care. For those outside of Kansas City, CenterWell is in 26 states currently and it is well worth it to see if they operate near you. Learn more about CenterWell by calling 816-640-8522 or visit http://seniorfocusedkansascity.com Do you have a problem I can I help you with? Let me know by sending an email: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us Thank you! -Cary Hall