Category: ACA and Policy

Very recently on Straight Talk, I wrote a piece designed to help you understand your health insurance. This explained what all the words –deductibles, networks, claims, etc. – really mean. I also broke down who pays for what when a medical bill shows up. You might remember the three payment zones – the deductible zone, the coinsurance zone and the max out-of-pocket zone.

As soon as we published that piece, I heard this question: “So Mike, how do copays fit into all this stuff?” Read more

Summer is usually a slow season in the health insurance policy world. But not summer 2022. A lot is happening, and I want to keep you updated on all of it. I appeared on WRKF Radio’s Talk Louisiana with Jim Engster on Monday, Aug. 15. We talked about what’s going on in the health care world. Read more

When I was young, my dad and I spent a lot of time, days even, in boats on the water. One time, when I was about 11, we were crawfishing. We had a large aluminum boat loaded with two smaller boats (pirogues) and a lot of other gear. Read more

One thing that has always struck me about the way people spend money is how much it has evolved during my lifetime. Today, we are much more savvy and flexible about how we use debt and insurance than we were 50 years ago. Most people don’t really think about the retail prices anymore when they buy a house or a car; instead, they think, “Hey, I can make the monthly payments!” and that’s typically about as far as it goes. Read more

I greet you today by saying “Bless you all” and I am so glad you are reading Straight Talk! It’s been a busy year already, where once again I think we can all agree NOTHING is as simple as it seems. Read more

It was as sad as it was predictable. There we were, in the grocery store, looking at meat prices. We had just received one of those big flyers in the mail touting a really good sale on 85/15 ground meat. That’s my go-to mix for cooking burgers on my grill — not so “fire-starting,” if you know what I mean, but it still has enough fat content to get that amazing, fresh-from-the-grill taste! Yummy! Read more