Self-Funded With Spencer

Jared Pope, Founder of Work Shield, discusses the origins of his company and their mission to change the way organizations handle misconduct. They aim to provide a faster and unbiased dispute resolution service. The podcast explores the importance of resolving workplace misconduct quickly, the potential consequences of unresolved issues, and the impact of cancel culture.

The Power of SimplePay Health, a discussion with Wally Gomaa, Co-Founder.   Wally has an extensive track record of success in the healthcare and employee benefits industries, and his latest venture - SimplePay - is an exciting new solution to help bring "Price Certainty" to the health insurance world.   SimplePay Health - Where happy and health plan live together.   https://www.simplepayhealth.com/

John shares his own experience with Burnout at 41, which nearly cost him his life, and we discuss the challenges that men have in discussing their mental health with others, even with the typical EAP offerings most employers provide their employees today.    It is even harder for people like John, who had been a pastor at a church for his whole career up that point, and who was perceived as a community leader, to express feelings of fear, weakness, emotional pain, etc. because of concerns of how his peers would perceive his vulnerability.  This is one of the most important conversations I have ever had on the podcast, and I hope it helps foster meaningful discussions about mental health in men.

Jake Thompson started Compete Every Day as an inspirational apparel company, and over the course of a decade, has grown it into a vehicle for performance coaching, business consulting, and traveling the country to do public speaking.   The mindset of getting 1% better every day, while viewed on a micro scale may not seem much, but the aggregate effect over time on your life will have a massive impact.  Whether it is your health, your job, your relationships, focusing on the little things you can do every day, adds up.   Jake is highly sought after for his ability to effectively communicate this message through the lens of athletics, and apply that mindset to any business to help their personnel leverage their competitive spirit to become happier, and more productive employees.   https://www.competeeveryday.com/

Chas Fields is Senior Partner at UKG - Ultimate Kronos Group - and is also a fellow podcaster, a public speaker, a change management expert, a volunteer, and a baseball coach.  Oh yeah, he's also a really cool dude! This episode covers what Human Capital Management is, how it works, and how technology is enabling companies to better manager their Human Capital.   We cover topics like the merger of two giant organizations into an even bigger one, managing people through the pandemic, fatherhood, how to be a good person in general, and the future of HCM. Enjoy!

Insurance Captives & Innovation in Healthcare with David Voorhees, CEO of True Captive Insurance.   Insurance captives have been covered quite a bit on my podcast because: 1) They are perceived to be more complex (they're really not) 2) They are an interesting vehicle for smaller employers to successfully transition into being self-funded. David Voorhees sat down with me after the True Captive St Louis Summit, to discuss the motivations for the creation of True Captive Insurance, why they decided to take risk on every group that joins their captive, and how they are partnering with other innovative solution providers to create best-in-breed options for small to mid-sized employers.   David also talks about how fear often drives the avoidance of innovation, especially for insurance brokers who at times have the misconception that they are obligated to be experts in everything.  He argues that NOT knowing something is good, as it should stimulate curiosity and a continual quest for knowledge, and I tend to agree.   David is one of the most consistently eloquent speakers I have had the joy to sit down with, and it is an honor to be affiliated with him through these conferences, and the sponsorship of my podcast.  Enjoy!

How Jumbo Employers are Solving Healthcare.   This podcast focuses on the Health Transformation Alliance (HTA) - A Co-Op - that is fully owned by about 65 Jumbo employers, whose entire mission is to create superior outcomes for their health plan.   Their goals are to save lives, and save dollars.   These employer groups need to have about 5,000 lives on their health plan and pay $500k to join, and all own an equal equity stake in the Co-Op.  This fee can be paid over time and can come out of your health budget since it is an ERISA-approved expense.   By joining, these jumbo employers get access to the HTA teams, resources, and the opportunity to collaborate with the other members of the Co-Op   There are certain outcomes that jumbo employers can achieve in healthcare due to their scale and aggregated buying power, which Lee discusses on the podcast.   There are also things that Jumbo employers CANNOT do, that a smaller employer can, and we make sure to focus on some of those solutions as well.   Enjoy!   https://www.htahealth.com/

What is it like to work for a TPA?  Owen Paradis of JP Farley joins me on the podcast for a discussion on how he got into the insurance world after working as a Corrections Officer.    Like most of us, he didn't intend to get into insurance, but has nonetheless found a home here and embraced the learning curve with open arms.  Half of the battle is just learning the acronyms, and Owen even said he used my Stop Loss with Spencer videos to help him learn the industry lingo.  Owen talks about how much he has enjoyed the TPA space so far, and judging by the brief time I had with him, I believe he will have a tremendously successful career in Employee Benefits!

Have you ever wondered how to plan a conference?   Tonya Crawford of True Captive Insurance sits down with me to share what it takes to put together a major event.   The main thing she said is that planning a conference starts with having great partners.  Not just from a sponsorship perspective, but to provide support, as well as help market the event.   It typically would take 2-3 months to plan an event, but Tonya and True Captive were able to pull off a great event in St Louis within 6 weeks.   The event in St Louis was absolutely top notch, with outstanding presenters, great attendees, and very useful information being freely shared to better educate the market at large.  In my opinion, that is the way it should be!

Everything you need to know about Insurance Captives, featuring Stephani Manning of Innovative Captive Strategies.  We discuss the Layers of Captive, how those layers interact, and which parties are responsible for each of the three layers of the captive.  Stephani is a teacher by nature, and it really comes across in how simply she explains how captives work.