Episodes
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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
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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.
Learn more about the Bowtie concept: https://bowtiemedical.com/about-us or on LinkedIn
Do you need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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Missing episodes?
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Carolee Steele and Maria Ahlers join me for a look at your options when your provider doesn't offer Medicare Advantage for 2025.
While this episode discusses events specific to the Kansas City Metro, the content might be valuable for anyone in a similar situation of lost coverage, Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage coverage and our guests are qualified in all areas of Employer, Individual, or Medicare needs.
RPS Benefits by Design is available to you nationwide. Learn more about RPS Benefits by Design here: https://www.rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com/
The contact information mentioned in the show: [email protected] and 913-385-2224
This is season 20, episode 12
Need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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"In the US, we have created the sick care system, the system that benefits from our people being sick. And the reason for that is that their health care is delivered through 5000 financial institutions called hospitals".
Our guest is Dr Firouz Daneshgari, who has a most unique idea. He is someone who's really experienced what it's like on the inside of National Health Care systems and he has an incredible plan to make our health care system, and our citizens healthy.
I think once you hear him for a few minuts, you'll be hooked. I was!
This is season 20, episode 31
To learn more, visit: https://bowtiemedical.com/about-us
Dr. Firouz Daneshgari has written a book: Health Guardianship: The Remedy to the Sick Care System https://www.amazon.com/Health-Guardianship-Remedy-Sick-System/dp/1957048646
Need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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I'll tell you what these young men did was they came together, and they put a program together. They named it Zuzu's Petals. I'll let them explain the weird name later in the show but but what they did was they put this program together to take care of families that cannot afford to have a Christmas. John, Mak and Dan love Christmas so much, they created a way to share it and help local families.
This is a heartwarming show that you really need to hear.
This is Season 20, Episode 30
To help them visit: https://zuzus-petals.org/
Or, call John at 816-977-1955
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.
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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.
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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
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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. Hear is an excerpt from Dr. Andersen:
“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 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.
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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.
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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 benefits. 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 coverage.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
Need help or have something to share?
https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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The Sheriff’s here today: Our Health and the Health of our Communities
Joining me in studio today is Cal Hayden. He is the sheriff of Johnson County, Kansas and we’ll be discussing our personal health and highlight issues that we're dealing with in our communities in this country and how they affect community health. Kansas City is halfway to everywhere. We're right in the middle of the country. So anywhere you go, you're going to go through Kansas City one way or another. I-35 is the artery interstate highway for trucking and transportation all the way from Mexico to Canada. And as a result, here in Johnson County we get a lot of activity especially now with border the way it is we're seeing a lot of nefarious activity centered around I-35 including human trafficking, drug traffic and almost anything you can think of that's illegal. As a result, the county jail has incarcerated citizens of from everywhere: a parole violation out of Russia, aggravated robbery out of Honduras, domestic battery from Kenya, and first-degree murder from India, murder from Kenya, Canada, the Philippines, aggravated arson, Guatemala, Azerbaijan, assault. It goes on and on.
From the show: Cal Hayden: “What moves through our county? So, let's talk about fentanyl. There's an enormous amount of discussion going on in between the federal and state government and state governments and everything that's going on on the border for the majority of this is coming over. Fentanyl coming up through the I-35 corridor and then being dispersed out into the communities. And if it's not shipped, it's being mailed out. We're finding a lot in the US mail as well as UPS & FedEx. We take our dogs in and we'll run them up and down the lines and find lots of fentanyl. Also, they're trucking it in. Our officers will make stops on I-35. We've got cartel members here doing it. “ America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall is broadcast on over 220 radio stations across the USA. Podcast S20 Ep8 This episode contains discussion specific to the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, but we feel it is of interest and potentially affects listeners across the USA.
Learn more about Sheriff Cal Hayden: https://jocosheriff.org/public-information/sheriff-calvin-hayden https://www.calvinhaydenforsheriff.com
From your Host, Cary Hall: Got an idea or need help with a problem? Send me a message! https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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If you’re a 1099 employee you are part of what’s called the GIG economy, and you know that finding good, affordable health insurance is difficult, if not impossible. In this episode of America's Healthcare advocate, I'll explore GigCare, offering a variety of affordable plans with doctor office copays, labs, x-rays, prescription drugs and major medical coverage, just like traditional employer sponsored healthcare plans have and GigCare provides access to one of the largest PPO networks of doctors and hospitals in Nebraska.
Learn about this inovative plan from our expert guest Richard Haldeman: "So if you think about what we were trying to solve at Detego Health... a company that really wanted to develop products to address the needs of the market as opposed to just administering somebody else's plans. So we noticed right away two things. One is cost related to plan, meaning small employers as individual gig economy workers couldn't afford to have a plan that they could work with and there was really no products out there that addressed directly that segment of the market. So, you know, the largest segment of our market is the self-employed individual. So whether you're a computer programmer, web design web designer an Uber driver or if you have an Amazon delivery truck, one of the major concerns we heard from the market and everything we do is based on what we hear from the market is that there wasn't anything out there a decent plan for them."
Learn more: https://gigcare.net/
866-200-2513
Have a question or topic? Send me a message: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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