Be A (Healthcare) Advocate, with Kristen Rivers

“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 in the work she’s doing at ParetoHealth today.

Along the way, we talk about some of the biggest problems in healthcare, from the user experience to misaligned incentives that profit from driving up the cost of healthcare. 

The main takeaway: we need more advocates like Kristen if we’re going to fix this industry.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Introducing Kristen Rivers
00:08:16 Kristen’s Introduction To Health Insurance
00:16:10 The Importance of Data Transparency and Choice
00:19:50 Advocating For Better Healthcare
00:33:23 Renewal Increases in California Insurance Market
00:35:18 Medicare Cuts
00:41:18 Employer-led Healthcare Plans
00:51:06 Misaligned Incentives
00:53:26 Driving Down Healthcare Costs through Employer Advocacy

Key Links for Social:

@SelfFunded on YouTube for video versions of the podcast and much more - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFunded

Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02

Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-funded-with-spencer/id1566182286

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Key Words: 

Healthcare Industry Transition, Transparency Matters, Navigating Healthcare, California Insurance Market, Medicare Cuts, Self Funded Plans Healthcare Quality Metrics Industry Complexities, Employer Advocacy, CAA Regulations, Healthcare System, Cost Management, self funded, podcast

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