"Everybody makes an excuse at the end as to why they didn't post or why they didn't start the thing they really wanted to start." - Me Happy New Year! As a bonus episode this week, I’m sharing a talk I gave at a recent ParetoHealth event about getting started with social media content, and how it can be used effectively for sales. Whether you’re new to the industry or you’ve been in it for decades, it’s never too late to start a social media presence, and I share some practical tips on how to ge...
Jan 02, 2025•18 min
"They have to understand the value. That’s how you get people to use it." - Megan Glaros “I had somebody who said once, why take a pill when you can get a shot? That's the way we kind of treat health, is like, just treat us with medication.” - Matt Glaros For the final podcast of 2024, Matt and Megan Glaros joined me (in a different studio than usual!) to discuss the unique ways that they both approach benefits. Matt helped grow his family’s agency before co-founding the Meyers Glaros Group, whi...
Dec 26, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 177
"I felt like I was putting $10,000 bandaids on someone's diabetic ketoacidosis instead of actually helping them to never be there in the first place." - Tiffany Ryder Tiffany Ryder, medical physician associate and healthcare advocate, joined me this week to continue the theme of my previous episode: how do we empower patients to make informed decisions, and to advocate for a better system? Tiffany shared with me her journey to this space, which took her from the world of NFL cheerleading to prov...
Dec 20, 2024•57 min•Ep. 176
"I think that the general public thinks that health care is just expensive and this is just the way it has to be. It doesn't. And I think if more people knew that they would rise up and fight the system, fight for change.” - Jenni Nolan Jenni Nolan, Board-Certified Patient Advocate at Clear Healthcare Advocacy, joined me this week to discuss the need for more patient advocacy in America, and how she goes about negotiating medical bills with hospitals, on the behalf of patients. The number one th...
Dec 17, 2024•57 min•Ep. 175
"Any time you can reward employees for doing the right thing, to me, it's benefiting the employer group, it’s benefitting everybody.” - David Mallen You can provide employees with the best healthcare benefits in the world, but if they don’t know how to navigate the healthcare system, those benefits aren’t very effective. David Mallen, EVP of Partnerships at HealthJoy, joined me this week in studio to discuss care navigation and how we make benefits plans more effective for employees. Having pers...
Dec 10, 2024•56 min•Ep. 174
"Looking back now, cancer gave me something to fight for at a time when I felt like maybe life wasn't worth fighting for." - Dylan Slattery Dylan Slattery, VP at ClaimsBridge and motivational speaker at Stage Four 2 On Stage, joined me this week to share his powerful story of beating stage four cancer against all odds, beating it again when it recurred, and how that experience completely changed his perspective on life and healthcare. Dylan was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma completely out of n...
Dec 03, 2024•58 min•Ep. 173
“I’m going to say something that people claim isn’t true, but it is. I’m an ear nose and throat doctor. I don't remember your eardrum from last year. I don't care what people tell you, doctors don't remember 3,000 eardrums.” - Danish Nagda Danish Nagda, founder of Rezilient, has come up with a pretty unique solution to doctor burnout in primary care: a hybrid model, where patients go in-person to checkups, an attendant takes all of their vital signs, and the data is uploaded directly to a doctor...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 172
"In what other industry could a purveyor put out 99% bad bills and stay in business?" - Linda Komisak “They're diagnosing things for things that you don't even have. And that’s scary.” - Kimberly Carleson Kimberly Carleson, CEO of US Beacon, and Linda Komisak, founder of Upturn Consulting LLC, joined me to talk about two critical ways of increasing healthcare transparency: claims reviews and quality metrics. These two topics are key to understanding why the healthcare system is so broken. If you...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 171
"Quit tolerating mediocrity. Go get in action. Find the right broker consultant that will take you to a new place. Don't give up hope." - Scott Conard Dr. Scott Conard tragically lost 3 patients one summer to unexpected heart problems, and immediately changed how he thought of healthcare. This week on Self-Funded, we talk about “conscious capitalism”, and by extension “conscious healthcare”, what the 7 numbers that everybody needs to know are, and how we need to change the way we approach health...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 170
"It's progress we couldn't have envisioned decades ago." - Oscar “I felt interested in being part of something bigger than my practice and something that will impact even more people that I was able to in the hospital.” - Carolina Dr. Oscar Bronsther and Dr. Carolina Escobar from Interlink joined me this week to discuss the exciting and scary world of cell and gene therapy, CRISPR, and how we fund these amazing medical advances. In addition to me attempting to act smart enough to be in the same ...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 169
"If my child needs a gene therapy to live, they should get it and anyone's child should. So let's figure out how to pay for it." - Jake Frenz On the final of four podcasts filmed at a recent healthcare thinktank I hosted in Frisco, Texas, Jake Frenz, the founder and CEO of SmithRx, joined me to share his journey from the Marine Corps to Pharmacy Benefit Management, and what makes him so passionate about ending prescription drug price gouging. Jake and I discussed what some of the core challenges...
Oct 29, 2024•57 min•Ep. 168
"I would say a lot of it is education, helping both the member and the provider realize that it's okay for them to get healthcare in home." - Dan Cochran On the third of four podcasts filmed at a recent healthcare thinktank I hosted in Frisco, Texas, Dan Cochran, CEO of Cochran Health Ventures, joined me to discuss infusions, in-home healthcare, why the future of healthcare will be personalized, and how we educate consumers. I, and many others in this industry, consistently advocate that much of...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 167
"There can be a better path forward. We don't have to remain adherent to the system that is built against us. It's just going to take some rolling up of the sleeves and a commitment to it." - Shawn Sanford This week, another ParetoHealth colleague joins the show: Shawn Sanford, RVP of Sales and Pod Leader. Shawn and I discussed his transition from pro baseball to ancillary benefit sales to Pareto, and what he learned from each step along the way. We also discuss some of the biggest problems in t...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 166
“There's a reason why every insurance carrier likely owns or is owned by a pharmacy benefit management company, that’s one of the ways that they can drive revenue." - Kristen Rivers My guest this week, Kristen Rivers from ParetoHealth, is one of the strongest healthcare advocates I know. This week on Self-Funded, Kristen and I discuss her upbringing, how that affects the work she does today, what caused her to leave a position at the biggest insurance company in the world, and why she believes i...
Oct 08, 2024•58 min•Ep. 165
Luke Aslesen, founder of INFRMD, joined me a few weeks ago for the podcast, and we also filmed this extended interview after, in which Luke asks me about my comedy background, upbringing, relationship with my wife, and more. If you’re a long-time listener of the podcast and want to get to know me a bit better, or you just stumbled onto the podcast and want to know who I am, this is a great place to start! Chapters: 00:00:00 Luke/Spencer Q+A 00:00:35 When/how did you think of bringing your entert...
Oct 03, 2024•44 min
“PBM is one of the most complicated concepts out there and it's incredibly difficult to understand. But it's not because the system itself is complicated. It's because pbms make it complicated.” - Justin Jasniewski Justin Jasniewski, CEO of Serve You Rx, joined me this week to discuss the state of the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) market in 2024. We discussed the competitive landscape in the PBM industry, why that’s (slowly) leading to more actual transparency, and how Serve You Rx fits into...
Oct 01, 2024•35 min•Ep. 164
“You know, Africa has no peanut allergies.” - Dr. Marty Makary I was honored to be joined this week by Dr. Marty Makary to promote his new book “Blind Spots”, which published this week and is currently a national bestseller. To purchase “Blind Spots”, use this link: https://geni.us/blindspots Dr. Marty Makary is a surgeon, researcher, and author, as well as an advocate for better approaches to public health. He’s known for challenging medical dogma and asking the questions nobody else will. In o...
Sep 20, 2024•51 min•Ep. 163
“So many times these employers are like, ‘dude, I spend so much money on this, and my employees don't care at all.’ Or what's even worse is they go, ‘our employees love it, we have a great, great plan.’ Did they tell you that?” - Luke Aslesen This is one of my favorite podcasts of the year: Luke Aslesen, Founder of INFRMD, joined me to talk about entrepreneurship, creativity in insurance, comedy, and how to stay authentic. INFRMD is an insurance education platform, designed to make it as easy as...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 162
“If we're facing a [mental health] crisis and we want radical change, we’ve got to think about radical solutions. If those radical solutions can show objectively with safety and efficacy data, that they're really helping people and really changing lives, then I think we ought to at least explore and get curious about offering those solutions to to people.” - Amil Patel We have a mental health crisis in America, and we need new solutions to help those who are struggling. Amil Patel, from Meeko He...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 161
“Utilization is key for virtual urgent care. Let us be your first line of defense, rather than like, ‘oh, I do have a telemedicine on the back of my insurance card, I’m not sure what it does.’” - Jon O’Toole Especially in the last few years (for obvious reasons), telehealth and virtual care have proved that they’re here to stay. But how do we best determine when a patient should use virtual or in-person care, and how do we actually get them to utilize it? Jon O’Toole, from Recuro Health, joined ...
Sep 04, 2024•52 min•Ep. 160
“Life is short. In the meantime, your health is, at the end of the day, your health is all you have." - Heather Bowers Differentiating yourself through customer service is a tricky thing: it’s talked about so frequently that it can almost feel outdated focusing so much on the customer experience. But, as my guest Heather Bowers from Lone Star Benefits shared with me this week, it’s still the best way to truly serve your clients in 2024. Heather joined me from literally across the street, and we ...
Aug 27, 2024•56 min•Ep. 159
“We're simplifying the complexities of healthcare. We gotta declutter it, we've gotta demystify it, we've gotta make it more transparent and understandable in bite sized ways where members know and understand what's happening for and to them." - Rob Gelb It sounds like a simple question, but as an industry, we’re still working towards figuring it out: how do we engage members? Rob Gelb joined me this week to discuss what role Valenz has in solving that seemingly unsolvable equation. Along the wa...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 158
“If you talk to almost anyone in this industry over a beer or something like that, I think they will all agree that we are operating in a pretty antiquated industry that needs some serious modernization, innovation, reimagination." - Brandon Weber This week’s episode of Self-Funded is coming to you from the (unfinished) San Francisco ParetoHealth office. Brandon Weber, founder of Nava Benefits, joined the healthcare industry as an outsider: he’s spent most of his career as a tech entrepreneur, a...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 157
"I think, not just in terms of the type of AI Verikai does, but AI in healthcare in general, I'm so optimistic about it, just because we are in such early stages of this." - Justen Nestico Did you know that what type of car you drive determines how healthy you're likely to be? Justen Nestico, Director of Actuarial Solutions at Verikai, joined me this week to discuss a really important thing when it comes to risk assessment: data. We talked about how Verikai integrating AI in interpreting, organi...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 156
"The best way I can explain it is the concept is like your house is on fire, and now you go get homeowners insurance." - Kevin Chambers Kevin Chambers (Lucent Health) joined me this week to help me understand just what makes tribal healthcare plans so unique. As Kevin shares in this episode, many companies are somewhat scared to insure tribes, as they have sovereignty and so any potential lawsuits are tried in tribal court. That doesn’t mean that this niche needs to be neglected, though; tribes ...
Jul 30, 2024•45 min•Ep. 155
"I think we need to do a better job of understanding each other and plugging each other in where we can help our clients to solve for issues that may not directly impact us, but make a world of difference for them." - Madison Baker Madison Baker, from Marsh McLennan, has expanded her business and online presence exponentially over the last year by creating engaging posts and content on LinkedIn. If you’re just starting out in a producer role and you’re not using LinkedIn to build your brand, tun...
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 154
“I realize there's this massive disconnect in the business model whereby you've got governments and health insurers paying billions and billions of dollars for what might be a not very effective therapy, and then there's all these potential cures, even, and much better treatments out there.” - Savva Kerdemelidis Savva Kerdemelidis and Zan Lowe, of Public Good Pharma, joined me this week to talk about re-aligning the incentive structures for drug development. In our current system, drugs are ofte...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 153
"The US healthcare system is simple, easy to navigate and affordable. Said no one ever." - Guy Benjamin Guy Benjamin returns to the show a year after his previous episode to share just how much Healthee has expanded in that time (spoilers: it’s 100x). We talk about how Healthee’s role in the marketplace has shifted, what huge feature is on the horizon for them, and why Guy believes that the Healthee app deserves a spot on the bottom row of apps on your phone, next to your messages/email/Spotify ...
Jul 12, 2024•52 min•Ep. 152
"It's not always what you can do that makes you who you are. Sometimes the things that you don't do well create your style." - AG Ford We have a bit of a different episode in store for you this week: an interview with a local illustrator AG Ford, who’s worked on children’s book series like Construction Site and Magic Tree House. AG and I discussed just how hard it is to break into the world of illustration, what he learned in art school, and what his current work-life balance looks like. We also...
Jul 02, 2024•59 min•Ep. 151
“If you're going to be the fiduciary, you have to protect the members, you have to protect the plan, and you need to defend that allowable to make sure that you're covering all of your bases." - Amy Pellegrin We made it to episode 150! A huge thank you to every guest we’ve had on the show so far, and obviously to you, the listeners, for making the show what it is today. For this special episode, we traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to meet with ClaimDOC, one of our sponsors, in early March and I host...
Jun 25, 2024•59 min•Ep. 150
