America's Healthcare Advocate

Misty Snodgrass is Director, ACA & Medicaid at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas and she'll let us know what you Must Know if you have an ACA insurance plan. MISTY: This is unprecedented. At BCBSKS we're doing our best to hold the rates down and even taking a hit financially. But we want to make sure that people in Kansas have access to coverage. CARY: Like Misty said, they're more than happy to talk to you and just explain what's happening because there are a massive number of changes coming in the marketplace and ACA. Misty leads the strategic and operational direction for the ACA line of business and oversees the Healthy Blue Medicaid partnership. She is responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance, financial performance, product and market strategy, and operational excellence. She is known for her compassionate, results-oriented approach as syays she prioritizes access, quality care, and member satisfaction—delivering sustainable success in a complex, highly regulated healthcare environment. This is episode 2130 of America's Healthcare Advocate Learn more about anything discussed on this program. Visit https://www.bcbsks.com/ or call 866-906-5253. Episode Producers: Audio: Garner Cowdry Camera: David Thiessen As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

I've wanted to do this show for a long time. It's personal to me. This is on what I call the big four weight loss drugs. Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mountjaro. And the reason I wanted to do this show was because I was struggling with some weight issues and went to see my primary care doc, and she goes, well, let's just go ahead and give you Wegovy. And I thought, you know, I think I'm going to go find a weight loss clinic. I'm going to get into a program and see what I can do. And I did. So I’ll let you know how that went, but also that it made me think about these products and I started doing a little research, started looking around, and I'm like, you know what? We don't know what we don't know. And it gave me, some significant hesitation about using these, so this show today is about that. It's about what do we know? What don't we know? What do we know that are side effects, potential problems down the road for other kinds of diseases and comorbidities because most studies go back only 3.5 years or less. Some additional questions are: What are the long-term effects and what happens if you’re on them on them for a lifetime? I’ll also review the manufacturer country Green List, so if you are getting one of these from another country to save cost, which are considered safest. We have the research, and I'll lay it out in detail in this episode and I’ll let you know what I think. The studies we've referenced are listed below. This is episode 2129 of America's Healthcare Advocate. I'm Cary Hall. As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us Research links for this episode went over the character limit here, so we have posted them here: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/the-big-4-weight-loss-drugs-ozempic-wegovy-zepbound-mounjaro-what-are-there-long-term-effects

Today my friend and guest is Philip Sarnecki a Kansas businessman, a job creator, a husband, and father who rose from humble beginnings (the son of a janitor and a secretary) who then built one of the nation’s largest financial services companies and has led businesses that today employ nearly 1,000 people across multiple industries. Learn his vision affecting the way we provide health insurance and health benefits to people in Kansas, and what can we learn from Florida about prescription drug costs. Plus, he has great plans for the state of Kansas, and we discuss his Philip Sarnecki for Governor plans ! This is Ep2128 of America's Healthcare Advocate. Learn more about Philip and his plans for the state of Kansas: https://philipsarnecki.org As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

There’s a lot of chatter out there. That's about the best way I can put it about what's going to happen with ACA. And, you know, I'm seeing pieces in the media that are portraying what's going to occur and the changes that are going to happen and how they're going to impact people, and unfortunately, there's a lot of false narrative out there. So I'm going to I'm going to explain where we're at on the individual health insurance market on Obamacare and ACA. Then I'm going to talk with two experts about what can you do to prepare yourself so that you're not caught up in a trap and you can't make a decision to solve the problem? Then we’ll discuss give you the kind of coverage you need and how to find it. That's what we're talking about in this episode, and that's the message we're trying to get out to everyone to is be prepared. This is coming. It's going to be like a tsunami. There going to be a lot of people displaced off of these plans are going to be looking for alternatives and so how do you deal with it, what are the best solutions and show you how you can do that and make sense of it for you and your family. If you're an employer, what do you need to be looking at? Because the ACA plans for small group are going to get hit hard, hit just as hard as the individual plans are, if not harder in some cases. This is episode 2126 of America’s Healthcare Advocate. I’m Cary Hall. Learn more from our guests Carolee Steele and Maria Ahlers from RPS Benefits by Design: Visit https://www.rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com or call 877-385-2224 As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Barron Roberts is my expert today on this Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas City update show. How will it play out for all of you out there in the audience for your coverage in '26? We will cover the individual side and what Blue Cross is doing to lead the way. They're actually going to have premium reductions on the individual side, and we'll talk about what are the answers to the employers out there, the small group employer, the employer under the 100 lives. Get all the details and find the best way to go now, because come January 1st, all the Aetna plans are pulling the pin on ACA. They're going to be gone. And I will cover what's going to happen with the other plans. They're going to be significant increases across the board. BlueKC continues to lead the way as the local hometown carrier. This is Ep2126 of America's Healthcare Advocate. Learn more at https://www.bluekc.com/ or call 833-467-2145. As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Today we learn about Bexa: A Revolutionary Early Detection Option that Dr. Monique Gary tells me is closing the gap and delivering peace of mind. Dr Gary says women have been in need of another early detection option and reminds us that to many women delay routine exams or avoid them all together. But unlike the common experience, Bexa is accurate and pain free and companies should include this benefit to their employees. This is a "Must Hear" episode. Please listen and share, because breast cancer is the most common cancer among women—yet over 60% of those eligible aren’t getting mammograms. And for women who are under 40, pregnant, or avoiding mammograms, no real alternative has existed until now with this Doctor-led and developed Bexa Solution. Also joining us is Elizabeth Vire, Bexa Chief Revenue Officer, who works with HR directors to bring this option to their workers. This is Ep: 2124 of America's Healthcare Advocate. Learn how you could do it as a broker, as a TPA, or a human resource director. : 1-888-469-2392 or visit https://www.mybexa.com/ As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

By 2033, the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund will be unable to pay full benefits. More people are retiring and fewer workers are replacing them and there is a huge amount of waste and fraud in administering Medicare. They waste $50-$60 Billion per year with improper payments according to there own numbers.. I will give you the details as well as my suggestions for solutions solutions. This is an important episode and it invollves every American's future! Find full referenced details for the data here: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/medicare-fact-from-fiction

Free referral services in the industry really aren’t free. My guest Steve Kuker is a veteran placement expert who exposes exactly how they work. These are at best a conflict of interest and Steve is pushing for our federal regulators to act because, as an example, in real estate you must disclose how much commission the realtor makes on the transaction… why isn’t there the same requirement for the free referral services for your aging parent or family member? Steve's company, Senior Care Consulting calls itself “A Placement Service With Integrity" and does not accept referral kickbacks. But he explains all the FREE services do. "I was recently mistakenly offered $6,750 as a kickback from an assisted living community… tangible proof of how much these “free” referral services are making in kickbacks! So you really aren’t getting a non-biased referral and you won’t be told of complaints and even sanctions against the facilities. Find out how to make these choices and avoid the pitfalls in this episode and learn more about out guest here: https://www.seniorcareconsulting.com/ This is episode 2122 of America's Healthcare Advocate. Learn about me, Cary Hall: America’s Healthcare Advocate: I have a strong desire to empower my fellow Americans and cancel the noise and confusion surrounding the US healthcare system. My goal is to enable you to become the expert for your own healthcare management, saving you time, money, and effort. Learn even more: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com As always, if you need help or have something to share? Contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, the issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

Hearing Test, Hearing Aid Staff-Hear It All-The Hearing Aid Experience by Cary Hall

Employees love it: “This is the only benefit my employer really provides” and Employers think it’s great and it is the result of wanting to both solve healthcare challenges for members while giving employers lower costs, less absenteeism, healthier teams. We talk to the founder and CEO, Dr. Van Der Veer whose frustration with traditional healthcare led to creating a better way. Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care is currently available in select cities in Iowa as well as Overland Park, Ks and Lees Summit, Mo We're going to talk about a model that is significantly different and an opportunity for primary care, direct pay, membership in a program that we think is going to make a big difference here in the Kansas City metro. Guests: -Dr. Jon Van Der Veer, DO, MBA, Founder/CEO at Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care -Jacqueline “Jaci” Robson, Vice President of Member Services at Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care To learn more: https://www.exemplar.care and @ExemplarCare on Facebook & LinkedIn This is Ep 2118 of America’s Healthcare Advocate podcast Learn more about me, Cary Hall: America’s Healthcare Advocate: I have a strong desire to empower my fellow Americans and cancel the noise and confusion surrounding the US healthcare system. My goal is to enable you to become the expert for your own healthcare management, saving you time, money, and effort. Learn more: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com As always, if you need help or have something to share? Contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, the issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

This week Dr Carsen, Dr Firouz Daneshgari and Dr Andersen join us on America’s Healthcare Advocate. What do these 3 Doctors have to do with the Future of your Health? We will cover everything from helping people regain the ability to walk again, stopping pain and fixing neuropathy all with noninvasive treatments to how it’s done, why it works and what is next in health. Here are some examples: Dr Andersen: “it doesn't matter whether you have heart failure like your wife Cary, or whether you have Parkinson's, or whether you have had a TBI, there is a disruption in the electromagnetic system of your body” Dr Firouz: “Neuro20, The new model of neuromodulation, that this Neuro20 is creating” Dr Carsen’s patient. He’s seen her since she was 11. She suffers from transverse myelitis and is now 23 and in a wheelchair. But then she came to Brand New Day. Plus, my wife and I recently started using the Neuro20 Suit at home… Me for conditioning and my wife for heart failure. We will tell you all about it in this episode. Learn more about Brand New Day: https://brandnewdayhealth.com or call 833-724-6522. This is Ep 2117 of America’s Healthcare Advocate podcast Learn more about me, Cary Hall: America’s Healthcare Advocate: I have a strong desire to empower my fellow Americans and cancel the noise and confusion surrounding the US healthcare system. My goal is to enable you to become the expert for your own healthcare management, saving you time, money, and effort. Learn more: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com As always, if you need help or have something to share? Contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, the issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

My guest from the PainLab at Brand New Day in Lenexa, Ks is Dr. Arden Andersen, and he is no stranger to the show. In fact, this is our 3rd visit with him and today he brings with him patient Tony Bardo who tells us of his truly amazing journey from a hopeless loss of mobility 4 years ago to a 50% improvement after only one week at Brand New Day. To help expain the process and the tech is Dr Keith Cronin from Neuro20. The Neuro20 suit, along with several other new tools is bringing rapid results to patients, like Neuropathy Reversal. This is a non-invasive approach using Electro-Muscle Stimulation (EMS). This is episode 2109 Connect with Brand New Day, visit: https://brandnewdaykc.com/ or call 833-724-6522 As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website 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

My guest, Ron Hoyler is a diabetes Educator for St. Luke's hospital in the Kansas City metro, and he tells us "once you have diabetes you're at a greater risk for not just dementia, but the complications from dementia. Some of the specific, diseases that come under the dementia umbrella, like Alzheimer's, but cognitive impairment in general, you know, that fog that you'll sometimes hear it called where you are just suddenly in the moment, not quite sure what you were thinking or doing that can be related to the high blood sugars that you might be experiencing". Ron has some shocking information, including the fact that we have 165 meds to treat diabetes with. And in this episode, we're going to get into how the doctors decide which meds to treat you with. But that number alone is pretty shocking, and technically there's over 800 combinations of meds and doses that can be applied together, so how does a physician decide which one's right for you or their other patient or their other patient? It's almost a crapshoot, really. I'm Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate and the fact is that diabetes is such a prevalent disease, and one of the most common chronic disorders in the world and it is a disorder that we could do so much better at in taking care of than what we do now. The thing that drove me to bring Ron Hoyler back to the show is that he and I have been having conversation about this and some of the other comorbidities that are related and I wanted to bring his vast knowledge to all of you. Not just to shock you, but also to show you the most amazing and affordable new device for understanding your own metabolism, blood sugar, glucose, A1c... all of it. And rather than just 2 super basic readings per day... it gives you hundreds! Regardless of your age, your health... and even if you are not diabetic or pre-diabetic: This show is a must listen. Let's get started! For more information about this visit: https://www.saintlukeskc.org/condition/diabetes Ron Hoyler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-hoyler-rn-msn-mba-hca-cdces-a02a3b1a/ This is episode 2106. Learn more about me, Cary Hall: America’s Healthcare Advocate: I have a strong desire to empower my fellow Americans and cancel the noise and confusion surrounding the US healthcare system. My goal is to enable you to become the expert for your own healthcare management, saving you time, money, and effort. Learn more: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com As always, if you need help or have something to share? Contact me with this form on my website 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

In this edition of our Health of Our Communities series, important employer health benefit tips from Maria Ahlers, President of RPS Benefits by Design; and our special guest, Brian Morris, president of Leadercast has "2025 Legacy of Impact" information that can help the long term health of your business! Plus, details of the upcoming Leadercast event on April 8th in Kansas City! Get tickets at our special discount: 877-385-2224 or visit https://www.rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com This is episode 2107

Our experts are Monett Jackson & Roy Hauser from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. We've got a whole series of things we're going to talk about here today that will educate and inform you about what your choices are as you age into Medicare. We’ll also talk about programs that are available for veterans you probably don't even know exist out there.

On the show today, we will discuss a partnership between Bowtie Medical and Detego Health. So, if you're a broker, or if you're an employer of any size business, I don't care if you've got 10 employees, 100 employees or 200 employees, you're going to want to listen to this because this is a different way, to get health insurance and Dr Firouz Daneshgari is back on my show to lay it all out for us. Excerpt, Dr Daneshgari: "And the scientific evidence shows more harms, more hazards and that's why the medical errors have become the number three, cause of death in this country. And every time I say that, I get caught myself again being surprised that after cardiovascular disease, after cancer, medical errors are number three, cause of death!" The Doctor is In! He will show us a much better way. Better, affordable and healthier! Excerpt: "The result of this realigned situation, this health care is that doctors, both primary care and the specialist, they do what they went to school to do. They went there to solve people's health problems. And doctors, I tell you, the listeners to this show, a significant number of them will be doctors because doctors are looking for solutions how to get out of this Sick Care System we have now." This is Ep 2037 Learn more about Dr Firouz Daneshgari and Bowtie Medical: https://bowtiemedical.com Brokers and Business Owners. email sales@bowtiemedical.com or call 877-3-Bowtie (877-326-9843) 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

A deep dive into Claims, Health Insurance Cost and Care Denied, and why this is happening right now. Today’s show is one that, I think needed to be done. And there are probably a lot of people who are not going to like some of the things I'm going to say, but it needs to be said. I want to talk about the murder, the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United HealthCare. And I want to talk about where we're at in this country with what we're thinking and what we're doing, and how we're acting out on those thoughts. Then, regarding healthcare in America, I'm going to talk about the actual problem that people are experiencing… because they are experiencing problems with getting coverage, with high cost, with care being denied and with care being delayed. Then, after taking us through all of that, and I'm going to explain to you why that is happening. You might be surprised what you're about to learn. So let's get started. -----Episode 2038----- Learn more about me, Cary Hall: America’s Healthcare Advocate: I have a strong desire to empower my fellow Americans and cancel the noise and confusion surrounding the US healthcare system. My goal is to enable you to become the expert for your own healthcare management, saving you time, money, and effort. Visit https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com As always, if you need help or have something to share? Contact me, Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate by using the form on my website. 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

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.